KOREA
Rights watchdog to recommend gov't collect statistics on sexual minorities
Posted : 2021-12-26 

LGBTQ activists hold a press conference at Seoul Plaza in front of City Hall in this March 27 photo, on the occasion of March 31 International Transgender Day of Visibility. Yonhap

By Bahk Eun-ji

The nation's human rights watchdog will recommend sexual minorities be included in the government's statistical and fact-finding surveys, concluding that Korea lacks any government-level efforts to learn about the demographics and current conditions of such people, it said, Sunday.

The recommendation follows a series of cases where sexual minorities, including transgender people, suffered discrimination in various sectors, such as the military and college admissions.

The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) said, Sunday, it decided on the recommendation recently to help the government set up policies to eliminate acts of hate and discrimination against LGBTQ people.



National Human Rights Commission of Korea headquarters / Korea Times file
Under the decision, the Prime Minister's Office will be recommended to prepare guidelines for statistics conducted by central government organizations to include sexual orientation and gender identity, so the statistics can be reflected in government policies.

The minister of the interior and safety, the minister of health and welfare, the minister of gender equality and family and Statistics Korea will be recommended to create new transgender-related categories in their statistical surveys.

Besides three surveys conducted earlier by the commission, there have been no government-level studies on the demographics of transgender people, and they have been omitted in the health ministry's annual survey on healthcare and medical service, the gender equality ministry's study on family and Statistics Korea's census.

Meanwhile, many other countries are moving to include additional gender options in their censuses, as well as questions about sexual orientation.

The commission said, in order to prevent discrimination against and acts of hate toward sexual minorities, sexual minorities need to be "visible," and for this, statistics and studies on their circumstances are a priority.

"The issue of the human rights of transgender people is underestimated compared to its importance, but the nation lacks reliable data on people's gender identity," the commission said.

It said, among all sexual minorities, transgender people are feared to be the most socio-economically vulnerable because of differences between their legal gender and appearance, limiting their candidacy for jobs and resulting in unfair treatment at work.

Earlier in March, former Staff Sergeant Byun Hee-soo committed suicide after being in a legal battle with the military authorities for being forcibly discharged after undergoing gender-reassignment surgery. In February, controversy arose over the admission of a transgender woman to Sookmyung Women's University. She finally gave up on entering the school.

According to the survey on 591 transgender people conducted by the commission in February, 65.3 percent said that they had experienced discrimination over the past year because of their gender identity.

Some 97 percent of the respondents said they had encountered anti- transgender hate speech through the internet including social media, 87.3 percent through broadcasting and mass media and 76.1 percent through dramas and movies, when multiple answers were allowed.

Glass ceiling cracks in financial sector

Shinhan hires female expert as chief digital officer

 2021-12-25 

Shinhan DS CEO nominee Cho Kyoung-sun, left, and Shinhan Financial Group Chief Digital Officer nominee Kim Myoung-hee / Courtesy of Shinhan Financial Group

By Park Jae-hyuk

More financial institutions have given key positions to women in their recent year-end executive reshuffles, indicating their intention to brace for global investors emphasizing gender equality, as well as the forthcoming regulation starting next year that will mandate gender balance on boards.

Shinhan Financial Group said Friday that former National Information Resources Service President Kim Myoung-hee, who had also worked for IBM Korea for 23 years, was hired as the group's new chief digital officer (CDO).

According to the group, Kim introduced artificial intelligence, big data and cloud computing technologies to the state-run institution, in order to enhance its operational efficiency and services.

"Strengthening our group's digital matrix and implementing prompt and consistent digital strategies with Kim, we will come up with easier, more convenient and newer digital finance services for our customers," a Shinhan official said.

Kim's nomination came a week after Shinhan Bank Vice President Cho Kyoung-sun was tapped as the first-ever female CEO of a Shinhan affiliate.

"She was recommended as the most qualified candidate to lead Shinhan DS, which has pushed ahead with global expansion and marketing campaigns for its own digital skills training platform, SCOOL," a Shinhan official said at that time.

Earlier this month, KB Financial Group allowed KB Securities co-CEO Park Jeong-rim ― the domestic securities industry's first female CEO ― to serve another one-year term.

NongHyup Financial Group appointed another female vice president of NongHyup Bank in its year-end reshuffle. As a result, NongHyup Bank became the only bank having two female vice presidents among the nation's five largest lenders.


Financial Supervisory Service Deputy Governor for Planning and Management Kim Mi-young / Korea Times file
The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) promoted Kim Mi-young, director general of its Illegal Finance Monitoring Department, to deputy governor for planning and management, Wednesday.

She became the FSS' first female executive to have worked for the financial watchdog since it was established in 1999. Before her promotion, all female executives of the FSS came from external institutions, such as universities and private financial companies.

Industry officials expect Hana and Woori financial groups to appoint additional female executives in their upcoming executive reshuffles in line with the recent trend.

Korea Network of Women in Finance Chairperson Kim Sang-kyung, however, pointed out that there needs to be more women holding key positions in the financial industry.

"After Shinhan Financial Group gave the CEO seat of its affiliate to a female vice president of Shinhan Bank, her vacancy was not filled with another woman of the bank," she said. "The FSS should take the initiative in this issue, but it appears to be appointing female executives reluctantly, after witnessing private firms giving key positions to women."

PRIVATIZATION FAIL

UK 

Energy Groups Call For Government Intervention As Power Prices Skyrocket

By City A.M - Dec 24, 2021, 9:00 AM CST

• Trade Association Energy UK has criticized chancellor Rishi Sunak for the lack of a clear plan to protect the industry.
• Market regulator Ofgem announced it will provide £1.83bn to suppliers that took on customers from collapsed rivals through the supplier of last resort process.
• The market regulator explained its “top priority” is protecting consumers and that it understands the challenges households and businesses are facing in light of the unprecedented increase in global gas prices.

Trade Association Energy UK – which represents over 100 members – has described record wholesale gas and power prices as a “market-wide crisis” and has criticized chancellor Rishi Sunak for the lack of a clear plan to protect the industry. Speaking to The Financial Times, chief executive Emma Pinchbeck said: “Other treasuries in Europe have already responded to the crisis, but in the UK, the energy sector is still asking if the chancellor knows that energy bills going up by over 50 percent in the new year is a problem for ordinary people, businesses, and the economy.”

