The Korean government is really going to have to promote and set the example to get people to stop wearing masks when they have been socially conditioned for so long to wear them:
“I am sure that the government decided to revise the rule as it is certain about managing the virus situation. But I still want to wear the mask for the sake of myself,” Kim said as she was waiting in line for her latte at a Starbucks store in Seoul’s Seocho district.
Just like previous days, most of the people in the store masked up while waiting, except for when they were drinking or eating.
Most commuters also kept their face masks on in indoor areas of public transportation and even outside transportation hubs as they viewed masking as something between a habit and a security.
“It feels a little awkward to take off my mask,” Chang Joon-won said as he was coming out of a subway entrance in Seoul’s Seocho district to head for work. “It has become like a part of me.”
All of the around 30 people waiting for a subway train at Seoul’s Dongdaemun Station wore masks.
“It is uncomfortable, but I will continue to wear a mask as the COVID-19 pandemic has not yet ended,” Kim Soo-ah said.
Teachers, students and school staff showed mixed emotions about the end of the school mask mandate, as most students opted to wear face coverings while going to school.
“Nothing will immediately change, as kids are used to (wearing masks),” Park Soon-ae, a mother of two daughters, said as she escorted her kids to Daerim Elementary School in Seoul’s Dongjak district.
Over a 30-minute period, only one student showed up at school without a mask.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
I can remember the days when 18,871 COVID cases in South Korea had people in a panic and now people are just accepting it like the flu. However, I still expect Koreans to continue to wear their masks for quite some time even though the mandate has ended:
South Korea’s new coronavirus cases fell below 20,000 on Sunday, just a day ahead of the country’s planned lifting of a mask mandate for indoor places that has been in place for more than three years.
The country reported 18,871 new cases, including 37 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 30,149,601, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
The daily caseload had been above 30,000 for the second straight day Friday due to increased tests after the Lunar New Year holiday that ended Tuesday, before falling to 23,612 on Saturday.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
The birthrate continues to decline significantly in South Korea:
A total of 18,982 babies were born in November, plunging 4.3 percent from the previous year, according to the data from Statistics Korea. It marked the lowest number for any November since the statistics agency started compiling related data in 1981.
South Korea remains dogged by a chronic decline in childbirths as many young people delay or give up on having babies in the face of an economic slowdown and high home prices.
Over the January-November period, a total number of 231,863 babies were born, down 4.7 percent from a year earlier.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
If the Iranian regime tries to again seize a ROK vessel doesn’t this just validate everything President Yoon said? If Iran doesn’t want to be the enemy of other Middle East nations maybe they should stop sponsoring terrorism and advancing their nuclear and missile programs:
Korea’s lingering diplomatic conflict with Iran, inflamed by President Yoon Suk Yeol’s recent remarks branding the Middle Eastern country as the archenemy of the United Arab Emirates, has been mentioned as a potential threat to the Korean shipping industry, since the Korea Shipowners’ Association (KSA) issued a warning last Wednesday to vessels sailing in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz to “remain vigilant.”
Korea Times
Just a few days after Yoon sparked the diplomatic controversy during his visit to the UAE, the KSA sent a letter to its members to warn them of growing concerns about the safety of ships sailing off the coast of Iran.
You can read more at the link.
China is an existential threat to South Korea and has already tried once to destroy the ROK and continues to enable the Kim regime who’s goal is to eliminate the ROK as well. It seems decreasing dependence on Chinese trade and increasing trade with the U.S. is in the best interests of the ROK as the below article explores:
Over the past few years, Washington has launched countermeasures against Beijing such as imposing sanctions on Chinese tech firm Huawei, crafting the CHIPS and Science Act to encourage chip-making businesses to reshore their facilities and passing the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to contain the Chinese-dominated EV battery industry.
Korea Times
However, the power struggle between the world’s top two economies also inflicted unintended consequences on South Korean companies that have a high proportion of semiconductor and battery businesses in China.
Kim Dae-jong, a professor of business administration at Sejong University, said the South Korean government and companies should try to deepen cooperation with the U.S. and reduce their high dependence on China. “Ensuring national security is a value that should be considered a top priority in running a country,” he said.
“Our economy is heavily dependent on international trade and the Chinese market, including Hong Kong, account for nearly 30 percent of the nation’s total trade in 2022. Given that China accounts for around 13 percent of the world economy, this can be interpreted that we are overly dependent on China at two or three times the average.”
He added, “Whether you agree or not, the U.S. has contributed the largest part of South Korea’s economic development. South Korea’s defense budget amounts to around 2 percent of GDP while North Korea spends about 26 percent of its GDP as of 2022. With the U.S. sharing a significant portion of our defense, we have been able to devote more resources to economic development instead of defense.”
You can read more at the link.
South Korea is getting hits by its coldest weather yet this winter:
Cold wave alerts will be issued for most parts of the country Monday as the capital and central parts of the nation came under the grip of the season’s coldest weather.
The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said the cold wave warning will take effect for all of Seoul at 9 p.m.
The cold wave warning is issued when the morning low is below minus 15 C for more than two consecutive days, or when the temperature drops sharply and major damage is expected.
The warning will be also issued for many areas in Incheon, 27 kilometers west of Seoul, and the provinces of Gyeonggi, Gangwon, Chungcheong and North Jeolla at the same time.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
Mark your calendars, January 30th will be the end of the indoor mask mandate in South Korea:
An indoor mask mandate, which has been in place for two years and three months in Korea, will end from 12:00 a.m., Jan. 30, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said Friday. But the authorities stressed that people will still be required to wear masks at high-risk facilities such as hospitals and on public transport.
Korea Times
The announcement, which comes after three years since Korea confirmed its first case of the coronavirus, represents a major milestone in the government’s shift in its pandemic response to living with the virus.
You can read more at the link, but even with the end of the mandate I suspect it will take another year before people start reverting back to the old normal of not wearing masks.
