Category: Korea-General Topics

Eventually the current conflict in the Middle East will once again end with a so called diplomatic solution before each side rearms and does it all over again a few years later:

South Korea expressed “deep concern” Sunday over Israel’s recent attack on Iran, calling on all parties to seek a diplomatic solution to the situation.

Early Saturday, Israel’s military conducted strikes against various targets in Iran, including missile manufacturing facilities, in response to Iran’s missile attack earlier this month, according to foreign media reports.

“Our government expresses deep concern over the series of tension-escalating acts, including Israel’s attack on Iran,” foreign ministry spokesperson Lee Jae-woong said.

Lee called on all the parties to break away from the “cycle of attack and retaliation,” calling diplomacy the only solution.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The big question is whether the ROK will provide advanced military weapons to Ukraine for free or for sale:

President Yoon Suk Yeol said Thursday that South Korea could consider providing arms to Ukraine, depending on the extent of military cooperation between Russia and North Korea, vowing not to “sit idle” in response to Pyongyang’s troop dispatch to Russia.

Yoon made the remarks after a summit with Polish President Andrzej Duda in Seoul, during which both leaders strongly condemned North Korea’s troop dispatch to Russia and agreed to strengthen joint responses to growing security threats.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This would be bold of South Korea to send troops to Ukraine when even the U.S. hasn’t officially sent any American troops to Ukraine yet:

 South Korea is considering sending a team of personnel to Ukraine to monitor North Korean troops being deployed to support Russia, a government source said Tuesday.

Last week, Seoul’s spy agency said North Korea sent some 1,500 special forces to Russia this month to take part in the war in Ukraine. The North is expected to dispatch a total of 12,000 troops from an elite special forces unit, according to an intelligence source.

“There is a possibility that personnel will be sent to Ukraine to monitor the tactics and combat capabilities of North Korean special forces dispatched in support of Russia,” the source said.

If deployed, the team is expected to be composed of military personnel from intelligence units, who could analyze North Korean battlefield tactics or take part in interrogations of captured North Koreans.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the ROK sending Ukraine artillery shells seems to clearly be on the table now as well.

If you are a foreigner and pass away in South Korea, there is a high probability your loved ones will not know how you died:

The government has failed to establish the causes of more than 40 percent of deaths of foreign nationals who died in Korea in recent years, a Ministry of Justice report shows.

According to the report disclosed Saturday by Rep. Cha Gyu-geun of the minor opposition Rebuilding Korea Party, 15,325 foreign nationals died in Korea between 2018 and 2022.

A total of 7,698 of them, or 50 percent, were confirmed to have died of disease, followed by car accidents (211), natural causes (177), falling (155), self-harm (152), natural disasters (71), drowning (61), homicides (19) and addiction (10).

Most notably, a staggering 44.2 percent, or 6,771 deaths, were attributed to “other” causes, meaning the reasons were unclear. This figure is significantly higher compared to the number of deaths among Korean nationals.

According to data released by Statistics Korea, the No. 1 cause of death of Koreans in 2022 was cancer, followed by heart disease, COVID-19 and pneumonia. “Others” are not among the top 10 causes listed.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Has anyone read or seen these movies from South Korea’s recently awarded Nobel Literature award winner Han Kang? Are they worth reading or watching?:

Two films based on the works of Nobel Prize-winning author Han Kang will receive special screening sections later this week, CJ CGV said Monday.

The films, “The Vegetarian” and “Scars,” will be shown on Thursday, in celebration of the Korean novelist’s recent Nobel literature award, according to the multiplex cinema chain.

Directed by Lim Woo-seong, the films are adaptations of Han’s novels — “The Vegetarian,” which won the International Booker Prize in 2016, and her 1999 novel, “Baby Buddha.” 

The former was invited to the Panorama section of the Busan International Film Festival’s Korean Movie Today in 2009 and the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at the Sundance Film Festival in 2000. 

Although neither film gained significant attention from the general public at the time of their release, they have attracted renewed interest following her prestigious win last week.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I have to wonder what job these two Filipinas were illegally working at in Busan?:

Two Filipinas, who were apprehended after leaving the Seoul metropolitan government’s pilot program for foreign domestic helpers without permission, have returned home, the South Korean justice ministry said Monday.

The workers were forced to leave Thursday following several weeks of unauthorized absence from their jobs, according to the ministry. 

They reportedly did not contest the immigration authority’s notification of deportation and expressed a desire to return home during the investigation.

After their departure, the workers were banned from reentering South Korea for a specified period.

They arrived in South Korea on Aug. 6 as part of a six-month project led by the Seoul city government to assign foreign nannies to households with kids or newborns to help with child care and housework, and began working on Sept. 3 after about a month of training.

They, however, left their quarters on Sept. 15, the second day of a five-day Chuseok holiday. They were supposed to return to work by Sept. 18 but did not.

The Busan immigration office and police found they illegally got jobs in Busan and arrested them at their residences early this month.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It looks like Korean companies will be busy in the coming years supporting infrastructure upgrades in the Philippines:

 South Korea signed an agreement Monday to provide US$2 billion in financial assistance to the Philippines to support major infrastructure projects during President Yoon Suk Yeol’s state visit to the nation, Yoon’s office said. 

The finance ministry signed the memorandum of understanding (MOU) in Manila to offer the assistance through the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF), the low-rate loan program to support infrastructure projects in developing countries.

Under the agreement, the Seoul government will allocate $905 million worth of EDCF funds for the construction of the first section of the Laguna Lakeshore Road Network, which spans 37.5 kilometers of roads and embankments along Laguna Lake, near Manila. 

Additionally, $1 billion will be allocated for the construction of a 13-km bridge connecting the three central Philippine islands of Panay, Guimaras and Negros.

It marks the largest EDCF project with the Southeast Asian nation. Bidding for these projects will be open to South Korean companies.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but Asian countries should probably look more to Korea or Japan for economic assistance rather than China. When China gives out economic assistance they try to bury countries into debt traps to get major concessions out them such hosting military bases or cutting ties with China.