Comedian Seo Gyeong-seok announced that he is getting married. He was apparently obliged to do this.

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Original article in Korean is here.

Police are investigating after a teacher in a child center in Pyeongtaek was accused of repeated sexual assaults of two sisters.

According to police on September 1, 36-year-old Mr. A is accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting in his home over the past year the 13- and 12-year-old daughters of 47-year-old Mr. B, who has a difficult home situation.

Since May of last year Mr. B's younger sister had been taking care of the children. She noticed something strange and took her suspicions to a local aid center where the sexual assault incidents came out.

Police applied for an arrest warrant for Mr. A for those charges on August 27 but not have not been able to locate him.

The children knew teacher A as their 오빠 [older brother] and they received education in his home from March of 2008 through September of last year, the children's center said.

Teacher A was found to be a low-quality teacher due to his poor lessons and other things, and in April of last year the children's center convinced him to resign.

For its part, the children's center said, "it is extremely regrettable that we could not properly supervise an unqualified teacher... we have consulted with investigators to determine whether Mr. A had any other victims while working for us."

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The original Korean article is here. From what I have heard a similar policy wound up working out very well in Ireland. My wife and I always bring reusable bags to the store and find them more convenient anyway.

Beginning in October five large stores - E-Mart, Lotte Mart, Home Plus, Hanaro Club, and Mega Mart - will cease selling disposable plastic bags, so consumers must come prepared with their own bags.

The Ministry of Environment (환경부) announced on the 25th it had reached an agreement with the five stores not to sell disposable plastic bags in order to reduce their numbers.

Accordingly, the 350 locations of those five stores will cease selling disposable plastic bags beginning in October.

The stores and the Ministry have pledged to publicize the policy early and in various ways in order to minimize discontent among consumers.

Reusable bags will be sold at the locations and can be used as large shopping bags or as garbage bags, and will come in ten, twenty, and thirty liter sizes.

The reusuable bags will be thick and of high durability with handles, making them easy to carry, but their price will be similar to standard garbage bags.

Each store that does not have disposable bags will cease offering discounts to customers who bring their own bags.

Last year each citizen used an average of 320 disposable plastic bags, or 16 billion in total, which is unfortunate, but over 20 years most have been removed by incineration or placement in a landfill.

A Ministry official said, "the five stores with which we have an agreement account for 150 million disposable plastic bags... we expect this agreement will reduce CO2 emissions by over 6,390 tons and reduce household expenditures by about 7.5 billion won per year."

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Yikes. This is in Tokyo, by the way.

			South Korea, teen mothers

Original Korean article is here.

With controversy over the forced or voluntary expulsion from school of teenagers because they become pregnant or give birth, the National Human Rights Commission (국가인권위원회) has asked government agencies to form policies that will protect the educational rights of unmarried mothers.

An official with the Commission said, "we have asked the ministries of education, family, and social services and the various city offices of education ot form policies that will both determine the numbers of unmarried teen mothers and allow them to continue their studies."

Last year the Commission surveyed 63 unmarried teen mothers, producing a study, titled 청소년 미혼모의 교육권 보장 실태조사, according to which six of them had been persuaded to drop out of school either temporarily or permanently once their pregnancies were discovered. 45 of them dropped out before their pregnancies could be found out. A, a single teen mother living in a shelter in Seoul, said, "it wasn't just that I was pregnant,  people were insulting me and following me around the school... I want to wear a school uniform just like my friend, I want to study."

An official with on social agency said, "frankly, most schools force them to drop out to protect their own reputations while claiming it's a school regulation."

Of course, each city office of education is planning to establish alternative schools so that unmarried teen mothers can finish their educations and receive diplomas, but there are doubts it will really happen. This September Ae Ran Won, the alternative school in Seoul, will hold its first lesson, with just one unmarried mother having signed up.

An official with Ae Ran Won said, "it's very difficult because permission must be obtained from the original school, and there has been no publicity yet at all... society must pay more attention to what they are asking for after having lost their opportunity for an education."

Mike Simning, a well-known figure in the Gwangju expat community, has been diagnosed with leukemia and needs transfusions of B- blood. This is a very rare blood type in Korea, so appeals are being made to the expat community. If you know you have B- blood you can really make a difference here. If you do not know your blood type you can get tested easily. Plenty of information about Michael's case and how to help is below; there is also more information at Brian's blog.

A few days ago Michael Simning - an expat in Gwangju - visited the hospital because he wasn't feeling very well.

He discovered that he has leukemia, was admitted into the hospital immediately (where he will stay for at least a month), and has started to undergo chemotherapy treatments.

As part of his treatment Michael needs to receive several blood transfusions.

Michael's blood type is B-, which is very rare, and so he, his family, and his friends are trying to find people in Korea who can donate blood to him immediately as well as periodically throughout the next couple of weeks. (O- blood won’t work in this case.)

If your blood type is B-, and you are able and willing to donate, please consider contacting Tim Whitman at 011.9600.6378 or tugrocers@gmail.com. Tim will pass your name and phone number along to Michael and his family.

You can also help by passing this message along to friends of yours here in Korea too.

Many people - unfortunately - don't know their blood type. You can find out yours - and at the same time find out if you can help Michael - by visiting a hospital in your area.

The procedure is relatively painless and should only take a few minutes.

In case you’re worried about communicating with the staff, you can print out and show them the following information, which explains to them why you’re there and why you need this information:

친구가 백혈병에 걸려서 도움이 필요합니다.
제 친구는 Rh-B 형 입니다.
제 혈액형 검사받고 하고 싶습니다. Rh-/Rh+ 인지까지 정확히 검사 받고싶습니다.

Once you find out your blood type, and if it is B-, you can do the same as those who already know theirs: contact Tim Whitman at 011.9600.6378 or tugrocers@gmail.com.

In the meantime Michael’s immune system is very weak so he isn’t able to receive any visitors. He is able to communicate using the internet and telephone, however, and many friends have been wishing him well using Facebook.

And as a side note from me, a friend: Mike’s sickness and rehabilitation may cause a lot of financial strain to him and his wife and daughter, so if you are in Gwangju, please consider supporting him in a very direct manner by shopping at the Underground Grocers and by eating at the First Alleyway, both of which will remain open in his absence.

Underground Grocers is open on Wednesday from 11 to 7, on Thursday and Friday from 1 to 7, and on Saturday and Sunday from 12 to 7; the First Alleway is open Wednesday to Saturday from 5 to 10ish and on Sunday from 11 to 5 for an all day breakfast.