SOUTH KOREA
Shorts stunt draws flak
An event to promote women’s rights featuring female opposition party supporters pulling down their shorts has drawn widespread criticism, with many saying the stunt revealed a patriarchal culture in the party and society in general. The performance at the conservative Liberty Korea Party’s (LKP) “Woman Festa” saw five supporters on stage pull down long, baggy shorts and bend over to display the phrase “Victory for LKP” written on boxer shorts. They wiggled to a cheering audience, including former prime minister and party leader Hwang Kyo-ahn and parliamentary floor leader Na Kyung-won, a woman. Hwang called on them to “practice more” in encouragement, broadcaster YTN reported. Public outcry was swift, with one netizen saying: “Eeven elementary school students would not stage such childish stunts.” The LKP issued a statement saying the performance was not intended to degrade the women and that it had not been notified of the stunt.
SOUTH KOREA
Border village gets 5G
Mobile carrier KT Corp yesterday said that it launched 5G services in one of the world’s most heavily armed border zones separating the two Koreas. The next generation technology is available in Taesung Freedom Village — a southern community in the 4km-wide demilitarized zone between the two. The new technology would give villagers better access to online services, such as yoga classes, and enable them to water crops by remote control, KT said. “Life here will get easier because villagers are normally escorted by military when they need to work on farms,” KT official Chae Uk told reporters during a tour of the village where the company installed two 5G base stations.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia