Author: GIKorea

It appears that the lockdown measures South Korea implemented on Seoul is slowly reducing coronavirus infections:

South Korea’s daily new coronavirus cases stayed below 100 for the second consecutive day Monday in what could be a sign of a slowdown in new infections, but the continued high number of untraceable cases and sporadic clusters pose challenges to the country’s virus fight.

The country added 70 more COVID-19 cases, including 55 local infections, raising the total caseload to 23,045, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

On Sunday, the number of daily new infections fell below 100 for the first time in 38 days at 82.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the lockdown measures are going to continue for an additional week because of the fear that the upcoming Chuseok holiday will cause the virus to spread.

It looks like the Korean government in addition to using libel laws, will now sue the organizers of anti-government rallies:

The Seoul city government said Friday it plans to file a 4.6 billion-won (US$3.9 million) compensation suit against a pastor blamed for worsening the new coronavirus outbreak here by holding mass rallies in central Seoul.

Despite warnings against holding mass rallies, Jun Kwang-hoon, who pastors Sarang Jeil Church in northern Seoul, is suspected of leading anti-government protests in central Seoul in mid-August that thousands of people attended. Jun, himself, later tested positive.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

By the way you can read about the PEFTOK battalion during the Korean War at this previous ROK Drop posting.

A whole bunch of friends of President Moon have been illegally receiving monthly government checks:

Close associates of President Moon Jae-in received illegal monthly payments while serving in top posts of presidential advisory groups, the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) said Thursday.    
   
According to the BAI’s latest audit of the Blue House, the Presidential Committee on Balanced National Development paid 4 million won ($3,400) in monthly salary to Song Jae-ho from January 2019 to last January. Song was head of the committee during the period, and he received 52 million won in total.    
   
The committee chairman is a part-time position, so Song was not eligible for a monthly salary. The committee explained to the BAI that it paid the monthly salary to Song because he served full-time as a consultant.    
   
The BAI concluded the payments violated the law governing the committee, which prohibited any routine payment of a fixed consulting fee to the chairman. 

Joong Ang Ilbo via a reader tip

You can read more about other friends of President Moon that were given so called advisors jobs and received illegal monthly payments. Apparently the Blue House is very upset with the new BAI Chairman Choe Jae-hyeong, for uncovering this scheme:

The audit report was announced amid escalated tensions between BAI Chairman Choe Jae-hyeong and the administration.   

After Choe took office in 2018, the practice of going easy on the Blue House ended. For the first time in 15 years, the BAI conducted aggressive audits on the Blue House. Eight audits were conducted in 2018 and seven in 2017.   

In recent months, the BAI went further and conducted audits on four presidential committees for the first time since Moon took office.    
   
The BAI’s report also said the Blue House had violated the law governing contracts involving the government when it created a video clip to celebrate Children’s Day in May. The BAI said the Blue House paid a subcontractor 50 million won without following proper legal procedures.   

Joong Ang Ilbo

At the link you can read how the Blue House is upset with Choe for not ruling favorably on nuclear project; they then were pressuring him to step down. When he wouldn’t they then tried to get a ruling party confidant appointed to the BAI board which Choe refused. Choe said he wants a neutral candidate to fill the opening. The audit of the Blue House is believed to be Choe’s counterattack against the ruling party’s attempts to remove him.

It will be interesting to see if anything happens to all these people that received illegal government payments. It seems at a minimum they should have to pay it all back.

Here is the latest on the ruling party’s attempt to defend the ROK Justice Minister meddling to receive preferential treatment for her KATUSA son:

In particular, DPK spokesman Rep. Park Sung-joon’s remarks, in which he compared Choo’s son to the late independence fighter Ahn Jung-geun, have brought strong criticism from the opposition and the public. (……….)

Citing Choo’s account, Rep. Park said in a statement, Wednesday, “Choo’s son lived up to what independence fighter Ahn Jung-geun said: ‘it is soldiers’ duty to sacrifice themselves for the country.'” (……….)

Seo served as a member of the Korea Augmentation Troops to the United States Army (KATUSA), a position that Rep. Woo Sang-ho was apparently derogatory about in describing the “easy” duty of such soldiers when he tried to defend Choo against the allegations that she used her influence to have him assigned to an “easier” post.

“Serving as a KATUSA is an easy posting itself, so the dispute is meaningless,” Woo said in a media interview, Sept. 9. “Taking leave or not, or having a post or another ― these are meaningless as a KATUSA.”

His remarks led KATUSA reservists calling for an apology.

Korea Times via a reader tip

You can read more at the link, but KATUSAs demanding an apology for being called out for easy service is mildly amusing. Truthfully it really depends on what unit they end up in. I have seen some KATUSAs who were worked very hard by their U.S. military leadership while others did very little. Overall though being a KATUSA is better duty than being a draftee in a frontline ROK Army unit.

I guess we will see if there will be an upcoming North Korean missile launch, but it seems like the timing for one make no sense right now:

Analysts and security officials say they are watching for signs that North Korea may use an upcoming holiday to unveil new weapons or test fire a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), after a flurry of activity was detected at a key base. 

Formations of troops have been seen practicing for what is expected to be a major military parade Oct. 10, the 75th anniversary of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea. Some observers say North Korea may showcase its largest missiles for the first time since 2018. 

Meanwhile, imagery analysts and security officials caution that so far there is no conclusive evidence of an impending launch. But after several typhoons lashed North Korea in early September, satellite photos have shown a flurry of activity at the Sinpo South Shipyard, including in a secure basin where a barge used in previous underwater missile launches is docked.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

This is a great idea by the Korea Military Academy:

The Army unveiled a monument Friday to commemorate U.S. Military Academy graduates who were killed in the 1950-53 Korean War, officials said.

The monument, erected at the Korea Military Academy in Seoul, bears the names of 17 fallen officers from the West Point Class of 1948, Army officials said.

That is in addition to two monuments already set up at the Korea Military Academy campus to honor U.S. service members from the Classes of 1949 and 1950 killed in the war, officials said.

The Army plans to build four more for those from the Classes of 1945, 1946, 1947 and 1951 by 2023, and turn the area into a zone to remember the fallen U.S. soldiers.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.