SDI

China presents a twitter "clone"

2007-05-18T10:18:00.000+09:00

You may say this sort of crib is no news in a country like China where people have no understanding of intellectual property; that's right, but just stop and compare the following two pics. Upper is the real twitter and lower is its dead copy in China, komoo.cn.

They look so much alike that even those who don't know how to read Chinese could sign up into the Chinese crib site without any trouble (I could, for instance).

Actually what I was interested in was neither copyright violation nor plagiarism: I wanted to know whether this Chinese site is censored. I tried posting several URL's of English and Chinese news / video articles commonly seen in BBC, RFA, YouTube and so on, some of which may sound inconvenient for the Chinese authorities.

As a result, two of my posts were deleted by admin within 10 minutes. As I re-posted them a few minutes later, I found them NOT listed in the "public timeline" page in spite of my preference settings all public.

Now I'm continuing the test with a new account. So far I can't think of any method to make sure if those news / vids I referred to are accessible from inside China. If any reader has tried a similar experiment, please let me know how it turned out.

Tags: twitter china copyright internet censorship

The background of the comfort women issue: III. Asahi Shimbun---an alchemist of "inconvenient truths"

2007-03-10T02:52:00.000+09:00

The first of the apologies by Japanese politicians related to the comfort women issue was made in 1992 by then-PM Miyazawa Kiichi (宮沢喜一) during his visit to South Korea. Prior to his visit by 5 days, Asahi Shimbun (朝日新聞: a major Japanese leftist newspaper) reported, as the day's top story, the "discovery" of an evidence proving the commitment by the Japanese military to the recruitment of comfort women and the installation of comfort stations (military camp brothels) during WWII". Here's its excerpt:

日中戦争や太平洋戦争中、日本軍が慰安所の設置や、従軍慰安婦の募集を監督、統制していたことを示す通達類や陣中日誌が、防衛庁の防衛研究所図書館に所蔵されていることが十日、明らかになった。朝鮮人慰安婦について、日本政府はこれまで国会答弁の中で「民間業者が連れて歩いていた」として、国としての関与を認めてこなかった。昨年十二月には、朝鮮人元慰安婦らが日本政府に補償を求める訴訟を起こし、韓国政府も真相究明を要求している。国の関与を示す資料が防衛庁にあったことで、これまでの日本政府の見解は大きく揺らぐことになる。政府として新たな対応を迫られるとともに、宮沢首相の十六日からの訪韓でも深刻な課題を背負わされたことになる。

There has been revealed on (Jan) 10 to exist, at the library of the Defense Agency's Research Institute of Defense, (Japanese governmental) notifications and Army journals showing that the Imperial Japanese Military was involved in the installation of comfort stations and the recruitment of comfort women during the Sino-Japanese and the Pacific wars.

Japanese government had not admitted at the Diet that its was involved in (the recruitment and supervision of) Korean comfort women, saying "private employers took them here and there". Former Korean comfort women (and their supporters) brought a lawsuit against Japanese government for compensation last December (1991), and South Korean government has also been requesting Japan to clarify the historical facts (related to the issue).

The discovery, at the Defense Agency, of documents showing Japan's governmental commitment (to the recruitment of comfort women, etc) is likely to give a fatal damage to the government's heretofore point of view (over this issue). It now requests the government to pledge a new measure with regard to the issue, as well as PM Miyazawa, now burdened with a serious obligation in his visit to South Korea scheduled on (Jan) 16.

The "discovery" was reportedly made by Prof. Yoshimi Yoshiaki (吉見義明) of Chuo University, who appeared in the previous post as one of the key persons in the "sex slave" propaganda. Although Asahi says it was revealed on Jan 10, the actual date of the "discovery" was earlier by at least a few weeks, told Prof. Hata of Chiba University. It is clear that Asahi intentionally delayed the release of this news, by a political aim, to right before PM's visit to Korea.

Unlike Asahi's prediction, the "discovery" was actually nothing new. It is a common sense, and it had been before the "discovery" as well, that the government was involved in the recruitment of comfort women and the management of comfort stations, since every private brothel manager had to be qualified as "appropriate" for doing business at the camp, and they of course had to totally depend on the Japanese military in the transportation of comfort women from the Korean peninsula to camps in far-apart frontlines.

It is clear, therefore, that if the Japanese government had been saying something like that "private employers took the comfort women here and there" (i.e. the comfort women were doing their business under their private employers), that does NOT follow that the government had been denying its commitment to the management of military brothels, transportation of comfort women, etc. What the officials had been denying (and they still are) is just that the recruitment of comfort women was conducted by the Japanese military in any coercive manner.

As a matter of fact, in the notification "discovered" by Prof. Yoshimi, the Japanese military authority ordered its troops in the Chinese frontline to carefully choose appropriate brothel managers to prevent them from recruiting comfort women by any brutal manner, as a few pimps in mainland Japan were lately arrested for such cases. How can this be "an evidence of coercion of Korean women by the Japanese military"?

Asahi's trick is this way: first to give the readers a preconception like "the government is hiding an inconvenient truth", and then show them "an evidence of the governmental commitment", thereby misleading the readers into thinking as though there were any coercion by the military. Hereby the nationwide "sex slave" propaganda succeeded in forcing the PM into apology for what didn't occur.

Asahi says in its editorial on Wednesday (Mar 7) as follows:

Abe seems fixated on the word "coercion," and this is what has made his remarks difficult to understand. The prime minister explained Monday that there was "coercion in the broad sense of the word," citing the fact that traders effectively recruited the women by force. But Abe said there was no "coercion in the strict sense of the word," as in authorities abducting the women.

However, in the overall process of recruiting, transporting and supervising the women, there were obviously situations where coercion was used. The Kono statement takes this position. It is hardly gracious of Abe, the prime minister of Japan, to split hairs over the trivial definition or distinction of a word.

