Author: GIKorea

This is good news if you are a property owner in Seoul, but not good news for anyone trying to find a place to live:

The average sales price of apartments in Seoul has nearly doubled under the Moon Jae-in government, a civic group said Wednesday.

The Citizens’ Coalition for Economic Justice announced the results of its study that has tracked the prices of 115,000 units in 75 apartment complexes since President Moon took office four years ago.

The average price of a 99-square-meter apartment in Seoul rose to 1.19 billion won (US$1.04 million) from 620 million won from May 2017 to May 2021.

The rise in apartment prices was found to be 192 times the rise in net income, which grew by an average of 2.98 million won during the same period.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but a 99 square foot apartment is about 1,065 square feet that people in Seoul have to pay over $1 million dollars to afford. It is understandable why people in Seoul are upset about the high cost of housing.

Korean authorities plan to go after USFK personnel who decide to hold parties on Haeundae Beach in Busan:

U.S. soldiers stationed in South Korea will be fined if they hold parties without wearing masks on and around a popular beach here during the coming U.S. Independence Day holiday amid the coronavirus pandemic, a local ward office said Wednesday.

The Haeundae Ward office in the southern port city of Busan said it will intensify monitoring of any unruly behavior on Haeundae Beach, together with local police and the U.S. Army Military Police, from July 2-4. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Someone must have told KEPCO to keep the lights on, the question is who:

South Korea’s state-run electric company supplied power to Kaesong in North Korea for several months after all South Korean personnel withdrew from an industrial complex in January 2020, according to documents obtained by the JoongAng Ilbo on Monday.  
   
The documents from the Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco), which were given to the newspaper by People Power Party (PPP) lawmaker Yoon Young-seok’s office, show that electricity to the city was not cut off after the withdrawal — raising questions as to whether power was supplied even after North Korea blew up the Inter-Korean Liaison Office last June. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

If you are a male soldier stationed in Daegu here is something to be aware of:

Male soldiers based at Baumholder in Germany were more at risk of being sexually assaulted than at any other Army post, according to a service-commissioned study that found two other posts in Germany with similar risks.

A Rand Corp. report released Friday examined sexual assault data at U.S. Army bases worldwide and found elevated risks of male sexual assault at Vilseck and Landstuhl in Germany.  (……..)

When adjusting for key factors such as age, marital status and education, LRMC rated as the riskiest, followed by Baumholder and Daegu, South Korea, the report said.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but for sexual assaults on women Camp Humphreys and bases in Daegu ranked 7th and 8th across the Army which is really high as well.

Kim Yo-jong is out playing the bad cop again:

The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said Tuesday that the United States has “wrong” expectations after U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan called Kim’s comments about dialogue with the U.S. an “interesting signal.”

The statement from Kim Yo-jong also came a day after U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Sung Kim said the U.S. has offered to meet with the North “anywhere, anytime without preconditions” and looks forward to Pyongyang responding positively to the overtures.

“I heard the news that the U.S. National Security Advisor had mentioned that he regards the position towards the U.S. as an ‘interesting signal,'” she said in the statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency said.

“A Korean proverb says that ‘In a dream, what counts most is to read it, not to have it,'” she said. “It seems that the U.S. may interpret the situation in such a way as to seek a comfort for itself. The expectation, which they chose to harbour the wrong way, would plunge them into a greater disappointment.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but like I have said before, the Kim regime will meet when they feel like they will get something of value out of it for little to nothing in return. So far the Biden administration is not willing to offer that.

Like I said before the Kim regime is not going to meet with the U.S. unless they get something out of it:

“Ahead of Kim’s visit, the North Korean leader made conciliatory remarks. In that respect, depending on what messages the U.S. nuclear envoy will deliver, whether stalled nuclear talks between the U.S. and North Korea will resume will be decided,” said Cheong Seong-chang, director of Center for North Korean Studies at the Sejong Institute.

The U.S. side may consider downsizing or suspending its combined military drills with South Korea, scheduled for August among other “carrots” for the resumption of nuclear talks. The North Korean regime has strongly denounced the annual exercises, held biannually in spring and summer, as a rehearsal for invasion.

Last month, President Moon Jae-in also mentioned the impossibility of a full-scale drill, citing the COVID-19 pandemic, although many believe that his reference had to do with his last-ditch efforts to improve inter-Korean ties before his presidency ends in May of next year.

In addition, a possible provision of COVID-19 vaccines to North Korea may be on the agenda during a series of meetings.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but food aid is another area the U.S. may offer freebies to the Kim regime as well to sit down and talk.