Sangcheol's Diary Podcast_상철의 일기

Today is July 10, 2016. Sunday. There are ten conditions if I call a president a foolish leader. First, he or she does not listen to people’s voices. Second, he or she does not like to talk to people. Third, he or she does not know national interests. Fourth, he or she does not know diplomacy with neighboring countries. Fifth, he or she does not know how to control emotions. Sixth, he or she does endanger people’s life and country itself. Seventh, he or she does not take responsibilities given to him or her. Eighth, he or she does attribute the blame to others. Ninth, he or she does tell lies to people. Tenth, he or she doen not step down from his or her position.

Today is July 5, 2016. Tuesday. I read an interesting article today in a newspaper. The title of the article was leaders’ workholic. The writer said that there are two types of workholics among the famous kings. One of the two types is that of first emperor of Qin Dynasty of ancient China . His name was Qin Shi Huang. During the period of his ruling, he did more than 10,000 works in a day without taking a break. He was very ambitious but he did not trust anyone. So that he did it by himself. His style is called self-centeredness workholic or self-complacence workholic. The other type is that of King Jeongjo of Chosun Dynasty of Korea. Like Qin Shi Huang, King Jeongjo also worked till late at night. But he did it for his people. When people suffered due to a drought, he went through agony. When people starved, he felt he also starved. His style is called workholic for people. The writer said that anyone who claims herself as a leader must reflect on herself and should know what she is doing for.

Today is July 4, 2016. Monday. Rainy season began in Korea. A lot of rain came down from this afternoon. When I went to work this morning, there was no rain but only cloudy sky. So I left for the company without umbrella. I was a little bit careless. When I left the office at six o’clock, it rained cats and dogs. So I called my wife when I arrived at the train station. She came to pick me up. Thanks to her, I didn't get wet.

Today is July 3, 2016. Sunday. This afternoon I watched a television reality show titled "I live alone". To my surprise, one of the casts is an actress who is raising ten cats inside her apartment. She treats her pets like her baby. She feeds them, gives them a bath, and brushes their teeth. When she is together with cats, she talks with them constantly. It seems to me that she shares her life with cats. The number of people who keep a pet at home goes on increasing as time goes by. One thing is clear to me. Whenever I watch or hear the news about pet lovers, I feel that my life without a pet is not that bad.

Today is July 2, 2016. Saturday. Recently Korean President Park said that the reasons of the fall of South Vietnam were the internal disintegration and indifference. I think that this remark has three problems. First, it is too simplified prejudice. It has been a common perception that South Vietman fell due to the corruption of the governmental officials and military authorities. Second, it is a lack of diplomatic courtesy. South Korea and Vietnam have an official diplomatic relations. We can not be too careful about other country’s past history. If it is a sensitive issue, we have to be very cautious. Third, it is not a wise and proper approach to the internal political matter. Currently a case concerning North Korean defectors is being tried. Some lawyers are saying that some North Korean defectors who came to Seoul just before general election, were against their own will. So they brought it to the court to make certain of the truth of the matter. It is old fashioned to call it a red when someone demand a truth. Year of 2016 is not seventies any more.

Today is July 1, 2016. Friday. This morning I heard Mr. Bruce Van Horn’s podcast and some of his words remained inside my head. He said like this. I stopped watching television years ago, I stopped listening to the radio, especially talk radio, or news radio, simply because it is so overwhelmingly negative. And I just don’t need that in my brain. So I’m gonna encourage you to give up talk radio. You may miss what some political party or some politician did today, but somehow you find about that it really doesn’t matter to your life right now. I love Mather Teresa said if you want to make biggest impact to the world peace, go home and love your family. His words make me think of myself again.

Today is last day of this month. Also the last day of the first half of this year. There are many things happened to me for the last six months. I started to write my own blog and upload podcast. For the first time in my life, I started a diet and lost some weight. Looking back on the six months, there are many new things I tried. In the second half of this year, I am going to continue the new things without interruption. As Chinese old proverb says, water wear away stone. What matters is persistent efforts.

Today is June 29, 2016. Wednesday. There are two podcasts I like to listening in these days. One is life is a marathon and the other is daily meditation. First one is a podcast about personal development and postive thinking. Second one is a podcast related to meditation and relationship. The reason I like to hear these two podcasts is simple and clear. Everytime I listen to their voices, I feel relaxed and look back on myself placidly. They make me stop and reflect on myself. They don’t force me to do or follow their opinions. They let me breath and think and do by myself. That is the difference.