(Original Japanese text published on the day before:) 首相には「強制性」について、こだわりがあるようだ。それが首相の発言をわかりにくくしている。

女性を集めた業者らが事実上強制をするような「広義の強制性」はあったが、当局が人さらいのように連行するといった「狭義の強制性」はなかった。きのう、首相はそう説明した。

だが、いわゆる従軍慰安婦の募集や移送、管理などを通じて、全体として強制性を認めるべき実態があったことは明らかだろう。河野談話もそうした認識に立っている。細かな定義や区別にことさらこだわるのは、日本を代表する立場の首相として潔い態度とは言えない。

The original text says "全体として強制性を認めるべき実態があったことは明らかだろう (it will be obvious that there were situations where coerciveness should be admitted as a whole)". No doubt Asahi cannot say "there was coercion" any longer inside Japan because the trick used in its 1992 "scoop" is commonly known inside Japan now, whereas they can keep on deceiving, by the very same trick, overseas readers lacking in basic knowledge of the historical background of how the "sex slave" propaganda was launched.

Actually there are lots of more misleading "scoops" of this kind, reported by Asahi for the past several decades: like "government to order publishers to delete the word 'invasion' out of their history textbooks", "Japanese Army's experiments on living human in Manchuria proved by newly released photos", "Ruling LDP politicians push NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) to cut 'inappropriate' scenes off the TV program", etc, etc... As mentioned earlier, I guess they are part of the Japanese leftist activitists' survival strategy. Facing the unrecoverable decline of their movement under the Cold War approaching its end, they realized that the only way left for them to survive was talking about Japan's past instead of its future: that is, to keep on condemning Japan's "wartime atrocity" instead of organizing Japanese people for revolution.

It is rarely the case that Asahi makes any apology for them after its tricks come out. In fact, even after Yoshida Seiji (the author of the fake "coercion" story mentioned in the previous post) admitted his fabrication, Asahi has not even made a correction of its repeated citations of the book.

Tags: comfort women Asahi Shimbun Asahi Shinbun Asahi Yoshimi Yoshiaki Yoshiaki Yoshimi

Labels: comfort women issue

The background of the comfort women issue: II. A man called "a professional liar"

2007-03-06T23:15:00.000+09:00

As stated in the previous post, the comfort women issue originated from Yoshida Seiji (吉田清治)'s 1983 book, in which he "confessed" that he took 205 female resident in Jeju island by coercion. However, as the book was translated into Korean in 1989, local residents unanimously denied the coercion referred to in the book, saying that no one witnessed it then, Jeju Shinmun reported on Aug 14, 1989, in a signatured article by journalist Huh Yung-sun (허영선).

This news came to be known in Japan in the Spring of 1992 by Hata Ikuhiko (秦郁彦), professor of Chiba University, who visited Jeju Island for an individual investigation on the credibility of Yoshida's book. Hata also seems to have confirmed there are no eyewitnesses of the coercion, by interviewing several old local residents in person.

It should be noticed that Hata's investigation was carried out shortly after PM Miyazawa's visit to South Korea. That is, even after the first lawsuit by the former comfort women was brought into a Japanese court, and even after Japan's PM expressed remorse over the "govermental commitment to the coercion", there were at least several local residents who regarded it as groundless that there was any coercion like currently claimed by the former comfort women. (The background of Miyazawa's apology will be mentioned in detail, later in another post.)

Despite all the problems in its credibility repeatedly pointed out since right after it was published, Yoshida's book, as well as his speeches and interviews, was quoted by not a few Japanese journalism, particularly by Asahi Shimbun (朝日新聞: a major Japanese leftist newspaper), as an evidence to support the fact of coercion. Yoshida succeeded in initiating a nationwide sex slave propaganda by Japanese mass-media. This seems to have rapidly propagated into Korea: for example, the former comfort women and their supporters, who brought the first lawsuit against Japanese government in 1991, referred to Yoshida's book in their petition.

It was in 1996, shortly after the Coomara-swamy report was submitted to the UN Human Rights Committee, that Yoshida admitted, in an interview with Shukan Shincho (週刊新潮), the fabrication of his 1983 book. Here's what he said in the interview:

「秦さんらは私の書いた本をあれこれ言いますがね。まあ、本に真実を書いても何の利益もない。関係者に迷惑をかけてはまずいから、カムフラージュした部分もあるんですよ。だから、クマラスワミさんとの面談も断りました。事実を隠し、自分の主張を混ぜて書くなんていうのは、新聞だってやることじゃありませんか。チグハグな部分があってもしょうがない」

I know Mr. Hata and other persons say this and that about my book; I'd rather say it's useless telling a truth in a book. I did make some camouflage in the book so that I shouldn't put the concerned persons to inconvenience. And that's why I refused to meet Ms. Coomara-swamy. You know, hiding away the truth and putting your personal opinion here and there in the article, that's just the way newspapers do as well as I. It's natural that sometimes there's inconsistency in it.

Why did Yoshida admit his lie after 13 years passed since his book was published? I guess he had been waiting for a chance to "vail out" from the campaign since long. He must have realized that the former comfort women and their supporters didn't need him any longer, now that the sexual slavery propaganda can seek its legitimacy in the Kono statement (1993) and the Coomara-swamy report. In fact, Professor Yoshimi Yoshiaki (吉見義明) of Chuo University, one of the key persons in the sex slave propaganda, gave some advice to Ms. Coomara-swamy by mail, saying:

「誤りの原因について述べますと、George Hicks, The Comfort Women に依拠した点が問題です。...また Hicks 氏が引用している吉田氏の著書の「慰安婦」徴集の部分は、多くの疑問が出されているにもかかわらず、吉田氏は反論していません。…吉田氏が反論することは困難だと思われます。吉田氏の本に依拠しなくても、強制の事実は証明することができる(原文註：誰が強制したかを別にすれば、日本政府も徴集時や慰安所での強制を認めている)ので、吉田氏に関連する部分は必ず削除することをお勧めします」

(The notes contain) some problem in the portion based on "The Comfort Women" by George Hicks. ...Moreover, Mr. Yoshida, whose book is quoted by Mr. Hicks, has not made any remark on the problems pointed out with respect to the part of his book referring to the recruitement of the "comfort women". ...It will be difficult for Mr. Yoshida to make any rebuttal. It is strongly recommended that the part related to Mr. Yoshida should be deleted (from the notes); it is still possible to prove the fact of coercion without his book, since the Japanese government has admitted that there was coercion in recruiting (the comfort women), and one at the brothels as well, apart from who did it.

