Here is something that any foreigner traveling to Korea should keep in mind, the Korean taxpayer will no longer pay for your COVID-19 treatment if you get sick:
The South Korean government on Sunday decided to push to revise the law to require foreign coronavirus patients to cover the costs of their treatment amid a spike in the number of new infections among foreigners arriving from abroad.
The decision was reached at a pan-governmental COVID-19 meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, chaired by Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun.
Under the current law, in-hospital care and treatment costs for confirmed patients are covered by the government regardless of nationality.
The health ministry will be in charge of revising regulations to demand treatment costs from foreigners who know they are infected with COVID-19 yet travel to Korea and those who end up confirmed with the coronavirus during their two-week quarantine period upon arrival.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
As I predicted South Korea’s daily coronavirus infection numbers have dropped sharply after being artificially increased due to Russian sailors and returned expats from Iraq testing positive earlier last week:
South Korea’s new coronavirus cases dropped to under 60 on Sunday, a day after the country recorded its highest figure in nearly four months due to a surge in infections among people arriving from abroad.
The country added 58 new cases, including 46 cases from abroad, bringing the total to 14,150, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).
Yonhap
You can read more at the link, but I think this what the new normal in Korea is going to look like, of double digit daily coronavirus infections and the occasional cluster infections pushing the number into triple digits. In other words Korea has the virus well under control until a vaccine is developed.
It looks like North Korea has found a way to blame South Korea for coronavirus cases in their country:
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un convened an emergency politburo meeting of the Workers’ Party and adopted the “maximum emergency system” against coronavirus after a defector returned home from South Korea with virus symptoms, state media reported Sunday.
During the meeting held on Saturday, Kim also said he took “the preemptive measure of totally blocking Kaesong” after the “runaway” returned to the border city on July 19 after crossing the military demarcation line, three years after fleeing to the South, the Korean Central News Agency said.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link, but the coronavirus has likely entered North Korea a long time ago from North Koreans moving back and forth across the Chinese border. The Kim regime claims there has been no coronavirus cases which few people believe. Now they can come out and claim they actually do have coronavirus cases and the South Koreans are to blame for it.
By the way has DMZ border security gotten so weak that people can just walk across over to Kaeseong now?
Via a reader tip, the government leaker, Reality Winner is trying to get herself out of prison by using COVID as an excuse:
Reality Leigh Winner, a convicted leaker who recently contracted the novel coronavirus in federal prison, received further pushback from the U.S. government Friday in her bid to be released early.
The Department of Justice said in a court filing that Winner recently tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, but appears to be asymptomatic and should stay imprisoned.
In a supplemental brief entered in federal appeals court, the Justice Department said it stands by the claims it previously made against granting Winner’s request for compassionate release.
Washington Times
You can read more at the link, but she was sentenced to 63 months in prison for leaking classified information to the media and I hope she does every single month. She had the potential to lead a great life with her education and a good job and instead decided to blow it all with Trump Derangement Syndrome.
Remember the taxi driver that impeded an ambulance due to a minor accident where the patient ultimately later died at the hospital? Well he is now facing some serious charges:
A Seoul taxi driver who caused public outrage by blocking an ambulance transferring an emergency patient was formally arrested Friday.
The Seoul Eastern District Court granted an arrest warrant for the 31-year-old driver, citing the possibility that he may flee or destroy evidence. The court said his charges have been sufficiently explained. (……….)
The taxi driver, who was three weeks into the job, quit work two weeks after the accident.
He was arrested on charges of assault and obstruction of business. Police are looking into whether it is possible for him to be charged with culpable homicide.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
Air and Space Force personnel will soon have to get new insignia and nametapes for their uniforms:
The Air Force and Space Force are changing the look of nametapes on their camouflage uniforms to make them easier to read, the Air Force announced Thursday.
The services will move to a lighter, three-color pattern for rank insignia lettering of occupational badges, nametapes and service identifiers that should make ranks and names easier to see on the Operational Camouflage Pattern — OCP — utility uniform.
“We received significant feedback that prompted this update,” Lisa Truesdale, the Air Force’s military force management policy deputy director, said in a statement. “The current rank insignia, badges, name and service tapes on the OCP uniform are sometimes challenging to see against a seven-color background.”
Stars & Stripes