Pinchbeck was not alone in her criticism this week, with EDF Energy – the fourth-biggest supplier in the UK – warning the situation was now “critical” as it urged the government to “act now to support energy customers.”

Meanwhile, Good Energy’s shares dropped four percent amid profit warnings, with the supplier downgrading its expected earnings by £3m due to soaring wholesale prices and sustained market volatility.

In a trading update to the London Stock Exchange, Nigel Pocklington, chief executive of the energy supplier described the situation as a “national crisis” and warned that “no one in the industry is immune.”

He said: “We urge the UK government to support the industry at large in navigating these short-term challenges to protect bill-payers and those that serve them

Pocklington attributed the “unparalleled” price hikes to post-lockdown demand, supply and storage shortages, cold winter weather, and escalating geopolitical tensions between Russia and Europe, with the Nord Stream 2 pipeline still waiting to be certified.

The energy firm outlined that power and gas prices on a day-ahead basis for December compared to November have been on average 36 percent and 35 percent more expensive respectively, at £256 per megawatt-hour and £2.71 per therm.

This is in line with Bulb Energy’s statements following its de-facto nationalization through the special administration process, which revealed it was costing them £4 per therm to supply energy to their 1.7m customers, while the current consumer price cap prevented them from charging customers more than 70p per therm.

So far, 25 UK energy firms have ceased trading in the past three months, affecting four million domestic consumers.

Ofgem announces new funds for suppliers as regulator seeks to reform energy industry

Market regulator Ofgem announced yesterday it will provide £1.83bn to suppliers that took on customers from collapsed rivals through the supplier of last resort process.

The funds will compensate suppliers hit by escalating onboarding costs, and to ensure households are not left in the lurch this winter if further suppliers collapse.

However, these costs will eventually be felt by consumers – and support Investec’s recent analysis that UK households will suffer a £3.2bn collective bill this winter when combining the onboarding costs with the sums required to prop up Bulb through the winter until a new buyer can be found.

When asked for comment, the market regulator said: “Ofgem’s safety net has protected more than four million customers through the unprecedented global gas prices this year, making sure they have an energy supplier and household credit balances are honored. This comes at a cost, which we always seek to minimize. As we announced last week, we’re also stabilizing the retail market with robust stress tests for all suppliers.”

Ofgem has also announced proposals for stringent financial stress tests to ensure energy firms hedge against market shocks in the future.

It is also currently engaged in an industry consultation on the consumer price cap after industry bosses including Scottish Power CEO Keith Anderson have called for the mechanism to be reformed – with findings expected early next year.

Chief executive Jonathan Brearley told BBC’s Today Programme that consumers should expect the price cap to rise again next April, following the 12 percent hike in October.

He argued it was reasonable for the cap to reflect current market conditions with surging gas prices.

Brearley said: “The price cap has done a good job for consumers…but where you have legitimate price increases, those costs have to be passed on to consumers.”

Pantheon forecasts the price cap could increase by as much as 40 percent next Spring, while Investec predicts prices could rise by over 50 percent and reach £2,000 per year for average use.

According to The Times, UK ministers are considering a number of potential options targeted at households to mitigate the impact of the huge jump in bills.

Related: Cities Around The World Are Trying To Cut Out Natural Gas

This includes finding ways of spreading the price rises over a longer period, possible cut in the five percent value-added tax rate on energy bills; and an expansion of the Warm Homes Discount scheme, which supports 2.7m vulnerable households.

Meanwhile, Ofgem has not escaped criticism with Citizens Advice earlier this month accusing them of a “catalogue of errors” and for failing to proactively manage the industry, allowing unfit suppliers to stay in the market.

In response to the criticism, Ofgem told City A.M. it accepted “the energy market needs reform and quickly” as the “current system was not designed for this sort of extreme market event”.

The market regulator explained its “top priority” is protecting consumers and that it understands the challenges households and businesses are facing in light of the unprecedented increase in global gas prices.

By City AM

China replaces Xinjiang Communist Party chief Chen

JUSTICE 

WITH CHINESE CHARACTERISTICS

Posted : 2021-12-26 

Uyghurs and other members of the faithful pray during services at the Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar in China's Xinjiang region, April 19. AP-Yonhap

China has replaced Chen Quanguo, who as Communist Party chief in the Xinjiang region oversaw a security crackdown targeting ethnic Uyghurs and other Muslims in the name of fighting religious extremism.

Chen, in his post since 2016, will move to another role and Ma Xingrui, governor of the coastal economic powerhouse Guangdong province since 2017, has replaced him, the official Xinhua News Agency said on Saturday. It gave no other details.

United Nations researchers and human rights activists estimate more than one million Muslims have been detained in camps in western China's Xinjiang region. China rejects accusations of abuse, describing the camps as vocational centers designed to combat extremism, and in late 2019 said all people in the camps had "graduated."

Chen, 66, is a member of China's politburo and is widely considered to be the senior official responsible for the security crackdown in Xinjiang. He was sanctioned last year by the United States.

On Thursday, U.S. President Joe Biden signed into law a ban on imports from Xinjiang over concerns about forced labor, provoking an angry Chinese condemnation.

Some foreign lawmakers and parliaments, as well as the U.S. secretaries of state in both the Biden and Trump administrations, have labelled the treatment of Uyghurs genocide. (Reuters)

Christmas in Korea in 1880s: politics and parties: Part1
Posted : 2021-12-25 

Hwangwonjeong Pavilion in Gyeongbok Palace in the winter of 2012 Robert Neff Collection

By Robert Neff

Christmas in Seoul in 1884 was anything but joyous. Earlier that month, the violent but failed attempt to overthrow the government had unnerved the handful of Western residents causing most of them to seek sanctuary in Jemulpo (modern Incheon). Horace N. Allen ― an American missionary and the foreign community's physician ― elected to remain in Seoul with his wife and infant son.