What Prof. Yoshimi is saying here is, in a word, "we don't need Yoshida any longer, now that we've got the Kono statement".

Tags: comfort women Yoshida Seiji Seiji Yoshida

The background of the comfort women issue: I. Chronicle

2007-03-06T02:01:00.000+09:00

During the last several weeks, I encountered quite a lot of suggestive and meaningful posts related to the comfort women issue at several English blogs I usually read. I am sure quite a few Japanese people find it very encouraging that the issue is coming to the fore among the western bloggers, since the majority of the English mass-media, in/outside Japan, seem to have somewhat biased point of view over this issue (like Norimitsu Onishi of the New York Times, extremely notorious in Japan as a typical case).

Actually the controversy over the "coerciveness" in the recruitment of comfort women, management of the brothels, etc, is almost over in Japan: the conclusion is that they were professional prostitute, or camp followers, most of whom were sold by their parent to Korean pimps because of poverty.

(Don't get me wrong, readers, I'm not denying the tragedies that happened to their lives, but that's one thing and whether there was any systematic commitment by the Japanese governmental/military personnels is another.)

The problem is that very few of the documents and commentaries issued by Japanese government officials, as well as the result of the studies by private researchers, are available in English, which is the major factor that had caused a gap between Japanese and foreign people's points of view over the issue. It will be meaningful, to some extent, to introduce the background of the controversy to people outside Japan who are interested in the issue (wish I could write better in English, though). Follows are the chronicle of the emergence of the issue:

1983:: A Japanese man named Yoshida Seiji (吉田清治) first claims in his book, that he took over 1,000 Korean women by coercion as sex slaves during WWII (「私の戦争犯罪──朝鮮人強制連行(My War Crime---The Coercion of Koreans)」 , 三一書房 San-ichi Shobo).
1989:: The Korean edition of Yoshida's book is published in South Korea ("나는 조선사람을 이렇게 잡아갔다 (This Is The Way I Took Koreans by Coercion)", 청계연구소 Cheong-gye Yeonguso). Local residents in Jeju Island, where Yoshida claims to have kidnapped 205 women, blame the book for its "shameless commercialism", saying that the coercion is "groundless" (제주신문 Jeju shinmun, Aug 14, 1989).
1990:: Motooka Shoji (本岡昭次), a lawmaker of Japan Socialist Party, takes the issue for the first time into the Diet, questioning the "forcibility" in the comfort woman system.
1991:: A group of South Korean "victims" of Japan's "war-time atrocity", including nine former comfort women, bring the first lawsuit calling Japanese government for compensation. The above-mentioned controversial book is quoted by them, as an evidence of the "coercion".
1991--1993:: Japanese government, as well as private researchers and "human rights activists" both in Japan and South Korea, independently make a series of investigations of the issue. Dozens of former comfort women make testimony in at least 6 hearings during the investigations, none of whom successfully describe the situation of the "coercion".
1992:: PM Miyazawa Kiichi (宮沢喜一) visits South Korea. Prior to his visit by 5 days, a Japanese leftist newspaper reports the "discovery of an evidence of the systematic commitment by the Japanee government" to the recruitment of comfort women and the management of comfort stations (朝日新聞 Asahi Shimbun, Jan 11). Amid booming anti-Japanese sentiment in South Korea, Miyazawa expresses remorse during his visit.
1993:: On Aug 4, after the second investigation made by Japanese government, chief cabinet secretary Kono Yohei (河野洋平) issues an official statement admitting the "commitment of administrative/military personnels" to the coercion.
1996:: On Jan 4, the Coomara-swamy report, condemning Japan's war-time "sexual slavery" mainly based on Yoshida's book and the former comfort women's testimony, is submitted to the UN Human Rights Committee.; A few months after the submission of the Coomara-swamy report, Yoshida admits his controversial book to be a fabrication.; The description of "Japan's sexual slavery during the WWII" is added in the history textbooks for junior high school students.

The biggest mystery to the people outside Japan is, I guess, the sudden emergence of the controversy after more than 40 years have passed since the end of WWII. In my opinion, this is tightly associated with the decline of the Japanese leftist activities in the 1980s. Facing the Cold War coming to an end, the leftists had to seek their new legitimacy, and they found it in the condemnations of Japan's "war-time atrocity" together with the "victims" abroad.

Tags: comfort women

I might as well vote for Kim Jung-il

2006-02-16T18:32:00.000+09:00

Reuters: S.Korean foreign minister to run for top UN job (Feb 14)

I know what he says about the diplomatic issues between Korea and its neighbors: he's one of the typical Korean politicians who're refusing to talk over the territorial issue on Takeshima at the Hague. Any politician who doesn't pay respect to international law doesn't deserve the responsible position in the U.N.

Reuters also reports:

Ban said South Korea's spectacular rise from the ruins of war and its economic and political accomplishments mirror the ideals of the U.N. and thus make its candidate ideal for the job.

I think S.Korea should first consider performing its financial duty appropriate to its "accomplishments" which Ban is proud of.

Tags: Korea UN United Nations

Another Google problem

2006-02-11T13:09:00.000+09:00

I have sent a mail to Google admin as below:

If you search the web for "takeshima", you will see the following page on the top of the search results:

http://www.pref.shimane.jp/section/takesima/eng/top.html
Takeshima homepage

Now, its page description says like this:

Page maintained by the Shimane prefectural government in Japan, defending their country's claim to the Dokdo islets.

You may know that Takeshima, the islets called "Dokdo" by Koreans, is under a territorial dispute between Japan and Korea. It is unlikely that Shimane prefecture should describe their web page as though they admitted Koreans' point of view over the dispute: in fact, you can't find a description like this anywhere in the HTML source of the page above.

I would like you to make clear where the page description mentioned above came from at all, and to immediately substitute the description with a correct one. Thank you in advance.

