Author: GIKorea

It is looking like the weather is absolutely miserable for these Scouts. Hopefully the alternate attractions being planned for them has a lot of shade and air conditioning:

British Scouts arrive at a hotel in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, after they withdrew from the campsite in the Saemangeum reclamation area hosting the World Scout Jamboree amid a heat wave, Aug. 5. Yonhap

Municipal and provincial governments across Korea were busy arranging various tourism programs for participants at the World Scout Jamboree under way in the country as alternative activities amid an ongoing extreme heat wave and other issues that have affected the global gathering.

The event held in the southwestern coastal area of Saemangeum has faced criticism after numerous accounts of a hospital bed shortage, waterlogged conditions due to previous heavy rains, and swarms of mosquitoes, as the country has been gripped with record-high temperatures.

On Saturday, representatives of the participating countries decided to go ahead with the event despite challenges that led the United States, Britain and Singapore to pull out from the campsite.

In light of the reported problems at the site, President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered authorities to devise tourism programs that would enable jamboree participants to see firsthand Korea’s industry, culture, history and nature.

Korea Times

You can read more at the links.

In the U.S. this crazy guy with a reported mental illness could have gone to Walmart and bought a gun. At least in South Korea the mentally ill can’t purchase a gun to create far larger carnage than what this guy caused with a knife:

A man rammed a car onto a sidewalk Thursday in the South Korean city of Seongnam, then stepped out of the vehicle and began stabbing people at a shopping mall, leaving at least 14 people wounded. 

Just hours after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Friday called for “ultra-strong” law enforcement measures in response to that attack, police found themselves chasing the suspect in another stabbing incident at a high school in Daejeon city.

Cho Byeong-tae, an official at the Daejeon metropolitan police department, said the attack at Songchon High School left at least one teacher hurt. He did not identify the victim or provide details about the victim’s health. (…..)

Authorities arrested a 22-year-old suspect at the scene and were questioning him. Police did not identify the man or offer any immediate information about a potential motive.

According to Park Gyeong-won, an official at Gyeonggi’s Bundang district police station, the suspect during police interviews talked incoherently and said he was being stalked by an unspecified source. The suspect’s family told police he had a history of mental illness.

Associated Press via a reader tip

You can read more at the link.

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

I have always suspected that many agitators and protesters are knowingly or unknowingly paid off by Chinese and Russian operatives to cause racial discontent in the U.S. and now we know in at least this case it is happening:

As they pumped their fists in the air and held signs declaring “Peace 4 All” and “Stop the Violence,” a small group of Americans that gathered in downtown Washington last summer was nearly indistinguishable from the thousands of others who gather in the nation’s capital every year to protest. 

But there was a striking difference: The protest was likely funded by pro-Beijing operatives as part of a plan that is aimed at undermining American democracy and promoting China’s economic interests, researchers from Mandiant, a cybersecurity firm owned by Google reported this week. 

Mandiant’s report suggests the pro-Beijing group paid an American to arrange the protest – a 24-year-old musician and entrepreneur from Baltimore – who told CNN in an exclusive interview that he didn’t know the organization could be a Shanghai-based public relations firm promoting the Chinese government’s interests.

CNN

You can read more at the link, but even if you look at it at the macro-level entire organizations are paid off by the Chinese. For example the NBA will say nothing about human rights issues in China which are far worse than anything going on in the U.S. They do this simply to maintain television viewership in China which brings in revenue to the league.

Great job by these ROK firefighters who undoubtedly gained some valuable forest fire experience to bring back with them to Korea:

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks in front of Korean firefighters on their way back to Korea from Ottawa, Wednesday. Screenshot from X

anadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday tweeted a video clip of himself expressing gratitude to a Korean emergency firefighting team who helped his country deal with raging wildfires.

“This morning in Ottawa, I got to send off an incredible group of people. They came from Korea and spent the last few weeks battling wildfires in Quebec,” Trudeau said in the video message posted on social media. “On behalf of all Canadians ― I thanked them for their heroic work.”

The Korea Disaster Relief Team (KDRT), comprised of 151 personnel from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Korea Forest Service, the National Fire Agency and the medical sector, arrived in Lebel-sur-Quevillon, Quebec, on July 2. Two days later, they began a month-long mission fighting the natural disaster that prompted the Quebec provincial government to declare a state of emergency. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It seems every few years a Korean builders gets exposed for shoddy construction. Here is the latest example which could impact the entire Korean construction industry:

Rebar and wires are exposed in the collapsed parking garage of GS E&C’s apartment complex construction site in Incheon in this May 2 file photo. Yonhap

The government’s recent disclosure of poorly built underground parking garages of apartment complexes nationwide has not only sparked fears about the safety of Korea’s housing construction, but also caused concerns over a potential setback in Korea’s ambitious plan to win $50 billion in overseas construction orders every year until 2027, industry experts said Wednesday. 

Given that GS E&C, DL Construction, Hyosung Heavy Industries and other major Korean builders have been criticized for building parking garages having insufficient steel bars in their pillars, the experts warned that foreign clients may avoid placing orders with those companies.

“This issue will eventually affect the overseas business of Korean builders, tarnishing the country’s reputation as a construction powerhouse,” said Choe Myeong-ki, who is in charge of the construction sector in the Industrial Field Professors under supervision of the labor ministry. “Foreign clients will raise questions about the capability of Korean builders involved in poor construction.”

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.