by tyler | Mar 19, 2024 | asia, CNN
Here is a look at the life of former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte.
Birth date: March 28, 1945
Birth place: Maasin, Southern Leyte, Philippines
Birth name: Rodrigo Roa Duterte
Father: Vicente Duterte, lawyer and politician
Mother: Soledad (Roa) Duterte, teacher
Marriage: Elizabeth Zimmerman (annulled in 2000)
Children: with Elizabeth Zimmerman: Paolo, Sebastian and Sara; with Honeylet Avanceña: Veronica
Education: Lyceum of the Philippines University, B.A.,1968; San Beda College, J.D.,1972
Religion: Roman Catholic
Duterte was mayor of Davao City for seven terms and 22 years, although not consecutively.
His father was the governor of unified Davao and a member of President Ferdinand Marcos’ cabinet.
Duterte’s daughter, Sara Duterte, was the mayor of Davao City.
Once compared himself to Adolf Hitler, saying he would kill millions of drug addicts.
Cursed Pope Francis for traffic problems caused by the pontiff’s visit to the Philippines.
For decades, he has allegedly been tied to “death squads” in Davao City.
Has declared that he will urge Congress to restore the death penalty by hanging in the Philippines.
1977-1986 – Special counsel, and then city prosecutor of Davao City.
1986-1988 – Vice-Mayor of Davao City.
1988-1998 – Mayor of Davao City.
1995 – After Flor Contemplacion, a Filipino domestic worker, is hanged in Singapore for murdering her co-worker in 1991, Duterte leads protestors in burning the Singapore flag.
1998-2001 – Becomes a congressman representing Davao City’s 1st District.
2001-2010 – Mayor of Davao City.
April 6, 2009 – Human Rights Watch publishes the findings of its “Davao Death Squad” investigation, scrutinizing more than two dozen killings that occurred in 2007 and 2008. Findings show no direct link to the killings and Duterte but do provide evidence of a complicit relationship between government officials and members of the DDS.
May 24, 2015 – He vows to execute 100,000 criminals and dump their bodies into Manila Bay.
April 2016 – Duterte comes under fire after making a controversial comment during a campaign rally about a 1989 prison riot that led to the rape and murder of a female missionary. According to a CNN Philippines translation of the video, he says, “they raped her, they lined up to her. I was angry she was raped, yes that was one thing. But she was so beautiful, I thought the mayor should have been first. What a waste.” His party issues an apology, but Duterte later disowns it.
May 30, 2016 – The Philippine Congress officially declares Duterte the winner of the May 9th presidential election after the official count is completed.
June 30, 2016 – Takes office as president.
August 5, 2016 – In a speech, he claims he told US Secretary of State John Kerry that US Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg is a “gay son of a bitch.”
September 7, 2016 – Duterte and US President Barack Obama meet briefly in Laos while attending the yearly Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit. The two were scheduled to meet prior for bilateral talks regarding the South China Sea, but Obama canceled their meeting as Duterte’s fiery rhetoric escalated.
September 15, 2016 – A witness, Edgar Matobato, testifies before a Philippine Senate committee, claiming he is a member of Duterte’s alleged “Davao Death Squad,” and that the Philippine president gave orders to kill drug dealers, rapists and thieves. The committee was set up to probe alleged extrajudicial killings in the three months since Duterte became president.
October 4, 2016 – The Philippines and the United States begin joint military exercises in Manila for what Duterte claims will be the final time under the decade-long landmark Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement.
October 20, 2016 – Duterte announces at the PH-China Trade & Investment Forum, “In this venue I announce my separation from the US; militarily, [but] not socially, [and] economically.”
November 29, 2016 – Nine members of Duterte’s security team are injured after their convoy is hit by an explosive device in advance of a planned visit by the president to Marawi City.
December 12, 2016 – Admits to killing suspected criminals during his time as mayor of Davao City.
November 9, 2017 – Ahead of APEC meetings with regional leaders, Duterte tells a group of Filipino expatriates, in the central Vietnamese city of Da Nang, that he stabbed someone to death when he was 16.
