Category: Korea-General Topics

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.”

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.

Korea Times

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.

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.” 

Korea Times

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. 

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.

Korea Times

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.

It is looking more likely that the indoor mask mandate will soon be repealed, however I don’t expect Koreans will be taking off their masks anytime soon:

The government will decide when to lift the indoor mask mandate this week, as the country is past the peak of the latest winter COVID-19 wave, Interior Minister Lee Sang-min said Wednesday. 

“With this winter’s COVID-19 wave past its peak, the overall virus situation is stabilizing,” Lee said during a government virus response meeting. 

Taking the virus situation and other external factors into account, the government will determine when and to what extent the indoor mask mandate would be adjusted during the next virus response meeting scheduled for Friday, the minister noted.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

If you are an international student in South Korea you will once again be paying more for tuition this year:

Amid what they say are financial struggles, local universities are relying on international students in their decision to raise international student tuition. 

This year’s hikes for international students are in sharp contrast to tuition for domestic students, which has been frozen for the last 15 years. 

Major universities in Seoul, including Chung-Ang University, Hanyang University, Sogang University, Sungkyunkwan University, the University of Seoul and Yonsei University, will raise tuition for international students by up to five percent this year, according to those in the education circle.

The main reason for the tuition hikes for international students is government restrictions on raising tuition for domestic students, they say. According to Korea’s Higher Education Act, tuition increases cannot be more than 1.5 times the average increase in consumer prices during the three preceding years, meaning that tuition for domestic students can only rise by up to 4.05 percent this year. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.