Author: GIKorea

Here comes another typhoon heading towards South Korea:

Typhoon Maysak was churning toward the Korean Peninsula on Saturday from waters east of the Philippines and is expected to affect the Korean Peninsula in the middle of next week, weather authorities said.

The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said that as of 3 a.m., the season’s ninth typhoon was traveling some 950 kilometers west-northwest of Manila at a speed of 8 kilometers per hour.

It is expected to pass through 1,050 kilometers west of Japan’s Okinawa Island as of 3 a.m. Sunday. 
The typhoon is forecast to reach waters some 210 kilometers south-southeast of Seogwipo, Jeju Island, by 3 p.m. Wednesday and then 40 kilometers away from the southern port city of Busan by 2 p.m. Thursday, the KMA said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

North Korean spy operations have entered the 21st century:

North Korea on Saturday broadcast a series of mysterious numbers, presumed to be an encrypted message to its spies in the South, for the first time on YouTube. 

A video clip was posted on the state-run Radio Pyongyang’s YouTube account, in which a female announcer read what she described as “an information technology review assignment of the remote education university for No. 719 expedition agents.” 

She repeated phrases such as “No. 23 on Page 564, No. -19 on Page 479” for about one minute in the posting, which had been viewed 2,500 times as of 11 a.m. The numbers were not broadcast on the radio.

North Korea has broadcast such seemingly random numbers via radio since the Cold War era, as recently as March 7 and 13.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It appears even South Korea has anti-maskers though I suspect alcohol is probably more to blame for this confrontation on the subway:

A man in his 50s attacked two passengers who asked him to wear a mask on a line no.2 subway train during morning commute.

The man got angry when he was asked to put on a mask and began slapping the passenger on the face multiple times with his slipper.

Another passenger sitting nearby was also assaulted and verbally abused by the man who attempted to strangle him.

A total of 349 people have been arrested for face mask-related conflicts over the last three months since May 26 when the government applied a “No mask, no ride” policy on all public transportation.

Among them, 164 people were held for assault.

Korea Times

It will be interesting to see if a new Japanese prime minister will lead to better relations between Japan and South Korea. Shinzo Abe has been a useful boogeyman for the Korean left for many years:

Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, Shinzo Abe, said Friday he intends to step down because a chronic health problem has resurfaced. He told reporters that it was ”gut wrenching” to leave so many of his goals unfinished. 

Abe has had ulcerative colitis since he was a teenager and has said the condition was controlled with treatment. Concerns about Abe’s health began this summer and grew this month when he visited a Tokyo hospital two weeks in a row for unspecified health checkups. He is now on a new treatment that requires IV injections, he said. While there is some improvement, there is no guarantee that it will cure his condition and so he decided to step down after treatment Monday, he said.

”It is gut wrenching to have to leave my job before accomplishing my goals,” Abe said Friday, mentioning his failure to resolve the issue of Japanese abducted years ago by North Korea and a territorial dispute with Russia.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but here is what the Blue House had to say about this news:

South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s office said Abe dedicated many years to the development of bilateral relations and achieved ”various meaningful accomplishments” as Japan’s longest-serving prime minister. It said Seoul will continue to work with Tokyo’s next prime minister and Cabinet to promote ”friendship and cooperation” between the countries. Relations between South Korea and Japan sank to their lowest point in decades last year as they feuded over trade issues, wartime history and military cooperation.

Korea Times

It is interesting that the Blue House mentions “meaningful accomplishments” when they have worked hard to undo those accomplishments such as the comfort women reconciliation agreement as well as bilateral defense agreements.

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

I don’t see how a mesh mask can do much good at stopping droplet transmission, but according to Rep. Kim Mi-ae, she says the masks stops 97.1% of stopping ultra-fine particles:

The use of face masks for protection against COVID-19 has emerged as a subject of political controversy among supporters of the ruling and opposition parties.

Some politicians have come under fire this week for choosing to wear masks which are seen as not providing adequate protection. 

Rep. Kim Mi-ae of the main opposition United Future Party (UPF), accompanying the party’s interim chief Kim Chong-in, visited the office of Jung Eun-kyeong, head of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in Osong, North Chungcheong Province, Aug. 21. 

Photos of them sitting side by side across from Jung at her office angered citizens because Rep. Kim was wearing a mesh mask ― a type of mask adopted by some recently because of the hot weather ― but they have not been certified as effective in preventing droplet transmission.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.