Category: Korea-General Topics

It will be interesting to see if Park Sang-hak and his team of activists will have to worry about being arrested for their activities by the new Korean government in power:

A North Korean defector group sent masks, Tylenol and vitamin C supplements across the border to the North via balloons on Sunday, citing concerns about North Koreans “suffering in the recent spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.”  
   
The flights will test the resolve of the new Yoon Suk-yeol administration, which inherited from the previous government a law outlawing such activities.  

“We sent 20,000 masks, 15,000 Tylenol pills, and 30,000 vitamin C tablets in 20 large balloons from Pocheon, Gyeonggi, on June 5,” said Park Sang-hak, head of Fighters for a Free North Korea, an organization of North Korean defectors that is critical of the North Korean regime, on Tuesday. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but ROK Heads may remember that Park Sang-hak has been the victim of multiple assassination attempts by North Korean agents and assaulted by Korean leftists. He has also had leftists intrude at his house and has been repeatedly arrested and harassed by the Moon administration in effort to stop his group’s activities. .

The COVID numbers continue to improve in South Korea despite the dropping of most social distancing protocols:

South Korea’s new coronavirus cases fell below 10,000 on Sunday due to fewer tests the previous day as the country works to return to pre-pandemic normalcy.

The country added 9,835 COVID-19 infections, including 48 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 18,163,686, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said.

The daily caseload is down from 12,048 on Saturday.

Daily infections have shown a downward trend after posting an all-time high of over 620,000 in mid-March.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

If anyone even cares at this point, South Korea’s daily COVID numbers have steeply declined:

South Korea’s new COVID-19 cases fell to below 16,000 Wednesday amid a slowing virus trend, as authorities take steps for a return to pre-pandemic normalcy. 

The country added 15,797 COVID-19 infections, including 44 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 18,119,415, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. 

The daily cases have marked a steady decline since the all-time daily high of more than 620,000 in mid-March. The infection numbers have fallen to five digits or under since April 21. 

The death toll came to 24,197, up 21 from Tuesday, with the fatality rate at 0.13 percent.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This is another example of how workers got used to something and don’t want to go back to the way things were before the pandemic:

Unionized workers of Seoul Metro are strongly protesting against the city government’s plan to resume late-night subway operations, a measure proposed to tackle the worsening nighttime taxi shortage in the capital.

The union that represents workers of a part of Seoul’s subway system which runs lines 1 to 8, held a rally in front of the Seoul Metropolitan Government office, Tuesday, demanding the local government withdraw its plan to extend operating hours.

“Late-night operations were suspended not only because of the coronavirus pandemic but also due to worsening operating losses, which nearly pushed the operator into bankruptcy. It is difficult to understand why the government has abruptly announced resumption of late-night operations, without any measures to resolve these issues,” the union said in a statement.

Earlier this month, the metropolitan government said it will extend subway operating hours on weekdays until 1 a.m., thereby increasing operations by one hour from the current midnight closing time, starting at some point in June.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

To make way for the Presidential office in Yongsan the ROK military’s Joint Chief’s of Staff office will be moving to Southern Seoul:

The South Korean government plans to relocate the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) headquarters to southern Seoul and seeks to construct its new building there by 2026, the defense ministry said Tuesday.

In a parliamentary policy briefing, the ministry made public the relocation plan, as the ministry’s key offices have occupied parts of the current JCS building since the presidential office’s relocation to what used to be the ministry’s headquarters in Seoul’s central district of Yongsan.

Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup said that the government plans to move the JCS building to the Capital Defense Command in Namtaeryeong, southern Seoul, in the “mid- and long-term.” 

Lee estimated that the relocation and the construction of the new JCS building may cost between 200 billion won (US$ 157 million) and 300 billion won, much more than initially expected.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Hopefully Keun Rhee isn’t too seriously injured and is able to recover:

A South Korean volunteer fighter in Ukraine was injured during a reconnaissance mission, his YouTube channel said Sunday.

Rhee Keun “recently incurred injuries while leading a special reconnaissance mission behind enemy lines. He has been transferred to a military hospital,” according to an English-language update posted on the YouTube channel ROKSEAL.

The YouTube channel did not provide any further details on Rhee’s condition.

The Navy SEAL-turned-YouTuber left for Ukraine in March to join the war against Russia in violation of a South Korean government ban.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It looks like South Korea is breaking out of the omicron phase of the pandemic. Most notably is that the fatality rate has fallen from .69% in February to .13% now in May:

 South Korea’s new COVID-19 cases fell below 30,000 on Saturday in an apparent sign that the country’s virus cases are significantly declining amid eased social distancing rules.

The country added 29,581 new virus infections, including 25 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 17,756,627, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

The daily figure fell below the 30,000 mark for the first time in 15 weeks for any Saturday. 

The figure marked a sharp drop from 32,451 reported the previous day and 35,906 added on Thursday.

The country added 55 COVID-19 deaths, bringing the total to 23,661, the KDCA said. The fatality rate came to 0.13 percent.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.