Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.
The number people infected by the Itaewon cluster infection has grown to 153 people and it appears has spread to noraebang locations around Seoul:
Some recent infections linked to nightspots in the Seoul neighborhood of Itaewon were found to have spread through karaoke facilities, highlighting the need for added caution at entertainment facilities.
A city official said Friday that health authorities have identified a link between recent infections at the university district of Hongdae, western Seoul, and cases linked to nightclubs and bars in Itaewon.
“We believe that the five cases confirmed (in relation) to bars in Mapo Ward are linked to cases that were confirmed after visits to Itaewon clubs,” Na Baeg-ju, the city’s civil health bureau director, said in a press briefing.
Na explained that one of the Hongdae-related patients had visited a “noraebang,” a karaoke facility, in the southwestern Seoul ward of Gwanak, just three minutes apart from an Itaewon clubber.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
It doesn’t appear the Itaewon cluster infection is going to delay the reopening of Korean schools any more:
The education and health authorities will forge ahead with their plan to reopen schools for high school seniors next week, despite a recent spike in COVID-19 infections involving teachers and students, officials said Friday.
Korea Times
High school seniors are expected to return to school May 20, while those in other grades will return to school gradually over the following weeks.
“The Ministry of Education (MOE) is expected to proceed with its plan to reopen schools for high school seniors next week. The health authorities have been conducting strict disinfection of school facilities in preparation for their return,” said Vice Health Minister Kim Gang-lip in a regular briefing at the Government Complex in Sejong.
You can read more at the link, but the reopening of schools will likely be closely watched by the Trump administration. If South Korea can successfully do this, the Trump administration can point to this as a success story and that U.S. schools should reopen in the Fall as well.
Another Korean journalist has been sent jail:
Sung Sang-hoon (성상훈), a journalist who runs the Global Defense News (글로벌디펜스뉴스) YouTube channel and website, was arrested and jailed on May 13, 2020.
His “crime” was saying the Chinese man, who fell over and died in early February in front of a public health clinic, may have died of Coronavirus. The suppression of YouTubers and journalists already began under the Moon administration, including demonetizing many of them, but some expect it will get worse, especially since the ruling party has won by a landslide in the April 2020 general election, which is itself a huge controversy in South Korea. While many YouTubers are covering the election fraud issue extensively, the mainstream media hardly prints or broadcasts this issue.
East Asia Research Center
I recommend reading the whole article at the link, but essentially Sung was jailed because he questioned whether a Korean-Chinese man who fell over and died in front of a clinic had coronavirus. He was trying to make the point that the Chinese brought the coronavirus to South Korea which the Moon administration has made efforts to deny.
Because of his statement he was sued for libel by the Pyeongtaek mayor who is part of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea. So like other journalists sued with libel laws he was arrested and jailed.
Could you imagine what the reaction in the media around the world would be if President Trump started jailing journalists, yet the international media has had zero interest in journalists being jailed in South Korea.
It appears that the ROK Army Staff Sergeant largely blamed for the current cluster infection in Seoul may not have been the only one spreading the coronavirus in Itaewon:
Aggressive testing and contact tracing are back in full swing in South Korea, as new chains of coronavirus infections continue to pop up sequentially after an outbreak linked to nightclubs and bars in Itaewon, central Seoul.
Health authorities added four new clubs and bars — MADE, Pink Elephant, The Fountain and Pistil — to the list of locations where mass transmissions are believed to have occurred. That raises the number of establishments in Seoul’s popular nightlife spot under the scrutiny of quarantine officials to nine, with the previous five being King Club, Trunk Club, Club Queen, Soho and H.I.M. The mass transmissions are thought to have occurred April 24 through May 6.
The scaled-up investigation comes as authorities say the nightclub cluster probably has multiple epicenters. Cases have been detected with no apparent correlation to the cluster’s first identified patient or anyone in that chain of contacts.
Korea Herald
You can read more at the link, but I don’t see how bars and nightclubs are going to be able to reopen any time soon considering how wide this cluster infection has grown.
Like I said before when the Korea Times was insinuating that foreign English teachers were spreading COVID-19, that I was willing bet there was Korean teachers in these clubs as well. Sure enough there was and unlike the foreign teachers at least this educator was actually spreading the virus to his students:
Municipal authorities of Incheon, west of Seoul, said Wednesday they are planning to file a criminal complaint against a private academy instructor for lying about his occupation after his recent visit to a club in Seoul’s Itaewon district, which has resulted in a cluster of coronavirus infections involving himself and eight others, including his students.
The instructor, identified only as a 25-year-old man, tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday after visiting King Club, one of Itaewon’s entertainment spots that are emerging as a hotbed of the coronavirus, on the night of May 2.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
