Category: Korea-General Topics

Definitely not smart to criticize one of the few public professions that most people have a positive opinion of:

Gyeonggi Province Gov. Choo Mi-ae, left, remains silent as a firefighter turns his back on her after his colleagues were injured in a factory blaze in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, Friday. Earlier that week, Choo made remarks describing firefighting as a “straw” sucking up the province’s finances. Yonhap

Gyeonggi Province Gov. Choo Mi-ae faces growing backlash over derogatory remarks portraying firefighting as a drain on provincial finances, with her subsequent apology drawing further criticism for lacking sincerity after a firefighter died battling a factory blaze in a city in the province.

Choo’s repeated attempts to explain her intentions have only backfired as they were seen as lacking sincerity, with the opposition demanding a clearer apology and some members of her own party urging a disciplinary measure against her.

The controversy began on Tuesday during a National Assembly audit of the Gyeonggi Provincial Government, when Choo mentioned the burden of firefighters’ personnel costs on local finances.

“Firefighting seems to be the biggest headache, like a straw sucking up our finances,” she said, seeking to highlight that local governments still have to pay firefighters’ salaries even though they are now national government employees.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but the timing of her comments only added fuel to the fire (pun intended). That is because shortly after her comments six firefighters were in hired fighting a blaze with one later passing away. At the memorial ceremony the governor was highly criticized by people in attendance.

It is a bit ironic that October 10th is the World Day Against the Death Penalty and the Pentagon recently announced it will be livestreaming the execution of mass murderer Nidal Hasan. It will be interesting to see if that actually happens. Anyway for its part South Korea hasn’t executed anyone since 1997 and this researcher is pushing for the ROK government to end the death penalty all together because the killers are old and regret what they did:

Every weekday before 1997, death row inmates in Korea braced themselves between 6 and 9 a.m. — the hours when executions could happen. If 9 a.m. passed uneventfully, they felt relief. Then they went to sleep wondering if the next morning would be their last.

No one has been executed since Dec. 30, 1997, but 56 people remain on death row — 52 in Ministry of Justice correctional facilities and four in military prisons. Kim Dae-keun, a research fellow at the Korean Institute of Criminology and Justice, interviewed 42 of them. 

“Most of them were ashamed, distressed or regretful about what they did,” Kim said in an interview with The Korea Times. “I imagine they were brutal and frightening when they committed their crimes. But many I met in prison now were older, frail men.”

Oct. 10 marks World Day Against the Death Penalty, an annual international observance calling for the abolition of executions as judicial punishment. In Korea, the day arrives with the death penalty still on the books but widely regarded as unenforceable. Most inmates now believe executions will not resume — a belief that has fundamentally reshaped how they live.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but this is just another example of suicidal empathy. In this article, this researcher shows a lot of sympathy for the criminals on death row, but does not mention one word about the impact these criminals have had on the lives of the families of the victims they killed.

I guess we will see if the North Koreans decide to escalate with some other test of their own in response:

South Korea conducted its first test launch of a hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV) on Thursday, Cheong Wa Dae said, in an apparent show of force against North Korea amid heightening inter-Korean tensions following a recent border land mine blast.

The test launch was carried out to verify core hypersonic technologies, such as flight trajectories and speed, as a game-changing strategic asset capable of launching surprise precision strikes against enemy targets, presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said in a written briefing to the press. 

President Lee Jae Myung observed the launch in person, accompanied by Defense Minister Kang Shin-chul and other officials.

An HGV is a missile system that uses a booster to accelerate and ascend into the upper atmosphere before separating from the booster to glide at lower altitudes at hypersonic speeds. 

“The HGV successfully separated from its booster and seamlessly executed its planned flight path under hypersonic conditions,” she said. “This successful launch marks a major milestone in that preparations are complete to secure a new deterrent capable of striking critical targets across the theater of the Korean Peninsula.”

Lee’s office did not disclose the location of the test launch, but it reportedly took place on a barge inside a test center run by the Agency for Defense Development in Taean, about 130 kilometers south of Seoul.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It looks like the ROK government is going to take some kind of further diplomatic action against Ukraine if they don’t apologize better:

Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said Tuesday that Ukraine sent an apology over its disclosure of the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea but the message fell short of Seoul’s expectations.

He said the government is considering further diplomatic actions.

Cho made the remarks during a parliamentary audit of the foreign ministry amid a dispute over Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s disclosure of the transfer, which Seoul said the two sides had agreed to keep confidential.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Korean police do not think this brawl involved organized crime, so it will be interesting to hear what caused this brawl then:

This photo, provided by a Yonhap News reader, shows the scene of a group brawl involving several foreign nationals at a park in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, on Oct. 3, 2026.