Of course, Allen was not the only American who remained in Seoul. Ensigns George C. Foulk and John B. Bernadou stayed at their post at the American legation. In a letter to his father in early January 1885, Foulk described the events surrounding the coup attempt and denounced the acts of his superior and some of his peers:

"On December 22 the U.S. minister [Lucius Foote] skedaddled, bag and baggage, for Japan or [Jemulpo] or somewhere ― anywhere so as to get away from Seoul. I was left by his verbal order in charge of the legation as acting minister… From December 20 to 29 I was the only foreign representative in Seoul. The others had all left, and two at least showed themselves scared and cowardly."



The peacefulness of Gyeongbok Palace in the winter of 2012 Robert Neff Collection

For Christmas, Foulk and Bernadou gathered at the Allens' house in a feeble attempt to capture the Christmas spirit. From Allen's diary we can see that gifts were received but not from Santa Claus:

"Yesterday was Christmas. Fannie gave me a nice embroidered satin cap and two satin ties with a silk case to keep them in all of her own make. I had bought a nice silk dressing gown for her in Yokohama at a cost of $15.00 but it with a lot of foreign mail may [have been] lost at the beginning of our trouble."

The "trouble" he was speaking of was, of course, the coup attempt which started at the Korean post office on the evening of Dec. 4. The only redeeming points of the season for Allen appear to have been his baby's new tooth and some gifts from King Gojong, as expressions of appreciation for his service following the coup.

Allen was impressed with the monarch's grandiose generosity and gushed in his diary:

"[The first] was [a] handsome folding screen of tin leaves richly and tastefully embroidered in silk on a white satin back…. The other present was a piece of the ancient Corean pottery very perfect and said to be six or seven hundred years old."

The missionary was quite pleased when Foulk (whom he described as "probably the best judge of these things") declared them to be the best he had ever seen ― "rare and choice pieces."

Foulk may have presented a merry appearance at Allen's home but he was not in a very Christmassy mood ― his house had been ransacked during the coup and it may have rankled him to see his host so richly rewarded by the Korean monarch. In a letter to his parents in January, Foulk claimed he "forgot all about Christmas."



The Han River is partially frozen over in the winter of 2016. Robert Neff Collection

The following Christmas (1885), we know very little about it save that it was held at the home of one of the American missionaries. The only account I could find of the day was from Rev. Henry Gerhard Appenzeller who went out for a short ride through the streets of Seoul and the surrounding countryside and was so inspired by it that he wrote an article for one of the religious magazines.

He encountered several children with "a wooden frame like a chair, strapped to their backs, going to the mountains for wood to keep themselves warm" and felt a degree of pity for them as there were "no Christmas trees, weighed down with gifts" waiting for them upon their arrival at their homes. Appenzeller lamented that Korea was filled with "bright, cheerful boys and girls" but they knew "nothing of the joys of Christmas times." It was his hope that after Sunday schools were established on the peninsula that Santa Claus would come and visit the Korean children and make them happy.

As mentioned earlier, we know almost nothing about the Christmas dinner save that Foulk attended and he declared it to be "very pleasant." One thing I have always liked about Foulk was his wordiness ― his letters home and his reports to the State Department were always full of minute detail ― but apparently on the subject of Christmas he was always at a loss for words.



Korean fishermen ― young and old ― hoping to catch a big one, circa 1890s Robert Neff Collection

In 1886, Horace Underwood, an American missionary, had the honor of hosting the Christmas party at his home. He apparently invited the entire Western community, including all of the missionaries, the Russian, British and American representatives to Korea and the members of the Korean Customs Department. He decorated the great rafters of his home "with boughs of evergreen mingled with holly and mistletoe." Because he lacked suitable furniture, he sacrificed his bed so that it could be made into "three easy chairs and two ottoman settees." All were covered with Chinese brocaded silk and the cheery glow of the fire blazing in the fireplace gave the room "a gala appearance quite worthy of Christmas." Foulk did not attend as evidenced by his letter to his parents:

"Christmas I spent in the country in a purely Korean way. By December 21 I was so worried, tired, and disgusted, that I thought I could not stand further work, and so I went off to [Bupyeong], a place about seventeen miles in the country. I went tiger hunting once or twice, tired myself out completely and got no tiger."

By 1888, the number of Americans in Seoul had greatly increased by an influx of missionaries, military and government advisers and even three teachers. Christmas of 1888 wasn't characterized so much by who attended the parties but rather who was excluded.

As in the previous years, the entire community was invited to one of the missionaries' residence for a day of good food, music and conversation ― everyone, that is, except Ferdinand Krien, the German consul general. When he appeared at the door, he was informed he was not welcomed and politely asked to leave. The surprised and hurt diplomat returned to his legation where things only got worse.


Many of the Westerners in Seoul welcomed winter and the luxuries of holidays, a luxury Korean women apparently didn't enjoy. Circa 1900s. Courtesy of Diane Nars Collection

According to an English newspaper:

"We hear from [Seoul] that the German Consulate-General there was burnt down on Christmas Eve; fortunately the occupants escaped unhurt, and as the German residents had dined there they were all on the spot, and helped to save a good deal of the furniture and personal effects. It appears that during the Christmas Eve dinner most of the boys were wanted to attend on the guests, when one of them was stupid enough to shovel more coal into a stove than was required. The overheated stove became a mass of red hot iron, and set the whole place in a blaze."

Despite the tragedy of the fire at the German legation, Krien continued to be shunned by the American missionaries. He soon discovered the source of his ostracism was the wife of Karl Weber, the Russian representative to Korea. Mrs. Weber had informed the community of American women that Krien and his staff held orgies in the German diplomatic compound. Of course, this could not be tolerated and so the women thought it best to shun him. Krien was furious when he learned of these charges and denied them emphatically. He demanded an apology and the incident was settled eventually by the German and Russian senior diplomats in China.

Sometimes Christmas had to be celebrated away from friends and family. Clarence Greathouse, the American legal adviser to the Korean government, celebrated Christmas aboard the Higo Maru ― a small Japanese steamer ― bound for Jemulpo.

It is a shame that Greathouse did not describe the events in his letter to his mother. But fortunately, one of his fellow passengers did ― an English painter and writer named Arnold Henry Savage Landor.


