North Korea and the US

Hailey cutter

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/north-korea-leader-offers-to-dismantle-nuclear-test-site--but-only-after-us-acts/2018/09/19/cbdd6a60-bb77-11e8-a8aa-860695e7f3fc_story.html?utm_term=.71a8dc881cdc

Recently, talk of North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, and President Donald Trump, has been quite big. Apparently, Kim and Trump have been discussing compromises about nuclear devices. On September 19^th Kim offered to permanently dismantle one of North Koreas main sites for nuclear weapons, but only if the US did so first. Trump admitted that the offer was quite encouraging, but he isn't making any finial decisions just yet. Trump also admitted that the interactions between the two of them were ‘calm’. In my opinion, the offer isn’t even related to and solving the problem, but I do think it can be considered a step forward. The problem is that they are testing nuclear weapons, not that they have nuclear sites just in general. Even if they were to dismantle it, we would have to do the same, so we would be right back where we started.

                  While talk of the dismantling in the US, South Korean President, Moon Jae-in, has been having meetings with Kim Jong Un about moving forward with peace between the two Koreas. Personally, I think peace is reasonable, but the thought of the two countries ever reuniting doesn’t seem realistic. They have been parted for 70 years now and are technically considered to be still at war. The way their governments run is very different from each other. Also, some of South Koreas language has evolved and changed, and is now a little different from North Koreas. In general, I don’t think it work out well.

                  While North Korea and the United States seem to be making more progress than first presumed, it seems that now the two countries have reached an impasse. Both countries expect each other to make the first move. The United States expects North Korea to take significant steps forward to their nuclear dismantling, while North Korea believes that the United States needs to declare the Korean War (1950-1953) formally over first. North Korea believes that Trump has already made a promise to that in Singapore, but Trump himself states differently.

                  The whole situation seems pretty chaotic and unorganized, in my opinion. Many people even believe that we shouldn’t be discussing any sorts of matters with North Korea. Many aren’t completely sure if we can trust them either. We barely know anything about them, and they don’t truly, fully show themselves to the world. In the past, they have shown us that they are very not willing to cooperate with us, so it just doesn’t doesn't make sense to me. We are definitely taking steps towards something, but I’m not sure if it’s the right thing.

 Experts believe that North Korea has continued to build a number of nuclear weapons this year, and even if they do end up dismantling their main nuclear site, it doesn’t mean that they don’t have other ones. It would of course slow down the process of their nuclear production, but it wouldn’t at all stop them. We aren't completely sure of what they are capable of doing and we aren't exactly what they are willing to do and what steps they will take towards what is convenient to them.

Can we trust them? That is a question even Trump’s own administration is asking, although they are known to be cautious with matters dealing with North Korea. Trump tweeted “While North Korea has stopped testing missiles and nuclear devices,” at the moment, “they have NOT moved toward denuclearization”.Although we are making decent progress, Trump’s overall administration isn’t satisfied with North Koreas efforts. They believe that North Korea needs to be a lot more cooperative with their plans. Meaning that they need to make more reasonable efforts instead of the piecemeal and solitary ‘compromises’ that they are currently making. But the entire situation is still in progress and nothing in yet official, hopefully we will eventually come to an equilibrium.

Joel

              “Even when they are being little pieces of snitzel”

Joel is a very kind, warm, easy going person, and a great student as well. He is currently in 9^th grade at Kennedy high school and tries his very best on all his assignments and projects because grades are very important to him. Joel isn’t someone people would typically consider a sporty or athletic, but Joel does love using his brain. Joel enjoys working with and using all types of technology. More specifically, he enjoys playing games that allow him to be creative and be able to think.

 Although Joel does love technology, including phones and computers, Joel isn’t a very huge fan of taking photos. This would probably one of the few things involving technology that Joel isn’t interested in. He is scared that all the pictures may clog and take up all his storage, and he also never really has urges to take photos either.