Police are investigating a violent late night clash between groups of people from Central Asian nations in Pyeongtaek, officials said Monday, an incident that reportedly left many people in the local residential area in shock and fear.

The suspected brawl broke out at around 11:40 p.m. Saturday in a residential neighborhood in the city located some 60 kilometers south of Seoul. Two men in their 20s — a Russian national and a Kyrgyz national — were detained while fleeing the scene, according to Pyeongtaek Police Station.

Police estimate that around 15 people were involved, though initial witness reports said about 40 people were engaged in a fight. Photos of the incident provided by readers showed many young men carrying and wielding club-like weapons.

The two suspects reportedly sustained injuries, including fractures, and were taken to a hospital for treatment. Both are legal residents who entered South Korea on visas, the police said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Either Korea had a sudden surge in ADHD cases or people are using these drugs to cheat on tests:

Prescriptions for methylphenidate, an attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) treatment widely known as “study drug” among students in Korea, have surged nearly 38 percent over the past two years in the country and are especially high among people aged 19 and under, data showed Sunday.

According to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and the Korea Institute of Drug Safety and Risk Management, 58.05 million methylphenidate tablets were prescribed in the first half of this year, up 12.1 percent from the same period a year earlier.

This marked a 37.8 percent increase from the first half of 2024, when 42.13 million tablets were prescribed.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Trump is pushing hard for Korean investment in this Alaskan energy project:

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday threatened to “charge” South Korea “more” if it does not agree to invest in a liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Alaska, which he has claimed the Asian country will participate in.

Trump made the remarks during a press availability at the White House, two days after he unveiled the first package of Korea’s U.S. investment projects under last year’s bilateral trade deal, which he said consists of the LNG project, the construction of a gas-fired power plant in Texas and eight large-scale nuclear power plants. 

On the LNG project, Seoul has said that it has not yet finalized a decision on whether to participate.

“I didn’t jump ⁠the gun. I mean, they were there ‌and they were ‌represented,” he told reporters. “And let’s ‌see, if they don’t want ⁠to do it, that’s okay with ⁠me. I’ll ⁠just charge them more.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Really nothing new coming out of Trump’s meeting with President Lee other than the various bilaterla issues they have been working are continuing to move forward:

President Lee Jae Myung held a 30-minute summit with US President Donald Trump Tuesday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York to address key bilateral issues, including the wartime operational control transfer.

The two leaders affirmed their shared commitment to deepening cooperation in the field of nuclear-powered submarines, enrichment and reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel, shipbuilding, and the transfer of wartime OPCON of the South Korean military from the US to South Korea, Cheong Wa Dae’s director of national security Wi Sung-lac said in a briefing to reporters Tuesday.

According to Cheong Wa Dae, follow-up coordination regarding these issues will be discussed in Washington next week.

The meeting came ahead of an annual security consultative meeting between the allies expected in November, drawing keen attention to whether talks for the wartime OPCON transfer would be on the table.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

One option being floated is expanding Korea’s anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden:

“It is important that the Cheonghae Unit remains under independent Korean command and focuses on protecting Korean vessels and nationals, rather than becoming involved in combat operations,” said Cho Yong-geun, a professor of military studies at Kyungnam University.

He added that “if it is after the war ends, there would be no problem” with expanding the unit’s operations toward the strait.

The professor’s remarks came as Seoul faces continued pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to contribute to efforts to secure freedom of navigation through the strait amid the months-long war with Iran.

Trump has repeatedly called on allies to play a greater role, with no allies so far committing to direct military involvement.

At a press conference Friday, Lee drew a clear line at combat involvement, saying Korea would not send troops to “participate or intervene in the war,” while leaving room for other military activities to protect Korean vessels, crude oil transportation routes and citizens.

You can read more over at the Korea Times. So basically this professor is advocating for appearing to do something to help the U.S. without actually doing anything.

Now if the Korean Navy protects international shipping from Houthi attacks then that would be a significant contribution. I guess we will see what happens.

It appears the educational related suicide epidemic in Korea has even spread to foreign students:

About one in five international students who died in Korea over the past six years took their own lives, fueling calls for stronger mental health support as their numbers in the country continue to grow.

According to data the Ministry of Education submitted to Rep. Kim Moon-soo on Monday after surveying some 350 universities nationwide, 84 international students at Korean universities died between 2021 and this year. 

Accidents, including traffic accidents, caused the most deaths at 34 cases, followed by illness at 23, suicide at 15, undetermined causes at seven and other causes at five.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.