Today is June 28, 2016. Tuesday. Korean Prosecutors’ Office announced today that the death of Mr. Cho Hee-pal was confirmed and it is concluded that Prosecutors have no right of arraignment due to his death. His case was called by the Korea’s largest-ever fraud case. Mr. Cho was the mastermind behind it. He has been at large since 2008 and was suspected of swindling about 4 trillion won which is equivalent to 3.5 billion dollars from an estimated 50,000 Korean people. During the announcement, Prosecutors’ Office presented some evidences related to his death but the mass media and lots of people including the victims of swindles seems hardly to believe them. According to the media reports in the past, a lot of high ranking politicians and senior officials of Police Department and Prosecutors’ Office got involved in Mr. Cho’s fraud case so that there would be huge social and political ramifications if he is captured alive. Basically I don’t believe the conspiracy theory but it is hard to believe that the announcement of Prosecutors’ Office is trustworthy and is based on the objective facts.

Today is June 27, 2016. Monday. Yesterday a man committed suicide near the bike lanes I frequently went to on weekends. Though today was my day-off, I did not go to the bike lanes. It was very scary to go there. Instead I went to the motorways and rode a bike. However it was very dangerous and terrible. To make matters worse, I had a flat tire. It will be a hard choice whether I go back to bike lanes next weekends. There is no easy thing in this world.

Today is June 26, 2016. Sunday. Sixty six years ago when Korean war broke out, President Lee of Korean government gave away Korea's wartime operational control of troops to U.S. government. Since then, Korea has become the only country in the world without wartime operational control. If a war break out again in Korea, U.S. government will control Korean army and Korean soldiers have to follow U.S. President's orders. Two days agao, one of the opposition leaders pointed out that current government's security status is still dependet on U.S. government and defence-related corruptions are widespread like corruption heaven. However, ruling party spokewoman criticized him for his lack of security awareness and he is talking like a representative of North Korea. I do not know who is to blame for.

Today is June 25, 2016. Saturday. I once read an article regarding a divoce ceremony in Japan. Like wedding ceremony, both sides wish other party's luck and new start before going their separate ways. I still remember that it was a refreshing shock to me because I became awakened to the pleasant separation. When I think of parting in the past, there are scenes of tears at parting or the sorrow of the parting in my head. But the divoce ceremony reminded me of the 3rd way of handling separation between man and woman. When I read an article reporting that the wife of a movie director having an affair with an actress is still waiting for him to return and will never grant him a divorce, I felt stuffy. Because the man will not be returning to his wife and will live his new life regardless of divoce. From my point of view, she is going through hell now and for many years to come if she stick to her opinion. As an wife of an artist, if she decide to let go of her husband pleasantly, it would be the joyful first step for each other. Letting go of him is also to let go of her suffering. In doing so, she or he will not be the focus of the news anymore and they can start their new life individually and independently as an adult.

Today is June 24, 2016. Friday. While riding a bicycle on the bike lane, I sometimes cross the central line in spite of myself. Then the bikers coming from the opposite side start to yell at me. Most of the cases are good for me because they remind me that I am going in the wrong direction. At first I feel offended by their yelling or remarks but afterward I am grateful for their help. Through the general election held in April of this year in Korea, people sent a warning to the ruling party. It is a pity that they still feel offended by the result of the general election and do not realize the meaning of the warning until today.

Today is June 23, 2016. Thursday. I imagine. I imagine that two summits of Germany and Israel meet and come to an agreement like this. Germany gives 10 million dollars to Israel and Israel promises not to mention Holocaust any more. Israel uses those money to set up an organization for vicitims of Holocaust. I imagine that two summits of China and Japan meet and come to an agreement like this. China receives 10 million dollars from Japan and China promises not to say anything about Nanjing mass killing by Japanese army. China uses those money to establish a foundation to help victims of Nanjing massacre. Everyman with common sense will think that this is crazy and impossible thing even in your dream. However, two summits of Japan and Korea agreed at the end of last year that Japan gives 10 million dollars to Korea and Korea promises not mention anything about comfort woman issue and Korea uses those money to set up an organization for comfort woman. I think that self-respect is not given freely. It should be gained through struggle and fights for a long time. Anyone who is afraid of them is not eligible for a leader.