Tags: "Dokdo" Google Japan Korea Takeshima

A letter to the president of ROK

2006-02-08T14:19:00.000+09:00

In my main blog (usually in Japanese), I posted a letter to Roh Moo-hyun, the president of S.Korea, and sent a trackback to his blog. Here's the copy of the letter:

Dear Mr. President,

It is my pleasure to announce, to Your Excellency and to all Your nations as well, that we are about to see Takeshima's Day coming round.

It is natural that each of the two countries has its own point of view over the territorial dispute on Takeshima (what Koreans call "Dokdo"). As you know, Japan has been advocating a peaceful resolution of the issue at the International Court of Justice for decades, while Korea has been defying it. If Korean leaders were really confident of the legitimacy of their claim over the issue, they would have no reason they should avoid discussing.

I hope that Korean people and their government will someday realize that talking at the Hague is the best way, or possibly the only way left, for each of the two countries to keep the bilateral relation peaceful and future-oriented, unless they wish to drive Japanese government into inevitable consideration of having resort to a more drastic measure for breaking through the current situation.

Yours truly,

Suika Dorobo

(See also: Takeshima, Takeshima's Day)

Actually this is not my first letter to Mr. Roh: the first one was an E-mail I sent to him in December 2004 (see this post for its carbon copy), in which I criticized him for his speech at the joint communiqué after the top-level bilateral talk with Japan's PM Koizumi.

In his speech, Mr. Roh repeatedly attempted to justify North Korea's point of view over the rogue nation's abduction of Japanese citizens. It was unpardonable for me, as well as for quite many Japanese people, that he mentioned to an abductee, Yokota Megumi, calling her family "the bereaved", thereby justifying NK official's claim that Megumi is dead since long and all what NK officials could do was to hand over "her ashes" to Japan, which later turned out to be fake.

There was no response from President Roh; I got a new year greeting card from Korean presidential office instead.

Tags: abduction "Dokdo" Japan Korea Takeshima

"Look, polar bears, Dokdo belongs to Korea!"

2006-02-06T20:08:00.000+09:00

(Click to enlarge)

The photo of the "little patriot from Korea" presented before reminds me of a news I read at a Korean news site a couple of months ago. It reported an Arctic expedition by a S.Korean team, but it rather highlighted a political appeal they made on their way to the North Pole, than their expedition itself. You'll easily see that their banner says just the same as the little boy's one in the "little patriot" photo.

It seems that their persistence in exploiting everything for their political aim stunned some Japanese people to no small extent, and made other Japanese laugh. See this blog for some of the parody images created by the latter. Yes, Koreans could do this way everywhere on the Earth (or maybe in the outer space as well)---everywhere but at the Hague.

"Keyboard is mightier than swords"

2006-02-06T18:19:00.000+09:00

(click to enlarge)

I came to knew Gmail's "web clip" feature today: I don't know when this feature was implemented because I didn't see any announcement before I switched Gmail's language preference to English.

The figure above I found at Gmail's [Mail settings] - [Web clips] dialog. I like this sort of joke: I just wonder if the feature is available in China as well as in other countries.

Yes, keyboard is mightier than swords, indeed, so we don't need to worry about people in some countries, left blind by internet censorship, just as long as they have keyboards to speak out with.

censorship China Gmail Google

A little patriot from Korea

2006-02-06T18:16:00.000+09:00

A photo I saw in a Korean news. A five-year-old schoolboy from S.Korea is standing beside a landmark on the top of Mt.Fuji (Japan's highest mountain). The boy is displaying a banner with a slogan which maintains Korea's territorial rights on the disputed island.

At first I was so impressed to see that even a five-year-old boy can go over the sea and take an action for "protection of the territory of their homeland". However, I wish I could have given an advice to the photographer: he/she should not have added the newspaper co.'s name at the bottom of the banner, thereby exposing that the boy's patriotic excursion is just a setup by them. :p In fact I saw a similar example of setup several weeks ago.

See www.flickr.com/photos/a6m5/tags/takeshima/ for related photos.

(originally posted on Jul 26 2005 on my Flickr)

Tags: "Dokdo" Japan Korea Takeshima

Korean schoolchildren's paintings

2006-02-06T17:23:00.000+09:00

(Click to enlarge)

If the reader has ever seen this site, it will be easy to see what these paintings are all about.

Their pictures seem all the same. Probably their teacher handed the same mass-produced b/w drawings and made the children paint them as they like.

This is the way their uniformity in fanaticism is inherited from generation to generation.

Tags: "Dokdo" Japan Korea Takeshima

2006-01-31T17:30:00.000+09:00

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

Some little things you can do for stopping Google China's censorship

2006-01-28T16:46:00.000+09:00

To make sure what Article 1 says is true, I tried just the same. Here's what you should do if you're going to try it:

Flush all your browser's cookies related to domain "google.com.cn".
Set your browser's language to "Chinese (simplified)" (i.e. make your browser say "Accept-language: zh-CN" in HTTP request.)
Access http://www.google.com.cn/, and type any "sensitive" keywords (in Chinese authoritie's sence, of course) you can think of.

You'll get a search result like this:

(Click to enlarge)

You can easily see that the result contains only websites in China.

Now let's try broadening the range of search to all the websites in the world: you'll see a set of radio buttons just below the keyword input box. Check the left-most one, which means "all the websites", and redo the search.

You'll get just the same result as you did last time, with "all the websites" button unchecked (and "only websites in China" button checked again). Google China doesn't allow you to search for some "sensitive" contents abroad. The same thing occurs if you search in Chinese (example: here I tried "tiananmen 6.4"). It's worth paying attention that this sort of filtering is functioning not only for accesses from within China but for accesses from all over the world (I live in Japan) just as long as the browser's language preference is set to Chinese (simplified).

You want to call Google for stopping its assistance of Chinese communists' internet censorship? But you don't have any Google stock to sell out? I don't either, and I even can't quit using Google for now ;)

If you're a Firefox user, it might be a good idea to install Adblock and add a new filter, *.googlesyndication.com/*. (To be honest, I have been doing this for months)

Tags: censorship China falungong falun gong Gmail Google Tiananmen

Hwang Woo-suk shock is not enough to stop Korean daydream?