Korean boys sell sweet jellies on the streets of Seoul circa 1900s. Robert Neff Collection
According to Landor, the ship's Chinese steward assured them ― in pidgin English ― that the ship's Christmas dinner would be on par with one found in England. On the menu were fish, roast turkey, puddings and soup. Port, brandy, champagne, wine and beer would be served all night. Passengers were encouraged to have as much food and drink as they wanted and, best of all, it was free!

Soon, the steward, dressed in his best silk gown and jacket and ringing a dinner bell with all his might, announced dinner was to be served in the main cabin. Landor's account of the meal is very amusing (and likely exaggerated):

"The tables and walls had been decorated with little paper flags and flowers made of the brightest colours that human fancy could devise, and dishes of almonds and raisins filled the centre of the table. There were little flags stuck in those dishes, and, indeed, everywhere. A big cake in the middle had prudently been tied to the table with a string, as the rolling motion of the ship was rather against its chances of keeping steady in the place that had been assigned to it, and the other usual precautions had been taken to keep the plates and glasses in their proper positions.

"Our dinner-party consisted of about eight. At one moment we would be up, with our feet on a level with our opposite companion's head; the next we would be down, with the soles of their boots higher than our skulls.

"It is always a pretty sight to see a table decorated, but when it is not only decorated but animated as well, it is evidently prettier still. When you see all the plates and salt-cellars moving slowly away from you, and as slowly returning to you; when you have to chase your fork and your knife before you can use them, the amusement is infinitely greater."

The chief entertainment of the evening appears to have been "Mr. Greathouse, who, like many of his countrymen, has a wonderful gift for telling humorous stories, of which he had an unlimited supply, kept us in fits all evening, and in fact the greater part of the night … [with] his Yankee yarns."



Winter at Maibong mining camp (part of the American-owned Oriental Consolidated Mining Company) in northern Korea circa 1901-05. Courtesy of the Lower Family

It is a shame that Greathouse with his "wonderful gift" did not write down any of "his Yankee yarns." Fortunately, when his mother came to live with him in Seoul she faithfully made daily entries into her diary. One such entry displays her disappointment with Christmas in Korea and her nostalgia for the past:

"It is Christmas Eve now, after 12 o'clock when I was a child we looked with much interest to the clock striking 12, then we all would cry out Christmas Eve ― meaning we had caught them and we expected a gift ― sometimes we got it and sometimes we did not. Then after 12 at midnight we often watched for the striking and would call out to someone [for a] Christmas gift and most always our stockings were hung up to receive presents in. It was rare fun, coming only once in a year. We rarely have such fun now, with children it is spent in another way ― but presents are forth coming too. But none of the old fashion ways are indulged nowadays."

So, how did American children ― as well as their non-American peers ― celebrate Christmas in Korea in those days? That is a tale for tomorrow. Wishing all of you a very merry Christmas.

Christmas in Korea in the 19th century: Santa and Christmas trees: Part2

Posted : 2021-12-26

Not everyone was happy to see Santa in 1954. Robert Neff Collection

By Robert Neff

Starting in 1890, Christmas became one of the largest social events held in Seoul by the Western community. Unlike the previous decade when the Western residents of Seoul were mainly single missionaries and diplomats, there were now families with small children and they brought with them the familiar holiday traditions of Santa Claus and Christmas trees.

For many children, the magic of Christmas is Santa Claus and, as I noted a couple of years ago, the American children in Seoul dutifully wrote letters to the jolly old soul in which they extolled their good behavior (and naturally glossed over their naughtiness) in an attempt to convince him they were deserving of his visit and, more importantly, a gift. Without exception they succeeded.

Such was the case of Maurice, the eight-year-old son of Horace Allen (the secretary of the American Legation in Seoul), who, in 1894, found a pair of ice skates under his Christmas tree after a letter had been written to Santa Claus. His exuberant belief amused the adults, including John Sill, the American minister to Seoul, who wrote: "It hardly seems possible that a boy his age should really believe such a thing, but he appeared most innocent."

Young Maurice's conviction of the veracity of Santa was strengthened three years later at the American Legation's Christmas party, when Santa suddenly appeared and presented him and the other children with gifts.


Korean children greet Santa in 1954. Robert Neff Collection

Although I have been trying to confine this article to anecdotes about Americans residing in Seoul, I am compelled to include Santa's visit to Wonsan in 1896. As most parents are more than aware, Santa is a very busy man and sometimes requires assistance. Mr. L. Ahrendts, a member of the Korean Customs Department at that port, took it upon himself to assist Santa by assuming his dress and role. It was an unforgettable act and was described in The Independent (an English- and Korean-language newspaper that was published in Seoul):

"He was robed in scarlet mounted with beautiful snow cotton ― a veritable 'old Santa,' as he bound down from the snowy North. He had not finished his stories to the children, when by an accidental twitch of the hand the cotton took fire, and in a moment he was [engulfed] in a mass of flames. Mr. Ahrendts' presence of mind enabled him to free himself very quickly of the burning robe, thus came off with nothing more serious than a severely burned hand. It was a moment of intense excitement. And after all was over, the frightened children scarcely knew what to make out of 'Old Santa,' that he should take his departure in a burning flame like that."

While Santa enthralled (and, in some cases, frightened) children, it was the Christmas trees that seemed to bridge the cultural gap between the foreign residents and their Korean hosts. One example is in 1890 when Lillias Underwood hosted a Christmas party in her home and took great delight in entertaining her son and his young guests ― describing them as "a queer little company." Years later she wrote:

"[There were] little Americans from the missionary homes, little English from the consulate, little Russians, little chubby Japanese from the legation, little German Americans, Canadians, one Korean and the very cunningest little Chinese baby you ever did see, all wadded up in such an amazing number of gay quilted coats he could roll one way as well as another, and could roll all day without hurting himself."



Christmas dinner at a U.S. Army camp in Korea in 1954 Robert Neff Collection

There were, naturally enough, some problems in entertaining so many children of varying ages. Some felt they were too old to sit with the youngest children and demanded a place with the older children or with the adults. Their demands were met with apologies and quick seating changes and dinner was promptly served.