November 13, 2017 – US President Donald Trump and Duterte “briefly” discussed human rights and the Philippines’ bloody war on drugs during their closed-door conversation, the White House announces. However, the spokesman for Duterte tells reporters that “human rights did not arise” during the meeting.
February 8, 2018 – The International Criminal Court (ICC) says it is opening a preliminary examination of the situation in the Philippines regarding extrajudicial killings. The examination “will analyze crimes allegedly committed … in the context of the ‘war on drugs’ campaign,” specifically since July 1, 2016. Duterte’s spokesman tells reporters that the president “welcomes this preliminary examination because he is sick and tired of being accused of the commission of crimes against humanity.”
December 5, 2018 – The ICC reports that they have a “reasonable basis to proceed with the preliminary examination” into the alleged extra-judicial killings of thousands of people since July 1, 2016.
March 17, 2019 – The Philippines officially leaves the ICC. The action, taken after a 12-month waiting period required by ICC statute, follows an initial announcement made March 14, 2018.
October 5, 2020 – Duterte reveals he has a chronic neuromuscular disease. In a speech in Moscow, he tells a crowd of Filipinos living in the Russian capital he had myasthenia gravis, which he describes as a “nerve malfunction,” reports CNN Philippines.
March 12, 2020 – Duterte places Metro Manila under community quarantine from March 15 to April 14 to contain the COVID-19 spread in the metropolis.
March 23, 2020 – The Senate, in a 12-0 vote, approves a bill declaring the existence of a national emergency and granting Duterte additional powers to address the COVID-19 crisis. The additional powers will remain in effect for at least three months or until the state of calamity in the entire country is lifted.
November 15, 2021 – Files to run for senator in the 2022 election. Duterte is not eligible to run for president again, and his daughter, Sara Duterte-Carpio, is running for vice president. He withdraws his bid on December 14.
June 30, 2022 – Duterte steps down as president.
by tyler | Mar 18, 2024 | asia, CNN
Here is a look at the life of former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte.
Birth date: March 28, 1945
Birth place: Maasin, Southern Leyte, Philippines
Birth name: Rodrigo Roa Duterte
Father: Vicente Duterte, lawyer and politician
Mother: Soledad (Roa) Duterte, teacher
Marriage: Elizabeth Zimmerman (annulled in 2000)
Children: with Elizabeth Zimmerman: Paolo, Sebastian and Sara; with Honeylet Avanceña: Veronica
Education: Lyceum of the Philippines University, B.A.,1968; San Beda College, J.D.,1972
Religion: Roman Catholic
Duterte was mayor of Davao City for seven terms and 22 years, although not consecutively.
His father was the governor of unified Davao and a member of President Ferdinand Marcos’ cabinet.
Duterte’s daughter, Sara Duterte, was the mayor of Davao City.
Once compared himself to Adolf Hitler, saying he would kill millions of drug addicts.
Cursed Pope Francis for traffic problems caused by the pontiff’s visit to the Philippines.
For decades, he has allegedly been tied to “death squads” in Davao City.
Has declared that he will urge Congress to restore the death penalty by hanging in the Philippines.
1977-1986 – Special counsel, and then city prosecutor of Davao City.
1986-1988 – Vice-Mayor of Davao City.
1988-1998 – Mayor of Davao City.
1995 – After Flor Contemplacion, a Filipino domestic worker, is hanged in Singapore for murdering her co-worker in 1991, Duterte leads protestors in burning the Singapore flag.
1998-2001 – Becomes a congressman representing Davao City’s 1st District.
2001-2010 – Mayor of Davao City.
April 6, 2009 – Human Rights Watch publishes the findings of its “Davao Death Squad” investigation, scrutinizing more than two dozen killings that occurred in 2007 and 2008. Findings show no direct link to the killings and Duterte but do provide evidence of a complicit relationship between government officials and members of the DDS.
