Author: GIKorea

It looks like the United Nations Command is not to eager to move forward with the Moon administration’s so called “Peace Park” within the DMZ:

Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul said Monday that South Korea and the United Nations Command (UNC) are cooperating closely to narrow “differences” on how to enforce rules restricting entry to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).

Kim made the remark during a parliamentary audit in response to a lawmaker’s call for a need to “supplement” UNC regulations on passage in the DMZ that bisect the two Koreas. The UNC has jurisdiction over the area.

“There have been differences in opinions (between the government and the UNC) over matters involving entry to and exit from the DMZ and passage of the MDL (military demarcation line),” Kim told lawmakers. “We are now closely in discussion to narrow the differences.”

“While keeping safety measures in place, I think there should be regulatory supplementation with regard to entry to and exit from the DMZ when it has a non-military nature,” he added. “Under the armistice agreement, the right for permission is confined to things with military character.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Technology like this make sense for Korea to pursue, however I hope they realize windmills are not going to be able to power this initiative:

The Korean government is planning to build electrified roads that can recharge the batteries of cars and trucks that run fast on them by 2030.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on Oct. 18 that it has established the Road Technology Development Strategy (2021-2030) to realize a plan to build future roads incorporating such technologies as data, artificial intelligence (AI), and the internet of things (IoT).

The strategy aims to achieve four goals – reduction of the number of deaths by traffic accidents by 30 percent, lowering traffic congestion by 30 percent, cutting road maintenance costs by 30 percent, and reduction of road noises by 20 percent and harmful substances by 15 percent.

First of all, the ministry will begin to develop self-heating and light-emitting lanes using solar energy, and prevent traffic accidents by enabling drivers to recognize lanes even during heavy snow and heavy rains. In addition, the ministry will implement a project to protect drivers and pedestrians from pollutants such as fine dust by applying pollutant adsorption and self-decomposition technology to road pavements.

The ministry plans to develop wireless electric charging technology so that electric vehicles can run on the road at high speed while being wirelessly recharged. “Researchers at the Korea Institute for Science and Technology (KAIST) are currently conducting research and development on wireless recharging technology,” a ministry official said.

Business Korea

You can read more at the link.

This is another example of South Korea being quick to adapt new technology:

Incheon International Airport is set to become the first airport in the world to run self-driving cars starting at the second half of next year.

The Incheon International Airport Corporation said on Friday it will conduct a three-month trial run during the first half of 2020, before operating two autonomous vehicles in the second half.

The project aims to promote smart technologies at the airport.

While priority for the use of the driverless cars will be given to seniors and people with disabilities, all passengers will be able to access them at terminal arrival gates and immigration checkpoints.

Users will be able to insert their destinations on the vehicle’s touch screen or place their flight tickets on a separate device within the vehicle.

KBS World Radio

I will have to check this strip out the next time I am in Gangneung:

More than 30 coffee shops are lined up along the Anmok Beach in the east coast city of Gangneung, 170 kilometers east of Seoul, which played host to skating and other ice events of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. 

From rooftop terraces to a five-story all-cafe building, most of the coffee houses, which boast ocean panoramas, serve high-end pour-overs freshly brewed by skilled baristas. 

Such large coffee franchises as Starbucks and Caffe Pascucci also have their own berths on the Coffee Street, dubbed a “holy land” for baristas and coffee lovers.

But they are apparently the underdog in the half-kilometer stretch of road selected as a “Star of Korea Tour” and one of the “Top 10 Must-Visit Tourist Spots” by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization.

Initially, the district was home to a strip of instant coffee vending machines in the 1980s. Anmok’s first two cafes opened in 1998, around when South Koreans began paying attention in earnest to hand-drip coffee instead of ready-to-drink soluble products.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but have any ROK Heads visited this strip of coffee shops before?

Anyone surprised by this news?:

Prosecutors investigating former Justice Minister Cho Kuk’s family appear to have found evidence that Cho’s younger brother, who faces allegations of receiving bribes from teachers at a school operated by the Cho family, did not fall and hurt his back as he claims. 

Sources with knowledge of the ongoing probe at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office told the JoongAng Ilbo earlier this week that prosecutors thoroughly reviewed CCTV footage from the area where Cho’s brother asserted he fell but found zero proof to corroborate his claims.

Prosecutors are planning to submit the footage to a court in the coming days when filing a second request to detain him before his trial, the sources continued, in order to dissuade the court from striking down the pretrial detention warrant because he’s injured.

The Seoul Central District Court dismissed the prosecution’s first warrant for him last week, saying his allegations were “open to doubt” and enough evidence collection has already taken place. The court also cited the younger Cho’s health in explaining why they decided not to detain him.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but next we will probably see him in a wheel chair.

There was more than seven people involved in this crime and why didn’t the police immediately hold them in jail after the crime instead of letting them go?:

 Prosecutors said Sunday they have requested a Seoul court to issue arrest warrants for seven progressive college students on charges of breaking into the U.S. ambassador’s residence.

Seventeen members of a progressive college student group used ladders to climb over the wall of the Habib House in Seoul on Friday afternoon.

The residence was vacant at that time, as Ambassador Harry Harris and his wife were away for a Cheong Wa Dae reception hosted by President Moon Jae-in.

The activists displayed banners reading “Harris leave this land,” with two others having attempted to break into the compound. They were protesting Washington’s call for Seoul to sharply increase its financial contribution to the presence of American troops in South Korea.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but I doubt any real consequences will come from this.

Could you imagine what would happen if this was a random U.S. military commander telling subordinate leaders to send all emails to a non-government email to include classified information?

The State Department has completed its internal investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of private email and found violations by 38 people, some of whom may face disciplinary action.

The investigation, launched more than three years ago, determined that those 38 people were “culpable” in 91 cases of sending classified information that ended up in Clinton’s personal email, according to a letter sent to Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley this week and released on Friday. The 38 are current and former State Department officials but were not identified.

Although the report identified violations, it said investigators had found “no persuasive evidence of systemic, deliberate mishandling of classified information.” However, it also made clear that Clinton’s use of the private email had increased the vulnerability of classified information.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but no word from General Petraeus about what he thinks of this.

This should not come as a surprise to anyone:

If the government pushes ahead with its expanded welfare spending plans, Korea’s fiscal debt will rise W360 trillion above the government’s original target by 2028 (US$1=W1,181). 

According to an estimate by the National Assembly Budget Office on Thursday, Korea’s fiscal debt will reach W1,491 trillion by 2028, while the government debt ratio will reach 56.7 percent of GDP. 

Just last year, the office estimated Korea’s fiscal debt at W1,130 trillion by 2028 or 48 percent of GDP. But within less than a year, the projection has risen a whopping 31.9 percent and the government debt ratio 8.7 percentage points. (……..)

Cho Dong-geun at Myongji University said, “Welfare policies aimed at winning votes are casting a long shadow over the future of Korea when the economy is already losing steam. The government is committing a serious offense against future generations.”  

Chosun Ilbo

You can read more at the link.