Author: GIKorea

It is amazing that President Yoon agreed to a meeting with Lee Jae-myung where he basically told Yoon he needs to agree to things to help put his wife in jail and help the oppostion impeach him:

Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung asked President Yoon Suk Yeol on Monday to agree to a special probe into suspicions surrounding a Marine’s death and to resolve suspicions surrounding his family in an apparent reference to first lady Kim Keon Hee.

Lee made the demands during his first-ever meeting with Yoon at the presidential office, which followed the ruling People Power Party’s humiliating defeat to Lee’s Democratic Party (DP) in the April 10 parliamentary elections.

Lee also asked that the president accept his election pledge to give 250,000 won (US$182) in cash handouts to the entire population and agree to a special bill aimed at determining the truth behind the 2022 Itaewon crowd crush that left 159 people killed.

Yonhap

And then for good measure Lee Jae-myung throws in some Dokdo nonsense where he actually tries to get people to believe Yoon would give up the islets to Japan:

Lee listed a series of other issues, including those related to foreign policy, saying he hopes Yoon will consider shifting to a “national interest-centered practical diplomacy” and make active efforts to ensure “the people’s pride is not damaged with regard to relations with Japan,” citing Tokyo’s territorial claims to South Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo, the two countries’ shared history and the release of contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

You can read more at the link, but I don’t see what the point of this meeting was? If Yoon thinks giving Lee Jae-myung this forum to attack him will help in future cooperation, I think he is mistaken. The only thing the opposition wants to cooperate with Yoon on is impeaching him like they did to former President Park. By the way is that not the two most forced smiles you have ever seen in the above picture?

It was only a matter of time before small businesses that cannot stay profitable due to increasing minimum wage requirements used technology to replace overpriced labor:

This allowed employees living in the Philippines to take store orders, adjust delivery orders, answer store calls, and even manage restaurant reviews.

Happy Casher expects more than 100 New York-based restaurants to use the service by the end of this year.

The hourly wage for Filipinos working in this job is $3 (about 4,100 won), which is quite cheap considering New York’s minimum wage of $16 (about 22,000 won).

There is a 12-hour time difference, but employees of Happy Casher communicate with visitors through Zoom and take orders.

The manager of the Japanese restaurant said, “It is a way for small business owners to survive.”

Maeil Kyeongchae

You can read more at the link, but I think something that customers will appreciate is that by ordering through a Zoom worker they likely do not need to leave a tip making the meal more affordable.

The ROK government has been wanting to get a new US-ROK cost sharing agreement in place before the U.S. presidential election. This is because they know the potential acrimony that could happen if Donald Trump is elected President and they have to negotiate a new agreement with his administration:

This photo, captured from the State Department’s website, shows Linda Specht, a senior adviser and lead negotiator for security agreements at the department.

South Korea and the United States outlined their respective visions for a new bilateral defense cost-sharing deal during their first round of negotiations in Honolulu this week, the top U.S. negotiator said Friday.

Linda Specht, senior advisor and U.S. lead negotiator for security agreements at the State Department, made the remarks after the initial round of talks over the deal, named the Special Measures Agreement (SMA) took place from Tuesday through Thursday.

The talks are aimed at determining how much Seoul should pay for the stationing of U.S. Forces Korea. The current six-year SMA is set to end at the end of next year.

“The United States and Republic of Korea outlined their respective visions for the 12th SMA,” she said in a statement. She did not elaborate on the visions.

“Our commitment to reinforcing the readiness of our combined defense posture underlines the enduring vitality of the U.S.-ROK alliance. We will continue to consult whenever necessary to further strengthen and sustain the Alliance under the 12th SMA,” she added.

Shortly before the talks, Specht said that the U.S. seeks a “fair” and “equitable” outcome in the SMA talks.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It wasn’t that long ago actions like this was not taken seriously by Korean courts. It is good to see the progress made holding these weirdos accountable:

The court sentenced a pastor in his 40s to prison and arrested him in court for forcibly harassing a woman in her 20s who was a believer and related to a heterogeneous cousin.

According to the legal community on the 28th, the Chuncheon District Court’s Wonju Branch 1 (Chief Judge Lee Soo-woong) sentenced A (41) to three years in prison and arrested him without detention on charges of violating the Special Act on Sexual Violence Crimes Punishment.

The court also ordered the completion of a 40-hour sexual violence treatment program and restrictions on employment for five years at facilities related to children, adolescents, and the disabled, respectively.

A, a church pastor, was indicted on charges of hugging B and touching her body by putting her hand inside her clothes while talking to B (25, female), a member and heterogeneous cousin, at 2 p.m. on June 23 last year.

At the time, the victim refused, saying to A, “What’s wrong with you, I’ll report it,” but “There are times when I can’t control myself because there are many male hormones.” It was revealed through the indictment that he continued to molest, saying, “I wanted to touch it normally.”

Maeil Kyeongchae

You can read more at the link.

Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.

Green tea fields

Visitors take a stroll through green tea fields producing premium tea brand Osulloc on South Korea’s largest island of Jeju on April 25, 2024. (Yonhap)