Category: Korea-General Topics

Anyone think that it is just a coincidence that when the left wing KCTU wants to do a rally the rules changed to accommodate them?:

Labor activists pushed ahead with street rallies in Seoul and other major cities Saturday despite concerns over spikes in COVID-19 infections. 

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), a major umbrella labor organization, and about 20 affiliated unions took to the streets across the country to stage scores of small-scale demonstrations in commemoration of the 50th year since Chun Tae-il, a pioneer of the nation’s labor activism, self-immolated, Nov. 13, 1970, in the cause of workers’ rights

In Seoul alone, the KCTU and progressive groups were allowed to hold 31 rallies at 61 locations. Conservative groups also reported plans for 47 political demonstrations in 85 locations in the capital, according to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency. 

The rallies came as the nation’s new coronavirus cases exceeded 200 for the first time in 73 days amid lingering infection clusters nationwide.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but if the conservative protesters were smart they would have stayed home and then blame the current COVID spike on the KCTU like the Korean left did to them back in August.

What will be interesting to see is if there is a coronavirus spike will the Moon administration blame the conservatives or the KCTU?:

 Seoul police said Friday they will sternly respond to any illegal activities during rallies scheduled for this weekend amid rising concerns over possible spread of the new coronavirus.

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) and its affiliate groups plan to organize gatherings across 30 locations in Seoul, including the wards of Yeongdeungpo, Mapo and Seocho, on Saturday afternoon, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said.

KCTU will also stage a separate demonstration at Yeouido Park in central Seoul.

Regular weekly anti-government rallies by conservative groups are also scheduled to be held in Seoul’s central ward of Jongno and Seocho Ward in Seoul’s southern area on Saturday afternoon.

According to police, a total of 78 outdoor rallies were scheduled to be held Saturday. 

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the government lifted its bans on rallies and groups can organize with 100 people or less.

Look who was let out of jail, the guy the coronavirus pandemic in South Korea has been blamed on:

The leader of a minor religious sect that was at the center of the early coronavirus outbreak in South Korea was released on bail on Thursday.

The Suwon District Court, south of Seoul, allowed the bail request of Lee Man-hee, the founder of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, citing a low risk of destroying evidence and his deteriorating health.

The court set the bail bond at 100 million won (US$89,700) and ordered him to stay at his residence and wear an electric device to trace his movement. 

The 89-year-old leader was indicted in August for allegedly submitting false documents to health authorities on the whereabouts and number of participants at Shincheonji’s gatherings in February when the sect was blamed for spikes in the spread of COVID-19.

He is also accused of embezzling 5.6 billion won from church funds and holding unauthorized religious events from 2015 to 2019.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but ROK Heads may remember that Lee Man-hee was blamed in the early days of the pandemic as causing its spread in Daegu. Some argued however that Lee was scapegoated for the pandemic to cover for the Moon administration’s decision to not restrict travel from China.

This is going to be great news for the travel industry once this vaccine gets released:

South Korean travel-related stocks rallied Tuesday on growing hopes that the COVID-19 pandemic could be subdued after U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. reported promising results for its new coronavirus vaccine.

Pfizer announced Monday (U.S. time) that its vaccine candidate developed with BioNTech SE was found to be more than 90 percent effective in preventing COVID-19, signaling progress in the global fight against the pandemic.

Local airline stocks, which have taken a beating this year from the pandemic, were buoyed by the report.

Shares in South Korea’s largest carrier, Korean Air Lines Co., soared 11.24 percent to 24,250 won (US$22), outperforming the broader KOSPI’s 0.23 percent gain. The carrier’s stock price spiked as high as 23.62 percent during the session.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but anyone think that this will be called the Biden Vaccine by the media once it is available to be released?

Foreigners in South Korea may soon have some new trash bags to help them understand the recycling process:

The Gyeonggi Provincial Government rolled out plans Monday to encourage every city in the province to include common foreign languages — like Chinese and English — on their authorized garbage bags to improve recycling.  
   
Gyeonggi, which surrounds the capital of Seoul, is known to have the largest foreign-born population out of all provinces and metropolitan cities in Korea. Some 720,000 people, or 32.5 percent of all foreigners living in Korea, reside in Gyeonggi, the provincial government said.  
   
Currently eight cities in Gyeonggi have some form of foreign language instructions on their garbage bags, the provincial government said Monday in a statement — Suwon, Bucheon, Hwaseong, Ansan, Pyeongtaek, Gwangmyeong, Gunpo and Dongducheon. 

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I have been saying for months that reacting to cluster infections would be the new reality for South Korea until a vaccine is developed and it appears that this will be the case:

South Korea’s new coronavirus cases rose by triple digits for the second day Monday, with a series of cluster infections being reported from venues of everyday life, ranging from markets to family gatherings, straining the country’s anti-virus fight.

The country added 126 more COVID-19 cases, including 99 local infections, raising the total caseload to 27,553, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

It marked a slight drop from 143 cases added on Sunday, but Monday’s caseloads are relatively high given the lower number of tests carried out over the weekend.

South Korea, which has been striving to curb COVID-19 from hospitals and nursing homes, recently saw more sporadic cluster infections at risk-prone facilities, such as nursing homes and private gatherings.

Over the past two weeks, around 35.7 percent of the newly added cases have been group infections, with some 13.6 percent not having clear transmission routes.

