Author: GIKorea

Here is another South Korean tie in to another American culture war issue. This time a Red Baron Pizza stocker was harassed by influencers and he just goes off on them. It seems this is a cultural turning point where people are fed up with these so called influencers. A GoFundMe campaign was started for the worker named Walt in Michigan, and it has raised over $600k for him. The South Korean tie in is that Red Baron Pizza is owned by the South Korean conglomerate Cheil Jedang (CJ) Foods. They actually named Walt as employee of the month. However, there has been many people on Youtube criticizing CJ for not paying Walt and their employees enough so they don’t struggle to pay bills:

Now senior Korean political leaders know how the rest of us feel when the government and private businesses keep getting our personal information hacked and exposed:

The presidential office held an emergency meeting Tuesday to address the leak of personal information of President Lee Jae Myung and members of an entourage that accompanied him on his overseas trip in June.

The meeting, presided over by presidential chief of staff Lim Kwang-hyun, followed news reports that a computer file containing personal data of Lee’s entourage for his June overseas trip had been uploaded to a publicly accessible website that same month.

Those affected also included the first lady, then presidential policy chief Kim Yong-beom, National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac, government ministers, presidential officials and journalists, according to earlier reports.

A total of 168 people reportedly had their personal information exposed in the leak. 

The leaked personal information reportedly included dates of birth and passport numbers.

During Tuesday’s meeting, the presidential chief of staff called the leak a serious incident that cannot be overlooked, stressing the need to investigate the exact extent of the data breach and any damage related to it.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but it will be interesting to see if they find out who leaked this information and how they obtained it.

This just shows how easy the Democrats states have made it for non-citizens to vote and the state government makes sure to put measures in place to make it hard to detect. It will be interesting to see if vote totals go down around the country because of this crackdown:

With the Trump administration stepping up its crackdown on noncitizen voting ahead of Tuesday’s midterm elections, some Korean green card holders are worried that receiving election ballots they never requested could land them in immigration trouble.

Across online forums and social media discussions, including Korean-American communities, green card holders have shared accounts of receiving ballots or voter-registration materials despite not being U.S. citizens.

“I’m a green card holder, but ballots come to my house every time,” one user wrote.

Another said she and her husband, both green card holders, had received jury summonses, and that her husband had also received election-related mail.

The accounts have prompted discussions about how noncitizens end up receiving election materials and whether mistakes involving voter registration could jeopardize their green cards or future citizenship applications.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but any non-citizen that illegally votes should be deported. I don’t understand what is so controversial about that?

This may be a sign that the culture is shifting against these online streamers:

A banner put up by the city government reads, “Illegal YouTubers out. Stop threatening citizens’ safety and merchants’ livelihoods,” in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, Wednesday. Korea Times photo by Park Ung

In response, the city announced a crackdown on streamers in September 2025, citing broadcasts that seriously damaged its brand image and harmed merchants and residents. It applied crime prevention strategies using environmental design techniques in the parks and streets where streamers often gathered, removing seating to keep them from lingering and stepping up patrols.

Last month, the city said disruptive streaming near Bucheon Station has declined. Related complaints filed through the government’s online petition portal fell 71.4 percent, from 77 in the second half of last year to 22 in the first half of this year.

On Wednesday, streamers were still broadcasting around Bucheon Station from early morning, alone or in groups of two or three. Residents said things have calmed down considerably since last year’s peak, though some streamers still frequent the area.

“The number dropped a lot when the city ran a campaign and the media covered it heavily last year. At its worst, it was definitely noisy, with people drinking and broadcasting here. The shouting was unpleasant, too,” said Kim Myung-seop, 39, who has run a butcher shop near the station for 10 years.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Here is an interesting South Korea tie in to the latest culture war incident in the U.S. that was conveniently started just before the mid-term elections:

Winston Lee, one of the seven fraternity brothers at Cornell University accused by a fellow student of gang rape, is the grandson of a former South Korean prime minister and ambassador to the U.S.

The ex-Chi Phi fraternity bro was accused by a Cornell student known only as “Jane Doe” of snorting ketamine off her and forcing oral sex on her during the alleged gang rape.

Cornell suspended him for two years.

Winston’s grandfather is Lee Hong-koo, who served as South Korea’s leader between 1994 and 1995, and the country’s ambassador to the US from 1998 to 2000, during Bill Clinton’s presidency.

The two statesmen and power players often crossed paths, including at a 2000 commemorative ceremony at the Korean War Memorial in Washington, marking the 50th anniversary of the Korean War, where they posed for photos alongside each other.

Even after Clinton left the presidency, they appeared to remain close — like when Lee invited Clinton for bibimbap, a dish Bubba was a “huge fan” of, at a Seoul hotel in 2005 when the former president was in town to promote his autobiography.

Lee died in May, and Winston served as the chief mourner at the high-profile Seoul funeral — overseeing key rites, greeting guests and receiving condolences on behalf of the family, who are descendants of Korea’s former royal family.

Winston is seen prominently in photos wearing white gloves as he holds up his grandfather’s portrait.

The former prime minister’s only son is Winston’s father, Barton Lee, a Yale University-educated investment banker who is the managing director and head of Asia at EIG in Hong Kong.

New York Post

You can read more at the link, but here is more of how the Internet is trying to track Lee down:

Photos and videos said to be linked to Lee have circulated online, along with speculation about his military service, citizenship and family background.

Lee and his legal representatives have not addressed the claims.

Others have also found themselves caught up in the mistaken accusations.

One Indonesian man posted on Instagram that he was not the Korean defendant and urged people to stop sending him messages and falsely accusing him.

Lee from the University of Pennsylvania said he has been in contact with others who have faced similar harassment, exchanging stories about the messages and threats they have received.

“We’ve shared the same experiences of getting threats constantly,” he said.

The Star

You can read more at the link, but my guess is that Lee is probably in Korea keeping a low profile until this blows over. It will be interesting to see if he returns to New York in response to any charges brought. Since Lettia James was appointed as the special prosecutor, it is clear that her mandate is to get charges on these 7 young men whether real or not just like she did with Trump. She is a political operative with likely ambitions for higher office and this is just another stepping stone for her career.

This is a major reason to stay away from crypto currency because it helps to fund criminal organizations and regimes like North Korea:

North Korean hackers purportedly stole an estimated US$6.36 billion in cryptocurrency from Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, in what would be the biggest cryptocurrency theft on record, according to a U.S. blockchain intelligence firm.

TRM Labs said Thursday’s attack against Binance was most likely carried out by TraderTraitor, a North Korean hacking group, which stole digital assets from Binance across 10 blockchain networks. Most of the funds were taken in about 20 minutes, it said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but I wonder what special privileges a team of hackers in North Korea receives after bringing in a haul like this?