May 24, 2015 – He vows to execute 100,000 criminals and dump their bodies into Manila Bay.
April 2016 – Duterte comes under fire after making a controversial comment during a campaign rally about a 1989 prison riot that led to the rape and murder of a female missionary. According to a CNN Philippines translation of the video, he says, “they raped her, they lined up to her. I was angry she was raped, yes that was one thing. But she was so beautiful, I thought the mayor should have been first. What a waste.” His party issues an apology, but Duterte later disowns it.
May 30, 2016 – The Philippine Congress officially declares Duterte the winner of the May 9th presidential election after the official count is completed.
June 30, 2016 – Takes office as president.
August 5, 2016 – In a speech, he claims he told US Secretary of State John Kerry that US Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg is a “gay son of a bitch.”
September 7, 2016 – Duterte and US President Barack Obama meet briefly in Laos while attending the yearly Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit. The two were scheduled to meet prior for bilateral talks regarding the South China Sea, but Obama canceled their meeting as Duterte’s fiery rhetoric escalated.
September 15, 2016 – A witness, Edgar Matobato, testifies before a Philippine Senate committee, claiming he is a member of Duterte’s alleged “Davao Death Squad,” and that the Philippine president gave orders to kill drug dealers, rapists and thieves. The committee was set up to probe alleged extrajudicial killings in the three months since Duterte became president.
October 4, 2016 – The Philippines and the United States begin joint military exercises in Manila for what Duterte claims will be the final time under the decade-long landmark Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement.
October 20, 2016 – Duterte announces at the PH-China Trade & Investment Forum, “In this venue I announce my separation from the US; militarily, [but] not socially, [and] economically.”
November 29, 2016 – Nine members of Duterte’s security team are injured after their convoy is hit by an explosive device in advance of a planned visit by the president to Marawi City.
December 12, 2016 – Admits to killing suspected criminals during his time as mayor of Davao City.
November 9, 2017 – Ahead of APEC meetings with regional leaders, Duterte tells a group of Filipino expatriates, in the central Vietnamese city of Da Nang, that he stabbed someone to death when he was 16.
November 13, 2017 – US President Donald Trump and Duterte “briefly” discussed human rights and the Philippines’ bloody war on drugs during their closed-door conversation, the White House announces. However, the spokesman for Duterte tells reporters that “human rights did not arise” during the meeting.
February 8, 2018 – The International Criminal Court (ICC) says it is opening a preliminary examination of the situation in the Philippines regarding extrajudicial killings. The examination “will analyze crimes allegedly committed … in the context of the ‘war on drugs’ campaign,” specifically since July 1, 2016. Duterte’s spokesman tells reporters that the president “welcomes this preliminary examination because he is sick and tired of being accused of the commission of crimes against humanity.”
December 5, 2018 – The ICC reports that they have a “reasonable basis to proceed with the preliminary examination” into the alleged extra-judicial killings of thousands of people since July 1, 2016.
March 17, 2019 – The Philippines officially leaves the ICC. The action, taken after a 12-month waiting period required by ICC statute, follows an initial announcement made March 14, 2018.
October 5, 2020 – Duterte reveals he has a chronic neuromuscular disease. In a speech in Moscow, he tells a crowd of Filipinos living in the Russian capital he had myasthenia gravis, which he describes as a “nerve malfunction,” reports CNN Philippines.
March 12, 2020 – Duterte places Metro Manila under community quarantine from March 15 to April 14 to contain the COVID-19 spread in the metropolis.
March 23, 2020 – The Senate, in a 12-0 vote, approves a bill declaring the existence of a national emergency and granting Duterte additional powers to address the COVID-19 crisis. The additional powers will remain in effect for at least three months or until the state of calamity in the entire country is lifted.
November 15, 2021 – Files to run for senator in the 2022 election. Duterte is not eligible to run for president again, and his daughter, Sara Duterte-Carpio, is running for vice president. He withdraws his bid on December 14.
