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:
— Chad O'Carroll (@chadocl) August 18, 2019
North Korea’s Hyon Song Wol pic.twitter.com/JikCYdZ7Md
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:
— Sung-Yoon Lee (@SungYoonLee1) August 16, 2019
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?
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.
Ruling party lawmaker Ahn Min-seok doesnt want people to sing #SouthKorean National Anthem, saying it was composed by someone in the "pro-Japan roster dictionary" made by Minjok Institute, which focuses on anti-Japan accusations.https://t.co/EAfC12Q60S
— Tara O (@DrTaraO) August 8, 2019
I would be surprised if this happens because these politicians would be denying Korean athletes the opportunity to achieve something they have been spending most of their lives training for and the Japanese government could probably care less if the Koreans show up or not. So what is the point?:
Politicians from the ruling party are hinting at the possibility of Korea boycotting the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo – not because of the ongoing diplomatic trade war but over concerns about nuclear radioactivity.
“There soon will be a consultation between the party and the government, and I will discuss a Tokyo Olympics boycott at the meeting,” Rep. Shin Dong-keun, the Democratic Party (DP)’s chief negotiator on the National Assembly’s Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee, told the JoongAng Ilbo on Wednesday.
“Vice Minister of Sports Roh Tae-kang will brief me tomorrow about the Olympics,” he said. “I will also consult with the Korean Sport and Olympic Committee on the issue.”
During a radio interview earlier in the morning, Shin discussed the possibility of a boycott.
“I am not saying we need to boycott it because of Japan’s economic retaliations,” he said. “I am saying we can have an in-depth survey on safety [and radiation levels] and consider a boycott.
“It is a sports event, but if there is an issue of health hazard, we must take action,” he also said.
Joong Ang Ilbo
You can read more at the link, but just to further point out the hypocrisy of this issue; where are these politicians demanding a boycott of China? China is the country largely responsible for the massive amounts of toxic yellow dust that blows over the Korean peninsula each year causing massive health side effects.
It looks like the Moon administration is taking a strategic pause to assess what Japan’s intentions are after the recent approval of a chemical shipment to South Korea:
South Korea on Thursday held off its decision to drop Japan from its list of trusted trading partners as the neighboring country approved the first shipment of a key material under restriction to South Korea, in what appears be a pause in their mounting trade tussle.
In its countermeasure against Japan’s removal of South Korea from its so-called whitelist, the Seoul government has threatened to take Japan off its own list, upping the ante in the month-long trade haggling caused by Tokyo’s export curbs on three key industrial materials crucial for the production of chips and display panels.
South Korea said last week that it will create a new category in its export controls and put Japan in the lower-tier category.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
