If there is anyone that regrets working for the prior Moon administration it has to be Cho Kuk because he has lost a lot to include his university position now:
Seoul National University’s disciplinary committee decided Tuesday to fire former Justice Minister Cho Kuk as law professor after a court sentenced him to a two-year prison term on charges of using his influence to get academic favors for his children, including university admissions.
In February, the Seoul Central District Court gave the prison term to Cho, who served under the previous Moon Jae-in administration, on charges of business obstruction, bribery and abuse of power.
Cho was indicted in December 2019 and the next month the university relieved him of his duties at its law school.
If this idiot would have fell not only could he have killed someone down below, but he could have caused a traumatic experience for anyone witnessing it:
A British free climber was taken into custody Monday after reaching the 72nd floor of Korea’s tallest skyscraper in Seoul by climbing up the outside with his bare hands, police said.
The 24-year-old, identified as George King-Thompson, began his ascent up the 123-story Lotte World Tower in southern Seoul at around 5 a.m. before a security guard found him around 7:50 a.m. and called the police, saying a foreigner, only in his underwear, was climbing up the outer wall of the building.
Police and rescue workers arrived at the scene at 8:03 a.m. and installed a safety air mat to prepare for a possible fall, but he kept on climbing and reached the 72nd story of the 555-meter-high building, the world’s fifth tallest, at 8:47 a.m.
He was then allowed to ride a gondola-like lift, known as a building management utility, and escorted inside the tower through the opening of a smoke ventilation system, and was detained by the police waiting for him inside.
He was not injured but showed signs of exhaustion, which he recovered from, the police said.
This is a bizarre accident I have never heard of happening before:
An escalator ran reversely at a subway station in Bundang, south of Seoul, on Thursday, leaving 14 people injured, police said.
The accident occurred around 8:20 a.m. when the upwards escalator leading to exit 2 of Sunae Station on the Bundang Line reversed suddenly and went backward for several seconds, according to police and fire authorities.
Three people were transported to a hospital after sustaining injuries on the back and legs. Eleven others sustained minor injuries, received treatment and were sent home. None of them were in life-threatening condition.
Police are looking into the exact cause of the accident but said there is little chance of someone using the escalator’s manual operating system to reverse its direction.
Chinese nationals have apparently been investing heavily in Korean real estate:
Chinese people account for over 54 percent of homes owned by foreigners in Korea, while Americans account for 24 percent of them, according to the land ministry’s latest data on foreign ownership of land and housing in Korea.
Data revealed by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Wednesday, show foreign nationals own 83,512 homes in Korea as of the end of last year, accounting for 0.4 percent of all residential property in the country.
This is the first time that statistics on homes owned by foreigners have been officially announced by the government. So far, the land ministry had been announcing statistics on a regular basis on foreign land ownership, but not the number of homes in the country owned by foreigners. The disclosure of the data is ascribed to the Yoon administration’s pledge to regulate foreigners’ speculative housing transactions.
By category, 91 percent of the homes owned by foreigners are in multi-complex housing, such as apartments, while the other 9 percent are single-family detached houses.
You can read more at the link, but this makes me wonder how many of these Chinese owned apartments are actually occupied or are they just sitting empty waiting to appreciate and be sold again?
The island of Guam was hit recently by a massive typhoon that caused the Korean tourists on the island to be trapped there for almost a week. They are now being evacuated from the island:
South Korean tourists stranded on Guam will return home as the international airport on the island resumed operation Monday afternoon after closure due to a powerful typhoon, airline officials said.
The country’s four carriers — Korean Air Co., Jeju Air Co., Jin Air Co. and T’way Air — said they have resumed flights to bring back Korean tourists starting Monday, as the Guam airport reopens at 2 p.m. (Korean time) or 3 p.m. (local time) on the same day.
The carriers plan to send a total of 11 passenger jets to Guam on Monday to bring about 2,500 Korean travelers home, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
Those planes are expected to arrive at the airport in Guam from Monday to Tuesday.
Congratulations to South Korea for the successful launch of their Nuri rocket:
Flight trajectory of Nuri
South Korea on Thursday successfully launched its homegrown space rocket Nuri to put eight practical satellites into orbit, achieving another milestone for the country’s space program.
