Shake-Up

The South Korean government is in the midst of a large shake-up; heads of the nation's major agencies -- the Prosecutor General, the National Tax Service (NTS), National Intelligence Service (NIS) and the National Police Agency (NPA) -- are all expected to be renamed as early as this weekend.

The shake-up comes after NTS leader Han Sang-ryule had announced plans to resign. Han has been mired in corruption and bribery allegations, says the Korea Times, including giving an expensive painting to his predecessor -- all accusations Han denies.

Spent Rods

After a year of stagnation, South Korean officials are heading into the North to restart denuclearization talks with Pyongyang.  

Talks and an aid-for-disarmament deal stalled in 2007 when North Korea refused to let international inspectors in to fully inspect all weapons without the same promise from South Korea, whom they say has nukes from the US. Both Seoul and Washington deny the claim.  

South Korea

South Korea saw in December its first rise in unemployment and subsequent shrink in job growth in five years, reports Yonhap News.

Some locals have lashed out in anger at what they call "young American hippie couples who come to teach English for big pay and easy work, stealing our jobs."

In a related news story, young American hippie couple Jared Acker and Jen Cooper, who moved to South Korea to teach English for big pay and easy work, have recently fled the country southwards to Thailand. South Korean officials believe Acker set fire to a school, tried to pass blame on to a small child, then fled.

You can follow the crazy antics of these two at Fudgepack--urr, I mean, BackpackerAcker.com
(Jared, sorry if your site is not prepared for the traffic you receive from Norman's International. I apologize in advance if it crashes, just trying to help.)

C.R.E.A.M.

Disputes over the history of WWII have crippled relations between Japan and South Korea in the past.  South Korea has accused Japan of rewriting history in national textbooks to ignore atrocities committed by Japan during the war.  

But as the great 20th-century political thinker Method Man once observed, "cash rules everything around me."  The economy has proven a remedy in putting that dispute aside as the two nations leaders met today to forge new economic relations to overcome the worldwide downturn.  

The two leaders discussed the future of their financial structures and vowed to work closely together in dealing with trade negotiations, both agreeing to broaden foreign investments.  

They also discussed their mutual commitments to dissuading North Korea from continuing nuclear plans.