Author: GIKorea

“It’s the beginnings of a mass movement and that is what the government doesn’t want,” said a social studies professor at a Chinese university who did not wish to be named. 

Multiple crackdowns have swept the tech, education and showbiz sectors in recent months, as authorities increasingly target the rich and powerful in a push for greater socioeconomic equality.

But it is also partly to instill “healthy,” government-sanctioned societal values in young people, so they are less influenced by wayward celebrities.

“Chinese youth lack other types of idols,” said Fang Kecheng, a communications professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. “It’s very hard for them to have other means of civic participation (such as activism).”

China’s broadcast regulator last month banned performers with “lapsed morals” and “incorrect political views,” as well as what it termed “sissy men” ― an androgynous aesthetic popularized by Korean boybands, and imitated by male Chinese idols like Xiao. 

Experts read the latter as a sign of Beijing’s increasing discomfort with alternative forms of masculinity at a time of falling birthrates and rising nationalism, as films with macho, military heroes are promoted by the state. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Could you imagine how many politicians in the U.S. would be prosecuted if America had law about spreading misinformation during a debate:

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon returned home early Sunday after 14 hours of questioning by prosecutors over allegations that he spoke falsehood during a TV debate in the run-up to April’s mayoral by-election.

Oh was accused of spreading false information after he said during the pre-election debate that a scandal-plagued development project in 2009 had nothing to do with his previous term as Seoul mayor from 2006 to 2011. 

Police looked into the allegations and referred the case to the prosecution.

Oh has claimed he forgot about the case because the project ultimately fell through.

He appeared at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office for questioning around 10 a.m. Saturday and left the prosecutors’ office around 20 minutes past midnight.

Oh, affiliated with the main opposition People Power Party, won a landslide victory against the ruling Democratic Party’s candidate in the April 7 mayoral by-election.

Yonhap

This is another example of how the Moon administration is using legal methods to go after the opposition’s main political leaders.

Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.

Condolences to all the friends and family of SGT Lott:

A 2nd Infantry Division soldier stationed near the border with North Korea died at a local hospital on Sept. 19, the command said in a press release Wednesday.

Sgt. Damionia Lott served as a supply sergeant with the 70th Brigade Support Battalion, 210th Field Artillery Brigade at Camp Casey, according to the release. The command said her death was not attributed to a training incident but declined to provide additional information.

Lott, a Louisiana native, enlisted in the Marine Corps in 2016 and joined the Army four years later. She arrived at the battalion in South Korea in July. Her age was not provided.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

As we have been saying here on the ROK Drop, Kim Jong-un is eager to pressure the Moon administration to get a deal cut with Biden administration before the ROK presidential elections this Spring. If a conservative takes power in South Korea the Kim regime knows they have little prospects of getting a deal that gives them what they want with little to nothing in return. The time to get a deal in their favor is now, so expect continued missile tests to keep North Korea in the headlines and the pressure on the Biden administration.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said Wednesday he will restore inter-Korean hotlines early next month, while calling Washington’s outreach to Pyongyang for dialogue “a petty trick.”  
   
“The U.S. is touting ‘diplomatic engagement’ and ‘dialogue without preconditions’ but it is no more than a petty trick for deceiving the international community and hiding its hostile acts and an extension of the hostile policy pursued by the successive U.S. administrations,” Kim said in a speech to the Supreme People’s Assembly on Wednesday, according to an English-language statement carried by the North’s official Korea Central News Agency (KCNA).    
   
It was the first time that Kim directly responded to the Joe Biden administration’s repeated calls for dialogue “without any preconditions.”  
   
Kim spoke in a more conciliatory tone about the South, in what appeared to be an attempt to pressure Seoul to get the Joe Biden administration to ease crippling sanctions, suspend joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises, or allow it to keep its existing arsenal of nuclear weapons and missiles – the list of items that the regime has repeatedly demanded from Seoul and Washington.   

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

Hopefully no one in the U.S. military had any travel plans to Seoul anytime soon:

The military command responsible for U.S. troops in South Korea has temporarily restricted troops from traveling to 41 districts following a surge in COVID-19 cases in the country.

The updated travel guidelines announced by U.S. Forces Korea on Wednesday reflect a recent increase in coronavirus cases around the country, according to a post on the USFK official Facebook page. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency on Saturday reported 3,271 new cases, a new daily record in the country.

The surge comes days after Chuseok, the nation’s harvest holiday. South Korean health officials previously said they expected a dramatic increase in cases and warned residents to limit their travel plans during the three-day holiday Sept. 20 to 22. Nearly 33 million people traveled during the holiday week, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

USFK has divided the country into roughly 230 districts to reflect changing rates of coronavirus infection. USFK service members, civilian employees, family members and contractors are prohibited from traveling to districts with 50 or more confirmed COVID-19 patients per 100,000 people over a seven-day period. The command updates its district guidelines every week.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but the article states that 80% of Seoul is off limits due to the COVID surge.

The Korean Military Academy continues this great initiative to honor West Point graduates that made the ultimate sacrifice during the Korean War:

Twelve West Point graduates killed during the 1950-53 Korean War were memorialized in a plaque erected last week at South Korea’s military academy.

The Korea Military Academy, about seven miles from Seoul, was established in 1946, one year before the 12 cadets graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y.

The 12 West Pointers from the class of 1947 took part in fierce battles during the Korean War, including the 55-day Nakdong River Defense Line Battle of 1950. Of the dozen killed from that graduating class, the remains of three have yet to be found.

“We will admire their ultimate sacrifice and professional military spirit,” said a statement from the Korea Military Academy. “Their sacrifice reminds people of the importance of the [South Korea]-U.S. alliance.”

Three other memorials honoring West Point alumni from other graduating classes are on the South Korean academy grounds and three more are to be constructed by 2023.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.