2006-01-25T12:16:00.000+09:00

I found this graph at this news. It shows the growth of South Korea's domestic market in robot indutry, predicted by Korean Ministry of Industry and Resources. Possibly encouraged by Hyundai's entrance in intelligent robot manufacturing, Korean government is expecting their robot market, estimated USD 420 million in the year 2005, to grow as large as USD 10 billion in 2010, and USD 100 billion in 2020.

Frankly, I was always wondering what could make Koreans optimistic like this, even just after they learned the true position of their country in the field of science and technology (through Hwang Woo-suk's scientific fraud incident, for instance). Later I found a simple and persuasive answer to my question: "maybe the graph is just predicting a catastrophic infration in Korea in the near future."

hwang hwang woo suk hwang woo-suk Korea stem cell

Koreans to audit what?

2006-01-18T19:49:00.000+09:00

I found this news at GI Korea Blog today:

Korea named deputy for tsunami fund audit (JoongAng Ilbo, Jan 18 2006)

BTW If the reader has not ever tried UN OCHA(Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs)'s financial tracking service, I recommend you to visit the link and try

Donor: Korea, Republic of
Country / Emergency: INDIAN OCEAN - Earthquake / Tsunami

You'll get $6,100,000 in total, whereas if you sum up "paid contribution" only, you get $2,950,000. Here I pasted the bulk HTML code of the tables as follows, since the result page has no parmalink:

Description	Donor Country	Status	Amount in USD
(Region) Balance of uncommitted pledge (originally USD 5 million) to various projects in Tsunami Flash Appeal	Korea, Republic of	Pledge	$3,000,000
(Region) Awaiting allocation to specific country and sector	Korea, Republic of	Paid contribution	$1,000,000
(Region) Special Operation for WFP Air Support of Humanitarian Relief Operations in Response to the Indian Ocean Tsunami	Korea, Republic of	Paid contribution	$500,000
(Region) Humanitarian assistance to tsunami-affected population	Korea, Republic of	Paid contribution	$500,000
(Indonesia) Cash (Part of 600,000)	Korea, Republic of	Paid contribution	$200,000
(Sri Lanka) Cash (Part of 600,000)	Korea, Republic of	Paid contribution	$200,000
(Indonesia) Temporary shelter, health clinics, IDP management and family reunification	Korea, Republic of	Paid contribution	$198,000
(Sri Lanka) Medical and psychosocial community support to the displaced populations	Korea, Republic of	Paid contribution	$170,000
(Indonesia) Temporary shelter, health clinics, IDP management and family reunification	Korea, Republic of	Paid contribution	$132,000
(Thailand) Cash for emergency assistance (part of $600,000 regional pledge)	Korea, Republic of	Commitment	$100,000
(Maldives) Cash for emergency assistance (part of $600,000 pledge)	Korea, Republic of	Commitment	$50,000
(Malaysia) Cash for emergency assistance (part of U$600,000)	Korea, Republic of	Paid contribution	$50,000
(Sri Lanka) Dispatch of 5.2 tonnes medicines by military air transport	Korea, Republic of	Commitment	$0
(Sri Lanka) Dispatch of 'Korean Disaster Relief Medical Team' (36 personnel*	Korea, Republic of	Paid contribution	$0
(Thailand) Dispatch of '119' rescue team*	Korea, Republic of	Paid contribution	$0

		TOTAL :	$6,100,000

Description	Donor Country	Status	Amount in USD
(Region) Awaiting allocation to specific country and sector	Korea, Republic of	Paid contribution	$1,000,000
(Region) Special Operation for WFP Air Support of Humanitarian Relief Operations in Response to the Indian Ocean Tsunami	Korea, Republic of	Paid contribution	$500,000
(Region) Humanitarian assistance to tsunami-affected population	Korea, Republic of	Paid contribution	$500,000
(Sri Lanka) Cash (Part of 600,000)	Korea, Republic of	Paid contribution	$200,000
(Indonesia) Cash (Part of 600,000)	Korea, Republic of	Paid contribution	$200,000
(Indonesia) Temporary shelter, health clinics, IDP management and family reunification	Korea, Republic of	Paid contribution	$198,000
(Sri Lanka) Medical and psychosocial community support to the displaced populations	Korea, Republic of	Paid contribution	$170,000
(Indonesia) Temporary shelter, health clinics, IDP management and family reunification	Korea, Republic of	Paid contribution	$132,000
(Malaysia) Cash for emergency assistance (part of U$600,000)	Korea, Republic of	Paid contribution	$50,000
(Thailand) Dispatch of '119' rescue team*	Korea, Republic of	Paid contribution	$0
(Sri Lanka) Dispatch of 'Korean Disaster Relief Medical Team' (36 personnel*	Korea, Republic of	Paid contribution	$0

		TOTAL :	$2,950,000

Chosun Ilbo's editorial on Dec 27 2004 says:

Our government earned itself international kudos by deciding yesterday to send US$600,000 (W628.6 million) in relief funds and assistance.

If this is not a typo, Korean government apparently ended up in pledging to pay over 10 times as much as they had originally expected (and actually paying under half of it, as shown above); it might make you kinda confused if you know that the same newspaper says, in its Japanese edition, that Korean government is considering to increase its Tsunami aid up to over 50 million US$.

Tags: Korea tsunami UN United Nations

Overlapping Hwang's photos of "two different stem cells"

2006-01-16T15:28:00.000+09:00

I found this pic at this news last month. It was originally uploaded on a S.Korean photo fan site in early December 2005, the news says.

The pic above shows how the guy collected the photos used in Hwang's "Science" paper, picked up two of them, adjusted their aspect ratio, and found out that the two photos perfectly overlap.

"The paper says these two photos are of two different stem cells, but it's clear they're duplicated from a single source photo," says the creator of the pic, "I've found three more pairs of photos that overlap just the same way."

These sort of "take-two-and-overlap" games were played not only with Hwang's micrographs, but also with the DNA fingerprint spectra of the "stem cells" in the suspected paper. This eventually provoked scientists in / outside Korea to request Seoul National Univ for inspection on the entire process of Hwang's research.

