Category: Korea-General Topics

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.

South Korea over the past two decades has really ramped up the export potential of their defense industry and it is paying off now as the world rearms due to Russian aggression and Chinese expansionism:

The Korean 4.5-generation fighter jet KF-21 makes its first maiden flight in Sacheon, South Gyeongsang, in July 2022. [DEFENSE ACQUISITION PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION]

U.S. allies and security partners worldwide looking to re-stock their arsenals are increasingly turning to Korean defense companies to procure weapons.  
   
Korea signed defense export contracts worth a cumulative $17 billion in 2022, representing a 242 percent increase in a single year and making the country the eighth-largest weapons exporter in the world.  
   
The growth in Korean defense exports, which made up 2.8 percent of a global arms exports market dominated by the United States, Russia, France and China, is all the more remarkable given the late start of the Korean weapons industry compared to the big players. 

Rising Korean defense exports also more broadly signal the country’s growing capacity and will to supply arms to other U.S. allies in the face of rising military threats posed by Russia and China in Europe and the Indo-Pacific region.  
   
Korea’s potential as a source of advanced military hardware at a time when countries are still ramping up defense production became apparent in December 2021, when Australia inked a $730-million contract with Hanwha Defense for 30 K-9 self-propelled artillery howitzers and 15 armored ammunition resupply vehicles, and again in July, when Poland announced that it had signed contracts worth an estimated $14 billion for K-2 battle tanks, K-9 howitzers and FA-50 light attack aircraft from Korea. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

Considering the extremely competitive nature of high school education in South Korea it is no surprise that various drugs are sought after to gain an advantage:

A banner in Daechi-dong, Seoul, reads: “Do not drink ‘strange beverages’ handed out to students.” (Choi Jae-hee / The Korea Herald)

On April 3, an appalling scam targeting unsuspecting students on the streets of this neighborhood sent shockwaves across the nation. Over 100 bottles of drinks laced with methamphetamines and ecstasy were distributed, falsely marketed as study aids to enhance concentration and memory.

The scammers even tried to blackmail some of the victims’ parents, threatening to report their children to the authorities for drug use unless they paid up.

Putting aside the audacity of their act, it raises questions: Why did they choose to target Daechi-dong among all the other neighborhoods in Seoul?

The drug-infused drinks were labeled as “Mega ADHD” and handed out to teenage passersby, just like in a street promotional event.

Perhaps what made the young victims less suspicious was that in Daechi-dong, study aids such as prescription medications for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, caffeine pills and energy drinks are widely used.

Some parents spoke of falsifying symptoms to get access to ADHD prescription drugs, believing they will enhance academic performance. The substance methylphenidate in ADHD medicine can help takers stay awake, energetic and focused.

“Some students are particularly vulnerable to stress before important exams and get easily distracted. Those who have maintained great academic performance would not want to spoil things due to temporary stress, so they resort to taking prescription stimulants,” said Huh, a housewife in her 50s residing in Daechi-dong who has a 17-year-old daughter.

“It is an expedient, but not illegal,” she said, explaining that some parents and students pretend to have or exaggerate ADHD when seeing a doctor.

Data shows the number of teenagers on ADHD pills has been on the rise.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

I don’t know enough about this act to determine whether it is good or bad, what I do know it has created great divisions within South Korea’s health care community:

Korean Licensed Practical Nurses Association (KLPNA) President Kwak Ji-yeon, front, is transferred to a hospital from the association’s sit-in protest tent in front of the National Assembly, ending a six-day hunger strike to protest the Nursing Act upon the persuasion of Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong, second from right, Sunday. Courtesy of Ministry of Health and Welfare

Tension within the country’s medical community is growing as doctors, nursing assistants and various other medical workers announce a joint strike in protest of the recently passed Nursing Act, which they claim privileges nurses unfairly.

Starting Wednesday, a coalition of 13 medical workers’ organizations including the Korea Medical Association (KMA) and the Korean Licensed Practical Nurses Association (KLPNA), both in opposition to the Nursing Act legislation, have decided to go on strike, a KMA official told The Korea Times, Monday.

The coalition will also hold rallies on Tuesday in front of the National Assembly in Seoul and the Incheon office of Rep. Lee Jae-myung, chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), to condemn the DPK, which controls more than half of the 300-seat Assembly, for passing the bill. (…..)

The Nursing Act, which aims to improve nurses’ working conditions and clarify the scope of their duties independently from the existing Medical Services Act, has increased clashes within medical circles and among the rival parties regarding its legislation, which was passed at the National Assembly’s plenary session last Thursday.  (….)

However, the bill faced fierce opposition from other medical groups including doctors, nursing assistants and paramedics and the ruling People Power Party (PPP), claiming that it favors a certain professional group and will create new conflicts in the health care system.

The Nursing Act contains a provision that broadens the scope of nurses’ responsibilities from medical institutions to community and public health, in response to the ramifications of an aging population.

However, the doctors’ group is concerned that the legislation may enable nurses to intervene in the duties of other medical workers and give privileges to nurses over other medical professionals.

Nursing assistants also claimed they could suffer discrimination in recruitment if the new law comes into effect, as it will put the nursing assistants under the supervision of nurses.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.