Today is June 22, 2016. Wednesday. Four years ago, President candidate Park promised to the Busan citizens to build a new airport if she were elected to the President. Four years later, President Park backed out of her promise. At least, she had to explain what went wrong and why she had to do. Instead, she is making nonsensical arguments that expansion of existing Busan airport is same as constructing new airport. It is sophism. In other words, it is quibbling.

Today is June 21, 2016. Tuesday. I dropped into Yeongpoong bookstore on the way home from the office to buy a book. Yeongpoong bookstore is quite a big one located near my company. In these days, I have been thinking of keeping a diary in Chinese language. After I came back from China last year, I did not have a chance to speak Chinese, nor did I practice writing Chinese. In order not to lose Chinese proficiency, I needed to find a way and do something. So I stopped by bookstore and looked around bookshelves but could not find a book I wanted. What I wanted was a book how to keep a diary in Chinese language. The books I found at the bookstore were very basic level ones for children. There were no books for me to refer to. I felt weird that there was no single book for me inside such a big bookstore. However, getting out of the bookstore's door, I thought that this might be a good sign for me. If there is no such a book to teach me how to do, I will try and learn how to do it by myself and do it. Hands empty, but learned a valuable thing.

Today is June 20, 2016. Monday. One of the most surprising news I heard on the half of this year was that military parade on Geumnam-Ro, the street of Gwangju, Jeollanamdo, Korea was planned by The Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs of Korea but it was cancelled after strong opposition from the related organizations and opposition party. According to the plan by The Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, they had planned to have an airborne unit responsible for the massacre of Gwangju citizens during the May 18 pro-democracy movement march down Geumnam-Ro after the ceremony commemorating the Korean War. A military band, war veterans, about 150 soldiers of the 31st Division and over 50 soldiers of the 11th Airborne Brigade in Damyang, Jeollanam-do were also to take part in the parade. Geumnam-Ro was the name of streets where numerous citizens were killed due to collective shooting by the airborne troops dispatched by martial law at the time of the pro-democracy movement in May, 1980. The 11th Airborne Brigade, which was stationed in Gangwon-do in 1980, was dispatched to Gwangju by martial law at the time of the May 18 pro-democracy movement. The 11th Airborne Brigade, which was dispatched to Gwangju on May 19, 1980 opened fire at the citizens in front of the former Jeollanam-do office and in Geumnam-ro along with the 7th Airborne Brigade and killed at least 550 people. Even though 36 years have passed since the May Massacre of 1980, a lot of victioms still vividly remember what had happended on that day on Geumnam-Ro and still suffering the pain. Someone said that this is same as Japanese troops are going to march down Nanjing streets of China where the Japanese army had murdered more than 200,000 Chinese civilians. We learn many valuable lessons from the history. One of the lessons to remember is when the government is not afraid of its own people, people also are not afraid of its own government.

Today is June 19, 2016. Sunday. There will be an announcement over new airpot construction location next week in Korea. New airport will be built on one of the two cities, Milyang or Kadeokdo, which was located on the southern part of Korea. This issue has been dragged over 10 years and there was no end of regional troubles between the two cities. However, whatever city is chosen next week, it must bring discontent from one of the two cities and is expected that the aftermath of the decision will hit the nation. From the standpoint of me, there are two things over this matter. First, it will cost a lot of money to build a new airpot so that it must be based on the economical feasibility. The money which will be used to build a new airport is tax from people, not the private money to be used thoughtlessly. Due to the economic considerations, this issue was turned down by preivious govenment but current government pushed forward this project for the last four years. Second, there is lack of national consensus on this matter. I have never seen this issue was disputed at the national assembly session or any public hearing. To hold a public meeting to collect opinions from the related local regidents is important procedure before any big governmental project being carried forward. In conclusion, I think that this issue has problems with economical efficiency and non-transparent procedure.

Today is June 18, 2016. Saturday. According to reports, there is about 7,000 podcasts broadcasting in Korea. Disputes whether podcast is broadcasting or not is not important to me. Because it is already widespread broadcasting among people and it is one of the common tools to be used by anyone to speak. Although it is just an audio or video file, it is freely uploaded and downloaded by anyone if he or she wants to do. Some of the podcasts in Korea are being downloaded more than 1 million times weekly and its influence is much more than conventional mass media such as newspapers or cable TV channels. One of the important reasons that ruling party in Korea was defeated at the general election held in April 2016 is said that the younger generation in Korea likes to listen to podcast broadcasting and was much influenced by politically-minded podcasts. There are some more reasons why podcasts are popular in Korea and I will give some thoughts on that matter next time.

