Author: GIKorea

The Korean government is really going to have to promote and set the example to get people to stop wearing masks when they have been socially conditioned for so long to wear them:

“I am sure that the government decided to revise the rule as it is certain about managing the virus situation. But I still want to wear the mask for the sake of myself,” Kim said as she was waiting in line for her latte at a Starbucks store in Seoul’s Seocho district.

Just like previous days, most of the people in the store masked up while waiting, except for when they were drinking or eating.

Most commuters also kept their face masks on in indoor areas of public transportation and even outside transportation hubs as they viewed masking as something between a habit and a security.

“It feels a little awkward to take off my mask,” Chang Joon-won said as he was coming out of a subway entrance in Seoul’s Seocho district to head for work. “It has become like a part of me.”

All of the around 30 people waiting for a subway train at Seoul’s Dongdaemun Station wore masks. 

“It is uncomfortable, but I will continue to wear a mask as the COVID-19 pandemic has not yet ended,” Kim Soo-ah said. 

Teachers, students and school staff showed mixed emotions about the end of the school mask mandate, as most students opted to wear face coverings while going to school.

“Nothing will immediately change, as kids are used to (wearing masks),” Park Soon-ae, a mother of two daughters, said as she escorted her kids to Daerim Elementary School in Seoul’s Dongjak district.

Over a 30-minute period, only one student showed up at school without a mask.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

General Minihan does offer a plausible scenario on why 2025 would be a good time for China to attack Taiwan:

China could be at war with the United States two years from now, a top Air Force general predicted in a bombastic and unusual memo to troops under his command, asserting a significantly shorter timeline before potential conflict than any other senior U.S. defense official to date.

Gen. Michael A. Minihan, who as head of Air Mobility Command oversees the service’s fleet of transport and refueling aircraft, warned personnel to speed their preparations for a potential conflict, citing Chinese President Xi Jinping’s aspirations and the possibility that Americans will not be paying attention until it is too late.

“I hope I am wrong,” Minihan wrote. “My gut tells me we will fight in 2025. Xi secured his third term and set his war council in October 2022. Taiwan’s presidential elections are in 2024 and will offer Xi a reason. United States’ presidential elections are in 2024 and will offer Xi a distracted America. Xi’s team, reason, and opportunity are all aligned for 2025.”

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

I just don’t understand how idiots like this guy think they are going to get away with doing dumb things like this:

This screenshot from an All Nippon News report shows security camera footage from a car dealer in Iwakuni, Japan, Dec. 3, 2022. (ANN)

A U.S. Marine has met with and apologized to the owner of a vehicle that was stolen and then crashed last month outside this base near Hiroshima, according to a local media report. 

The Marine, who has not been identified by local authorities or the Marine Corps, spent nearly two hours with the victim on Thursday, the local Chugoku newspaper reported the next day. In addition to apologizing, he promised to pay for any damages, the report said.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Fortunately this did not lead to a bigger incident:

A South Korean soldier has mistakenly fired a machine gun during training near the border with North Korea, and the military has immediately informed North Korea that the shooting was not intentional, military officials said Sunday.

The South Korean military said four live rounds were fired from the machine gun during a training session by an Army unit along the inter-Korean border in the eastern province of Gangwon at 6:27 p.m. on Saturday.

All of the bullets landed in the southern side of the Military Demarcation Line and no damage was reported. No firings were planned for the training.

The military unit immediately informed North Korea via broadcasting on several occasions that the firings were not intentional and stepped up emergency readiness posture, the officials said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I can remember the days when 18,871 COVID cases in South Korea had people in a panic and now people are just accepting it like the flu. However, I still expect Koreans to continue to wear their masks for quite some time even though the mandate has ended:

South Korea’s new coronavirus cases fell below 20,000 on Sunday, just a day ahead of the country’s planned lifting of a mask mandate for indoor places that has been in place for more than three years.

The country reported 18,871 new cases, including 37 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 30,149,601, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

The daily caseload had been above 30,000 for the second straight day Friday due to increased tests after the Lunar New Year holiday that ended Tuesday, before falling to 23,612 on Saturday.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

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