Category: Korea-General Topics

It will be interesting to see if this new policy has any effect on the amount of bullying in Korean schools:

This is a still image of Netflix’s “The Glory,” which revolves around the revenge-driven female character who survived horrifying abuse in high school. (Netflix)

Students with a history of bullying or school violence will have their records reflected in the regular college admissions process starting in 2024, and the current bullying record retention period of two years will be extended to four years after graduation, the government said Wednesday.

School violence records will be submitted to colleges “voluntarily” in the admissions process for the 2025 school year, but will be reflected on a “mandatory” basis for admissions in 2026. According to the Education Ministry, bullying records would not be included in this year’s college admissions because changes to university criteria and admissions guidelines must be announced two years in advance.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

Here is an update on South Korea’s first lunar orbiter:

 South Korea’s unmanned space vehicle Danuri has sent photos of the moon’s far side during its mission to collect selenographic data, the science ministry said Wednesday.

Danuri, which is rotating around the moon 100 kilometers above the surface, took pictures of the Tsiolkovskiy crater on March 22 and the Vallis Schrodinger and Szilard M craters each on March 24 with its high-definition cameras, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI).

They are the first photos of the moon’s far side that South Korea has taken.

On top of that, Danuri has sent separate photos taken with its wide-angle polarimetric camera, PolCam for short, designed to study the moon’s surface composition and its volcanic deposits through measuring the degree of polarization.

The science ministry said people can check the real-time location of Danuri on the lunar orbit, along with its photos and collected data, on the orbiter’s website (http://www.kari.re.kr/kplo).

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The spring is my least favorite time of the year in South Korea due to the yellow dust storms. These storms are a great reason to wear a mask:

Almost all of South Korea was shrouded Wednesday by a yellow dust storm originating in the Gobi Desert in northern China and Mongolia, the state weather agency said.

The yellow storm had spread to almost all of the country as of 7 a.m. and will affect the entire nation until Thursday, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA).

A fine dust advisory was issued for all parts of South Korea, authorities said.

The average hourly concentration of fine dust particles smaller than 10 micrometers in diameter, known as PM 10, had risen to 192 micrograms per cubic meter in Seoul as of 7 a.m. and 494 micrograms in the city of Ulsan, 307 kilometers southeast of Seoul, the KMA said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but past studies have showed that 55% of air pollution in Seoul comes from China and these dust storms makes it even worse.

This guy claims President Yoon has ruined the country and wants to kill him:

Police said Monday they were tracking a suspect who posted a terror threat online toward President Yoon Suk Yeol.

According to police, a 112 report was filed Sunday night that a terror threat had been posted to a moderate conservative online community.

he suspect uploaded the post at 10:22 p.m. on Sunday along with a photo of a pistol. The registration number of the pistol was covered.

“I bought the pistol with cryptocurrency and finally received it. The president has ruined the country and I will save the country by killing the president,” he wrote. The post was deleted some hours later.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

This is really horrible for everyone that lost their homes. Hopefully the firefighters can quickly get this under control:

Hundreds of residents and tourists evacuated from a wildfire that spread fast with strong winds blowing across Gangneung, Gangwon Province, on Tuesday, amid growing concerns over additional damages due to high winds and dry weather.

According to the Gangwon Fire Headquarters, the forest fire broke out in Nangok-dong of Gangneung, Gangwon Province, at around 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, and the flames began to spread to houses nearby and other areas through strong winds. About 103 hectares of forest, the size of 144 soccer fields, were damaged and about 40 homes were destroyed. No casualties were reported as of 1 p.m., but authorities said they were having difficulties in extinguishing the fire as they were unable to dispatch helicopters due to strong winds.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

South Korea just reported their first locally transmitted case of the monkeypox:

Health authorities reported the nation’s first locally transmitted case of monkeypox Saturday, bringing the total number of infections to six.

The South Korean national, who has no recent overseas travel history, tested positive for the disease the previous day, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

The person visited a hospital with a skin rash Monday and was reported to health authorities as a suspected monkeypox case Thursday.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

Not much of a surprise that the DPK would criticize President Yoon for not attending the Jeju Uprising Ceremony:

The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) on Monday slammed President Yoon Suk Yeol for not attending a commemoration ceremony for the Jeju April 3 Uprising and Massacre, which killed tens of thousands of people amid ideological conflicts on Jeju Island in the late 1940s and early 1950s. 

The DPK held its Supreme Council meeting on the southern island and accused the Yoon administration of disrespecting the spirit of the uprising.

“The president’s promise for a complete resolution to April 3 has gone sour,” DPK Chairman Lee Jae-myung said. “Due to the administration’s retrograde movements, there are far-right activists who are disavowing the April 3 Uprising.”

The uprising began on the island on April 3, 1947, when ideological conflict was in full swing in Korea after it was liberated from Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule. In protest against elections, which were to be held only in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula, controlled by the United States Army Military Government in Korea, protesters, including members of the Workers’ Party of South Korea (WPSK), attacked police stations, killed people they deemed as right-wing supporters and burned polling stations.

Seeking a speedy resolution to the insurrection, the mainland authorities sent thousands of soldiers and members of the Northwest Youth Association, a violent anti-communist group, to the island to suppress them. Tens of thousands of people died as a result.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.