Category: Korea-General Topics

This professor came to Korea to monitor the upcoming elections and has now put himself at risk of being jailed:

Police on Monday applied to the Ministry of Justice for an exit ban on Morse Tan, a Korean American professor and former U.S. ambassador at large for global criminal justice under the first Trump administration, amid an ongoing investigation into defamation charges tied to false claims he made about President Lee Jae Myung.

Tan, also known by his Korean name Dan Hyun-myung, returned to Korea on Thursday, citing intentions to personally monitor and verify the June 3 local elections for irregularities.

Officers traveled to Incheon International Airport on the day of his arrival, formally notifying him to appear for questioning the following day. Tan declined to comply, submitting a written statement explaining his rejection of the summons and filing a separate request to have the assigned investigating officers replaced.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

According to the article the explosion happened when cleaners were trying to clean propellant residue off of tools of some kind. I would not be surprised to find out someone was cutting corners with safety:

Five people were killed Monday while two others were injured following an explosion at a Hanwha Aerospace factory in the central city of Daejeon, officials said.

Fire authorities received a report of the explosion at the defense company’s factory at 10:59 a.m., mobilizing some 100 personnel to put out a blaze at the site, according to the fire and police officials.

The explosion left five people dead and two people hurt — one with full-body burns and the other with minor injuries. The late victims were all found dead at the site. Two were contract employees in their 20s, while the others were permanent employees, with two in their 50s and one 30-something-year-old.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Was there any doubt on what the findings were going to be? Korea has been nothing but diplomatic with the Iranians over the years, and what do they have to show for it? Missiles launched against one of their commercial ships:

Anti-ship missiles developed and used by Iran are believed to have been used in an attack against a South Korean vessel in the Strait of Hormuz earlier this month, the foreign ministry said Wednesday.

The ministry, however, reserved a decision on which actor in Iran launched the attack or whether it was intentional.

“Technical analysis concluded that the unidentified airborne objects were likely Noor-series anti-ship missiles developed by Iran,” First Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo said at a press briefing announcing the outcome of the government’s weekslong probe into the incident.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I guess we will see if this apology will shutdown the controversy or not. As we all know leftists love to have something to be outraged about:

Shinsegae Group Chairman Chung Yong-jin on Tuesday apologized to the public in person, eight days after Starbucks Korea, run by Shinsegae Group, sparked controversy with its “Tank Day” marketing event, which critics say inappropriately referenced Korea’s pro-democracy movement of the 1980s. 

“Regardless of the reason, the fact that we have hurt the hearts of our citizens carries a heavy responsibility,” Chung said during a press conference. “I will make no excuses. All responsibility for this matter lies with me. It is my fault.“ 

“Everyone at Shinsegae, including myself, will remember our society’s history and sacrifices, and always deeply understand and respect the hearts of the public. The responsibility lies with the organization and the management, including myself.”

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It looks like President Lee wants to be like the U.K. and start jailing people for online speech he does not agree with:

President Lee Jae Myung called Sunday for a public debate on introducing tougher measures against those who post hateful and derogatory content online or engage in such behavior. 

Lee made the remarks in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, sharing a report that young people believed to be linked to a far-right online forum had engaged in provocative acts mocking former liberal President Roh Moo-hyun near the site of a memorial ceremony held on the anniversary of his death.

“There are differing views on whether expressions that incite social division and conflict through mockery and insults, such as (those seen on) Ilbe, should be protected under freedom of expression or (face) sanctions, including punishment,” Lee said in the post.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the recent Starbucks controversy was brought up in the article. So does President Lee think the Korean Starbucks CEO should be sent to jail for a bad promotion event?

Here is the latest virtue signaling over the Gwangju Uprising:

The Army said Tuesday it has revoked 33 commendations that were awarded to soldiers in the name of an Army chief for their roles in a bloody crackdown during the 1980 pro-democracy uprising in the southwestern city of Gwangju.

The move is the latest in a series of military efforts to address past wrongdoing by the troops during the brutal crackdown on civilians who rose up against the military junta, led by then Army Gen. Chun Doo-hwan, in the nine-day revolt.

Chun seized power through a coup on Dec. 12, 1979, and ultimately became president in August 1980.

After a review of the commendations related to the Gwangju crackdown operations, the Army found a total of 33 troops had received commendations, Bae Seok-jin, the Army spokesperson, said in a press briefing. 

“The Army decided to revoke the 33 commendations at a merit review committee on April 28,” Bae said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This is pretty surprising that a year and a half after this disaster that remains from victims are still being found:

President Lee Jae Myung visited the renewed recovery operation site for victims of the Jeju Air passenger jet crash at Muan Airport, calling for a full investigation into shortcomings in the government’s initial recovery efforts.

The visit on Monday came after victims’ remains were discovered during a reinvestigation launched by the Lee administration in February this year, more than a year after the country’s deadliest aviation disaster on Dec. 29, 2024.

The discovery sparked public outrage, with the earlier recovery operation criticised as careless and incomplete.

Lee expressed frustration over the prolonged recovery process, saying, “The recovery of the remains has been delayed far too long.”

“This renewed search must be conducted thoroughly. Please also examine whether there are problems with the existing manuals,” Lee told officials at the recovery site at Muan Airport in South Jeolla Province. “It does not appear that the existing manuals were faithfully followed. Please look carefully into the causes as well.”

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

This makes me wonder if people across the world will have to eventually renovate their businesses and homes to accommodate robots in the near future?:

A redesigned central atrium of Hyundai Motor Group’s headquarters in Seoul / Courtesy of Hyundai Motor Group

Hyundai Motor Group is signaling its broader transformation into a robot-friendly mobility firm by deploying a range of advanced service robots throughout the carmaker’s renovated headquarters lobby.

The initiative aligns with the group’s much-touted vision to evolve into a physical artificial intelligence (AI) firm. At this year’s CES tech fair in January, the carmaker drew attention for presenting its robotics vision to become a leading physical AI player in the mobility sector.

The firm has introduced three robot services as part of its headquarters remodeling project: the DAL-e Gardener watering robot, DAL-e Delivery robot and the quadruped Spot security robot.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.