Author: GIKorea

Something these news stories never mention about this breakout of the coronavirus in Seoul is whether the hospitals are being overwhelmed or not? That is the key factor people need to remember, is the spread contained enough to where the hospitals can handle the sickest people:

 South Korea’s daily new virus cases have now soared by three-digit figures for a week straight as the country on Wednesday reported the largest number of cases since early March, with infections traced to churches in the capital city of Seoul continuing to swell. 

The country added 297 more COVID-19 cases, including 283 local infections, raising the total caseload to 16,058, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC). 

Over the past week, the daily new virus cases have been in the triple digits, with almost 1,300 cases being newly identified. Wednesday’s daily tally marks the most since March 8, when the country reported 367 COVID-19 cases.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Via a reader tip comes news that Korea’s National Health Insurance Service may go bankrupt by 2023 due to changes made by the Moon administration:

The prolonged COVID-19 pandemic is causing an unexpectedly large health insurance deficit this year. Critics were quick to blame the deficit on President Moon Jae-in’s policy, dubbed “Mooncare,” which plans to expand the coverage of the state-run health insurance to 70 percent by 2023, and warned of its failure. But experts and the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) view it’s too early to worry.

According to data from NHIS, the health insurance deficit reached 943.5 billion won in the first half of the year, up 548.9 billion won from a year earlier, as the country has suffered from financial difficulties due to the unprecedented pandemic.

The deficit marked the third year in a row that the health insurance balance has been in the red. In 2019 the current account deficit stood at 3.2 trillion won and in 2018 it was at 177.8 billion won after running a surplus for seven straight years. 

The administration vowed to continue expanding NHIS coverage, especially for those in the low-income brackets, children and elderly, but Mooncare is facing strong protest from political opponents and medical doctors.

Critics of Mooncare claim premium increases are inevitable and the health insurance fund may run out of money as early as 2023 if the President maintains his rigid stance on boosting the health insurance coverage rate to 70 percent by the end of his term. Conservatives warns that if Mooncare’s pace remains unchanged, health insurance finances will be left severely depleted.

Korea Times

It seems like common sense that you cannot expand coverage of something without increasing taxes to pay for it. However, with politicians they like to make voters think they are getting something for nothing and someone will eventually have to pay for it long after the politician is out of office.

Via a reader tip comes news that Fido may be on the dinner menu in Pyongyang:

North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has ordered pet dogs to be confiscated in the country’s capital, saying the pooches represent Western “decadence’’ — but their owners fear Fido is really headed for someone’s dinner table.

Kim issued the directive in July to round up the pets, claiming they were part of “a ‘tainted’ trend by bourgeois ideology,’’ a source told the English edition of Chosun Ilbo, a South Korean newspaper.

“Ordinary people raise pigs and livestock on their porches, but high-ranking officials and the wealthy own pet dogs, which stoked some resentment’’ among the lower classes, the source said.

Fox News

You can read more at the link, but the usual caveats apply to stories like this from anonymous sources. Who knows if they are true or not; I could just be a journalist looking to make a big headline with unverified information at the expense of North Korea.

It makes sense that USFK would increase their health protection level:

The U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) has raised the health protection level against the new coronavirus for all areas within South Korea as local infections accelerated amid a surge in church-related cases.

Effective at 5 a.m. Monday, the USFK heightened the Health Protection Condition Level (HPCON) to Charlie, or HPCON C, for all areas in the country, USFK said in a Facebook post.

Under the revised rules, the number of personnel working on bases will be reduced, and the USFK will conduct health checks such as temperature screening on all people entering its military bases.

On Saturday, USFK raised its protection level to Charlie within Seoul and the surrounding areas, including the western city of Incheon and eight districts in Gyeonggi Province.

The decision to raise the HPCON level to all areas within the country came after South Korea’s new COVID-19 cases reached a five-month high of 279 on Sunday, spiking up from 166 on Saturday.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

This just shows how quickly this virus can spread when people are not vigilant:

The COVID-19 crisis appears to be spinning out of control in Korea with the Seoul metropolitan area recording triple-digit increases in new infections over the past five days.

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) reported 246 new cases Monday, pushing up the total caseload to 15,761 with 306 deaths. Among the 246, 201 were in Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province, as the total number of cases over the last five days reached 991. 

Mass infections were reported to have started in churches and then spread to people at restaurants, coffee shops, military bases, protest sites and police stations. COVID-19 is posing a grave challenge to quarantine officials who have branded the current situation worse than the outbreak among the Shincheonji Church of Jesus members in Daegu in February and March.

In response, the government banned all churches activities in the Seoul metropolitan area, except for an online worship starting from midnight Tuesday.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but the government also plans to temporarily shut down karaoke and PC rooms, clubs, buffet restaurants, public libraries, galleries and museums. 

It is also interesting that authorities are blaming anti-government protests as well for spreading the virus. This seems like a convenient way to try and stop the rallies.