Considering season 1’s huge success, it is no surprise Squid Game has been renewed by Netflix for a second season:
The global sensation “Squid Game” will return for a second season, Netflix confirmed Monday.
“A whole new round is coming,” director, writer and executive producer Hwang Dong-hyuk said in a letter to fans released by Netflix. “And now, Gi-hun returns. The Front Man returns. Season 2 is coming.”
Gi-hun, played by Lee Jung-jae, is the debt-ridden character who gets involved in a mysterious deadly contest to win 45.6 billion won (US$37.9 million) in prize money in the nine-part series.
Hwang added that Cheol-su, the “boyfriend” of the show’s animatronic doll, Young-hee, will be introduced to viewers in the next season.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
Anyone want to buy the McDonalds franchises in South Korea?:
McDonald’s is moving to sell its Korean branches as more companies enter the overly-crowded fast food market here, the company said Friday. The U.S. fast food giant first attempted to dispose of its Korean business back in 2016 but failed to do so as potential buyers opted out, due to high sales prices and other reasons.
Korea Times
Mirae Asset Securities has been selected as a sales manager to find the new owner of McDonald’s Korea, which has seen its profitability deteriorate, despite rising revenue, because of rising wages and higher raw materials costs, amid intensifying competition.
“McDonald’s is looking for a strategic partner in Korea to improve the company’s growth. We are working with an external consulting firm to review various options. We will provide more details on the sell off at the appropriate time,” a McDonald’s Korea official said.
McDonald’s sales in Korea have actually increased from 724.8 billion won ($570.4 million) in 2019 to 867.8 billion won in 2021. This increase is only counting the revenue created from the restaurants McDonald’s Korea directly managed, and if sales created with franchisees are included, the figure reaches over 1 trillion won. It is the largest sales achieved by the American fast food restaurant chain in Korea. Its operating losses reached 44 billion won in 2019, 48.3 billion won in 2020 and 27.7 billion won in 2021.
Various factors are attributable to McDonald’s money-losing business in Korea. Higher delivery service fees here during COVID-19 have increased its business expenses, along with soaring costs of labor and raw materials.
You can read more at the link.
This is not surprising considering how this trucker strike continues to drag out which is all linked to high fuel prices:
South Korean steelmaker POSCO said on Sunday will halt some of its plants in the country due to a lack of space to store finished products, which have not been shipped due to a strike by truckers who are demanding higher pay as fuel prices surge.
POSCO follows automaker Hyundai Motor in cutting production lines as the strike by thousands of truckers disrupted cargo transport at the country’s industrial hubs and major ports.
Reuters
You can read more at the link.
The statement is not surprising, what is a little surprising is how long it took the Kim regime to make the statement in support of the Russians. I think this may be another indication that the Kim regime is readying for a nuclear test. They support the Russians now and the Russians will support them later in blocking sanctions in the UN Security Council after any nuclear test:
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Sunday expressed full support for Russian President Vladimir Putin, the country’s state media reported, despite international condemnation for his invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian people have “achieved great successes in accomplishing the just cause of defending the dignity and security of their country … while braving all sorts of challenges and hardships,” Kim said in a message to Putin on the occasion of the Russia Day holiday, according to North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency. “The Korean people extend full support and encouragement to them.”
Kim’s apparent reference to the unprovoked attack against Ukraine as a “just cause” for defending Russia’s security is the latest sign that illustrates decades-old close bilateral ties between the two countries.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
This is something that has been done in the past, but was suspended under the liberal Moon Jae-in administration. Now with a new President it appears restarting trilateral cooperation may soon become a reality:
The defense chiefs of South Korea, the United States and Japan agreed Saturday to step up cooperation to counter North Korea’s missile threats through their combined regular security exercises, including missile warning drills, Seoul’s defense ministry said.
Korea Times
Lee Jong-sup and his U.S. and Japanese counterparts, Lloyd Austin and Nobuo Kishi, reached the agreement during their gathering held on the margins of the annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.
You can read more at the link.
These so called X-Files must have some pretty interesting information in them:
A former spy chief apologized Saturday for speaking publicly about an archive of secret “X-files” kept by the National Intelligence Service (NIS).
Korea Times
Former NIS Director Park Jie-won, who left the agency last month, told a local radio station on Friday that the files were created over the past 60 years from the governments of President Park Chung-hee to President Park Geun-hye and contained mostly unconfirmed rumors about politicians, entrepreneurs, journalists and others, including love affairs.
He lamented that he was unable to legislate a special bill to destroy the files.
The NIS called out Park in a press release Saturday, saying it was “inappropriate” for a former director to publicly speak about information he had obtained while in office, regardless of whether it was true or not.
You can read more at the link.
