The Beat January 2003

Busan gets into the Matchmaking Business

Busan City is trying to help people find true love with a so called “Lover's Concert” between the Youngnam and Honam areas. This is the first time Busan City has tried this kind of thing. They've been organizing events for natural meetings between young single adults.

About sixty available singles met on December twenty-first and twenty-second at Haeundae beach. If things work out as well as planned the couples hopefully can spend the rest of their lives together. During this event if couples actually decide to get married they will receive ten million won from DUO, one of the largest matchmaking businesses in Korea. They can also use a government office as a wedding hall if they like.
Translated by Choi Soo Hee

Childrens Park Renovations

Many of Children's' Park facilities, including bathrooms and cafeterias have received a major touch up. Park officials have modernized the resting places and made an open space for citizens that will be open twenty four hours a day. Park managers tried to upgrade the standards of some of the filthy bathrooms by making them larger and cleaner and they set up an aroma freshening system to get rid of bad smells. They also installed an "information desk" where foreigners to feel free to ask questions. The Theme park aims to become the best park in Busan.
Translated by Choi Soo Hee

Minor arrested for extorting money with sex chat

On December 2nd, Busanjin police office issued a warrant for the arrest of a 17 year old boy identified by only his family name, Park. Park who has naturally long hair, put on some lipstick, pretended to be a high school girl and used a video chatting site to lure men into arranging sexual liaisons for money. The men would send money to Park's bank account, but he would never show up for the arranged meetings. Police were able to track down Park and arrested him after more than 1.2 million won had already been transferred to his account.
Translated by Park JooBin

Office space more expensive this year

As a result of a lack of office space in Busan this year, key money and management fees have increased. This phenomenon is expected to continue throughout next year. The number of vacant offices in Busan has decreased this year because overall improvement in the business environment.

The Busan Chamber of Commerce and Industry stated that only 5.4% of buildings allocated for businesses were vacant this year, compared to a 10.5% vacancy rate last year. Consequently, key money deposits have risen by 1.9%, and management fees have increased by 1.2%. The highest rate of vacant office space is 7.4% in Guemjeong district, and the lowest vacant office rate is 2.8% in Busanjin district.
Translated by Kim Dong Chan

City Officials hope to amend Green Belt Law

Busan city officials are holding discussions with the Ministry of Construction & Transportation in hopes of reforming the Green Belt laws. Green Belt laws designate certain areas of land as agricultural only and
prevent other kinds of development from taking place on that land.
According to Busan city, their plans to build several tourist parks and recreational facilities will be impossible to carry out unless the current set of Green Belt laws are revoked. They would also like to open up several portions of land that are currently protected by the Green Belt law to commercial development. They say there is an urgent need to allow development in these areas. One specific area of contention is around the Geumjeong Velodrome where city officials would like to construct a new bicycle race track by October 2003. Until the Green Belt laws are amended however, construction cannot begin.
Translated by Jo Jeong Eun

Friends Director Turns Himself into Police

Kwak Kyoung Taek, the Korean director of the movie Friends (Chin-gu), voluntarily turned himself in to the Busan District Attorney's Office last month. Much like to the theme of the movie Friends, it is rumored that Mr. Kwak has been intimidated by gangsters and been forced to give them money. The current investigation was prompted by allegations that Mr. Kwak received 500,000,000 won from an investment company in order to finance a film, and then handed over 250,000,000 won to gangsters.
Translated by Kim Hye Jin

Vulgar text messages frighten recipients

A twenty-year-old Busan woman hasn't been able to sleep at night after receiving a vulgar text message on her cellular phone. She reported the problem to the police, but they haven't been able to find the criminal who sent the lascivious message. The woman remains afraid and worried, and it appears that there is little chance of finding the sender.

Vulgar text messages are increasing because it almost impossible to identify the sender if he or she wishes to remain anonymous, as many computer-based text message service providers do not check user information for accuracy.
Translated by Lee Lee Hwa

Pharmparazzi reports increasing

Pharmparazzi is a term used to describe people who submit video or audio taped evidence of illegal acts committed by pharmacists to authorities in order to receive a cash reward. Since the Ministry of Health and Welfare began a reward system last July, the pharmparazzi have reported about 60 instances of illegal activity, according to a statement made by the Korean Pharmaceutical Association and the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

According to the reward system, a person will receive a 100,000 to 200,000 won reward for reporting pharmacists who substitute medication without a doctor's approval, prepare medication without proper licensure, or report a doctor who insists that a patient purchase medication from a specific pharmacy.

By Korean law, a doctor can prescribe medicine, but cannot distribute it, and a patient must get a prescription from a licensed doctor in order to obtain many types of medication. However, in an urgent situation, pharmacists may distribute medication to a patient without a prescription.

The governmental organizations will not reward a person who pretends to be a patient in urgent need of medication in order to trap the pharmacist in a violation. Also, the pharmacist will not be punished in this situation. A Ministry of Health and Welfare official stated that any conflicts will be resolved by a judicial conclusion.

Members of the Korean Pharmaceutical Association recently requested that the Ministry of Health and Welfare abolish the practice of giving cash rewards for reporting pharmacists.
Translated by Ha Sun Ha