PRIME MINISTER::Han Myeong Sook

Han Myeong-Sook (born March 24, 1944) is the current Prime Minister of South Korea. She is from the ruling Uri Party and is a graduate of the prestigious Ewha Womans University of Seoul with a degree in French literature.

Imprisonment
She was imprisoned from 1979 to 1981 after she confessed to teaching pro-Communist ideas to workers, farmers and low-income women, but it is now accepted she was imprisoned for pro-Democratic activities. A government committee exonerated her of any wrongdoing in 2001, ruling her confession was elicited through torture.
Han was the first Minister of Gender Equality, serving from 2001 to 2003. She served as the Minister of Environment from 2003 to 2004.

Apointment
On 24 March 2006, following the resignation of Prime Minister Lee Hae Chan, President Roh Moo Hyun nominated Han to become the first female Prime Minister of South Korea. Han is only the second woman to be nominated for the Prime Ministership. On 20 April 2006, Han Myeong-Sook was officially sworn in, becoming the first female Prime Minister of South Korea

Prime Ministership

South Korea-United Arab Emirates relations
Han went to the United Arab Emirates on 24 September and held high level talks with Prime Minister Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Han said she wanted to cultivate "the potential for bilateral cooperation in... trade, investment, IT and tourism." According to Sook, "around 50 South Korean companies of global competitiveness have established headquarters of the Middle East region in Dubai." UAE companies invested $8 billion in South Korea from 2002-2006, but South Korea total investment in the UAE is only $25 million.
Han was interviewed by Gulf News in September 2006. She expressed a desire to increase South Korean investment in the UAE and sign a Free Trade Agreement with the Gulf Cooperation Council. When asked about gender equality in the UAE, she expressed interest in Muslim women, and commended the fact that the "status of women in Islam is a historic and religious outcome that is regulated by the Holy Quran and Hadith." She pointed to the efforts of Shaikha Fatima, the mother of the UAE, the appointment of Shaikha Lubna Al Qasimi, the first appointment of a female minister, as the Minister of Economy, and the February 2006 appointment of Mariam Al Roumi as the Minister of Social Affairs as positive signs of the UAE's adapting to social changes. She rejected the idea of "imposing a U.S. or Western-style democracy on the Arab world" saying, "the values of democracy are not to be imposed." Han expressed her friendship towards Lebanon and Israel and her support for UN Security Council Resolution 1701, UNIFIL, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan's efforts at securing peace, and Foreign Minister Ban's candidacy to be the next Secretary General.

Kazakhstan-South Korea relations
Han met with Daniyal Akhmetov, the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, on 23 September, 2006 in Astana, Kazakhstan. They signed several bilateral agreements enhancing economic ties. The Government of South Korea agreed to invest an additional $2 billion in joint projects in the energy, uranium-extraction, construction, transportation, and banking sectors. Akhmetov offered South Korea the option of participating in developing a new type of nuclear reactor. South Korean investors have stakes in more than 300 Kazakhstan-based companies. Han was in Kazakhstan until 24 September. She then traveled to Uzbekistan.
Han invited President Nazarbayev to visit South Korea in 2007 on behalf of President Hyun, and on 25 September, after talking to Nazarbayev, she announced to the press that he had accepted and expressed hope that the trip would help to increase cooperation in the petrochemical industry, information technology and education.

South Korea-Uzbekistan relations
Han and Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the Prime Minister of Uzbekistan, met in Tashkent, Uzbekistan on 25 September, 2006. They signed several agreements, including one deal in which Uzbekistan will send 300 tons of Uzbek uranium ore to South Korea every year from 2010 to 2014. The deal bypasses U.S. companies that acted previously as middlemen for South Korean imports of Uzbek uranium ore. Han also met with President Islom Karimov and parliament speaker Erkin Xalilov. Han and Mirziyoyev boosted cooperation in the energy, agriculture, construction, architecture, and information technology sectors. Trade between South Korea and Uzbekistan increased by nearly 40% between 2005 and 2006, to $565 million.