Yonhap

South Korea might be stressing about being in triple digits of daily coronavirus infections in a country of 51 million people, but this is basically what large U.S. cities are facing every day. For example the city of El Paso, Texas when I checked their dashboard had 899 new cases.

This is likely a trial balloon for something that will eventually be implemented on the rest of the country:

Seoul City will ban high-emission cars from the roads in the greater metro area from December to March as part of efforts to reduce fine dust during the winter months.

The city government announced on Sunday that anyone caught driving vehicles classified as Grade 5 in terms of emission levels inside the capital region will be fined 100-thousand won from December.

People can face fines if they drive Grade 5 vehicles without an emission-reduction device from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays in the capital region.

As of September, there are about one-point-46 million vehicles nationwide that fall into this grade.

KBS World Radio

I doubt that this will do much of anything in regards to the pollution when the majority of it is coming from China. This seems like the Korean government is saying they are “doing something” when they know the problem is unsolvable as long as China doesn’t change its own pollution policies.

Here is the latest COVID regulations to be put in place in South Korea:

Health authorities Sunday announced a new five-tier social distancing system to replace the current three-tier scheme, which they hope will minimize shutdown orders for local businesses while cranking up mandatory preventive measures such as mask wearing, social distancing and better ventilation.  
   
The new measures came as the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) announced Sunday morning that the nation added 124 new infections of the coronavirus Saturday, the fifth day in a row that the daily tally was above 100.  
   
No large-scale clusters have been reported yet from Halloween revelry last Saturday in bars in Itaewon, central Seoul; Hongdae, western Seoul; and Gangnam District, southern Seoul. Many popular nightclubs closed that day in compliance with recommendations from the Seoul Metropolitan Government, which feared partygoers spreading the virus like in May, when a cluster of some 300 coronavirus infections emerged from several nightclubs in Itaewon.  (…………..)

There will be five levels — Levels 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5 and 3 — with each level having different guidelines and rules. Level 1 has been dubbed “the stage of everyday preventive measures,” while Level 1.5 and Level 2 have been dubbed “the stage of regional spread.” Level 2.5 and Level 3 are together called “the stage of national spread.”  
   
In the past, the central government usually imposed one of three social distancing levels for the entire nation, even when most new infections were coming from hot spots limited to a few areas. In the new system, the country will be divided into seven areas, and each zone will be monitored separately. That means one area can be subject to Level 1, while another is subject to Level 3.  
   
The seven zones are the Seoul metropolitan area encompassing Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi, also known as greater Seoul; the Chungcheong area of North Chungcheong and South Chungcheong; the Honam area of North Jeolla and South Jeolla; North Gyeongsang; South Gyeongsang; Gangwon; and Jeju Island.  
   
In the past, the main criterion for deciding whether to adjust the social distancing level was the number of new infections detected nationwide over the prior two weeks. Now, that has been shortened to a single week.  

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read much more about the new social distancing guidelines at the link.

What would be helpful is comparing these number of possible vaccination deaths with statistics from prior years:

South Korea’s public health agency said Saturday that a total of 83 people, most of whom are elderly, died after being administered with a seasonal flu vaccine.

The deaths have stoked public anxiety over the safety of flu vaccines, but the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said the deaths of 72 people have very limited relation with the flu shots. Another 11 cases are currently under investigation.

Of the total, 37 people are in their 70s, followed by 34 people aged 80 or older, eight under 60 and four in their 60s, KDCA said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I doubt Biden wrote this, but it is the most expansive comments his campaign has made about South Korea:

 U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden pledged Friday to strengthen the alliance with South Korea, rather than “extorting Seoul with reckless threats to remove our troops,” and keep pressing toward North Korea’s denuclearization through “principled diplomacy.”

Biden made the pledge in a special article contributed exclusively to Yonhap News Agency just days ahead of the U.S. presidential election, reciting the catch phrase of the Korea-U.S. alliance, “Katchi Kapshida,” or “We Go Together.”

“As president, I’ll stand with South Korea, strengthening our alliance to safeguard peace in East Asia and beyond, rather than extorting Seoul with reckless threats to remove our troops,” Biden said in the article, titled “Hope for Our Better Future.”

“I’ll engage in principled diplomacy and keep pressing toward a denuclearized North Korea and a unified Korean Peninsula, while working to reunite Korean Americans separated from loved ones in North Korea for decades,” he said.

Yonhap

Here is where he talks about his 2013 trip to DMZ as Vice President:

“I will never forget standing less than 100 feet away from North Korea at the DMZ with my granddaughter, Finnegan, beside me. I felt the pain of division on the Korean Peninsula and the separation of families since the Korean War,” he said.

I wonder if Hunter Biden came with him? By the way Hunter Biden did have business ties with the son-in-law of one of the founder’s of the Korean Unification Church. The article goes on:

“I’ve fought my whole career to support hard-working immigrant families who came to America to build a better life,” Biden wrote in his special contribution. “I’ll work to fix our broken immigration system, provide a roadmap to citizenship for undocumented Koreans, and recognize the tens of thousands of Korean adoptees as the Americans they are.”

There is absolutely no reason that Koreans should be fleeing to America as illegal immigrants considering how advanced their own country is. As far as Korean adoptees there have been some rare cases of adoption paperwork not being completed properly that has caused citizenship issues later, which can be worked out, but the vast majority of adoptees are American citizens.