The ruling party was trying to siphon male voters away from their conservative opposition by promoting the conscription of women into the ROK military. However, due to the sexual assault and follow on suicide of a female ROK Air Force NCO these efforts have been sidelined for now:
The recent debate on mandatory military service for women has all but disappeared, following the suicide of a female Air Force non-commissioned officer last month after her report of a sexual assault was allegedly covered up.
Korea Times
Critics say the military’s macho hierarchical culture is to blame for this and other ongoing sex crimes, many of which go unreported.
The decades-long debate on women’s mandatory service had again been brought up by some presidential hopefuls after the April 7 by-elections, in which the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP), which took the mayoral seats of the country’s two biggest cities, Seoul and Busan.
After a large percentage of men in their 20s voted for opposition party candidates seemingly being the most dissatisfied with government policies, the two major parties and their presidential hopefuls jumped into a policy competition to appeal to them. Besides improving service conditions for young men during the mandatory military service, and offering them “rewards” for serving, some came up with the idea of conscripting both men and women.
You can read more at the link.
This would have been the stupidest reason ever to boycott the Olympics:
South Korea is not considering boycotting the Tokyo Olympics, the foreign ministry said Tuesday, after presidential hopefuls of the ruling Democratic Party mentioned the possibility of a boycott amid a renewed territorial spat with Japan over the East Sea islets of Dokdo.
Korea Times
Rep. Lee Nak-yon and former Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun raised the need to mull boycotting the Games, slated to take place from July 23-Aug. 8, should Japan not revise the map of the Olympic torch relay route that included Dokdo as its territory.
You can read more at the link.
Here is the latest on the sex doll controversy in South Korea:
Police began to crack down on any illegal acts committed by owners of sex doll experience shops or cafes, Monday, amid growing concerns from many parents that such facilities near schools will have a bad influence on their children.
Korea Times
The National Police Agency said that police officers in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province will carry out the crackdown jointly with the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, as well as local governments, until the end of next month.
Their crackdown will focus on any illegalities involving those shops’ online and offline ads.
You can read more at the link.
This is a horrible tragedy over in Gwangju:
A building collapsed during demolition in the southwestern city of Gwangju on Wednesday, leaving at least nine people dead and eight others seriously injured, fire officials said.
They received a report at 4:22 p.m. that the 5-story building had collapsed and fell onto a bus that was stopped at a station near the construction site.
As of 8:40 p.m., nine people were confirmed dead and eight others were seriously injured and taken to nearby hospitals. All of them are bus passengers.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
Fortunately the pilot escaped unharmed:
An Air Force pilot on Tuesday made an emergency exit from his KF-16 fighter jet during a takeoff run after detecting flames and smoke from the engine, forcing the Air Force to suspend all flights for aircraft inspection, officials said.
The fighter jet was moving on the runway to take off from the 20th Fighter Wing in the western city of Seosan at around 2:31 p.m. when the pilot spotted flames and smoke from the engine and ejected, according to the military.
He sustained no injuries, but the aircraft was damaged and is currently on the strip, it added.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
