Category: Korea-General Topics

This is like something out of a Korean drama:

Bank of Korea (Herald DB)

Twin brothers are under investigation, with one twin allegedly taking an employment exam for a public financial institution on behalf of the other in 2022.

The Bank of Korea and Financial Supervisory Service on Wednesday reported the twin brothers to the police for cheating on their entrance exams, which took place simultaneously on Sept. 24, 2022.

While the younger of the twins took the exam for the BOK, the elder twin took the exam for the FSS, which was taking place in another part of Seoul at the same time pretending to be his younger twin.

The two institutes hold the first step of their recruitment exam on the same day every year to prevent possible confusion from overlapped applications. The BOK and the FSS announced the shared test schedule in advance last year.

With high income and job stability, they were regarded as some of the most preferred destinations for job seekers, for which the day of their simultaneous test was called an “A-match” among would-be employers of financial companies.

Both brothers passed the exams, enabling the younger one to move on in both organizations’ recruitment process until he was finally admitted to the BOK, the suspects stated in a BOK internal inspection report.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

Good on this firefighter for saving the life of this woman who really wanted to die. Hopefully she gets the treatment she clearly needs:

Kim Chan-soo with the Gimhae Seobu Fire Station pulled the woman to safety from Samrangjin Bridge as she was trying to jump after taking sleeping pills.

Kim was driving over the bridge to go to work in another city and came across the woman sitting at the side of the bridge. She was taking pills and bleeding from her arms and legs.

Kim approached the woman and found she was taking sleeping pills.

Kim removed the pills from her mouth and tried to calm her, then calling the 119 emergency service.

But when Kim went to move his car, which had been blocking traffic on the bridge, the woman climbed over the handrail. She was caught by Kim narrowly before falling from the bridge and was pulled up.

The woman reportedly was found to have consumed 20 pills and three bottles of soju, and was receiving treatment at a hospital.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

This is good politics by President Yoon to try and take the Gwangju issue away from the Korean left:

President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks during a ceremony in the southwestern city of Gwangju on May 18, 2023, to mark the 43rd anniversary of a pro-democracy uprising. The Gwangju May 18 National Cemetery honors hundreds of people who were killed in the city during protests against the military junta of Chun Doo-hwan in May 1980. (Yonhap)

President Yoon Suk Yeol vowed Thursday to courageously stand against any challenges to freedom and democracy by upholding the spirit of a 1980 pro-democracy uprising in the southwestern city of Gwangju.

Yoon made the remark during a ceremony marking the 43rd anniversary of the Gwangju Democratization Movement, in Gwangju, some 267 kilometers southeast of Seoul, which was attended by a large number of lawmakers from the rival parties and families of the victims.

“If we do not forget and inherit the May spirit, we must boldly fight against all of the forces and challenges threatening freedom and democracy and have such practical courage,” Yoon said during the ceremony held at the May 18th National Cemetery.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but this time of the year is when I recommend people read the book by Linda Lewis, Laying Claim to the Memory of May that discusses her experiences being in Gwangju when the uprising happened.

This is apparently going to be a major topic during President Yoon’s upcoming summit with Prime Minister Trudeau:

The KSS-III Shin Chae-ho / Courtesy of Republic of Korea Navy

A planned summit between President Yoon Suk Yeol and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is prompting speculation over a potential submarine deal between Korea and Canada as Ottawa plans to replace its aging submarines.

Yoon and Trudeau will sit down with each other Wednesday in Seoul to commemorate the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries. Trudeau is the first Canadian prime minister to visit Korea in nine years. 

During their summit, the leaders are expected to discuss the two countries’ cooperation in national defense, including Canada’s submarine replacement program. 

Multiple Canadian news outlets have reported that the Royal Canadian Navy is urging the government to purchase up to 12 new conventionally-powered attack submarines to replace its aging Victoria-class diesel submarines.

Military analysts note that Korea’s KSS-III submarines, Japan’s Taigei-class submarines and Spain’s S-80 Plus class submarines are the perfect fit for the replacement program.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Another win for South Korea’s defense industry:

This photo, provided by Hanwha Systems Co. on May 12, 2023, shows a Jose Rizal-class frigate of the Philippine Navy. 

Hanwha Systems Co., the defense and ICT unit of South Korea’s Hanwha Group, said Friday it has won a US$34.5 million contract to supply its combat management system (CMS) to the Philippine Navy. 

Hanwha’s indigenous combat system will be installed in six 2,400-ton offshore patrol vessels, in a deal valued at $29.5 million, the Seoul-based company said in a release. 

The contract also includes the export of the standard digital communications system, known as the tactical data link, worth $5 million. 

A CMS works as the brain of a vessel and is designed to integrate all equipment, like sensors, weapons and communications systems, into one single system to help counter threats more efficiently during combat.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I feel horrible for the rental car employee that discovered this seen:

A photo of the Gyeonggi Gwangju Police Station provided by the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency

Four people have been found dead inside a car in an apparent group suicide in the southern outskirts of Seoul, police said Tuesday.

The four — three men in their 30s and a woman in her 20s — were discovered by a car-rental company employee inside the car parked under an overpass in Gwangju, 32 kilometers south of Seoul, at 5:20 p.m. on Monday.

Inside the car, traces suggesting suicides were found, police said, adding there were no signs of intrusion or foul play. Four wrecked mobile phones presumably belonging to the deceased were also found on the scene.

The car was reportedly leased last Friday but was not returned on time, prompting the employee to track its location.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

As low as Yoon’s approval ratings are at 37%, this is actually up from the 27% he was previously at just a month ago. However, his negative rating is 60% which is driven by economic concerns. The impact of the Inflation Reduction Act in the U.S. continues to be an issue his critics have been hammering him on since he could not get any concessions from the Biden administration for Korean companies:

President Yoon Suk Yeol’s approval rating stands at 37.5 percent ahead of this week’s first anniversary of his inauguration, a Yonhap News Agency-Yonhap News TV joint survey showed Tuesday.

The survey also showed the ruling People Power Party (PPP) and the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) would win 32 percent and 30 percent of the vote, respectively, if next year’s parliamentary elections were to take place tomorrow.

Seven out of 10 people also said they are worried about South Korea’s security, the survey showed, amid a series of North Korean missile launches, and tensions with Russia over Ukraine and with China over the cross-strait issue.

According to the poll, the positive assessment of Yoon’s performance was 37.5 percent, while the negative assessment came to 60 percent. (……….)

Defense and diplomacy were the factors most cited by respondents in giving positive assessments of Yoon’s performance, followed by science, health care, culture and the economy, the poll showed.

In contrast, the economy was the factor most cited by respondents in giving negative assessments.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I did not realize there was that many Vietnamese in the southwest Gyeongi-do area to support their own club, much less one trafficking in illegal drugs:

South Korean police on Saturday arrested 10 people for suspected illegal drug use after raiding a foreigners-only club in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province.

According to officials, five police stations across the provincial cities of Siheung, Osan, Hwaseong and Ansan conducted a joint crackdown of a local club located in Jeongwang-dong, Siheung, arresting two Koreans and eight Vietnamese. One of the Koreans was a man in his 40s who owns the club — operated exclusively for Vietnamese — while three of the Vietnamese were club workers.

The police raided the venue after receiving a tip-off that “100 people were doing drugs at a Vietnamese club.” Officials ran drug tests on the 70 people who were at the club and arrested 10 people who tested positive.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.