However, it wasn't the meal the children were interested in ― they were interested in the magic: the Christmas tree. Obtaining a tree had been no easy task. Underwood wrote:

"The poor around the city, where trees are quite scarce, cut them down so fast for fuel that the cutting of trees had been forbidden by law, and, unless one can be had from someone's own land, we must do without."

Fortunately, after several days of searching and waiting, a small tree was obtained just before the party along with "large bunches of the beautiful mystic mistletoe so prized by our English cousins, and long branches of evergreens."

She had the tree set up in the parlor and the evergreen branches and mistletoe were used to decorate the walls and ceiling. The parlor was carefully closed off so that none of the curious and expectant little tykes could get an early peek.



A postcard from the 1930s shows the Korean countryside during the winter. Robert Neff Collection

As the children were finishing their meal, the partition was moved aside and the candles on the tree were all lit, allowing the children to see it for the first time "all blazing and glittering." I am sure there are more than a few parents who can relate to what happened next.

"Such a clapping of hands, such shining eyes! Each of the babies had a rattle, each of the boys some trumpet or musical instrument, and soon the racket was all that a boy could desire, or Christmas time-honoured custom demand."

The party soon ended but the tree was not finished entertaining yet. A group of little Korean schoolgirls and their teacher arrived to gaze with wondering eyes at [its] bright lights and glittering trimmings. Then they sat down on the floor, Korean fashion, and received their gifts, had their little feast of Christmas dainties, and were sent home greatly perplexed how to carry away all the goodies that had been given to them."

The following afternoon, the Korean boys from the orphanage were invited for tea. Preparations were made well in advance as long low tables had to be set up with trays of bread, sweet crackers, cookies, cakes, tarts and other exotic treats.

At the appointed time, the smallest little boy led his companions to the Underwood house which they entered, dropped their wooden shoes in the hall and made their most humble and polite bows. Underwood recalled that they were "such a lively and brilliant little company, coats of cherry, blue, green, purple, red, white with bright ribbons fastening their long braids."

They were taught some American games and they romped about until they were served their treats. After they had partaken of all the cakes and pastries they could eat, they were taken into the parlor "and found the tree waiting in all its glory. When the penknives, etc, had been appropriated by their joyful little owners, excitement was at its height. They sat speechless with pleasure. They were aching to return [to their orphanage] and enjoy their gifts, so they soon made their bows and farewells…"



Waiting to enter Gyeongbok Palace in 2012. Robert Neff Collection

What happened to the Underwood Christmas tree of 1890? Early the following morning, it was discovered that "a dishonest servant" robbed it of its tinsel and paper ornaments. Robbed of its initial beauty, it was declared that the tree had served its purpose and was promptly chopped into pieces and used to heat the house.

"He [the tree] blazed up merrily and made a delightful, warm, cheery fire, and even his ashes were used to brighten up the andirons till they shone as never before."

Every year in the 1890s there were Christmas parties held in the homes of missionaries and diplomats ― all of them had beautiful Christmas trees and judging from the accounts, each venue competed with its rivals to have the most beautiful tree. Despite their valiant attempts, it appears the Americans did not have the best Christmas trees in Seoul ― the Russians did.

Yet, it was the Americans who managed to catch the attention of the Korean royal family. In 1894, Christmas found its way into the Korean palace through the efforts of Lillias Underwood, who set up a Christmas tree for the royal family. It wasn't a great success as she recalled:

"Soon after Christmas I dressed a Christmas tree for the royal family, but to my great vexation, the effect was quite spoiled because their majesties were too impatient to wait till dark to view it, and one cannot lock the doors on kings and queens and forbid them to do as they will in their own palaces. There were no heavy hangings or means of darkening the room, and so the poor little candles flickered in a sickly way in the glaring daylight, and I felt that Western customs were lightly esteemed in the critical eyes of the East."



Gyeonghoeru Pavilion in Gyeongbok Palace in 2012. Western residents of Seoul were often invited to the palace during the winters in the late 1880s and early 1890s to skate on the ice. Robert Neff Collection

The year of 1894 was not the only royal encounter with a Christmas tree. According to an article published in the United States, sometime prior to 1905, Crown Prince Yi Un (Emperor Gojong's youngest son) "had a burning desire to shake off ambiguous attendants and to flee away into the great unknown world beyond his father's walls and to explore it all by himself." The young royal climbed to the top of the wall and looked down into the kindergarten compound managed by an American missionary named Ella A. Lewis. She had a Christmas tree set up, "festooned with all the gay trimmings at her command, and candles a plenty to send out their lively gleams, and to crown all a huge star."

The young prince was amazed at the sight of the Christmas tree with its "intoxicating lights and colors." It was like no tree he had ever seen before. The article notes that there were trees within the palace, "wonderful trees, twisted pines that appeared even older than the hills that looked down upon them, spreading chestnuts and cherry trees that had reached their maturity no one remembered when and, very awesome, certain sacred trees, that had as it were chips on their shoulders, and to appease whom it was necessary to build altars and offer up sacrifices, otherwise their malicious spirits might bring down upon royal heads a plague of smallpox or other dreadful calamity."

These trees frightened him but the Christmas tree enthralled him. "Bravely he slid down the wall and lost no time in making known his desire to see this phenomenon at close range." While Lewis was undoubtedly delighted to have a visit from the young prince, it also caused problems. The "divinity" of the prince's social standing far exceeded that of her young charges and she feared aiding and abetting a runaway prince might have international repercussions, so she made a deal with the young man. If he could gain his father's consent, then she would allow him to come back the following evening and she would show him the Christmas tree ― just the two of them.

If we are to believe this tale, the emperor did grant permission, and the young prince was granted a private viewing. As for the trees in the palace, the article implies that they "wrought their malicious deeds" and that before the young prince reached adulthood, he had lost his mother and the Korean people had lost their freedom. There is one thing, however, that the prince did not lose: his memory of the Christmas tree. Whenever he returned to Seoul he supposedly never failed to visit Lewis and give her a gift in appreciation for allowing him to have that glorious hour with his first Christmas tree.