June 30, 2022 – Duterte steps down as president.
by tyler | Nov 16, 2023 | asia, CNN
Here’s a look at the life of Japan’s former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.
Birth date: December 6, 1948
Birth place: Yuzawa, Akita Prefecture, Japan
Father: Wasaburo Suga, strawberry farmer
Mother: Tatsu Suga, schoolteacher
Marriage: Mariko Suga
Children: 3 sons
Education: Hosei University, B.A. in Law, 1973
Suga is the longest-serving chief cabinet secretary in Japanese history.
Suga is a teetotaler.
1975 – Accepts a job as secretary to Hikosaburo Okonogi, a member of the House of Representatives from Yokohama.
April 1987-1996 – Yokohama City Council member.
1996 – Wins a seat in the lower house of Parliament, representing the Kanagawa 2nd district.
2001 – Deputy secretary-general of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
2002 – Parliamentary vice-minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.
2003 – Parliamentary vice-minister of Economy, Trade and Industry.
2004 – Deputy chairman, Diet Affairs Committee, LDP.
November 2005 – Is appointed senior vice-minister for Internal Affairs and Communications under Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
2006-2007 – Is appointed minister for Internal Affairs and Communications and minister for Privatization of the Postal Services in the first Shinzo Abe cabinet.
December 2006-2007 – Minister of State for Decentralization Reform is added to his portfolio.
August 2007 – Suga is replaced as minister of Internal Affairs and Communications, minister for Privatization of the Postal Services and minister of State for Decentralization Reform by Hiroya Masuda in a cabinet reshuffle.
2007 – Director-general, Election Strategy Committee, LDP.
2010 – Director, Committee on Rules and Administration, HR.
October 2011 – Chairman of the LDP Party Organization and Campaign Headquarters.
September 2012 – Executive acting secretary-general of the LDP.
December 2012 – Chief cabinet secretary minister in charge of Strengthening National Security.
September 2014 – Given the additional title of chief cabinet secretary minister in charge of Alleviating the Burden of the Bases in Okinawa.
October 2018 – Is named minister in charge of the Abductions Issue, tasked with investigating the abduction of citizens by North Korea during the 1970s and 1980s.
2018 – US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo travels to Tokyo and meets with Suga.
April 1, 2019 – Suga announces the name of the era of Japan’s new Emperor Naruhito, Reiwa or “beautiful harmony,” gaining worldwide notice and earning the nickname “Uncle Reiwa.”
May 2019 – Travels to Washington, DC, to meet with Vice President Mike Pence and other senior officials.
September 14, 2020 – Suga is voted in as the new leader of the ruling LDP, securing about 70% of the votes and paving the way to become prime minister in a parliamentary vote later in the week.
September 16, 2020 – Suga is formally voted in by parliament and is sworn in by Naruhito at the Imperial Palace as Japan’s new prime minister.
April 16, 2021 – US President Joe Biden hosts Suga at the White House. Suga is the first foreign leader to visit the US since President Biden took office.
September 3, 2021 – Announces he will not run in the forthcoming LDP leadership election, effectively ceding the premiership and opening the race to other candidates after a term of less than a year.
October 4, 2021 – Fumio Kishida takes office as the new prime minister.
by tyler | Oct 31, 2023 | asia, CNN
Like his father Chumporn and dozens of other able-bodied men from their village in northeast Thailand, Manee Jirachart moved to Israel in search of work, dreaming of a better life.
Jobs were hard to come by within his rural community so when Manee found a cleaning position at a government office in southern Israel near the Gaza it seemed like a real opportunity.
He’d been working that job for nearly five years when he was abducted and taken hostage last weekend by Hamas militants involved in last weekend’s murder and kidnapping rampage within Israel.
The 29-year-old was just one of the scores of foreigners who became caught up in the attack that has devastated families around the world.
Dozens came from countries like the United States, Canada, the UK and France, with many holding dual Israeli citizenship and living in the kibbutzim targeted by Hamas gunmen or had been partying at the music festival where so many were killed.
