Author: GIKorea

It will be interesting to see how much of a grip the coronavirus gets in a tropical location like Okinawa:

The 18th Wing has confirmed its first case of coronavirus, according to a message posted Saturday on Kadena Air Base’s official Facebook page.

“The member is active duty Air Force and has been in restriction of movement status for 15 days since returning from overseas travel,” the message said.

“18th Wing leadership and medical teams are tracking this situation very closely and have determined the only close contacts to be immediate family members who are also in restriction of movement status.“

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Not even a global pandemic is going to deter the North Koreans from testing their ballistic missiles:

North Korea fired what appeared to be two short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea on Sunday, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, the latest in a series of projectile launches even as the country is on high alert against the coronavirus.

Both were fired northeastward from the eastern coastal city of Wonsan at 6:10 a.m. within a 20-second interval and flew around 230 kilometers at a maximum altitude of around 30 km, the JCS said, adding that South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities are analyzing other specifics.

“In a situation where the entire world is experiencing difficulties due to COVID-19, this kind of military act by North Korea is very inappropriate and we call for an immediate halt,” JCS said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but on a good note they continue to test only their short range missiles. If they really wanted to take advantage of the current coronavirus crisis they could start testing their longer range systems again.

It would be interesting to see what the U.S. response would be to such a provocation in the middle of this pandemic. Hopefully the North Koreans continue to behave so the U.S., the ROK, and other nations don’t have to deal with two crisis at once.

Here is some interesting coronavirus statistics from South Korea:

South Korea had released 4,811 fully recovered novel coronavirus patients from hospitals as of Saturday, up 283 from a day earlier, the KCDC said.

It marked the first time the number of cured people exceeded the number of quarantined patients since Jan. 20, when the virus was first detected on South Korean soil.

South Korea’s cure rate for people infected with the virus is 50 percent, an achievement that South Korean officials hailed in their fight against the contagious respiratory illness.

“The 50 percent cure rate is a small achievement that all in our society should celebrate, though we have a long way to go,” Yoon Tae-ho, director-general for public health policy at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, said in a briefing.

South Korea said the number of imported cases out of the 146 newly confirmed patients came to 41 — 25 from Europe, 12 from the United States and Mexico, and four from Thailand.

The KCDC said the number of imported cases came to 363 out of the 9,478 confirmed cases.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the small number of infections brought by people traveling to South Korea is a small number compared to the amount of media reports it has been receiving. It is also good to hear that so many people in South Korea have recovered. Hopefully this trend continues.

The younger brother has successfully held off his older sister of “Nutrage” fame of removing as head of the family Chaebol:

Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Won-tae was reappointed as an executive director of Hanjin KAL, the group’s holding company, Friday, defending his management rights of the logistics-centered business group amid a sibling feud with his elder sister and group heiress Cho Hyun-ah.

During the holding firm’s shareholders meeting, the incumbent chairman defended his board seat by garnering 56.67 percent approval.

Cho Won-tae has been in fight for control of the group with a three-party anti-chairman alliance led by his sister. 

Hyun-ah, a former vice president at Korean Air who is backed by local activist fund Korea Corporate Governance Improvement (KCGI) and mid-sized builder Bando Engineering & Construction, has called for the need to replace the leadership to improve the group’s financial status and shareholder value. 

A day ahead of the shareholders meeting, the National Pension Service (NPS) announced its decision to vote for the reappointment of the group’s incumbent chairman as an executive director.

The state pension fund, which holds a 2.9 percent stake in Hanjin KAL, was considered to hold a casting vote in determining the chairman’s fate. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but it makes you wonder what if any backroom deals were agreed upon with the National Pension fund to keep Cho Won-tae as CEO?

Does anyone think that a bio-attack will be used in a future conflict when an aircraft carrier can be taken out like this:

The Navy, the military service hit hardest by the coronavirus, scrambled Friday to contain its first at-sea outbreak, with at least two dozen infected aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt, one of 11 active aircraft carriers whose mission is central to the Pentagon’s strategy for deterring war with China and Iran.

The Roosevelt and its contingent of warplanes may be sidelined for days, sitting pier side in Guam as the entire crew — more than 5,000 — is tested. Navy leaders say the carrier could return to duty at any time if required, but the sudden setback is seen as a harbinger of more trouble to come.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

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