Here is an update on the typhoon that will soon make landfall on South Korea:
A woman looks at high waves at a beach in Gangneung, 163 kilometers east of Seoul, on Aug. 8, 2023, as Typhoon Khanun is forecast to hit the country’s southeastern region two days later. (Yonhap)
Typhoon Khanun is expected to make landfall on South Korea’s southern coast this week and proceed northward to North Korea, putting the entire country under its influence and dumping heavy rains nationwide, the weather agency said Tuesday.
Khanun, which was moving northward from waters 300 kilometers south of Japan’s Kagoshima as of 9 a.m., is expected to reach 30 km west of the southern coastal city of Tongyeong at 9 a.m. Thursday to make landfall in South Korea, the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said.
The typhoon may head further north to pass South Korea by early Friday morning and reach 70 km northeast of North Korea’s capital Pyongyang at 9 a.m. Friday, the agency said.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link, but the storm is not particularly strong with 126 kilometer per hour winds, but as we have seen earlier this summer, flooding from the rain will likely be the most deadly part of this storm.
If this alleged misappropriation of funds is going on with the Jamboree other large public events should be audited as well. The Jamboree spending is only coming to light due to the poor weather that exposed issues with planning; what misappropriation of funds has happened in events that went off as planned?:
This file photo, taken July 24, 2023, shows a site for the 25th World Scout Jamboree, set to take place at Saemangeum, a reclaimed area in Buan, about 204 kilometers south of Seoul, from Aug. 1-12. The Buan county office provided this photo.
An overwhelming amount of public funds in South Korea spent for the 2023 World Scout Jamboree was used for operational and personnel expenses instead of for the setting up of infrastructure, such as shower and bathroom stalls, at the camp site, according to data provided by organizers Monday.
It has raised scrutiny on whether both central and local authorities involved in the jamboree management throughout the years adequately used public funds — especially in light of revelations of over some 90 reported cases of lavish overseas business trips taken by civil servants in the name of research.
According to data provided by the central government, the North Jeolla provincial government and the jamboree organizing committee on Monday, the accumulated budget used to run the event and related expenditure had amounted to 117.1 billion won (US$89.5 million).
Of the total, 74 percent, or 87 billion won, had been used to cover personnel expenses for the organizing committee and operational costs, such as those related to travel and food for the Scouts, and the K-pop concert for the jamboree.
Spending for campsite infrastructure, including water and sewage facilities, parking lots and water-spraying cooling tunnels, stood at 20.5 billion won.
Expenses for toilets, showers and drinking water fountains at the campsite amounted to 13 billion won, or 11 percent of the total spending, data showed.
Here is where the spending gets infuriating:
Data also showed that officials, such as those from the gender equality and family ministry, and the North Jeolla provincial government, went on dozens of lavish overseas trips throughout eight years under the guise of research for the jamboree.
In May 2018, five officials from the province went on an eight-day trip to Switzerland and Italy under the pretext of investigating successful jamboree hosting cases.
The trip included visits to tourist attractions, such as Interlaken, Lucerne, Milan and Venice. Switzerland and Italy, however, had no experience hosting jamborees.
In December of that year, another group of officials at the provincial government visited Australia, and in 2019, officials from the gender equality ministry and the provincial government traveled to the United States to attend the 24th World Scout Jamboree held in West Virginia.
Several of the trips included cruise ship programs totally unrelated to the World Scout Jamboree.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
Another crazy guy with a mental illness has launched a stabbing attack in South Korea:
A local court issued a warrant Saturday to arrest a man suspected of stabbing a teacher at a high school multiple times.
The Daejeon District Court granted a warrant to formally arrest the suspect in his late 20s on charges of attempted murder, citing the risk of flight.
The man stabbed the teacher, including in the face and chest, at a high school in Daejeon, 139 kilometers south of Seoul on Friday. He was quoted as telling police that he was a student of the teacher in the past, but his claim has yet be verified.
The teacher, 49, underwent urgent surgery after the stabbing, but remains in critical condition.
Police said the suspect was diagnosed with schizophrenia and depression in recent years, but did not receive any treatment.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link, but with all the media attention these attacks are getting, authorities are worried about copycat attacks now by other mentally ill people.
This reminds me about the complaints about the heat during the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Why schedule a major event like this during the hottest and most humid part of the year? It is no secret that August is one of the worst months to visit Korea:
Members of the United States contingent at the World Scout Jamboree under way in Saemangeum, North Jeolla Province, wait in line to board a bus headed to the American military base in Pyeongtaek on Aug. 6, 2023. (Yonhap)
The United States contingent at the World Scout Jamboree under way in South Korea on Sunday departed for an American military base in Pyeongtaek, cutting short their stay amid an extreme heat wave.
Following criticism over insufficient preparations against record-high temperatures, the U.S. Scouts, comprising some 1,500 members, announced a plan to move its members from the site in the southwestern coastal area of Saemangeum to Camp Humphreys, an American military garrison 60 kilometers south of Seoul, and stay there until Friday.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
Korea has just been having horrible weather this summer and this is only going to make it worse:
Typhoon Khanun is forecast to hit South Korea later this week, after being expected to travel farther west than initial projections, the national weather agency said Sunday.
The typhoon passed through the northeast of Japan’s Okinawa and was moving up 240 kilometers off the northeast coast at 3 p.m. Sunday, the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said.
It is predicted to head further north toward the southeastern coast of the Korean Peninsula on Thursday, with the central pressure at 975 hectopascal and the maximum wind speed of up to 115 kilometers per hour, the KMA said.
The KMA said earlier Sunday that the typhoon would hit most parts of South Korea except for the southwestern coast off South Jeolla Province. At 4 p.m., however, the weather agency said the typhoon will likely move farther to the west as it reaches the peninsula.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