But among many of the foreigners killed and captured by Hamas were also migrant workers from Asia, without familial links to either Israel or the Palestinian Territories, who hail from mostly poor, rural families and work in the country’s agricultural, construction and healthcare sectors.
At least 10 Nepali agriculture students were killed when the Hamas militants stormed the Alumim kibbutz, an agrarian community near Gaza, and another Nepali is missing, the country’s ambassador to Israel told CNN.
Two Filipinos were also killed, according to the Philippines government.
But it is Thailand, which for decades has made up one of the biggest sources of migrant labor in Israel, that has suffered one of the highest tolls of any nation beyond Israel itself.
So far at least 21 Thai nationals have been killed as of Thursday, according to Thai authorities, with at least 14 others believed to have been captured by Hamas, their current whereabouts unknown, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin confirmed.
“Thailand has dominated the foreign migrant worker market in Israeli agriculture for the past decade,” said Phil Robertson, Deputy Asia Director at Human Rights Watch.
“As many as 20,000 Thai workers were living on various remote farms and desert areas all over Israel, including areas close to the Gaza Strip so it isn’t surprising at all that many were right in harm’s way when Hamas fighters arrived.”
Each day this week the number has ticked up as more details become known, sparking fresh heartbreak for Thai families living thousands of miles from the Middle East’s latest conflict.
In an interview on Thai television, Labour Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said that around 5,000 Thais were employed in the “fighting zone.” Thousands of them are now hoping to return home to worried families, he added.
With Israel massing hundreds of thousands of troops on the Gaza border amid speculation there could be a ground invasion, many in Thailand fear they could yet become caught in the crossfire.
Manee had talked to his father Chumporn on the phone just hours before the attack.
“I had spoken with Manee in the morning and we were supposed to talk again in the evening,” Chumporn told CNN in a phone interview.
At the time, rockets were being fired toward Israel and this reminded the elder man of his own experiences living and working there. Aware of how quickly the dangers could escalate, the 50-year-old urged his son not to go outside, other than to find a bunker and hide if he needed to.
But hours later, he saw photos circulating on social media showing his son with his hands behind his back, sitting barefoot and cross-legged with other male hostages in front of an armed fighter pointing a rifle.
The photo, verified by Chumporn and seen by CNN, showed what looked like an underground room.
“I couldn’t believe it. I thought it was some kind of prank,” Chumporn said. “I called him several times but there was no answer – that was when I started to believe it was real.”
“We (Thais) are not involved in any of the conflict between Israel and Palestine. We are just there to work and earn money so we can have better lives,” he added.
“I am begging for my son’s release. I need to have him back, in good shape – like before he left Thailand.”
Migrant workers from Asia make up more than half of Israel’s foreign work force, often taking on jobs as caregivers and within the construction industry.
Construction workers from China, where multiple firms maintain lucrative contracts with real estate developers in Israel, have found themselves caught up the violence this week.
One of the Filipinos killed, Paul Castelvi, had been working in Israel for five years and was a major breadwinner for his family, who expressed disbelief over his death at the hands of Hamas fighters.
“He was among those employed taking care of elderly people when Hamas fighters entered their home,” Castelvi’s elderly father Nick told CNN affiliate CNN Philippines at their home in San Fernando city in the northwestern Pampanga province.
“They were heartless and did not show any mercy.”
“You can ask anyone and they will tell you how kind and good my son was. He (would have) put up a fight to defend his employer and was shot there while they (Hamas fighters) took his employer and left Paul there to die with a gunshot wound,” he said, breaking down in tears.
“We are left devastated by his loss. He was just there to earn a living so why would they do that to my son?”
Assia Ladizhinskaya, spokesperson for Kav LaOved, a non-profit advocating for labor rights in the region, said part of the reason for this was that an earlier “massive wave of terror acts in Israel” meant “Palestinian workers weren’t welcome anymore.”