The 200-ton Nuri, also known as KSLV-II, blasted off from Naro Space Center in the country’s southern coastal village of Goheung at 6:24 p.m., and successfully completed its flight sequence, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI).
“Following the success of the second launch of Nuri last year and the third launch today, we have confirmed the flight performance of Nuri, not only confirming the reliability of Nuri, but also confirming our potential for launch services for various satellite operations and space exploration,” Science Minister Lee Jong-ho said in a briefing.
He also said that the main satellite, NEXTSAT-2, has made its first communication with Korea’s King Sejong Station in Antarctica.
You can read more at the link, but this successful launch will put further pressure on North Korea’s scientists to try and match this performance with their upcoming space launch.
With North Korea preparing their own rocket launch it would be embarrassing for the ROK if this launch fails. So it is best to not take any chances and double check everything before launch:
South Korea decided Wednesday to postpone the launch of its space rocket Nuri due to a technical glitch found during final preparations, the science ministry said.
“While controlling a helium valve, aerospace engineers found a communications problem between a launch control computer and a launch pad facility control computer,” Vice Science Minister Oh Tae-seog said in a briefing at the Naro Space Center in Goheung. “The valve is OK, but the system might matter when it goes into the automatic operation system. So we inevitably canceled the scheduled launch.”
The engineers detected the problem at around 3:30 p.m., just before they were to start injecting fuel and oxidizer into the rocket.
You can read more at the link, but ROK officials are still determining if they will be able to launch the rocket with its 8 satellite payload either today or later in the week.
Thousands of people showed up for a memorial for a President that really did not accomplish anything while in office other than advance anti-US sentiment and is most well known for committing suicide because of corruption surrounding his family:
Kwon Yang-sook (C, front row), the widow of the late former President Roh Moo-hyun, former President Moon Jae-in (2nd from R, second row), Prime Minster Han Duck-soo (2nd from R, third row) and other government and political leaders pay tribute to Roh during a memorial service marking the 14th year since his death at Bongha Village in the southeastern city of Gimhae on May 23, 2023. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
Thousands of people, including a large number of lawmakers from rival parties and key political figures, attended a memorial service for late former President Roh Moo-hyun on Tuesday.
The ceremony, marking the 14th year since Roh’s death, was held in the southeastern rural village of Bongha, Roh’s hometown, to commemorate the liberal icon who took his own life in 2009 amid a sprawling corruption probe.
Also in attendance were former President Moon Jae-in and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, both of whom worked with Roh during his presidency from 2003 to 2008.
“I remember the president who dedicated his life to opening the future for the Republic of Korea as I served as the prime minister under the Roh administration,” Han said in a memorial address.
A wreath of flowers sent by President Yoon Suk Yeol also was placed at Roh’s graveyard.
On May 23, 2009, Roh jumped to his death from a cliff behind his retirement home amid a corruption probe by the prosecution into his family and aides.
You can read more at the link, but even the People Party Power showed for this memorial which is surprising because the Korean left blamed the conservative President Lee Myung-bak for investigating Roh after he left office for corruption which led to his suicide. That is why Roh protege former President Moon Jae-in immediately launched investigations against Lee after he took office and put him in jail.
I don’t think the KCTU is going to win any public sympathy by keeping people up all night with their protests:
A Cabinet meeting led by President Yoon Suk Yeol is held at the presidential office in Seoul on May 23, 2023. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
President Yoon Suk Yeol slammed a major labor group Tuesday for its overnight street rally last week, saying its actions infringed on people’s freedoms, disturbed the public order and will not be tolerated by the people.
Yoon made the remark during a Cabinet meeting, referring to a rally staged by the Korean Construction Workers’ Union in protest of the government’s labor policies from Tuesday to Wednesday.
An estimated 25,000 union members took part in the rally in downtown Seoul, causing massive traffic congestion and leading to some 80 noise complaints being filed with the police.
The union falls under the umbrella Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU).
“Our Constitution guarantees the freedom of assembly and demonstration, and as president, I, too, have respected this,” Yoon said.
“However, guaranteeing the freedom of assembly and demonstration does not mean infringements on another person’s freedoms and basic rights, or acts disturbing the public order, are justified.”