Robert Neff has authored and co-authored several books including, Letters from Joseon, Korea Through Western Eyes and Brief Encounters.

STATEHOOD OR INDEPENDENCE
Puerto Rico’s shattered power grid could become a ‘big experiment’ for Biden

The crumbling electricity network that serves the island's 3 million people is at the center of a debate on renewable energy vs. fossil fuels — with billions of federal dollars at stake.


Renewable energy and consumer advocates say that money is best spent on putting solar panels on the roofs of every home on the sunny island, with the aim of creating a decentralized source of power generation. | Dennis M. Rivera Pichardo/AP Photo


By GLORIA GONZALEZ
12/25/2021 

A pair of hurricanes and an earthquake left Puerto Rico’s power system in tatters.

But now residents and clean-energy advocates see hope in the island’s effort to rebuild the electric grid — saying it could offer the rest of the nation a model for achieving President Joe Biden’s ambitions for a reliable power network free of greenhouse gas pollution.

First, though, the U.S. territory has to get past a pitched fight over the privatization of its power grid, as well as a debate on how to leverage billions in recovery dollars from the federal government.

The electricity network that serves 3 million people in Puerto Rico has long suffered from outages that experts blame on poor management and under-investment. And its transition to a cleaner, more reliable power system is off to a rough start.

Just six months into a 15-year contract to run Puerto Rico’s electricity transmission and distribution network, LUMA Energy is facing protests from residents who say blackouts have worsened, criticism from greens that it is moving too slowly to add renewable power and growing scrutiny from the territory’s legislature. That last dynamic reached a peak in November when lawmakers sought the arrest of the company’s top executive.

LUMA, owned by Canada's ATCO group and U.S.-based Quanta Services, has also become the target of an activist campaign seeking to revoke its contract, an effort that has drawn the attention of the House Natural Resources Committee, which is looking into whether the company is living up to its promises.

Solar panels installed by Tesla power a community of 12 homes in the mountain town of Las Piedras, Puerto Rico. | Dennis M. Rivera Pichardo/AP Photo


Solar vs. gas

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has $9.4 billion — the largest amount awarded in the agency’s history — allocated to restore and protect Puerto Rico’s power network from the type of disasters that have plagued it.

Renewable energy and consumer advocates say that money is best spent on putting solar panels on the roofs of every home on the sunny island, with the aim of creating a decentralized source of power generation. This could minimize the widespread blackouts that have occurred when storms damage the miles of power lines that run across rugged terrain from the oil-fired power plants that provide most of the island’s electricity.

Those plants are still owned by the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, the local government-owned utility being privatized that turned the grid over to LUMA and which most experts blame for years of poor management. Besides being plagued by blackouts, the grid is expensive: Residents on the island paid an average of 19.24 cents per kilowatt hour in 2020, nearly 50 percent higher than the average U.S. home.

A new coalition of clean energy, union and other organizations, Queremos Sol, is lobbying federal officials to intervene in the rebuilding to sharply expand the amount of solar energy on the island. It says such an initiative aligns with Biden’s plan to achieve 100 percent carbon pollution-free electricity nationwide by 2035, as well as his goals of transitioning away from fossil fuel infrastructure that has been primarily sited in low-income areas and communities of color.

“Puerto Rico is a very big test,” said Ruth Santiago, a community and environmental attorney in Puerto Rico and a member of Queremos Sol, noting that this is one fight Biden can win without any resistance from Republicans in Congress. “The funds are already allocated. They’re fully within the control of FEMA under the Biden administration.”

But opposition remains, particularly among skeptics who think a wholesale shift to renewable power sources will introduce new doubts about reliability.

Jenniffer González-Colón, a Republican who is Puerto Rico’s congressional representative, doesn’t want the island to be a test case for a fast push to renewables — expressing concern about the island’s economy, particularly its pharmaceutical and medical devices industry. She says the best way to ensure reliability is to get energy from diverse sources, including liquefied natural gas imports.

“Puerto Rico could be the big experiment for the whole nation in terms of having a diversified portfolio of energy, not just one experiment in terms of renewables,” she told POLITICO.








A resident tries to connect electrical lines downed by Hurricane Maria in preparation for when electricity is restored in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico. | Ramon Espinosa/AP Photo


'The grid is in need of complete replacement'

PREPA, which regularly put off grid maintenance because of financial shortfalls, will have a major voice in how the incoming FEMA funds are spent because it must put forth projects for the agency and its regulator to approve. The utility is under pressure from the Queremos Sol coalition and other organizations to shift its focus more toward renewables rather than rebuilding existing or developing new petroleum-based infrastructure.

The system has been in “severe decay” due to years of poor maintenance and further destabilized by the 2020 earthquake, said Luis Martinez, director of Southeast energy for the Natural Resources Defense Council’s climate and clean energy program.

“I think the grid is in need of complete replacement,” he said, adding that it was not designed to withstand the more powerful hurricanes that climate change will increasingly stir in the Atlantic. “Just the layout with generation in the South being sent to the San Juan area in the Northeast across the central mountain range … makes it very difficult and costly to repair and maintain.”

Plants that run on fuel oil or diesel still provided half the island’s power in 2020, while imported natural gas has seen its share reach 29 percent and coal generated 19 percent. Hydropower and other renewables provided only 2.5 percent.

Under the 2019 Puerto Rico Energy Public Policy Act (17-2019), PREPA is required to obtain 40 percent of its electricity from renewable resources by 2025, 60 percent by 2040 and 100 percent by 2050. The law also requires it to phase out coal-fired generation by 2028.

Those figures are roughly in line with Biden’s goal for the country and set a pace that climate advocates say should preclude further dependence on fossil fuels on the island.

“I do think Puerto Rico has the opportunity to go from a system based on petroleum, which is very antiquated in terms of generating electricity, to essentially a state-of-the-art distributed renewable-based system, which can then be a model for other states,” Martinez said. He advised against taking “that intermediate step that a lot of folks seem to be pushing for, which is to go to imported liquefied gas, which is even more expensive.”

But González-Colón dismissed those green ambitions as unfeasible for the immediate future, saying the island needs to take an “all-of-the-above” approach while the grid is being rebuilt to enable more renewables.

