Author: GIKorea

I knew a KATUSA Soldier in this situation who was born in the U.S. and his parents still lived in the U.S. He could of avoided military service by not going to Korea, but his parents were adamant that he complete his military service just like other Korean males:

The Constitutional Court has upheld the constitutionality of the law requiring military service for men born to South Korean parents temporarily staying overseas before they can renounce their Korean citizenship.

According to legal sources Wednesday, all eight Constitutional Court judges rejected a 23-year-old man’s petition questioning the constitutionality of the Nationality Act forcing conscription on people in his situation.

The man was born to South Korean parents in the United States while they were studying there. He held dual South Korean and U.S. citizenships, and his application to renounce his South Korean nationality in 2018 was rejected.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I wonder what would happen in the U.S. if a law like this was ever passed?:

The Constitutional Court has ruled that the school violence prevention law mandating a school bully’s apology to the victim and other countermeasures is constitutional, officials said Tuesday. 

The court made the decision 6-3, rejecting a middle school student’s petition claiming that the anti-school violence law infringes upon the freedom of conscience and personality rights by forcing an apology to a victim of school bullying.

Under the school violence prevention act, bullies can be ordered to make a written apology to victims, banned from contacting, threatening or retaliating against victims, and be ordered to transfer classes.

The student filed the petition for a review of the law’s constitutionality after being punished for school violence in 2017 with orders to make a written apology to the victim, move to a different class and not to contact the victim.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It looks like the TTX last week was a success because they plan to do another one later this year:

Korean Ambassador to U.S. Cho Tae-yong at a press conference held in Washington on Monday. [NEWS1]

Korea’s ambassador to the U.S. said South Korea and the United States are currently working on a joint tabletop exercise (TTX) that goes beyond military maneuvers to embrace diplomacy, information and economics.  
   
The expanded exercise reflects the alliance’s move toward “extended deterrence” against threats from North Korea.  
   
Ambassador Cho Tae-yong told reporters in Washington on Monday that the two countries took part in the U.S. Defense Department’s 8th Deterrence Strategy Committee Table-Top Exercise (DSC TTX) at the Pentagon on Feb. 22.   (…..)

“We plan to pursue a TTX in which several agencies from each country will participate in the near future,” Cho said.    
   
“We have reaffirmed the commitment to extended deterrence that utilizes all defense capacities, including nuclear weapons, as pledged by President Joe Biden during the South Korea-U.S. Summit in May last year.”    
   
He added, “The two sides are closely cooperating to strengthen the alliance’s executing power.” 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

Another BTS member is taking the first steps to complete his mandatory military service obligation:

BTS artist j-hope began the enlistment process for his stint with the South Korean military, his record label announced, making him the second member of the Korean-pop group to do so.

The rapper-singer, whose real name is Jung Ho-seok, applied to end his postponement of the mandatory 18-month service.

“We will inform you of further updates in due course,” BIGHIT Music wrote on Weverse. “We ask you for your continued love and support for j-hope until he completes his military service and safely returns. Our company will spare no effort in providing support for our artist.”

The 29-year-old follows fellow BTS star Jin, 30, who began his mandatory service in December. South Korea requires most men to enlist in its military by age 28, but entertainers can push back their stints until they’re 30.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

This cable car project will probably turn Osaek into the same madhouse that the current Seoraksan National Park entrance is. I have taken the cable car before at the National Park entrance and it was a long line with a packed cable car; so I understand why they are trying to create another cable car to distribute the demand. However, Osaek is a quieter area compared to the park’s entrance since this is where hikers stay to ascend the mountain from. That may change in the near future if a cable car is built there as well:

The environment ministry on Monday gave a conditional nod to a controversial project to build and operate a cable car system over a natural reserve area on Mount Seorak near South Korea’s east coast.

The project, pursued since the 1980s, seeks to build a 3.3-kilometer-long cable car system between the Seoraksan National Park’s Osaek area in the county of Yangyang and near the mountain’s summit. 

Once completed as planned, the system will service 53 cable cars to carry up to 825 passengers per hour. 

The site is within a state-designated natural reserve as well as a biosphere reserve designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The environment ministry’s regional office in Wonju gave “conditional consent” to an environmental impact assessment report submitted by Yangyang County on the project, saying it carries measures to reduce negative environmental effects.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This is not good news for the historically low Korean birthrate:

Just four percent of unmarried Korean women in their 20s and 30s see marriage and childbearing as essential in their lives, according to a recent survey that paints an even gloomier picture of the country’s continuously falling fertility rate. 

The survey was conducted by Park Jeong-min, a professor of social welfare at Seoul National University and published in the Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies, Sunday. Park surveyed 281 unmarried men and women aged between 20 and 40 on their thoughts about marriage and childbirth.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.