It seems that so many Korean mass media are still attempting to attribute the disclosure of Hwang's data fabrication to "young Korean scientists" (like those seen in BRIC): if you take a glance at a local newspaper, you'll easily find editorials and columns saying

"Although Hwang's achievements were all found out to be fabrications and Korea's dream of the first Nobel Prize winner in the field of science has ended up in ruins, nevertheless there's a hope left for us, as long as we have these young and excellent scientists."

"We don't need to be so much pessimistic over the future of scientific research in our country: Korean scientists unveiled their colleague's fabrications by themselves, thereby showing us the integrity of our society."

etc, etc...

It is obvious that the disclosure should actually be attributed to so many players of the "take-two-and-overlap" games, like the creator of the above pic. All the "young Korean scientists" did was the advocation of launching the Univ's inspection team.

Well, anyway don't get down too much, Korean friends, you still have a chance to win the world's first "Nobel Photo-Shop prize" or something like that. Sounds splendid, huh? :-p

hwang hwang woo suk hwang woo-suk Korea science stem cell

Recommended Flash Movie

2006-01-14T15:32:00.000+09:00

Ugly Koreans

Most of the scenes in the movie were taken during the FIFA World Cup soccer games held in 2002. Unfortunately I can't read Italian, but I bet just looking at the pictures is more than enough to get what the creator wanted to tell us about: you can see what Korean manner of "sportsmanship" is like, or maybe Korean way of "patriotism" as well.

If the movie above is inaccessible to you, try this article (in Japanese): you can see some snapshots from the movie and some additional info there.

Tags: flash Korea movie soccer sports video

A Hwang Woo-suk Stamp

2006-01-14T13:28:00.000+09:00

I found this pic at a news article in Chosun Ilbo website. The stamp was originally issued in Feb 2005 for commemorating Hwang's "success" in cultivating hESC, the news says.

Well, that's okay: what I can't understand is that this stamp, according to the news, was sold more than before once Hwang's achievements, represented by the two notorious "Science" papers, were all found out to be fabrications.

You see, even a fraud can be a hero in this country, just as long as he succeeds in advertising his trick as "an epochmaking scientific finding". It seems that Koreans don't care if his work is scientifically reliable or not: they still don't even realize scientists must not write a paper with fake data; In other words, Koreans are satisfied with such a fake science just as long as it provides them of an opportunity of earning money by what they call "source technology" (if any), and of promoting Korea as "a leading nation in bio-tech field".

Summary of the "Final Report" on Hwang's Research Allegations (NY Times)

2006-01-13T17:31:00.000+09:00

Here's the "final" report on Hwang's fake papers, presented on Jan 10 (local time) by Seoul Univ. See a local news page for original version in Korean. Japanese readers could also visit my main blog (in Japanese) for Japanese translation.

Summary of the Final Report on Professor Woo Suk Hwang's Research Allegations by Seoul National University Investigation Committee

The Seoul National University Investigation Committee, initially organized to investigate the claims of scientific misconducts associated with the research article published in 2005 in the journal Science by Professor Woo Suk Hwang and co-workers (Hwang et al., 2005), expanded its scope of investigation to determine the facts and truth regarding another article in the same journal published in 2004, the cloned dog, Snuppy, the technical expertise of Professor Hwang's research team, and the process of obtaining human eggs.

Today we submit the final report based on our investigative effort from December 15th of 2005 to January 9th of 2006. Here is a brief summary of our report.

1. 2005 Science paper

(Hwang WS, Roh SI, Lee BC, Kang SK, Kwon DK, et al. 2005. Patient-specific embryonic stem cells derived from human SCNT blastocysts. Science 308: 1777-1783)

This article claimed that 11 human embryonic stem cell lines have been established through transfer of somatic cell nuclei. In interim reports we issued previously, we already reported that data from only two embryonic stem (ES) cell lines have been used for this publication and that even these two lines are not derived via somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) but from in vitro fertilized (IVF) eggs. The stem cells that Professor Hwang claims to have created subsequent to the 2005 publication were also turned out to have originated from frozen fertilized eggs and not from cloned blastocysts. The data in 2005 article including test results from DNA fingerprinting, photographs of teratoma, embryoid bodies, MHC-HLA isotype matches and karyotyping have all been fabricated. The method and process of fabrication are described in the report. In conclusion, the research team of Professor Hwang does not possess patient-specific stem cell lines or any scientific bases for claiming having created one.

2. 2004 Science paper

(Hwang WS, Ryu YJ, Park JH, Park ES, Lee EG, et al. 2004. Evidence of a pluripotent human embryonic stem cell line derived from a cloned blastocyst. Science 303: 1669-1674)

The investigation on the 2004 Science paper in which the establishment of the first human ES cell line from cloned blastocyst was reported was initiated in response to various doubts raised on photographs of the cells and results from DNA fingerprinting analyses.

The committee has undertaken DNA fingerprinting analyses on the samples obtained from the ES cell line in question (NT-1), teratoma allegedly derived from NT-1, and the donor (donor A) of the egg and somatic cell. The DNA samples for the ES cell line included those from 20 subcultured NT-1 cell lines in culture or in frozen state from Professor Hwang's laboratory, one deposited to the Korean Cell Line Bank for the purpose of securing a patent, one maintained in Professor Shin Yong Moon's laboratory at SNU, and one maintained in the MizMedi Hospital. The 23 samples were examined by three independent test centers, and all three centers have obtained identical results.

The teratoma, the cell line deposited in the Korean Cell Line Bank, and the cell lines maintained in Professor Moon's laboratory and in the MizMedi Hospital all showed an identical fingerprinting pattern. Among the twenty independent subcultures from Professor Hwang's laboratory, nine produced the identical pattern to the aforementioned three samples, but the other eleven produced a distinct pattern that was in fact identical to the fingerprinting pattern of MizMedi ES cell line #5 derived from IVF egg. The fingerprinting pattern of NT-1 line is quite distinct from what was reported in the 2004 Science article. While the fingerprinting pattern of the anonymous donor A, the source of the somatic and egg cells according to Professor Hwang's team, was identical to what was reported in the Science article, it was clearly different from that of NT-1 line. Therefore, NT-1 ES cell line was not derived from nuclear transfer using somatic cells from the donor A as claimed in the report.

