Category: Korea-General Topics

The Korean taxi lobby is trying to take out another ride sharing company:

A taxi industry body urged Tada, a ride-hailing service, to terminate its business on Tuesday, a day after prosecutors indicted the company’s heads on charges of running a transportation business without a license and declared the app-based business illegal. 

In a joint press conference with independent lawmaker Kim Kyung-jin, Kook Chul-hee, chief of the Seoul Private Taxi Association, said “the prosecution’s indictment brought the illegality of these taxi operators to light.”

Kim and Kook also asked the government to suspend Tada’s operation, which it claims has made a mockery of law and order, saying it would be dereliction of the government’s duty if it did not do so.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Here is some good news for native English teachers:

The top court has ruled that native English teachers working at private language institutes here are eligible for severance pay and annual vacation allowance according to the Labor Standards Act. 

The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld an appellate court’s decision to recognize native English instructors as employees protected by the law and thus provide them various allowances. 

But the court sent the case back to the Seoul High Court to amend the calculation of such payment.

The lawsuit started in 2015 when eight English teachers sued their language institute demanding unpaid severance pay and allowances in lieu of annual vacation. 

Korea Times

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?

Welcome to South Korea:

Zenani Mandela-Dlamini, the daughter of former South African President Nelson Mandela, has been appointed as her country’s ambassador to Seoul.

Mandela-Dlamini, who arrived at Seoul early this month, visited the Foreign Ministry here on Thursday for a meeting with officials. 

“We’ve got great bilateral relations, and I’ll continue to work to strengthen them,” she told reporters. “We’ve got great trade relations with Korea and I look forward to strengthen them during my tenure.”

Zenani (60) was the first child of Nelson and his second wife and political partner Winnie. She was four years old when her father was imprisoned in 1964 for treason over his resistance to the apartheid

Chosun Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

Warning to any ROK Heads looking to travel by train in the coming days in Korea, KORAIL workers are going on strike:

Railway workers are set to begin a three-day strike Friday to press their demands for higher pay and better working conditions. 

The government plans to deploy substitute workers and alternative forms of transportation to minimize disruption, as the walkout is expected to cut passenger and cargo train operations by 20 percent and 60 percent, respectively.

The 19,000-member Korean Railway Workers’ Union decided to strike early last month, after its negotiations with the Korea Railroad Corp. (KORAIL) broke down in late August.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.