Today is June 17, 2016. Friday. While having supper , my wife told me that there was a dark circle under your eyes. She worried over my health. In fact, I was a little bit tired when I came back home. I worked very hard this week. Literally I was exhausted. In addition, every evening when I come back home, I walk 40 minutes from train station to my home. Furthermore, I am on a diet from last month. I am slightly losing weight. As an old Chinese proverb says, too much is as bad as too little. I will rest as much as possible this weekend.

Today is June 16, 2016. Thursday. Which language is the most difficult to speak or write ? It seems to me that it is my mother tongue. That does not mean that I cannot speak Korean. I am a native Korean and Korean is my native language. But as I grow older, I realize that it becomes more and more difficult for me to speak and write with Korean. I always have many thoughts going on in my head but it is not easy for me to express myself cleary with writing or speaking. This problem will be with me until the end of time.

Today is June 15, 2016. Wednesday. On the way home from the office, I gotten on the wrong bus. Basically I take a walk from the train station to my house but today I was in wrong bus which took me far away from my house. So I had to walk back and it took about 10 minutes. While walking back to my house, I realized how important daily routines. Every morning I did not pay attention to the bus number and took any bus to the train station. That was my daily morning routine. That led me to the wrong bus this evening. Small thing is not always small. It is the root of big thing.

Today is June 14, 2016. Tuesday. As an old Chinese proverb says, there is only foolish king that make the country turn into turmoil. That means that if the foolish king has power, the country must face a lot of difficulties and perish. In a democratized society, I do not need a strongman or dictator. What I want to see everyday on the TV screen is a President who acts in a rational way and leads our country to the future not the past. Current President' remaining term is a year and a half. It is too long.

Today is June 13, 2016. Monday. There are a lot of cable television channels in Korea. Among them, JTBC is my favorite one. The reason I like to watch JTBC is very simple. JTBC is different from other channels. Especially JTBC news room which is JTBC’s main news program, is very popular in Korea. Most of Koreans love to watch JTBC news room because it has its own voice. It tells a story that other channels do not want to tell or are afraid of telling it due to the pressure of the government. Its reporter or anchor’s reporting is not only correct but also rich in content. I think that it is a high quality news program which is seldom to find in Korea. Although JTBC news room’ s broadcasting hours is 80 minitues every day, it seems always short to me.

Today is June 12th, 2016. Sunday. Riding a bicyle with my spouse on weekends or holidays is one of my favorite hobbies. After having a small brunch on the morning of Saturday or Sunday, I go to the bicycle road located Ara waterway near Geomam train station. As usual, yesterday and today afternoon I went to there with my wife and rode almost four hours. Riding a bicycle is one of the most simple ways for me to clear my head and loosen the stress built up during the week. During the riding, I talk to my spose this and that happened during the week and hear her opinions. After riding, I feel a little bit tired. But I feel myself fully charged up every Monday morning.

Today is June 11, 2016. Saturday. One of my collegues, Mr. Lee Kuhee was dead yesterday morning due to a heart-failure. When I was working at other department fifteen year ago, I came to know about him. As far as I know, he was quiet and nice and always made everybody comfortable. Althought he was three years older than I, he treated me as a collegue. He was a man with manners and respect for collegues. A few years ago, he completed his doctorate degree in civil aeronautics law while working at company. He also published his book last year. I was so sorry to hear that he passed away. He left too early. I pray for the repose of his soul.

Today is June 10th, 2016. Friday. This evening two news grabbed my attention. One is Ehang's world first passenger drone's planned testing and the other is new atomic element 'Nihonium'. Ehang is a name of Chinese company which unveiled a passenger drone at CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas in January this year. According to the news, Ehang's first passenger drone finally cleared for testing in Nevada and scheduled to begin testing later this year, working together with Nevada State in USA. I think that future is not on the movie screen but comes from Ehang. When I was in high school, I once tried to memorize the periodic table.The periodic table is a tabular arrangement of the chemical elements ordered by the atomic number. Although it is difficult for students to memorize it, it holds significant meaning in scientific history. Furthermore, it is very difficult to find a new element and add it to the periodic table officially. One of Japanese scientists, who led the discovery team, Mr. Kosuke Morita finally made it for the first time in Asia. Many Koreans do not like Japan but I think that we should appreciate Japanese' style in scientific research area. Advances comes from technology and science, not from hate speech.

