Author: GIKorea

It looks like South Korea is breaking out of the omicron phase of the pandemic. Most notably is that the fatality rate has fallen from .69% in February to .13% now in May:

 South Korea’s new COVID-19 cases fell below 30,000 on Saturday in an apparent sign that the country’s virus cases are significantly declining amid eased social distancing rules.

The country added 29,581 new virus infections, including 25 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 17,756,627, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

The daily figure fell below the 30,000 mark for the first time in 15 weeks for any Saturday. 

The figure marked a sharp drop from 32,451 reported the previous day and 35,906 added on Thursday.

The country added 55 COVID-19 deaths, bringing the total to 23,661, the KDCA said. The fatality rate came to 0.13 percent.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It must be pretty bad that Kim Jong-un has actually come out and made such a statement. We will see how well a largely malnourished population with minimal health care options is able to handle a COVID outbreak:

 North Korea on Saturday reported 21 additional COVID-19 deaths, with more than 174,400 people nationwide feverish, as its leader Kim Jong-un stated that his country is faced with “great turmoil” due to the spread of the virus.

Pyongyang’s state media released the updated tally compiled the previous day, after Kim presided over an early-morning politburo meeting to review the nation’s “maximum emergency” antivirus system in place.

Mainly discussed in the session were ways for the swift supply and distribution of emergency medical supplies, according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

He was briefed on the current situation from the state emergency epidemic prevention headquarters and described it as “great turmoil since the country’s founding,” it reported. 

He urged relevant authorities to learn from the “successful” coronavirus control measures of other countries, including China.

A total of around 524,440 people in North Korea have shown symptoms of fevers between late April and May 13, the KCNA added. Among them, 243,630 have been completely cured, with roughly 280,810 being treated.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but with their lack of testing and transparency these numbers are probably far worse than what is being reported.

Please leave anything you want to discuss this Friday the 13th in the comments section:

It looks like the Kim regime is wasting no time testing the Yoon administration. It will be interesting to see what they do when President Biden visits South Korea later this month:

North Korea fired three short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea Thursday, the South Korean military said, in its first major provocation since the launch of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the launches from the Sunan area of Pyongyang at 6:29 p.m., and the missiles flew some 360 kilometers at a top altitude of about 90 km.

The launch, the North’s 16th show of force this year, came despite speculation that the North may slow down its weapons tests as it reported its first COVID-19 case earlier in the day with the enforcement of the “maximum emergency” virus control system.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I feel bad for this person because clearly they are suffering from a mental illness, but in today’s media and culture this is actually celebrated. With that all said, despite all these surgeries Oli London looks nothing like a Korean:

London, 31, who underwent multiple surgeries to look like BTS member Jimin, most recently identified as a Korean woman using “they/them” pronouns.

In the May 2 episode of the Channel 4 series, London sat down with a Black woman, who was not named in the video, to discuss whether someone can identify as “transracial.”

“I identify as Korean,” London said. “I used to live in Korea. I was living there for one year. I love the culture, the history, the people. I put myself through a lot of pain, a lot of surgical procedures to have more of a Korean aesthetic. I spent a lot of time learning the language, learning how to cook Korean food.”

London said “people didn’t really get it” when they came out, but they hope to be more accepted over time.

On the other side of the table, the woman opened her response by immediately rejecting the idea of transracialism.

“Transracial does not exist, and I think it’s very, very harmful to push the narrative that it is possible to switch races,” she said.

“I can’t sit up here and suddenly say ‘Oh, I’m a white woman. And if you as a white person says, ‘Oh, I can be Black or I can be Korean,’ and I can’t swap or benefit from the privilege that you benefit from, then it’s clearly not an equal exchange. Because whiteness in this country has been set up in a way. How I interact with the police, how I interact with the medical system can result in me dying.”

Next Shark

You can read more at the link.

Moon Jae-in definitely did leave office on a much higher note than his predecessors:

“Thank you, thank you everyone,” Moon spoke into a microphone before boarding a KTX train around noon after attending the inauguration of Yoon Suk-yeol.  
   
“Who among past presidents could have had such a beautiful end? Thanks to all of you, I was a happy president until the end.”   
   
When the couple arrived in front of the Pyeongsan village hall, located only a few blocks from their retirement home, hundreds of people were wearing blue shirts or caps and holding blue balloons, Moon’s signature color since his 2017 presidential campaign.They erupted in cheers as the former presidential couple appeared.   
   
Moon is the first president to retire with an approval rating over 40 percent since direct elections were restored in 1987. His approval rating a year into his presidency was also the highest for a Korean president in history, 83 percent, according to Gallup Korea.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.