Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Alyssa]

THey are willing to give up their toys for food

Looks like they are having a tough time, and the winter has just started.



3rd LD) N. Korea willing to return war prisoners in exchange for economic benefits: sources

BEIJING/SEOUL, Dec. 22 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has conveyed to South Korea that it is willing to return some South Korean war prisoners and civilian abductees in exchange for economic benefits, sources said Monday.

Pyongyang made the proposal through various undercover channels, hoping to resume inter-Korean economic exchange projects that have been suspended amid chilled ties this year, the sources well-versed in North Korean issues said on condition of anonymity.

[cdninkorea]

They're still holding Korean War prisoners? I thought I'd read it all about North Korea: the black market human flesh for sale, the euphemistically named "Pleasure Corps" for (male) senior officals, and the three levels of currency for different social classes (regular won, blue won, and red won).

But this still surprises me.

[itaewonguy]

I dont see how they can be starving...

what they don't know how to grow food???
they dont know how to fish?

[Ukon]

[samd]

[Xuanzang]

Why dont they just launch a dummy missile again?

[Ukon]

[Straphanger]

[cdninkorea]

[Guri Guy]

They certainly "farm" bears in South Korea. I not sure if they still do in North Korea. Barbaric savages...

It's incredibly cruel and totally unnecessary.

Bile acid�ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA)�has been popular in TCM for about 3,000 years. Unfortunately for them, bears produce more of it than any other mammal. Bile is excreted by the liver and stored in the gallbladder, from which it is released into the stomach to help digest food. Bear bile is marketed as a treatment for a staggering array of human maladies, from cardiac illness to impotence to sore eyes. You can buy it in almost any form: pills and powders, ointments, lozenges, wines, and shampoos. But some practitioners of TCM use herbal and synthetic alternatives to bear bile that are less expensive and more readily available.

China's Market

In 1999, a Chinese official reported that 7,002 Asiatic black bears were being held on 247 farms in China. (China is the major source of farmed bear bile. Sources indicate that there are 4,012 captive bears in Vietnam, a steep increase from the 1,059 reported in 1992 when the captive bear issue first emerged there. Over 90% of captive bears in Vietnam are Asiatic Black Bears. 85% of bear farms keep bears for bile tapping, while another 15% are for display only.

In Korea, the South Korean government may have made bile extraction illegal, but another method of bear farming is now gaining steam. WSPA and Green Korea United estimate that 1800 bears are being kept on farms. It is legal for farmers to slaughter them when they reach 10 years of age and extract their gallbladders.

Species at Risk

There are eight species of bear in the world. All but the giant panda are threatened by the trade in gallbladders and bile products. The species most targeted is the Asiatic black bear, classified as endangered by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. Because Asiatic black bears are listed on CITES Appendix I, it is illegal for China to engage in international trade in their parts. But it's impossible to tell whether a gallbladder or bile has been taken from an Asiatic black bear or from an American black bear, a species that can be internationally traded. So Asiatic black bear parts are slipping into the international market disguised as parts from their American relatives.

http://www.moonbears.co.uk/~Unbearable_Trade/109.htm

[Bryan]

Yeah, farming bears is the problem, not millions of human beings in utter poverty in the most destitute of conditions where their minds are brainwashed and their souls are destroyed.

[soviet_man]

I think there is a growing perception in South Korea that Lee Myung Bak's position to cut off all ties with the DPRK has been a failure.

If we look at the period 2004-2007 it is clear some progress was being made. There were 6 party talks, there was a joint industrial complex, some inter-Korean tourism took place, some family reunions occurred, Yongbyeon was turned off, part of the rail line was briefly re-connected. Things were happening ...

But now, it is all on ice once again. So who is to blame for this situation ... it is not the DPRK. They are a known quantity. It can be directly attributed to the right-wing ROK policies that have come in under this administration.

What possible incentive does the DPRK have to do the "right thing" by the ROK? None. Nothing.

Honestly, there is no compelling reason to blame the DPRK for the current stalling of relations. Everyone knows where they stand on the issues.

The shortages in the DPRK is not the core issue here. That has always existed.

It is a distraction from the main political problem here - which is the entrenched culture of bad governance, indecision and policy failure on the ROK side.

[DC in Suwon]

[Guri Guy]

[bassexpander]