“During the 1990s, migrant workers (began to) replace Palestinians working in construction sites and agriculture fields as Palestinians workers became unwelcome and ‘unreliable’ due to regular lock downs and security issues,” Ladizhinskaya added.
Now many have found themselves caught up in those same security issues as a seemingly intractable conflict that has festered for decades without resolution flares up once more.
Human Rights Watch called for the “immediate and unconditional release” of all hostages and said that Thai workers, along with Nepalese and Filipinos, “were simply there to earn money to support their families.
“Such targeting of civilians is clearly a war crime and inexcusable in any circumstance,” said Robertson.
Meanwhile, the first flight of 41 Thai landed in Bangkok on Thursday – many recounting harrowing escapes as they reunited with tearful family members. Agency photos and videos showed two were being through the airport in wheelchairs.
Migrant workers migrating to dangerous conflict zones in search of work, with little protection and legal enforcement, has been a “big issue for decades,” said British researcher and migrant worker rights specialist Andy Hall.
“It’s clear there is a strong market for them and little regulation by governments,” Hall told CNN. Many even pay massive amounts of money as part of high recruitment fees to take up jobs, he added.
Thailand itself is a major destination for migrant workers, mainly from poorer neighboring countries like Cambodia and Laos, as well as war-torn Myanmar.
“It only shows the desperation of the situation and stronger protocols are needed to protect people even before they migrate. There needs to be more risk assessments and detailed consideration (on the part of authorities).”
For now, many of those workers in Israel find themselves trapped in a region described by the UN as at a “tipping point” as tensions escalate and Israeli retaliation against Gaza accelerates.
Then there are those who, like Manee Jirachart, find themselves hostage in a foreign land they hoped would help them have a better life.
There are up to 150 hostages being held in Gaza, Israeli authorities believe. It is unclear how many are foreign nationals.
“Scores are being held captive, facing appalling threats to their lives,” said the UN’s top humanitarian official Martin Griffiths in a statement released this week.
“The violence must stop. Those held captive must be treated humanely. Hostages must be released without delay.”
by tyler | Oct 30, 2023 | asia, CNN
When fighting broke out in Kang Hyeon-joo’s elementary school classroom, her heart would beat so fast she could not breathe and her vision would blur.
“They were throwing punches and kicking faces, throwing chairs and tables around,” she recalled, adding she had been hurt trying to intervene.
For two years, Kang struggled to discipline her students – or cope with the parental backlash when she did. She claims her principal did nothing to help and would tell her simply to “just take a week off”.
The strain took a dangerous toll. Kang says she started feeling the urge to jump in front of a bus. “If I just jumped at least, I would feel some relief. If I just jumped off a tall building, that would at least give me some peace.”
Kang is currently on sick leave but is far from alone in her experiences.
Tens of thousands of teachers have been protesting in recent months, calling for more protection from students and parents. At one protest in Seoul last month, 200,000 gathered, according to organizers, forcing the government to take notice and action.
The unified stand by the country’s teaching staff comes after the suicide of a first-grade teacher, in her early 20s, in July. She was found dead in her classroom in Seoul. Police have mentioned a problematic student and parental pressure while discussing her case, but have not given a definitive reason for her suicide.
Several more teachers have taken their own lives since July and some of these cases have reportedly been linked to school stress, according to colleagues of the deceased and bereaved families.
Government data shows 100 public school teachers killed themselves from January 2018 to June 2023, 11 of them in the first six months of this year, but does not specify what factors contributed to their deaths.
Sung Youl-kwan, a professor of education at Kyung Hee University, says the speed and size of the protests took many by surprise. “I think there has been like a shared feeling that this can happen to me too,” he said.
Teachers point to a 2014 child abuse law, intended to protect children, as one of the main reasons they feel unable to discipline students. They say they are fearful of being sued by a small percentage of parents for causing emotional distress to their child and being dragged through the courts.
“School is the last barrier to let students know what is okay in society and what is not. But we couldn’t do anything, if we teach them, we could be accused,” said Ahn Ji-hye, an elementary school teacher who helped organize previous protests.