There was a news on the television this evening about a death of 29 years ago. It was about Mr. Lee Han-yoel, who was dead 29 years ago. He was killed after being shot by police during the anti-government demonstration in 1987. In those days, police used tear gas bomb to the people participating the anti-governement demonstration. As an university student, Mr. Lee attended the demonstration in June 9th, 1987 and was shot by tear gas bomb. Unfortunately it directly hit his head and he got seriously injured right after that and was dead some days later. At that time, he was only 21 years old. Someone said that he was killed by military dictatorship, not only by tear gas bomb. Even though 29 years have passed after his death, I think that Korean society has not changed very much. Military dictatorship has not gone yet. Furthermore daughter of the former dictator is still in power. I will be sleepless tonight.

Today is June 8th, 2016. Wednesday. There are two teachers who have greatly influenced to me. One is Mr. Leo Babauta and the other is Mr. Luke Thompson. Leo is American and Luke is British. Basically they are not my teachers who taught me at school. But I was much more affected by these two masters’ websites. Ever since I had read an article mentioned Leo’s website http://www.zenhabits.net, I became a big fan of him and got to know of the simplicity and the notion of letting go. Luke made me open my eyes that British English is also existing and made me realized that British English is also beautiful. Through his website http://teacherluke.wordpress.com and his podcast Luke’s English Podcast, I am learning a lot of Britain and its culture.

Today is June 7th, 2016. Tuesday. I thought today that how powerful and how beautiful a poem might be. I read some poems of a korean poet and nun, Lee Hae-In last week but I still got the good feeling from the poem until today. Her poem is made of simple and plain language but its meaning is very deep and makes me think many things. Her poem is also very beautiful and it touches many people’s heart. Someday if I could, I would like to translate it into English. And if there is anyone who wants to learn Korean language, I can say to them that her poem is the first and most suitable text to learn by heart.

Today is June 5th, 2016. Sunday. Today I thought what I did on May 2016. First, I started my own Podcast on the itunes. Out of many podcast hosting sites, I selected Podomatic.com and quite satisfied with it now. I have been listening a lot of podcastes related to english learning such as Luke’s english podcast and ESL podcast. I will upload my diary files just like writing my own diary on the book. Second, I started to eat only vegetable salads every luch hour. I eat luch every day on the dining facilites on the fifth floor of my company. My daily memu for luch was always Korean traditional soup and rice together with Kimchi as side dishes. After eating lunch, I come to my office and take a nap half an hour every day. One day in May, I decided to change my daily lunch practice and eat only salads. Sometimes I feel hungry around 4 or 5 o’clock in the afternoon but I can’t help it. Third, I started to walk from train station to my home in the afternoon. After hours, I take the train and bus to come back home. When I arrived at train station in the past, I usually got on the bus without any second thoughts. But one day in May, I thought that I lacked of daily excercise and then began to walk toward to my home. It took almost 40 minutes. At first I felt my knees were painful but graually the pain got less and less. I will continue to do above three new decisions on June and add some more new things if possible.

Today is May 30th, 2016, Monday. Today I thought to myself about Kindle and reading habits. I really like to read books by using Kindle reading device. I have a Kindle whitepaper which I bought two years ago. Since I started to use Kindle, I didn’t go to real book stores any more. Going to the office in the morning is one of my favorite reading times. While other commuters are immersed in online game or watching Cartoons or baseball game on their smartphone, I open my kindle and start to read. Unfortunately there is no Korean bookstore and Korean language service on Kindle but I personally feel fine and it is not a big obstacle for me to use it. Compared to the times I did not know about Kindle, I am reading more books now and much more enjoying reading books on Kindle.

UN Secretary General Mr. Ban Ki-Moon might be running for Korean presidential race early next year but I have five reasons I will not vote for him.

This is the 2nd part of interview between French writer Bernard Werber and Korean anchor Son Seok Hee on May 19th, 2016.

French writer Mr. Bernard Werber appeared on Korean JTBC news program and had an interview with Korean Anchor Mr. Son Soek Hee. This is the part 1 of that interveiw.

Finally Bernard Werber appeared on Korean TV news program and he talked about his book and interesting stories.

A surprising news about Korean Singer hired ghost painter was reported in Korea.

I hopt that I want to share my feelings and opinions with listeners through my open diary podcast.