This must be a thankless job cracking down on these parties:
Virus or not, a growing number of people have been caught attending parties in violation of COVID-19 rules, with some business owners opting to open and pay a fine than not open at all. (……)
Still, in the eastern coastal city of Gangneung, 237 kilometers east of Seoul, police walked in on a hotel pool party attended by dozens of people Saturday.
The city government of Gangneung said the party broke multiple COVID-19 rules, including a mandate on wearing masks, keeping a distance between people and other restrictions that apply to swimming pools.
The hotel was ordered to suspend operations for 10 days for violating the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act, according to the city government.
In other popular vacation spots, police reported cases of business owners boldly defying COVID-19 rules.
On Friday, a karaoke bar in Busan, 453 kilometers southeast of Seoul, entertained 15 guests only five days after it was caught doing business with its door locked, police said.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
Is this a sign that the Moon administration is wavering on conducting the upcoming combined exercise with the U.S.?:
South Korea said Monday it’ll keep pushing to improve ties and resume talks with rival North Korea, despite the North’s threat to rekindle animosities if Seoul holds its summertime military drills with the United States.
On Sunday night, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un warned the drills would seriously undermine efforts to restore mutual trust between the Koreas and becloud prospects for better ties if the training is launched as scheduled this month. Her statement raised a question about the sincerity of North Korea’s recent decision to reopen long-stalled communication channels with South Korea.
South Korea’s Defense Ministry said Monday the exact timing, size and other details of the drills haven’t been fixed and that they were the issues that must be determined by South Korean and U.S. authorities. Spokesman Boo Seung-Chan repeated his previous statement that Seoul and Washington are examining factors like the pandemic’s current status, diplomat efforts to curb North Korea’s nuclear ambitions and South Korea-U.S. military readiness.
Stars & Stripes
You can read more at the link.
I always figured a chaebol family figure would lead this ranking, but it ends up being a self made tech entrepreneur instead:
The self-made founder of Kakao has become the country’s richest person, backed by stock gains this year, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Bloomberg reported that Kakao Chairman Kim Beom-su, 55, has a net worth of $13.4 billion (15.4 trillion won), which places him at the top of Korea’s wealth rankings. Following him is Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, with a net worth of $12.1 billion.
Korea Times
Kim’s assets ballooned by more than $6 billion this year as Kakao’s share price surged 91 percent from early January. The tech company’s stock gains were fueled by scheduled listings of multiple affiliates this year, including internet-based lender Kakao Bank, which will make its local stock market debut next month.
You can read more at the link.
With the growing COVID wave in Tokyo it was only a matter of time before this happened:
Japan’s capital city, host to the Summer Olympics, reported another 3,300 new coronavirus cases Friday, as U.S. military commands began restricting their populations’ access to the inner city.
Some U.S. commanders, alarmed at the all-time high rate of new infections in Tokyo, put the city off-limits altogether, even for fully vaccinated individuals. U.S. bases in Japan reported 20 new coronavirus patients on Friday.
Tokyo is experiencing its fifth and most extreme coronavirus wave, in sheer volume of new cases. It reported its one-day pandemic high, 3,865 new patients, on Thursday.
Stars & Stripes
You can read more at the link.
It looks like President Duterte has finally come around and realized that the CCP not about to make concessions to a country they consider poor and inferior to them:
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has withdrawn a longstanding threat to cancel a defense agreement that allows U.S. military forces to train in his country.
The decision on the Visiting Forces Agreement, or VFA, was announced by Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana at a joint press conference Friday with his U.S. counterpart, Lloyd Austin, in Manila.
“The president decided to retract or rescind the VFA termination,” Lorenzana told reporters during the conference, which was streamed online. “We are back on track.” (……..)
Its reprieve is the latest swing for an alliance that has been on shaky ground since the strongman took office in 2016.
Duterte began his presidency by insulting U.S. leaders and stating his intention to move closer to China and Russia.
That hasn’t gotten much traction with China, which has continued to occupy and enlarge artificial islands in the South China Sea that belongs to the Philippines, according to a 2016 international court ruling.
Stars & Stripes
You can read more at the link.
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