 Something that Joel loves even more than technology is dogs. Joel very much enjoys the company of dogs and in fact, even has one himself. Her name is Bella and she is currently four years old. Joel even believes that the good qualities and traits of dogs surely outweigh those of people. It’s not that Joel hates people and human interactions, it’s just that he would definitely consider himself a dog person. Then again, Joel is quite social with people as well, not just dogs. He actually hangs out with his friends and siblings very often. Joel believes that dogs give “unconditional love and are always happy” even when they are being terribly annoying.

In conclusion, Joel would rather spend his time with dogs, a great quality friend, rather than people. Even when they are being “little pieces of snitzel,”they’re still better because according to Joel, dogs are definitely way better.

HyunA and E’dawn

Hailey Cutter

https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/entertainment/cube-entertainment-withdraws-decision-to-expel-hyuna-after-public-backlash

Singapore Press

Over the recent months, rumors of solo artist HyunA and boyband member, E’dawn, (

both under Cube Entertainment,) dating have been circling around, but Cube denied all accusations. Even knowing that this could get her into extreme trouble with her agency, and even fired, HyunA took matters into her own hands, deciding that it was only right to be honest with her and E’dawn’s fans. HyunA posted to her 7.9 million followers on Instagram on August 3^rd, admitting that the two them have been together for two years so far, and the news quickly spread. The next day after HyunA’s confession, Cube cancelled all upcoming performances, fan events, promotions, and on-air appearances for both of them.

                 

In the Western countries, celebrity’s dating lives and that sort of drama is usually a pretty hot topic, but it isn’t that way in South Korea. There, artists often sign contracts that they must follow that include not being allowed to date and limited public exposure of their everyday lives. It may be hard for some people to wrap their head around this concept, but it is very expecting in South Korea and many other Asian counties. In the public eye, they are often viewed as perfect and also have to accommodate to the high expectations of the public.

                  On September 11^th, Pentagon released a mini album, thumbs up, that E’dawn was not allowed to promote. A song included in the album called “Just Do It Yo” is believed to be directed to E’dawn. At a fan-signing, (that E’dawn was not allowed to go to and later apologized for) a member of the group was asked what the song was about. He started to explain, trying to be discrete about the situation, but then became emotional and handed the microphone to a different member.

                  On September 13^th Cube came to the decision to remove both of the artists from their label, stating “After much deliberation, we’ve concluded that the trust between the company and the artists had damaged to the degree that it cannot be restored, leading us to believe expulsion is necessary,” For their decision, Cube received loads of public backlash and an extreme stock price percentage drop of 6.57 in only one day. On Cube’s Instagram, the comment section was filled with tons of angry and upset fans saying that they have lost respect for Cube entertainment. After the losses that the company faced, they officially retracted their statement the next day, allowing the two individuals back into their label.

                  Personally, I am a fan of Pentagon and HyunA, so when I was made aware of their potential removal, I was very upset. HyunA is Cube’s most successful act and makes the company the most money out of everyone and E’dawn is the face of pentagon, so to me, this was very unexpected.  Something that I also found annoying was that the agency was using their contract against them. Although they did sign a contract saying that they wouldn’t date, Cube was aware of the two dating but didn’t do anything about it until it became aware to the public. I believe this is inappropriate because the agency can’t just decide to enforce the contract when they find it necessary, they have to follow it all the time. Although HyunA and E’dawn did not follow the contract in the first place, Cube Entertainment did nothing about it, which is seen to be very unprofessional.

I also believe that the whole contact isn’t okay to begin with. Artist should be able to have their own personal life outside of their celebrity one, and they shouldn’t be held up to such high expectations, because they are people too. I believe that this situation will have a big impact on the K-pop industry and other relationships will start to pop up more often. I’m very jubilant that the two now again are able to promote themselves and I hope that this situation does not disquiet anyone anymore and we’ll all be able to move on.