NT-1 was shown to be distinct from all of IVF-ES cell lines MizMedi Hospital had produced. The committee has thus attempted to determine its origin by obtaining blood samples from two other individuals who donated their eggs and cumulus cells at about the same time and comparing the DNA fingerprinting patterns. One of the donors, the anonymous donor B, appeared to show a certain association with NT-1. That the donor B and NT-1 show an identical mitochondrial DNA fingerprinting pattern indicated that she is the donor of the egg. However, of the 48 nuclear polymorphic loci tested, 40 gave results that indicate the nuclear identity of NT-1 cells and donor B cells while eight gave results that point to the contrary. If NT-1 is derived from somatic cell nuclear transfer, all 48 polymorphism markers must be identical between the donor B cells and NT-1 cells. That eight are inconsistent implies that NT-1 is not an ES cell line derived from a cloned blastocyst. The eight markers were heterozygous in donor B blood but homozygous in NT-1. These data suggest that there is a high possibility that NT-1 resulted from the fusion of a non-enucleated egg and a nearby polar body, which initiated a parthenogenetic process.

The claim in 2004 article that the DNA fingerprinting pattern of NT-1 and that of the donor A match perfectly was a clear false report. Given that none of the alleged NT-1 derived cells or tissues match the donor A, the committee concluded that NT-1 ES cell line reported in Science in 2004 is not an ES cell line derived from a cloned blastocyst. In addition, claims that photographs of cells in 2004 Science article are those of MizMedi ES cells have also been confirmed to be true. Therefore, the committee concluded that results described in 2004 Science article including DNA fingerprinting analyses and photographs of cells have also been fabricated.

3. Verity of the cloned dog, Snuppy

We also carried out DNA fingerprinting analyses on the cloned dog Snuppy whose generation has been published in Nature in 2005 (Lee BC, Kim MK, Jang G, Oh HJ, Yuda F, et al. 2005. Dogs cloned from adult somatic cells. Nature 436: 641). We obtained somatic tissue from the egg donor, blood samples from Snuppy, from Tie, the dog that provided somatic cells, and from the surrogate mother and engaged three independent test centers for the analyses. Results from analyses of 27 markers that allow distinguishing amongst extremely-inbred animals and of mitochondrial DNA sequencing indicate that Snuppy is a somatic cell clone of Tie.

4. Propriety of procedure in acquiring and using human eggs

Information obtained from computer files and notes of Professor Hwang's laboratory members, from records of egg donation by four hospitals including the MizMedi Hospital, and from interviews with relevant personnel confirmed that from November of 2002 to November of 2005, a total of 2061 eggs from 129 females have been collected from four hospitals and provided to Professor Hwang's team. The exact accounting for the number of eggs used for each of Science articles is impossible as the initiation date for each project is uncertain and laboratory recording is not thorough. However, while the 2005 article claims to have used 185 eggs, laboratory notes indicated that at least 273 eggs have been used from September 17 of 2004 to February 7 of 2005.

Regarding the article in 2004, Professor Hwang claimed to have been unaware of the egg donation by the laboratory members. However, the graduate student who donated eggs informed the committee that the act of donation, while voluntary, was approved by Professor Hwang. Egg aspiration was carried out by Dr. Sung Il Roh on March 10 of 2003 at MizMedi Hospital, and notably, Professor Hwang accompanied the student to the hospital himself. In May of 2003, Professor Hwang's research team circulated a form asking consent for voluntary egg donation and collected signature from female technicians. This is based on information provided by eight current and former lab members.

5. The evaluation on the technical expertise of Professor Hwang's research team

The ES cells from somatic cell nuclear transfer are established through three main stages: the nuclear transfer, blastocyst formation, and establishment of the cell line. In order to be used for treatment of patients, cells from the established cell lines must be able to differentiate into desired cell types and to function in an effective manner in vivo and must be free of tumorigenic potential.

5-1. Nuclear transfer:

Professor Hwang's research team is one of the most active team internationally in performing nuclear transfer using eggs from animals such as pigs and cows. There are approximately 100 technical experts in this procedure in various veterinary institutions in Korea including those in Professor Hwang's laboratory. Thus, when it comes to animal cloning, with the added consideration for the successful cloning of a dog, Korea seems to be internationally competitive. The squeezing technique utilized in enucleation of human eggs is highly efficient in Hwang's team, but has long been used for the same purpose in animal eggs and thus cannot be considered unique or novel.

5-2. Cloned blastocyst formation:

According to Professor Hwang's record, a success rate of 10% is claimed for blastocyst formation following human nuclear transfers. However, a close examination of the data indicated that most of blastocysts are in poor condition. Some nevertheless appear to have successfully developed into blastocysts, implying that the team was in possession of technique of creating cloned human blastocyst.

5-3. Establishment of stem cell lines:

According to the records of Professor Hwang's research team regarding the stage of cell line establishment, the scientific bases for claiming any success are wholly lacking. The establishment of ES cell lines must meet the criteria of being able to differentiate through embryoid body formation or to form teratoma, for example. However, Professor Hwang's team regarded the initial formation of cell colony as the successful establishment of ES cell line, and no record of further confirmatory experiments could be found.

Taken together, Professor Hwang's research team possesses neither the patient-specific ES cell line described in 2005 publication nor the NT-1 ES cell line, the forerunner cloned cell line described in 2004 publication. The data in 2004 publication are also fabricated as can be seen by the non-match between the donor A and NT-1. Such act is none other than deceiving the scientific community and the public at large. Even the scenario based on switching cell lines cannot explain the parthenogenetically derived cell line and cannot undo the fabrication of DNA fingerprinting data.

