Category: Korea-General Topics

This just shows how little people in the west know about South Korea to confuse its flag and athletes with North Korea:

The South Korean sports ministry said Saturday it is seeking a meeting with International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach over a gaffe during the opening ceremony for the Paris Olympics in which South Korea was incorrectly introduced as North Korea during the parade of athletes.

In a statement, the ministry said Jang Mi-ran, the second vice minister of sports who attended the ceremony in the French capital Friday, has asked the IOC to arrange a meeting with Bach over the incident, and asked the country’s chef de mission, or the top delegate, Jeong Gang-sun, to demand a quick response from the IOC and the local organizing committee.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

South Korea best be careful on what foreigners it embraces. It needs foreigners that learn to speak Korean and understands Korean culture and history. If not the country could become less Korean and look more like this and this:

President Yoon Suk Yeol said Thursday that local governments’ cooperation with the state was crucial in encouraging foreign residents to settle here to address the population crisis in South Korea.

At a meeting held in Hongseong-gun, South Chungcheong Province, Yoon, who presided over a meeting with heads of the autonomous governments, said the central and local governments should take preemptive actions to support foreign nationals to settle and work in Korean society, as the country faces a growing shortage in its working-age population.

“We must take preemptive action on the labor shortage in the wake of the fast aging of the population coupled with the low birth rate,” Yoon said before some 100 participants. “The low birth rate issue and the foreign worker issue must be seriously addressed through the collaboration of central and local governments.”

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

I have always thought this whole transgender restroom issue is quite easy to resolve, have you had your junk chopped off or not? If so you can use the female restroom, if not use the male restroom:

A court has ruled that police advising an LGBTQ+ individual, who was undergoing the process of gender correction and changing their resident registration number, to avoid using public restrooms for a period constitutes an infringement of personal rights.

The court’s decision highlights the illegality of such remarks, noting that they fail to consider the reality faced by LGBTQ+ individuals who often struggle with using public restrooms due to societal scrutiny.

The Seoul Central District Court (presiding judge Chung In-jae) dismissed an appeal and ruled partially in favor of plaintiff A in a damages lawsuit against the state.

Neither party appealed the decision, making it final on July 2. The court awarded 300,000 won ($240) in damages, recognizing a portion of the 3 million won claim.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

The greedy doctors in Korea are now vowing to not train medical students in order to stop the government’s plan of increasing the number of doctors in South Korea:

Some medical professors vowed Saturday to boycott training programs for junior doctors in protest of the government’s push for accepting the resignations of striking trainees and the medical school admission quota hikes.

Professors of the radiology department at Catholic University of Korea said in a statement that they will not take part in education and training programs for trainee doctors set to join the course in the second half of this year as long as the government goes ahead with “wrongful policy measures.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the government is trying to address the doctor shortage, especially in rural areas with an increase in medical students. The doctors however do not want the increase because it means increased competition for their services which ultimately impacts their wallets.

South Korea despite not being a NATO member has become the key attendee at the NATO conference underway in Washington D.C.:

One of the most influential people attending the NATO summit in Washington leads a country that is not a member. Yet it holds vast stores of weapons sought by the bloc to help Ukraine fight off Russia, and perhaps tip the battle in Kyiv’s favor. Ukraine needs artillery shells. South Korea has millions, and there is a push to convince its President Yoon Suk Yeol to change a government policy that prohibits Seoul from sending lethal aid to countries at war. Yoon is attending the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit this week for the third time, but this visit is different.

Just weeks before it opened, his government said a defense pact signed between Russia and North Korea in June has made it consider whether it’s time to start sending weapons to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s forces. Zelenskyy, who has been seeking weapons from South Korea since Russia’s full-scale invasion started in 2022, will be attending the summit in Washington aimed at proving that NATO is as strong as ever in its 75th year.

He is expected to speak at a meeting of the Indo-Pacific Four partners — Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea — the Yomiuri newspaper reported, where he could again lay out his case for weapons. “The types of weapons South Korea can provide Ukraine are the ones that can make breakthroughs in the current stalemate on the front lines,” said Park Won Gon, a professor at South Korea’s Ewha Womans University specializing in international relations.

Stars and Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Hopefully everyone living on the southern tip of the Korean peninsula is keeping safe:

Heavy rains triggered landslides and flash floods in the Korean Peninsula’s southern regions, Wednesday, leaving at least six people dead and two missing, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) and regional fire headquarters.

Record-level downpours — up to nearly 150 millimeters in an hour — pounded the provinces of Chungcheong, Jeolla and Gyeongsang, causing casualties and property damage.

A man in Nonsan, South Chungcheong Province, was found dead inside an elevator at a residential building after apparently being trapped there.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.