”We need to use LNG as a way to cut expenses and stabilize the system at the same time you are investing in renewable energy,” she said.

For LUMA, the problems are more immediate. Data the company supplied to the legislature show that its average power outage time more than doubled to five hours compared with less than half that time in 2020 since it took over the grid in June, according to a report in The New York Times, though CEO Wayne Stensby has said figures from previous years undercounted the outage time. Those service disruptions prompted a protest that closed a highway in San Juan in October.

The relationship between LUMA Energy and Puerto Rican legislators has also deteriorated to the point that a judge in Puerto Rico found Stensby in contempt of court and issued an arrest order on Nov. 10 for failing to provide requested documents, including those pertaining to executive salaries and the makeup and experience of its workforce. The judge later nullified the order after LUMA provided the documents.

The grid in Puerto Rico was already “in pretty bad shape” due to the deferred maintenance by PREPA, said Cathy Kunkel, energy program manager with Cambio PR, an organization promoting sustainable policies and strategies in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. But “the LUMA privatization has certainly made things worse.”

Before joining Cambio, Kunkel was lead author of a report published in August by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis that described significant issues with the LUMA Energy contract as well as damaging voltage fluctuations and poor customer service since the company took over the grid. The report attributed the problems to a lack of personnel, insufficient transparency and the absence of effective oversight.

Stensby, at an Oct. 6 hearing by the House Natural Resources Committee, blamed a union blockade for a slow start to repair work and observed that “PREPA is unquestionably the worst performing utility in the United States by each and every measure.”

“It took two decades for PREPA to get in this state, we shouldn’t forget, and that’s why it’s so important to get started and continue to push ahead,” he said. The company has since reached an agreement with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, which will represent LUMA lineworkers, while the company will invest $10 million in a technical training program for those workers.

LUMA said it has made improvements in its first six months of managing the grid, such as upgrading more than 1,800 power poles and dozens of critical distribution breakers to reduce the likelihood of future outages.

“Any service interruption is one too many and we are working hard to make the service and infrastructure improvements so that customers see fewer interruptions,” the company said in a Dec. 3 statement.

LUMA said it has connected solar panels for 12,000 customers since June, amounting to 50 megawatts of renewable energy. In September, LUMA has also launched a map on its website to show customers and developers what areas could most easily accept solar projects. And the company said it’s on track to eliminate a backlog of solar connection requests by January.


Pushing ahead with fossil fuels

In the meantime, PREPA’s regulator authorized the utility to begin preliminary work for a new fossil fuel-powered unit or energy storage at the fuel-oil power plant Palo Seco to protect against near term price fluctuations of solar PV and battery energy storage and other potential reliability concerns. Environmental justice advocates have objected to the project because of the public health and other harms it could cause for nearby communities.

Environmental advocates are hoping with $9.4 billion in FEMA money flowing to Puerto Rico, the federal government will help tip the scales toward renewable power. But in August, the agency dashed their hopes by declaring that the power grid work in Puerto Rico would have no significant impact on the environment.

A coalition called the Alianza Energía Renovable Ahora, the Alliance for Renewable Energy Now, asked the agency in October to reconsider that finding. The coalition accused FEMA of bucking repeated instructions from Congress to direct funding away from infrastructure vulnerable to storms, failing to comply with National Environmental Policy Act’s mandates to consider all energy alternatives and their climate impacts, and failing to account for environmental justice.

In particular, the group says the agency should look at alternatives such as battery energy storage and rooftop solar.

A FEMA spokesperson said via email that it carefully reviews all requests and is evaluating this one.

But NRDC’s Martinez said FEMA could “put its foot down” and say the funding proposals must meet the Biden administration’s goals, requirements imposed by the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau and the island’s renewable energy legislative target.

“If they say that, I think that will clarify how much wiggle room the utility has to essentially go rogue,” he said. “They’re not following what the law says or what the regulators say.”

A PREPA spokesperson could not be reached for comment, but a FEMA spokesperson said via email that “while FEMA has no standing in the terms of the contract between PREPA and LUMA, FEMA has worked with the Government of Puerto Rico to maximize the flexibility of funding, including the ability to pursue renewable energy resources.”

But Queremos Sol’s Santiago said the island’s continuing power outages and its slow transition to solar power pose an environmental justice issue — one that the Biden administration has the power to address.

“What we’re seeing right now is that anyone who can afford to get rooftop solar and batteries is doing it. The problem is we don’t have a lot of people who can afford to do that on their own,” she said. “The way to get this solution in place — and everyone agrees it’s a solution to have rooftop solar and battery energy storage systems onsite — is to use those federal funds.”

Alberta Utilities Commission investigators want probe of ATCO dealings on TMX camps | CBC News

Tackling vaccine inequality: ‘There aren’t enough vaccines in the world’

Sat, 25 December 2021


As the emergence of the Omicron variant has caused a scramble for booster shots in richer nations, scientists and international organisations say tackling vaccine inequality is the only way to fight the global threat of Covid-19.

As cases continue to soar, some 120 countries have already started implementing booster programmes, the WHO's Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunisation (SAGE) said Wednesday, even as WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that "no country can boost its way out of the pandemic”.

As Omicron gathers pace, boosters have been found to provide higher levels of protection against the variant. But administering third and even fourth doses is also exacerbating vaccine inequalities around the world.

In the six weeks leading up to Christmas, the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States collectively received 513 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines while African countries have collectively received just 500 million all year, according to a study released this week by the People’s Vaccine Alliance, an alliance of health and humanitarian organisations.

Some 30 million people have already received a third dose of the vaccine in Britain while 19 million people have received a third shot in France. Israel announced this week that it would be offering a fourth shot to those 60 and over.

“What is important is that we make sure that everywhere around the world gets a jab,” Lawrence Young, virologist from Warwick medical school in the UK, told FRANCE 24 on Wednesday. “Omricon is a wake-up call that tells us what we’ve been hearing throughout the pandemic; that none of us are safe until all of us are safe.”

