The American man who had been protesting around Seoul for years to get the Korean government to return his kidnapped kids did actually get them returned recently:
John Sichi, center, plays with his children at their home in San Francisco, Calif., after they returned to the United States on April 18. Courtesy of John Sichi
American citizen John Sichi was recently reunited with his two children after a years-long journey to retrieve them, following their abduction by his Korean spouse. Sichi’s family, originally based in California, experienced upheaval when his spouse vanished with their children in late 2019 after relocating to Korea.
Now resettled in San Francisco, Sichi and his two children — a seven-year-old boy and a five-year-old girl — are piecing their lives back together and envisioning a future that once seemed lost.
You can read more at the link to find out what he went through to get his kidnapped kids returned to him. I do feel really bad though for the kids, this has to be a shock for them to lose their mother like this. Considering this was a kidnapping case I would doubt the mother would have any visitation rights after what she did.
Some more interesting trails near the Korean DMZ are set to open this month:
Ten peace-themed trails near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), separating the two Koreas, will open to the public in mid-May, the government said Tuesday.
The trails are located across border towns and cities in the provinces of Gyeonggi and Gangwon, as well as the western border island of Gangwha, according to the defense and culture ministries.
The trails are set to open May 13. Visitors can sign up for trips on the government-run website (www.dmzwalk.com) and mobile app Durunubi, according to the ministries.
The DMZ, which is about 250 kilometers long and 4 kilometers wide, is one of the world’s most heavily fortified borders, with the rival Koreas technically in a state of conflict, as the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.
It is amazing that doctors would just cancel appointments like this at the last minute. Who knows how long some of these patients have been waiting for an appointment before they were cancelled:
Some medical professors at the country’s three major hospitals, Seoul National University Hospital, Severance Hospital and Korea University Hospital, suspended surgeries and outpatient clinics on Tuesday for one day, as previously announced, to protest the government’s plan to expand the number of new medical students by 2,000 a year.
The main hall at SNUH’s Cancer Hospital was without medical staff Tuesday, while a number of patients wandered around the ward, having just learned that the doctors wouldn’t be coming in. Some said they hadn’t been told that their appointments would be canceled or postponed; other said they had to wait in long queues, not knowing when their names would be called.
Apparently the endangered Korean gorals are having a mass die off:
A dead goral is seen on the side of Misiryeong Road in Seorak National Park on April 4. Courtesy of the National Park Conservation Network
The long-tailed goral, a species both classified as endangered and recognized as a national treasure, has faced significant mortality issues over the past five years, with six out of 10 deaths attributed to exhaustion and starvation.
This issue is especially severe in the regions of Hwacheon and Yanggu in Gangwon Province, near the demilitarized zone, where approximately 80 percent of goral deaths have occurred, with 77.4 percent dying from starvation.
You can read more at the link, but apparently increased fencing around the areas Gangwon province where they live has made it difficult for these animals to find food.
It is hard to believe that it has already been 10 years since the Sewol ferry sinking. It just doesn’t seem like it has been that long probably because the tragedy has remained in the headlines for so long:
A commemoration ceremony is in progress at Incheon Family Park in Incheon, west of Seoul, on April 16, 2024, marking the 10th anniversary of the deadly sinking of the ferry Sewol. (Yonhap)
Bereaved families and government officials commemorated the victims of the deadly sinking of the ferry Sewol on Tuesday, marking the 10th anniversary of one of the country’s worst maritime disasters.
Interior Minister Lee Sang-min and Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok were among the about 200 people who attended the commemoration ceremony in Incheon Family Park in Incheon, west of Seoul, where the ashes of 44 victims killed in the maritime accident are enshrined.
Including them, a total of 304 people, mostly high school students on a school field trip, were killed as the 6,800-ton ship sank off the southwestern coast on April 16, 2014.
National Museum of Korea is the 6th most visited museum in the world, and the only one in the top ten outside of Europe/North America. pic.twitter.com/1Y71NgOyuc
It is interesting that with all the talk of global warming from the Korean Democratic Party, it is President Yoon from the Korean conservative party who has actually done more to cut carbon emissions. I have always said that any global warming person who doesn’t advocate for the use of nuclear power is not serious in their beliefs and this just proves it:
As the Yoon Suk Yeol government significantly increased the proportion of nuclear power generation, its dependence on fossil fuels fell significantly. Dependence on fossil fuels has become lower than during the Moon Jae In government, which implemented a policy of de-nuclearization to reduce carbon emissions. Attention is focusing on how strongly the Democratic Party of Korea, which won a landslide victory in the general election, will push for the restoration of its policy on denuclearization, which it had promised.
According to the Korea Electric Power Corporation on the 15th, nuclear power accounted for 30.2% of the total power generation in the two years since the inauguration of the Yoon Suk Yeol government until last year. This is an increase of 3.7 percentage points from the previous Moon Jae In administration, which was only 26.5 percent. The share of renewable power generation also rose 2.8 percentage points from 7.6% during the Moon administration to 10.4% during the Yoon administration.
This is definitely something frustrating about Korea, how some people will just leave trash for others to pick up. You even see this while hiking where people will have a picnic and leave trash lying around. With that said, overall the leaving of trash lying around has gotten better over the 20+ years in Korea:
Mounds of trash revisited this year’s cherry blossom festivals nationwide as the streets were strewn with trash, such as disposable cups, delivery food containers and drink cans.
Near Gongji Stream in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, the situation was particularly dire. As the stream became a famous tourist attraction for enjoying cherry blossoms, garbage was haphazardly disposed of at the recycling center. Cigarette butts also littered the park as if smokers had a vendetta against the lawn.
Similarly, Yeouido Hangang Park in western Seoul faces a deluge of trash every year around festival time.
Despite having over six dumpsters set up, the volume of trash overwhelms the capacity. Overflowing trash cans are a common sight, with waste often found stacked up near trash cans.
