Terror in Korea

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I pray for those whose families have died in all terrorist events throughout modern history.
Anyways, to those Korean-learners who were wondering if Korea is a terrorist hotspot, here's some things about terrorism in Korea.

{North Korea}
Living is just terror. Rely on your families for happiness. (For the commoners)
---

Qantas Boeing 707, similar to the plane that was crashed
by North Koreans. The picture of that plane is really rare.
I just can't find it. (CC/Wikipedia Phillip Capper)

{South Korea}
The Republic of Korea had 30 or less terrorism events in their soil since the 1960's, if you count terrorist events that happened outside of South Korean territory that involved a Korean citizen as one of the casualties.
In the East Asian nation where even guns are rare to civilians except for shooting arenas, counter-terrorism acts are getting strict by the year. Why?

1982, when curfew abolishment
 was put into action (In Seoul).
(Instiz.net)

Simple answer: North Koreans.
Since the 50's, the North Korean government wanted to terrorize the South Koreans. They used their special forces to supply many terror attacks in South Korea, such as the Korean Air plane crash in the 80's, a secret deployment of spies and a battle that lasted for more than 40 days in the 90's, explosion of a Korean military vessel and invasion of a civilian-living island in the late 2000's. This was why "President" Park Jung Hee enforced the "야간통행금지" (통금 for short, Curfew at night) Rule, which prohibited movement from Midnight 'till 4 in the morning; to fill the streets with soldiers looking for North Korean spies. The curfew was lifted in every South Korean territory in the first day of 1988. More about the Korean curfew law in a future post.

Anyways... where was I? Even the night curfew was abolished and no terrorist events happened in the 1988 Seoul Olympics, the Republic of Korea strengthened its counter-terrorism laws, in which was strengthened again in the 2000's, when 9/11 exploded in New York, and at the other side of the world, the Seoul Olympics were coming up. 

However, the risks and possibility that there might be a major terrorist attack in Seoul (By international or national religious terrorists) have increased. Seoul is the second largest city/metropolitan area in the world, in terms of population. Besides, the Korean National Intelligence Service (KNIS) has reported that Al-Qaeda members have entered the nation at least twice. To a nation with only 40,000 ethnic Korean muslims (And more than 10 times population of Middle East migrant workers), that is a shock. Actually, to a country that used to have a majority no-religion population until recently, and to their people whom see signs of random radical protestant churches and them destroying Buddhist architecture, that may not be surprising. (Click Here for more.)
But we are still reminded that the Korean military is one of the most technologically developed armies (Hint: Samsung+LG+Kia+Hyundai), and the 7th largest in the world... next to France. We've seen that fall. (Besides, 9/11?)

ROKCDC Logo. Know where this is
when you're visitng South Korea.  ⓒROKCDC Homepage

But many people haven't heard about "민방위", or the Republic of Korea Civil Defense Corps (ROKCDC). It's something all men are trained to do, and 6.86 million people are learned what to do in a case of emergency, for example, a North Korean invasion. (In which even schoolchildren are often trained). So basically, with many people knowing where to go and what to do, Korea basically is prepared for minimum casualties during an attack. 

Well, that's it about terrorism in Korea. Remember, wherever you are, be vigilant for a terrorist attack. Even in North Korea. 

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Why does Korea Have Such a Fast Internet Speed?

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Logo of Korean "Chaebol" SK Group.

Dear 3G lovers, remember when 4G came out and suddenly 3G became that "Old and slow" internet? Well guess what, don't save up for a 4G wifi, but a 5G.


South Korea's home to the fastest average, I say AVERAGE, internet speed in the entire world, ranging approximately 25MB/s, while the U.S. doesn't even go in the top 10, with having an average of 11MB/s. In fact, Korea, unlike any other country, has an 4G "LTE-A" (LTE-Advanced) service made in 2014, three times faster than the normal LTE.

CC/Samsung

But why is this, very small and formerly one of the poorest nations in the world only 50 years ago, have the fastest average internet speed in the world?
The answer was in the sentence above; emphasize on "formerly" and "poor".

Remember my old post, "Miracle of the Han River"? Well, read that first and then you'll remember what I'm referring to.

During Korea's very fast economic growth, their technological advancement grew even faster, There were two major reasons: Since Korea (at the time), just started trading with their very technologically advanced neighbor, Japan, Korean companies had to speed up in order to compete with Japanese companies. One was to build and construct in government construction programs. The second, was to develop technological weapons against... you guessed it, North Korea. (No wonder South Korea has the seventh largest army in the world, with it being the second most technologically advanced nation, well, because they sell their weapons to the U.S. who, are the most advanced.) Anyways, tech grew, communication grew, people stopped talking as fast as possible on their phones to pay less fees, and so on. Samsung, actually at-the-time (In the 70's and 80's) developing in many sectors, (It started as a rice-trading company.) started to invest in technology.

And that, my friends, is how you get connected to Wi-Fi in buses, subways, and even the restroom in South Korea.

One more tip: Usually, at Korean restaurants, whether in Korea or not, usually have their Wi-Fi password as their phone number. It's a good marketing technique.

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Why South Korea's Suicide Rates are So High

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It's a new month!

Chart by Quartz

Just to clarify, South Korea's suicide rates are the second highest in the world, and the highest among OECD nations, for ELEVEN years. Now, why is the nation with the highest standards of living in Asia (and one of the highest in the world), have such a high suicide rate?

Famous suicides were done by president Roh-Muhyun, Yoon-hyung Lee, the daughter of the current chairman of Samsung, and a lot of people who work in the entertainment sector and get affected by the "악플" or the evil comments left behind articles.

There are a lot of reasons why people suicide in Korea. The first reason is the age gap. One of the huge factors contributing to Korea's high suicidal rate of the elderly is the growth of the young mocking the old. Even if Korea is the "nation of respect and the morning calm", many young Koreans talk behind the back of the elderly, how they always "have to stand in front of them, staring at them, in public transportation, so eventually they have to get up. And then comes the mocking, where old-people jobs such as apartment building security, can't stand up to bullies hanging around in the complex. Another thing is, that many of the young don't know what the old faced years ago, such as the Korean War, discrimination from the Japanese, and poverty. Some of the elderly feel that they're out of the game, out of society, and it's just a matter of time before they rot. So there's that,

And for the youth, as in people who already graduated college/university, many suicide due to financial issues. For people under 17, it's most likely bullying or family problems.

There's also some strange people who are INTERESTED in life after death, so they suicide. Many celebrities suicide because of comments written by very dumb people who didn't mean to write it.
Also, recent news claims that a five-year old have committed suicide.

The government has been trying to lower the suicide rate, so they banned products such as lethal pesticide that was being used for suicide, and Samsung Life Insurance installed signs on Mapo bridge, where the most bridge-fall suicides happened, and the signs had simple things like "Have you eaten?" and "The best part of your life is yet to come". (However, suicidal rates increased in Mapo bridge. But still, good try Samsung.)

People, let's seriously not suicide.
Luckily, suicidal rates have dropped since 2012, even if Korea still holds the highest suicidal rate in OECD nations.

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