‘There aren’t enough vaccines in the world’

Vaccine inequality means that wealthy countries have been able to respond to the threat of the virus by securing enough doses to vaccinate their entire populations several times over, while poorer countries have not. The least well-provisioned countries, which are largely in central and southern Africa but also include countries such as Afghanistan, have been able to secure first doses for barely 60 percent of their population.

Max Lawson, co-chair of the People’s Vaccine Alliance, told FRANCE 24 that the threat of Omicron has stretched vaccine supplies to the limit, worsening access for poorer countries.

“As we go into 2022, we're faced with an even bigger supply crunch – there aren't enough vaccines in the world. In this situation of scarcity, it's the most powerful with the biggest bank balances that fight their way to the front of the queue and developing countries are, once again, left behind.”

Vaccine hoarding has also meant that many pledges from richer countries to share vaccines have not been honoured. By October 2021, one study found that of the 1.8 billion vaccine doses promised by rich countries, only 14 percent (261 million doses) had been delivered.

This has since increased, with the US donating 350 million doses by the end of the year – but it still falls short of the 1.2 billion total it has promised.

“It's the single most inefficient way of vaccinating the world,” Lawson said. “Your rich countries hoard as many vaccines as they can, and then when they've got a few spare, they send them overseas.”

‘Unacceptable supply delays’

The October 2021 study also found that four major vaccine producers (AstraZeneca/Oxford, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer/BioNTech) have also delivered less than half of the doses they promised to the Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access programme, COVAX.

Consequently, poorer countries have faced “unacceptable supply delays” throughout 2021, said a spokesperson for the Global Vaccine Alliance (GAVI), which co-leads COVAX alongside the WHO and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness.

And this has not been the only problem. Some donated vaccines have failed to meet the basic criteria for use, “in particular ensuring donations have at least 10 weeks’ shelf life and come with ancillaries such as syringes, diluent and freight costs included”, explained the GAVI spokesperson, who did not want to be identified.

Doses that fail to meet these criteria are likely to go unused. Nigeria incinerated more than 1 million doses on Wednesday that, by the time they had been donated, were already "about to expire", said Faisal Shuaib of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, a parastatal organisation linked to Nigeria’s health ministry.

Less than three percent of the adult population are vaccinated in Nigeria, and the government felt under pressure to accept the doses despite the difficulty in deploying them at such short notice.

"When these vaccines were offered to us we knew that they had a short shelf-life, but we were living in an environment where the supply of Covid-19 vaccines was very scarce," Shuaib said, adding: "They were not available due to vaccine nationalism."
‘No reason to think this will stop’

Alain Alsalhani, a vaccine and special projects pharmacist from Doctors Without Borders (Médecins sans frontières), told FRANCE 24 that COVAX’s reliance on donations, which have been meagre and irregular, means the programme has been a “total failure” for low-income countries.

Wealthier nations have naturally strived to protect their own populations as much as possible – especially at the start of the pandemic.

Crucially, high-income countries also had – and largely still have – control over the allocation of vaccines such as Pfizer and Moderna, meaning they can “easily prioritise their populations”, Alsalhani said.

“The only solution to this problem is to have a more evenly distributed production of vaccines,” he added.

Lawson believes that the main obstacle to ending vaccine inequality is “the monopoly” of Pfizer and Moderna, which essentially control all vaccine supplies through their ability to “decide how many vaccines are produced, who produces them, where they're produced, how much they're sold for and who they sell to”.

India and South Africa have advocated at the World Trade Organisation for the companies to be forced to waive the patents for the vaccines, which would mean that laboratories around the world would be able to reverse engineer them. Recently Moderna said it would not enforce its patent, effectively allowing laboratories to manufacture its vaccine, but even reverse engineering can take up to two years.

Both Lawson and Alsalhani believe that if governments pressured companies to share their technical know-how the process would be much faster – especially as Human Rights Watch reported on December 15 that there are 100 companies in Africa, Asia and South America capable of producing the mRNA vaccines.

As the virus continues to circulate, it continues to mutate. The worst-case scenario would be the emergence of a vaccine-resistant strain.

“We clearly are far from vaccinating enough of the world population to stop the circulation of the virus. And if that's the case, it means that you potentially will have new variants,” Alsalhani said. New variants could mean more boosters, or even new vaccines – in richer nations, at least.

“There’s no reason to think that this will stop,” he added.

RURAL NORTH AMERICA HAS NO BROAD BAND

New industrial WiFi system to bring 6G technologies to remote, underground mines
MINING.COM Staff Writer | December 23, 2021 

Underground mine. (Reference image by Shahir Chundra, Wikimedia Commons).

University of Sydney telecommunications researchers are developing an industrial long-range WiFi system that transmits signals to hard-to-reach places while maintaining high data rates.


The system is being created for mission-critical applications in underground mines that require remote monitoring of workers and control of sensitive mining equipment, with signals extending as far as several kilometres underground.

According to its developers, the solution could also be used in places such as airports, shopping centres, university campuses and large industrial or agricultural settings.

Ultra-low latency and high data rates are also among the qualities of the new system. These capabilities allow wireless signals to travel several kilometres while carrying heavy loads of data without dropping out or experiencing lag.

“Australia invented WiFi – and how terrific and transformative an invention it has been – except for the fact that it has been plagued by short-range and high latency, rendering it patchy and prone to dropping out. To deploy these systems in large areas such as underground mines is expensive, and often the signal quality is poor,” lead researcher Yonghui Li said in a media statement.

“Our system is the world’s first long-range high-rate WiFi system that is compatible with conventional WiFi and supports both mobile and multiple-access terminals.”

In Li’s view, the development is a cost-effective solution that opens up new possibilities for real-time surveillance, image and data transmission, all while guaranteeing low latency, which means it can be used for highly sensitive work.

In addition to improving existing connectivity issues, the solution integrated new protocols with off-the-shelf WiFi chips, so they could be used with existing WiFi infrastructure.

“Adaption of existing WiFi systems is central to our project as there are billions of dollars’ worth of WiFi infrastructure already deployed in underground mines around the world,” Li said.

The researcher pointed out that long-range, low-latency and high data rate WiFi networks will be a central facet of upcoming 6G technologies and the Internet of Things economy.