Ahn says parents have called her mobile phone some days from 6 a.m. until 11 p.m., wanting to talk about their child or complain.
South Korea’s education minister Lee Ju-ho initially warned teachers that a mass strike would be an illegal act. That position was swiftly reversed, and a set of legal revisions passed the National Assembly on September 21, a fast piece of legislation.
One of the key changes is providing teachers some protection from being sued for child abuse if their discipline is considered a legitimate educational activity. Also, the responsibility for handling school complaints and lawsuits brought by parents now rests with the principal.
“So far we have a culture where the school principal tended to pass those responsibilities to teachers,” said Professor Sung.
The new law will also protect teachers’ personal information, such as their mobile phone numbers, and require parents to contact the school with concerns or complaints rather than the teacher directly.
In the past, Ahn said, “If I could not give my personal phone number to them, sometimes some parents would come to the parking lot and watch and see and take a note of my phone number from my car, then they would text message me.” It is customary for Koreans to display their phone number in the bottom corner of their windscreen.
Ahn welcomes the legal changes as “meaningful,” but insists higher-level laws like the Child Welfare Act and Child Abuse Punishment Act also need to be revised. “It is still possible to report teachers based on suspicion alone according to these laws,” she said.
She says that, for now at least, the protests will continue.
One is planned for outside the National Assembly on October 28. Ahn says she would like to see penalties for parents who make unfounded accusations against teachers or practical measures put in place so that mandated changes can be adopted in classrooms, such as removing a disruptive student elsewhere to allow teaching to continue.
Professor Sung believes the revisions will help in the short term, but cautions that the law should be seen as a safety net not a solution.
Critics say South Korean society places a disproportionate level of importance on academic success so it should not be surprising that parents put teachers – and the wider education system – under so much pressure.
It is the norm for students to attend a cram school, called hagwon, after their regular school hours, not as an extra but as a basic and expensive requirement to succeed.
On the day of the national college entrance exam, known as Suneung in Korean, airplanes are grounded, and commuting hours are adjusted to ensure that students taking the exams are not disturbed.
“We have a culture in which parents have usually one child and they are ready to pour every financial resource and opportunity into this child,” Sung said.
“This pressure or obsession with education, sometimes with a high score, high achievement (mindset), is not a good environment for teachers (because) they are taking the pressure from the parents.”
Sung says the days of a teacher being automatically respected are long gone, not just in South Korea but elsewhere in the world, and the teacher-parent dynamic is unrecognizable from just a decade or two ago.
“In educational policies, parents are regarded as like a consumer, with consumer sovereignty, and school and teachers are regarded as service providers”, he said, adding parents believe they “have the right to demand many things from schools.”
In a country where education is considered central to success, teacher satisfaction is low. A survey by the Federation of Teachers’ Labor Union in April found 26.5% of teachers polled said they had received counseling or treatment for psychological issues due to their job. Some 87% said they have considered moving job or quitting in the past year.
by tyler | Oct 4, 2023 | asia, CNN
Five people have died and 23 Indian Army personnel are missing in India’s northeastern state of Sikkim after a cloudburst led to flash floods.
The flooding happened in the Teesta River in Lachen valley, Sikkim, due to a “sudden cloudburst” over Lhonak Lake in the northern part of the state, the Indian Army said in a statement. A cloudburst is a very sudden and destructive rainstorm.
River water levels rose very quickly, increasing to around 15-20 feet higher than normal, said the Army, which added that 41 of its vehicles were submerged under the resulting slush.
Five bodies have been recovered, according to a statement by the government of Sikkim. A search and rescue operation is ongoing and three people have been rescued.
At least three bridges have collapsed and about 420 people from two districts have been moved to relief camps, according to the government of Sikkim.
Flooding is not unusual in Sikkim, a state in the Himalayas, but scientists are clear that extreme weather such as storms is becoming more frequent and more intense as the human-caused climate crisis accelerates.
