Category: Korea-General Topics

Like the U.S., South Korea now has its own typhoon to prepare for as well:

A powerful typhoon is quickly moving northward to South Korea, with rain and strong winds seen on the country’s southern island of Jeju Friday. 

Typhoon Lingling, this year’s 13th typhoon, passed over seas 330 kilometers southwest of Jeju at a speed of 43 kph as of 6 p.m., according to the Korea Meteorological Association.

Its central pressure was 950 hectopascals, and the maximum wind speed near its center was 43 meters per second, or 155 kph. Strong gusts like this can topple cars and ships, and uproot trees.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I think the most blame should be put on the mother who did not ask anyone for help though I would not be surprised if she was suffering from depression that contributed to her death:

Han Sung-ok, 42, seemed determined to pick through nearly every lettuce on the market stand. She turned each one over and examined it while her six-year-old son clambered on the fence nearby. 

The vegetable seller in the southern Seoul suburb looked on, annoyed. This was one picky customer and she didn’t even buy a lot of vegetables – only one or two items for as little as she could pay. On this occasion it was a lettuce for 500 won (about $0.40; £0.33). 

Uttering only a few words, Han handed over her money and left with her son.

Just a few weeks later, both were dead. 

Having fled food shortages in her native North Korea and dreaming of a new life, Han and her son are believed to have starved to death in one of the wealthiest cities in Asia. Their bodies lay undiscovered for two months until someone came to read the water meter and noticed a bad smell.

Mother and son were found apart on the floor. The only food in their tiny rented apartment was a bag of red pepper chilli flakes.

BBC

You can read the whole thing at the link, but she definitely had a hard life and trouble adapting to South Korean culture. People in the government probably should have done more to check on her welfare, but ultimately if she would have reached out to defector organizations or even a local church she could have gotten help instead of starving to death.

I wonder how much Gloria Steinem is being paid to attend this event?:

World-renowned activists in the areas of peace and human rights are coming to South Korea early this autumn to call for peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Scheduled attendees for the “Let’s DMZ” event taking place to commemorate the first anniversary of the September 19 Pyongyang Joint Statement between the South and North Korean leaders include Gloria Steinem, a social activist known as the “godmother of the global women’s rights movement”; Phan Thi Kim Phuc, a human rights campaigner known as the “napalm girl”; and Mikis Theodorakis, a Greek composer and democracy activist with a history of resistance fighting.

Let’s DMZ includes numerous different events taking place around the Gyeonggi Province area over the month of September with the aim of transforming the Demilitarized Zone from a symbol of division into one of peace that can be seen, heard, and experienced by everyone. Gyeonggi Vice Governor for Peace Lee Hwa-young described plans for four major events – a DMZ Forum, Live DMZ, DMZ Festa, and Art DMZ – in a Let’s DMZ briefing on Aug. 28 at the Gyeonggi Provincial Office in Suwon.

Hankyoreh

You can read more at the link, but maybe North Korea will launch some more missiles during this event to show what they think of the so called peace process these activists are championing.

All 8 #SouthKorean airlines are now operating in red. Sudden/drastic increases in minimum wage didn't help. Neither did won depreciation nor boycotting travel to Japan. https://t.co/cVlEgfhm21

— Tara O (@DrTaraO) August 18, 2019

Hotel I’m staying at in Gangneung has a “Royal Suite” named after the woman who used it first in 2018:

North Korea’s Hyon Song Wol pic.twitter.com/JikCYdZ7Md

— Chad O'Carroll (@chadocl) August 18, 2019

Just because major media didn't cover it, it doesn't mean a large demonstration calling for Moon Jae-in's ouster didn't occur. It did. And it'll likely continue. https://t.co/LpnwEJNDgL

— Tara O (@DrTaraO) August 18, 2019

#DPRK to #MoonJaeIn:

12 SRBMs
Scared dog
Tiny mouse
Busybody
Impudent guy
Laughable
Flailing
Shoots streaks of diarrhea #ROK to NK:

No comment
Unhelpful
NK & SK words different
Strategic patience
Better situation today
Express regret

Where's the #Equanimity vis-a-vis #Japan?

— Sung-Yoon Lee (@SungYoonLee1) August 16, 2019

In the next few days we should be seeing if the GSOMIA between the ROK and Japan will be extended:

President Moon Jae-in’s move to offer an olive branch to Japan prompted expectations on the extension of a bilateral military intelligence-sharing pact with Japan amid an escalating power game between the neighboring countries.

Stressing that Seoul and Tokyo have continued to engage in security and economic cooperation with Japan, Moon said Thursday, “Better late than never: if Japan chooses the path of dialogue and cooperation, we will gladly join hands. We will strive with Japan to create an East Asia that engages in fair trade and cooperation.”

Moon’s remarks at the Independence Hall of Korea in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, during the 74th Liberation Day celebration, came eight days before the deadline to notify Japan on whether to extend the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA). The pact is a symbol of trilateral security cooperation between South Korea, Japan and the United States in the region against North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats, amid a series of North Korea’s launches of alleged new types of short-range missiles in recent weeks.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Condolences to the friends and family of the victims of this terrible accident in Sokcho:

Three people were killed and three injured as an elevator fell at an apartment construction site in Sokcho, Gangwon Province, Wednesday morning, rescue workers and reports said. 

The three were riding in the elevator when it dropped 15 floors to the ground at 8:28 a.m. The fourth also in the elevator survived the fall and was transported to hospital. 

The remaining two ― foreign workers from Uzkekistan ― were on the ground and hit by debris when the elevator fell. They were also taken to hospital. All casualties were workers. 

It was not immediately known what caused one of the two elevators, installed outside the 30-story building, to fall. Police said that the workers were working to dissemble the elevators.

Korea Times

As far protests go, only getting a supposed 20,000 people to show up in the middle of Seoul is pretty weak. Maybe the supposed anti-Japan sentiment in South Korea is not as great as the media and politicians lead people to believe:

The weekly protest rally demanding Japan’s apology to victims of its wartime sex slavery marked its 1,400th edition Wednesday amid an escalating diplomatic and trade row between Seoul and Tokyo.

Nearly 20,000 activists, students and other citizens assembled to participate in the 27-year-old protest in front of the former compound of the Japanese Embassy in central Seoul at noon.

Politicians, including Rep. Sim Sang-jung, head of the progressive Justice Party, and Rep. Nam In-soon for the ruling Democratic Party also attended the historic event.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but I am still waiting for an anti-China protest in regards to their destruction of the Korean peninsula during the Korean War which was more recent than Japan’s World War II offenses against Korea.