PRESIDENT::Roh Moo-hyun

Roh Moo-hyun (born September 1, 1946 in Gimhae, South Gyeongsang) has been the President of South Korea since February 25, 2003. Before entering politics, Roh was a noted human rights lawyer.

Personal background
With First Lady Kwon Yang-sook (권양숙), Roh has a daughter (Roh Jeong-yeon, 노정연, born 1975), an embassy worker; and a son (Roh Geon-ho, 노건호, born 1973), a former LG Electronics employee and a current MBA student at Stanford University. Roh is a Roman Catholic, like his predecessor, Kim Dae-Jung.
Roh was born in 1946 to a poor farming family in Gimhae, near Busan, in southeastern South Korea. In 1960, he led a protest at his school against mandatory essays extolling his country's first autocrat. A high school graduate who never went to college, he worked at odd jobs after serving in the Korean army.
He studied on his own to pass the bar exam in 1975. In 1977, he became regional judge in Daejeon, and began privately practising tax law in 1978. In 1981, he defended students who had been tortured for possession of contraband literature. In early 2003, he was quoted as saying, "When I saw their horrified eyes and their missing toenails, my comfortable life as a lawyer came to an end." He opposed the autocracy in place at the time in South Korea, and participated in the pro-democracy June Struggle in 1987 against the authoritarian president.

Early political career

In 1988, Roh entered politics and grilled the government over corruption allegations and the 1980 Gwangju Massacre. In the same year, he was elected to the National Assembly of South Korea, representing the Unification Democratic Party (통일민주당- Tongilminjudang). Shortly thereafter, he gained popularity in the first nationally broadcast parliament hearing.
Roh's defeat in the April 2000 election in Busan was a "blessing in disguise." The news of his defeat prompted his supporters nationwide to form Nosamo, the first political fan club in Korea. His supporters were inspired by the courage and commitment shown in his struggle against regionalism.
Roh was appointed as the Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries in August 2000. He was elected the presidential candidate of the ruling Millennium Democratic Party in a land slide victory, eventually winning the presidency on December 19, 2002, defeating Lee Hoi-chang of the Grand National Party by a narrow margin. His victory was a dramatic surprise, made possible by a last-minute betrayal by a political ally that backfired.

THE HoST

The Host is a 2006 South Korean film directed by Bong Joon-ho. It was released on July 27, 2006 and exceeded 6 million viewers on the morning of August 6, 2006. This made it the 8th most popular movie in South Korean cinematic history. As of September 10, 2006, this is the highest grossing South Korean film of all time, with its 12.5 million viewers beating the recent winner The King and the Clown which attracted 12.3 million people. This film was in part inspired by an incident in 2000 in which a mortician working for the U.S. military in Seoul dumped a large amount of formaldehyde down the drain. In addition to its environmental impact, this has added some antagonism against the United States.

Main cast
Park Hee-Bong, father; Byeon Hee-bong
Park Gang-Du, elder son; Song Kang-ho
Park Nam-Il, son ; Park Hae-il
Park Nam-Joo, daughter; Bae Du-na
Park Hyun-Seo, daughter of Gang-du ; Go Ah-Sung
Voice of the monster ; Oh Dal-su

Reception
This film became South Korea's all time box office champion in early September, selling more than 12.3 million tickets since its release just over a month ago in a country of 48.5 million.
The Host was released in the UK on November 10th 2006. This was its first official release outside of film festivals, outside Asia and Australia.
Its CG is done by Orphanage, which also did CG of The Day After Tomorrow.
The film ended with a reception of over 13 million people on November 8th.
Over 2,000 monsters were designed.

Foreign actors
Two foreign actors that starred in the movie, David Anselmo and Clinton Morgan, were deported from Korea for violating Article 20 of Korea's immigration law, that foreigners may not engage in activities other than those specifically specified in one's sojourn status.