Not all the wrongdoing of all the individuals associated with fabricated publications can be revealed by this committee. However, that the publications are fabricated alone mandates a severe penalty by the academia. These individuals cannot be regarded to represent science in Korea. We have numerous well-qualified researchers whose works are globally recognized, and we also have a world-class research capability in biological sciences that will ensure a successful partaking in the field of stem cell biology. Our judgment is thus that the scandalous case of Woo Suk Hwang and cloned ES cells will not have a large impact on the effort of the scientific community in Korea. Rather, we are certain that this learning experience will be a stepping stone for better execution and management of scientific research and contribute to scientific advancement in this country. The young scientists who courageously pointed out the fallacy and precipitated the initiation of this investigation are our hope for the future. We would like to express our gratitude to those who supported the effort of this committee and provided critical assistance.

hwang hwang woo suk hwang woo-suk Korea stem cell

Takeshima's Day

2006-01-11T17:12:00.000+09:00

On Mar 1716 2005, Shimane prefectural assembly almost unanimously adopted "Takeshima's Day" as Feb 22 every year.

This did not please some "patriotic" Koreans: Choi Jae-ik, a member of the municipal assembly of Seoul, who was visiting Japan to stop "Takeshima's Day" from being enacted, attempted to break into the prefectural congress of Shimane, with a knife in his hand.

A fanatic Korean woman cuts off her fingers to display protest to "Takeshima's Day".

One of the leaders of "Hwal-bin-dan", a Korean right-wing activist group, is biting away Japan's national flag into pieces.

Maybe it's a Korean custom to enjoy eating flags when they find something frustrating. :p

Takeshima

2006-01-09T16:30:00.000+09:00

Maybe it's rather more familiar as "Liancourt Rocks" to western people.

In 1952, amid severe anti-communist battles in the Korean war, Koreans illegally occupied these two islets, dumping most of their national defense on the UN forces.

Japan has been advocating for decades to resolve this territorial dispute at the International Court of Justice, while Korea has been defying it.

See Shimane pref's official web site for more info.

Tags: "Dokdo" history Japan Korea Takeshima

Recommended Flash Movie

2006-01-06T14:38:00.000+09:00

Are Japanese textbooks distorting history?

This is a brief flash movie created by a Japanese citizen, which describes how Japanese textbooks treat history of Japan, namely the one in the days of WW2.

It also points out that Chinese textbook makes no mentions on the Communists' suppression of democratization activities, massacres in Tibet, etc.

Chinese (simplified) version of the movie is also available.

ToDo

2005-12-03T13:44:00.000+09:00

It seems to take a couple of days to import some articles I had ever published on other web sites; I have to manage it manually, article by article, since Blogger does not support bulk import.

I also have to translate some of the articles from my main Blog (in Japanese), translate them into English, and publish anew here.

Or maybe I should get started by quoting my Flickr photos and adding some supplimentary remarks to them?

Did Japan Deprive Koreans of Their Own Language?

2005-05-23T14:43:00.000+09:00

Here's an online news I read a couple of weeks ago. Chosun Ilbo, one among the three major newspapers in South Korea, reported on Apr 21 about a second-generation Korean-American girl's short speech at the opening ceremony of the Lincoln Museum in Springfield, Ilinois.

Her speech, whose entire portion was quoted in the news article above, was as follows:

My understanding of freedom is inextricably tied up with my understanding of language. My great-grandfather, in 1940s Korea, was arrested for putting together the first Korean dictionary when the language had been banned by the Japanese government. My great-grandfather believed that words, the medium by which we formulate and share ideas, can bind and break the very ideas they express if the language is that of an oppressor. He fought for the freedom of his people to express ideas in their own words; in so doing, he defended their very right to have ideas.

As I prepare for all the freedoms and responsibilities of adulthood, I remember these definitions of freedom I have inherited, and strive to make ones of my own -- not only as the first generation of my family born in a new country, but also as an American youth at the birth of a new century. Sitting in the hall between classes, my friends and I discuss the faults of our school's administration, the right to same-sex marriage, the justification for the Iraq war. We feel it is our right to know and evaluate our surroundings, to speak and have our ideas responded to.

I believe that freedom in the 21st century means the liberty of individuals, regardless of age, race, gender, or class, to express themselves in their own words, and to use those words to shape history. We celebrate it, and yet we never stop fighting for it. I am Korean-American, I am young, and I am free. I speak -- not always articulate, not often right, but always in my own words. I speak, and I listen.

Meanwhile the very Chosun Ilbo says in another article (on Feb 27 2004) that the oldest domestic-issued Korean dictionary extant was published in 1930.

(Click to see the magnified image)

It is therefore obvious that this girl's assertion above, that her great-grandfather was arrested for putting together the first Korean dictionary, is NOT true.

Was their language "banned"?

So how about her next assertion? Was Korean language really "banned" by the Japanese government in 1940s?

It is probable that this girl is mentioning to the well-known "Korean Language Association incident" (Chosen-go Gakkai Jiken) in 1942. Dispite the association's establishment as a purely academic institute under Japan's rule in 1931, quite a few of its members were later involved in anti-government activities tightly associated with radical separationists. Japanese government therefore needed to arrest these activists in order to maintain governance of the Korean peninsula. It should be emphasized that the incident took place entirely because of the public insecurity brought about by those underground political movements, not because of Japan's aim for "banning" Korean language.

It is somehow ironical that the picture above, of the first Korean dictionary made in Korea, shows that the dictionary was issued by a Japanese publisher in Keijo (called Seoul today). How could it have come true if Korean language was really "banned" as many Koreans insist?

There are a lot of more evidences: actually the establishment of "Hansung Weekly", the first Korean newspaper written in hangul (Korean alphabet), was achieved under the guidance and support by Japanese scholars and businessmen, such as Fukuzawa Yukichi and Inoue Kakugoro.

Moreover, it was the Japanese government-general of Korea that made the first systematic contribution to standardizing and popularizing the orthography of hangul. The Korean government before Japan's rule naturally could not afford it, due to its inability in carrying out any modernized education policy.

The two articles of Chosun Ilbo above, contradictory to each other, show us how dangerous it is to take serious the history of "Japan's elimination of Korean culture" often spoken by Koreans.

Tags: history Japan Korea

Test Post I

1990-01-01T09:00:00.000+09:00

This is a simple test post for making sure each article is correctly displayed after I modify some style specifications: it should be deleted after the blog configurations are all done.

# appendded on Jan 20 2006: I've changed my mind to leave this post alive (and hidden, maybe) for uploading some tiny images like RDF link sign.