Author: GIKorea

I have driven on this expressway many times and it is amazing that apparently an accident with a garbage truck caused a fire this big:

At least five people were killed and 37 others injured, three of them seriously, Thursday in a noise-barrier tunnel fire along an expressway in Gwacheon, just south of Seoul, fire authorities said. 

The blaze was reported to have occurred at 1:49 p.m. inside the noise tunnel in Gwacheon along the Second Gyeongin Expressway that connects the western port city of Incheon to Seongnam City, the authorities said.

Fire authorities initially announced the fire started after a collision between a bus and a garbage truck but later said they would need further investigation to determine the exact cause, leaving open the possibility that the truck alone may have been responsible for the deadly blaze.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

There was a huge troop reduction during the President Moon years that the current President Yoon is not going to cut further:

The South Korean military will maintain its current troop levels despite ongoing threats from North Korea’s military, according to a Ministry of National Defense prospectus released Wednesday.

South Korea will maintain its active-duty force of 500,000 service members until 2027, the five-year outlook states. The nation’s military numbered 618,000 active-duty troops in 2018, but was steadily downsized to 500,000 this year due to “a rapid decrease in young population,” according to the blueprint.

The plan adds 1,000 commissioned officers to the ranks while cutting 1,000 enlisted positions by 2027. Roughly 201,000 officers and 299,000 enlisted service members currently serve in South Korea’s military.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

President Yoon appears to be highly upset that the ROK military has not developed the technology to counter North Korean drones:

President Yoon Suk Yeol berated Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup over the military’s failed operation against five North Korean drones that entered South Korean airspace earlier this week, officials said Wednesday.

Yoon met with Lee on Tuesday morning and was briefed on the military’s response to the North’s violation of South Korean airspace the previous day.

The drones flew across the Military Demarcation Line separating the two Koreas, with one flying over northern parts of Seoul, but the South Korean military failed to shoot them down.

“How can there be none preparing against North Korean drone attacks? There were many similar incidents in the past, so what have you been doing until now?” Yoon said during the meeting, according to one official who relayed the exchange.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It looks like people who like to get their freak on with sex dolls in South Korea will soon have more variety to choose from:

The government’s latest decision to scrap a ban on imports of life-size sex dolls has reignited debates on sex doll experience cafes where customers pay money to enjoy the products in a private space. 

The Korea Customs Service announced on Monday it will lift the ban on the import of complete-bodied sex dolls, ending a years-long dispute with importers of the products. Although there are currently no laws specifically prohibiting the import of sex dolls, customs authorities had been seizing most of them, citing a clause that bans the import of goods that may harm public morals.

The customs agency’s move came after a series of court rulings sided with the importers by saying that the use of sex dolls should be left to individual discretion. The authorities, however, stressed that child-like sex dolls and those resembling certain people will continue to be banned.

The lifting of import bans came as good news to owners of sex doll experience shops that have been increasing here in recent years. These shops offer customers a chance to enjoy the sex dolls at a private place. Now that the import ban is lifted, the shops will be able to provide their clients with more product options, not limited to domestically manufactured ones.

But the operation of such businesses in Korea is still in a legal gray zone, with opponents describing them as a “new form of sex trafficking.” 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but calling dolls a form of sex trafficking is ridiculous.

It should come as know surprise that the secret Chinese police base is being run out of a restaurant in the same building housing China’s state broadcaster CCTV:

A Chinese restaurant in southern Seoul suspected of being operated as a base for a secret Chinese police station in Korea was found to have opened another branch office right in front of the National Assembly building in Yeouido, western Seoul.  
   
The company opened the office in a nine-story building located on a road directly in front of the National Assembly building in December 2020, according to a certificate of registry information on the restaurant’s operator obtained by the JoongAng Ilbo.  
   
A total of seven businesses were in operation in the building, the JoongAng Ilbo confirmed Friday. 

wo Chinese media-related companies were located in the building: a Chinese media-related office and the Seoul bureau office of China Central Television (CCTV) were on the ninth floor. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

Shooting down drones, especially high flying ones with out endangering civilian property is not easy, but it is also not impossible:

President Yoon Suk-yeol on Tuesday criticized the military’s response to North Korean drones that intruded across the inter-Korean border the previous day, saying the incident exposed some problems with South Korea’s readiness.

Speaking at a Cabinet meeting, Yoon said the military should be better prepared for such intrusions by North Korean drones and vowed to create a military unit specializing in unmanned aerial vehicles as part of efforts to strengthen South Korea’s air defense capabilities.

“We have a plan to create a military drone unit tasked with monitoring key military facilities in North Korea. But we’ll expedite the process of creating the drone unit after the incident yesterday,” he said. “We’ll also introduce state-of-the art stealth drones to strengthen our surveillance capability.”

Yoon also voiced regret over the National Assembly’s decision to cut the military budget for anti-drone operations, saying the incident once again showed how dangerous it is to rely on North Korea’s “good faith” and paper agreements for peace.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but it is amazing that funding for anti-drone operations was cut by the National Assembly. Drones is obviously the future of warfare. Their importance can be seen right now in the war in Ukraine. This incident should give President Yoon all the rationale he needs to pour money into the new drone command he wants to establish.