Author: GIKorea

Here is some good news about people who relapse after recovering from the coronavirus:

– South Korean health authorities said Monday they will lift quarantine measures for patients who retested positive for the new coronavirus, as they did not find any evidence that such cases pose the risk of infecting others.

Coronavirus relapse cases have been a headache for public health authorities here in their battle against the pandemic. So far, the country has reported 447 such cases, or 4.5 percent of the country’s total caseload of 11,065.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but medical professionals have not found one person that has been infected by someone who has relapsed. This suggests the virus is no longer contagious at this point and why quarantine restrictions on these patients have been lifted.

It has been long predicted that after the April elections that the Moon administration at some point would try and undermine international sanctions on North Korea. Well the President’s trial balloon specialist, Moon Chung-in is out now stating this very thing:

As an adviser to the former Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun administrations, he attended the first, second and third inter-Korean summits in Pyongyang as a special delegate. With regard to President Moon Jae-in’s North Korea policy, the professor stressed that the President will continue to find niches for cooperation and exchanges with North Korea and be able to persuade the U.S. to allow inter-Korean economic projects. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It is probably only a matter of time before a cluster infection happens at a church, if one does happen, it makes me wonder if the government will use that as an excuse to close all the churches again?:

 Churches and temples remained on their toes Sunday, taking strict precautionary anti-virus measures, in the second week since the resumption of their public services following COVID-19 outbreaks.

South Korea eased strict social distancing guidelines on May 6, allowing churches, state-run museums and libraries to resume operations.

But following a recent resurgence of virus infections, traced to clubs in Seoul’s nightlife district of Itaewon, reopening churches and temples remained highly vigilant. Some religious groups reported fewer on-site worshippers this weekend, compared with a week earlier.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but according to the article church attendance is way down and congregations are using social distancing during services and having their temperatures checked before entering.

This doesn’t seem to be anything new from this document release that most people didn’t already know:

The martial law commander at the time of South Korea’s 1980 pro-democracy uprising warned the then-U.S. ambassador that the country could end up a communist nation like Vietnam unless the revolt was quelled, declassified U.S. documents showed Friday.

The commander, Gen. Lee Hui-sung, also tried to justify the martial law’s expansion during the meeting with Ambassador William Gleysteen on the day of the revolt, claiming the growing influence of communist thinking spreading amongst young students was posing threats to South Korea’s security, according to the documents.

It was when Gen. Chun Doo-hwan was effectively in control of South Korea after taking power in a military coup following the assassination of strongman President Park Chung-hee the previous year at the hands of his own spy chief.

On May 18, 1980, citizens in the southwestern city of Gwangju rose up against Chun, and his military junta sent paratroopers and ruthlessly cracked down on the nine-day revolt, leaving more than 200 people killed and 1,800 others wounded. 

“He justified expanded martial law as necessary to deter a danger which had become an unacceptable threat to the survival of the ROK,” Gleysteen said in a telegram to the State Department, referring to South Korea by its official name, Republic of Korea. 

“The rampant growth of communist thinking among students and radical tendencies within the student movement posed the likelihood of massive disorders which the government could not control without undermining the country’s external security,” he said. “If they were not controlled, Lee feared the ROK would be communized in a manner similar to Vietnam.” 

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but this document release just further validates that the Chun Doo-hwan government was trying to make the case to the U.S. that the uprising was a threat to the external security of the government. Whether the uprising really was an external security threat is still hotly debated to this day.

The staff sergeant who is believed to be the main spreader of the Itaewon infection cluster has also reportedly infected a number of personnel he worked with the at the ROK Cyber Command as well:

 An officer at the South Korean military’s cyber command has tested positive for the new coronavirus in the latest in a series of cases traced to a member of the command infected following a visit to clubs in Seoul’s Itaewon district, the defense ministry said Friday.

The new case raised the total number of infections in the military to 51.

The infected officer is one of the Cyber Operations Command personnel put into quarantine at a military facility in Goesan, some 160 kilometers southeast of Seoul, after having contact with a staff sergeant who contracted the virus following a visit to clubs and bars in Itaewon early this month. 

Nine of the staff sergeant’s colleagues have been infected so far.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Here is some apparent blowback on the WHO which could effect South Korea:

A group of senior U.S Congress members has asked Korea, among 55 countries, to support Taiwan joining the World Health Organization (WHO) despite China’s opposition. 

Analysts said Friday this may test Korea again in its attempts to strike a balance between the U.S. and China, following the heightened Washington-Beijing standoff over the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but I would be surprised if the Moon administration supports this. I would think they would try to filibuster the idea and wait for it to go away without having to make a decision on it.