Category: Korea-General Topics

I am totally for students keeping their phones in their lockers during the school day:

Korea may soon join a growing list of countries moving to ban mobile phones in classrooms, as the policy idea is gaining increasing support from teachers, parents and politicians here.

According to lawmakers and education administrators on Sunday, Rep. Cho Jung-hun and 10 other lawmakers of the ruling People Power Party are pushing for a countrywide ban on the use of phones and other smart devices in schools to protect the mental health of students.

“Many countries, including the United States and France, are trying to restrict phone use through legislation as social media addiction becomes a serious problem. This is also true in Korea, where 25 percent of children aged between 3 and 9 and 40.1 percent of those aged between 10 and 19 were found to be overly dependent on smartphones,” they said, explaining the reason for proposing the bill. “To protect their mental health, we are proposing to restrict the use of smart devices in schools unless permitted for educational or emergency purposes.”

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

The locals are concerned that these balloon launches could lead to a North Korean provocation against them which is why there has been so much pushback:

A South Korean activist group called off its plan to launch balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang leaflets to the North across the heavily fortified frontier on Thursday after facing local opposition and police prevention due to potential security risks to residents.

Choi Sung-ryong, head of the Association of the Families of Those Abducted by North Korea, announced that the organization would cancel its decision to scatter propaganda leaflets in the North during a press conference held at the National Memorial for Abductees during the Korean War in the western border city of Paju, Gyeonggi Province.

The group had initially planned to float some 100,000 copies of the leaflet made of plastic — containing photos and descriptions of six abductee victims — attached to large balloons along with one-dollar bills on this day.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link, but the activists are now saying they are going to instead fly drones into North Korea instead which will actually be more provocative than the balloons.

It is understandable that the public image of doctor’s in South Korea has taken a severe nosedive with their antics to try and stop the increase of students going to medical schools:

The conflict over the proposed increase in medical student quotas, which has persisted for more than nine months, continues to disrupt medical services nationwide. Despite ongoing discussions, doctors and the government have yet to find common ground. The ruling party’s proposal for four-way negotiations remains untouched, with no formal dialogue having taken place.

While the standoff has continued, Park has felt her understanding of what being a doctor means as a profession changing.

“I had thought of them as selfless heroes dedicated to public health, but now I see them as a privileged group driven by self-interest,” she said.

Park is not the only one who questions the profession’s long-standing reputation for public service.

“The latest tension between doctors and the government has given the public the impression that they are a selfish and (a group) that requires negotiations for everything,” said Lee Ju-yul, professor in the Department of Health Administration at Namseoul University.

Patients with chronic illnesses feel betrayed by doctors, with some complaining they have been treated as bargaining chips.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

Eventually the current conflict in the Middle East will once again end with a so called diplomatic solution before each side rearms and does it all over again a few years later:

South Korea expressed “deep concern” Sunday over Israel’s recent attack on Iran, calling on all parties to seek a diplomatic solution to the situation.

Early Saturday, Israel’s military conducted strikes against various targets in Iran, including missile manufacturing facilities, in response to Iran’s missile attack earlier this month, according to foreign media reports.

“Our government expresses deep concern over the series of tension-escalating acts, including Israel’s attack on Iran,” foreign ministry spokesperson Lee Jae-woong said.

Lee called on all the parties to break away from the “cycle of attack and retaliation,” calling diplomacy the only solution.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The big question is whether the ROK will provide advanced military weapons to Ukraine for free or for sale:

President Yoon Suk Yeol said Thursday that South Korea could consider providing arms to Ukraine, depending on the extent of military cooperation between Russia and North Korea, vowing not to “sit idle” in response to Pyongyang’s troop dispatch to Russia.

Yoon made the remarks after a summit with Polish President Andrzej Duda in Seoul, during which both leaders strongly condemned North Korea’s troop dispatch to Russia and agreed to strengthen joint responses to growing security threats.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This would be bold of South Korea to send troops to Ukraine when even the U.S. hasn’t officially sent any American troops to Ukraine yet:

 South Korea is considering sending a team of personnel to Ukraine to monitor North Korean troops being deployed to support Russia, a government source said Tuesday.

Last week, Seoul’s spy agency said North Korea sent some 1,500 special forces to Russia this month to take part in the war in Ukraine. The North is expected to dispatch a total of 12,000 troops from an elite special forces unit, according to an intelligence source.

“There is a possibility that personnel will be sent to Ukraine to monitor the tactics and combat capabilities of North Korean special forces dispatched in support of Russia,” the source said.

If deployed, the team is expected to be composed of military personnel from intelligence units, who could analyze North Korean battlefield tactics or take part in interrogations of captured North Koreans.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the ROK sending Ukraine artillery shells seems to clearly be on the table now as well.

If you are a foreigner and pass away in South Korea, there is a high probability your loved ones will not know how you died:

The government has failed to establish the causes of more than 40 percent of deaths of foreign nationals who died in Korea in recent years, a Ministry of Justice report shows.

According to the report disclosed Saturday by Rep. Cha Gyu-geun of the minor opposition Rebuilding Korea Party, 15,325 foreign nationals died in Korea between 2018 and 2022.

A total of 7,698 of them, or 50 percent, were confirmed to have died of disease, followed by car accidents (211), natural causes (177), falling (155), self-harm (152), natural disasters (71), drowning (61), homicides (19) and addiction (10).

Most notably, a staggering 44.2 percent, or 6,771 deaths, were attributed to “other” causes, meaning the reasons were unclear. This figure is significantly higher compared to the number of deaths among Korean nationals.

According to data released by Statistics Korea, the No. 1 cause of death of Koreans in 2022 was cancer, followed by heart disease, COVID-19 and pneumonia. “Others” are not among the top 10 causes listed.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Has anyone read or seen these movies from South Korea’s recently awarded Nobel Literature award winner Han Kang? Are they worth reading or watching?:

Two films based on the works of Nobel Prize-winning author Han Kang will receive special screening sections later this week, CJ CGV said Monday.

The films, “The Vegetarian” and “Scars,” will be shown on Thursday, in celebration of the Korean novelist’s recent Nobel literature award, according to the multiplex cinema chain.

Directed by Lim Woo-seong, the films are adaptations of Han’s novels — “The Vegetarian,” which won the International Booker Prize in 2016, and her 1999 novel, “Baby Buddha.” 

The former was invited to the Panorama section of the Busan International Film Festival’s Korean Movie Today in 2009 and the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at the Sundance Film Festival in 2000. 

Although neither film gained significant attention from the general public at the time of their release, they have attracted renewed interest following her prestigious win last week.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.