This was the big news over the weekend in Korea and another one of these only in Korea stories:
Earlier this week, Chun Woo-won, a grandson of former authoritarian President Chun Doo-hwan, shocked many with revelations about his family’s extravagant lifestyles paid for with money from slush funds. On Friday, the grandson again caught many by surprise by using drugs live on a YouTube broadcast from his New York apartment.
Korea Times
The former president died in November 2021 aged 90. Convicted of treason and bribery, he refused to comply with a forfeiture order ― almost 92.5 billion won ($70.5 million) of the money in question remains unrecovered.
The grandson wrote he would “reveal everything” on his Instagram account around 4 p.m. Thursday (local time), and began livestreaming around 5 p.m., according to news reports.
First, Chun apologized for what his family had done and said that he is also a criminal and should be arrested. Then, he mentioned the names of drugs and appeared to use them. He appeared to quickly lose control of his body, shaking badly and rolling on the floor.
The livestream, which had been on for an hour-and-a-half was stopped when authorities entered his apartment and dragged him out. The video has since been removed from YouTube.
You can read more at the link, but I think anyone with half a brain knew the Chun family had long been hiding money considering the luxurious lifestyle they had been living. Based on what he says in the video it appears most of this money is likely in the U.S. where he resides. Hopefully this guy gets the drug rehab and mental help he clearly needs.
Removing this mandate I think will eventually lead to more people in South Korea taking off their masks in public compared to current levels:
South Korea will end the mask mandate for public transportation next week, the government announced Wednesday, lifting one of the last-remaining COVID-19 restrictions amid a stable virus situation.
Vice Interior Minister Han Chang-seob said during a government COVID-19 response meeting that the lifting will go into effect Monday. The decision came as South Korea’s daily virus tally continues its downward trend, reaching 11,401 cases Tuesday.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
This is one of these only in Korea stories:
South Korean police raided the Ministry of National Defense on Wednesday as part of an investigation into a claim made by a former spokesperson for the ministry that a fortuneteller had been involved in the relocation of the presidential residence to Yongsan in central Seoul.
Investigators from the cyber bureau of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency were sent to confiscate evidence, including vehicle entry records, to determine if the fortuneteller had visited the ministry’s premises in Yongsan in advance.
Former Defense Ministry spokesman Boo Seung-chan has claimed in a book that the fortuneteller was involved when Yoon was considering where to relocate the presidential residence and office in March last year.
Korea Herald
You can read more at the link, but it should be easy to determine if this so called fortune teller was allowed to run around the Defense Ministry building with the video and vehicle records they have there. If they don’t find any evidence this will help with the libel complaints that the Yoon administration has lodged.
Could you imagine the amount of lawsuits if the U.S. had the same libel laws as South Korea? Cable news as we know it would have to end which would probably be a good thing.
This disapproval of group tours is largely seen as payback against South Korea for restricting Chinese travel during China’s COVID crisis this past winter:
China on Friday shunned South Korea in its second batch of countries allowed for Chinese group tourists, a move widely seen as a form of political complaint.
The Chinese culture ministry added 40 foreign countries, including France, Italy, Denmark, Portugal and Iran, but not South Korea, to its list of officially permitted destinations for group tour packages for Chinese people, starting Wednesday.
China gave South Korea the cold shoulder in its initial batch of 20 such countries released on Jan. 20. The United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Russia and Indonesia were among the list.
Friday’s move is widely viewed as an expression of Beijing’s unresolved feud against Seoul’s previous anti-COVID-19 measures on entrants from China, Hong Kong and Macao during the virus’ surge in winter.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
Unsurprisingly Koreans are not fond of the forced labor compensation plan with Japan:
Nearly 60 percent of South Koreans are against the government’s plan to compensate victims of Japan’s wartime forced labor on its own without involving Japanese firms, a poll showed Friday.
In the poll of 1,002 adults conducted by Gallup Korea on Wednesday and Thursday, 59 percent said they oppose the plan as it does not require Tokyo’s official apology and compensation.
Some 35 percent said they support the compensation plan for the sake of national interest and Korea-Japan relations, while 6 percent were unsure.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
These COVID cases are so low now this should give the government sufficient reason to lift the mask mandates on public transportation:
The country reported 10,009 new COVID-19 infections, including 15 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 30,625,389, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
Saturday’s tally is slightly down from 10,335 a day earlier and from 11,246 a week earlier, KDCA data showed.
South Korea added three COVID-19 deaths, the lowest daily figure in about eight months, with the death toll rising to 34,096.
Korea Herald
You can read more at the link.
I did not realize it has been this long since an official state visit to the U.S. by a South Korean leader:
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol will make a state visit to the United States late next month, and hold a summit with his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the two countries’ alliance and deepen political, economic, security, and people-to-people ties.
Korea Times
The South Korean presidential office said Wednesday that Yoon will travel to the U.S. for a state visit in late April and that a state dinner is slated for April 26. The White House said U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and his South Korean counterpart Kim Sung-han discussed preparations for the upcoming visit by Yoon and his wife, Kim Keon Hee.
It will be the first state visit to the U.S. by a South Korean leader in 12 years. The last South Korean head of state to do that was former President Lee Myung-bak, who was invited by then U.S. President Barack Obama in October 2011. Also, Yoon will be the second state guest invited by Biden since his inauguration in January 2021.
You can read more at the link.
Prosecutors said they did not have enough evidence to prove that these companies hired Kim Keon-hee’s company to organize these art exhibitions because her husband was heading the Seoul District Prosecutors Office at the time:
Prosecutors have cleared first lady Kim Keon Hee of graft suspicions involving three art exhibitions hosted by her former cultural content company, officials said Thursday.
Kim had been under graft suspicions that about a dozen conglomerates sponsored three art exhibitions organized by her former company, Covana Contents, allegedly because President Yoon Suk Yeol was serving in a high-level prosecution position at that time.
Yoon was heading the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office while one of the art exhibitions on Swiss sculpture Alberto Giacometti was held in 2018.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
