Category: Korea-General Topics

We have already seen in China what an authoritarian government can do with this kind of technology. Fortunately South Korea is not an authoritarian government, but it doesn’t mean that someone in government would not be tempted to misuse this technology:

Controversy is arising over a city’s pilot project to combine AI-based facial recognition technology with thousands of surveillance cameras installed in the city to use in the contact tracing for COVID-19 patients. 

While the city government expects that the new system will help carry out swifter and more accurate epidemiological investigations, civic groups have expressed concerns over breaches of privacy and infringements of the personal information of infected people. 

Bucheon City Government in Gyeonggi Province is set to launch the project next month with funding from the Ministry of Science ICT. The local government received 1.6 billion won from the ministry, and allocated its own budget of 500 million won. 

As one of the most populated cities in the metropolitan area with more than 800,000 residents, Bucheon has the highest density of CCTV surveillance cameras in the country, according to city officials. With nearly 10,000 installed, there are 123 cameras per square kilometer. 

“The pilot project, if launched successfully, will drastically reduce the time and resources needed for the contact tracing of COVID-19 patients,” a city official in the Smart City Division, who is in charge of the project, told The Korea Times. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

The Korean left is suddenly worried about a drama distorting history. I wonder if the criticism of the show will actually drive up viewership?:

JTBC’s new series, “Snowdrop,” which was embroiled in a controversy over distorting history since before it even aired, has stirred up a further backlash, with viewers accusing the series of distorting the history of Korea’s pro-democracy movement.

Since it premiered on Saturday, the romance series, set in 1987 amid the period of political unrest, has faced growing calls for its cancellation, with some of the companies dropping their sponsorship of the show. 

The series, starring K-pop star Jisoo of BLACKPINK and actor Jung Hae-in, follows a romance between a first-year student at a women’s university, Eun Young-ro (Jisoo), and a North Korean spy, Lim Soo-ho (Jung), who is hiding his identity under the cover of being a graduate student. One day, Soo-ho jumps into her dormitory covered in blood. Mistaking him as a pro-democracy protester against the military dictatorship, Young-ro tends to his injuries, despite the dangerous situation and develops romantic feelings for him.

On Sunday, an online petition was submitted on the Cheong Wa Dae website, calling for the network to stop the series from being aired. It garnered over 267,000 signatures in one day. 

The petitioner pointed out that the series has diminished the history of the pro-democracy movement in the country by portraying a North Korean spy as a protestor. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest Korean-American making headlines:

The newly crowned Miss America has made history, becoming both the first Korean American and the first Alaskan to hold the title in the competition’s 100-year history.

”I never could have imagined in a million years that I would be Miss America, let alone that I would be Miss Alaska,” a beaming Emma Broyles told The Associated Press on Friday in a Zoom call from Connecticut, where she won the competition about 12 hours earlier. 

In fact, she was sure they had it wrong. The final two contestants were Broyles and Lauren Bradford, Miss Alabama, and Broyles said she was thinking Bradford was going to make an amazing Miss America.

”And then they said Alaska, and I said, ‘No way. Are you sure? Do you want to check that card again?” she said before the emotion overtook her and she began crying tears of joy.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

I feel so bad for these kids having to deal with remote learning again:

– Schools in the capital area will resume remote learning this week as part of a government campaign aimed at stemming the fast spread of the coronavirus, officials said Sunday.

Under the latest rules, schools in the capital area and overly crowded schools in other parts of the country will roll back fully in-person classes and reintroduce a mix of in-person and virtual classes starting Monday.

Middle and high schools will be able to run at two-thirds capacity, while third- to sixth-grade elementary school classes will be able to run at 75 percent capacity.

Only first- and second-grade elementary school classes will continue to be held fully in-person.

Local education authorities in Seoul, however, adopted tighter rules, forcing elementary schools in the city to further limit in-person classes for third- to sixth-graders to 50 percent capacity, given that first- and second-graders are attending fully in-person classes.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest restrictions to impact the public in South Korea:

South Korea will reduce the maximum private gathering size to four people nationwide and restore a 9 p.m. curfew on restaurant and cafe business hours, Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said Thursday, as the government rolled back its “living with COVID-19” scheme amid surging infections.

Under the new measures, which will be in effect from Saturday until Jan. 2, the use of restaurants and cafes will be restricted to up to four vaccinated people per visit. Those who have not been vaccinated will be able to use the facilities alone or request take-out or delivery, Kim said.

Bars, nightclubs and other entertainment venues will also be subject to the 9 p.m. curfew while movie theaters, concert halls and internet cafes, however, will be able to operate until 10 p.m., Kim said during a meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

More restrictions are coming soon on the Korean public. Remember when the government said they didn’t care if daily COVID cases reached 10,000 they would not end the Living with COVID strategy? Well that did not age well:

South Korea’s new coronavirus cases and critically ill patients surged to fresh record highs Wednesday, with the government tipped to restore toughest virus curbs to contain the spread of infections.

The country added 7,850 new COVID-19 infections, including 7,828 local infections, raising the cumulative caseload to 536,495, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

Wednesday’s figure broke the previous record high of 7,174 cases last Wednesday. Daily virus cases have hovered in the range of 4,000-7,000 since early this month, weeks after the country began to ease the distancing rules from Nov. 1.

The number of critically ill patients hit an all-time high of 964, up from the previous record high of 906 on Tuesday.

Deaths from the virus rose by 70, bringing the total to 4,456. The record high death toll was 94 a day earlier. The fatality rate stood at 0.83 percent.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The trouble with fake news is always who gets to define what fake news is:

President Moon Jae-in stressed the need to develop a self-purification capacity to protect democracy from fake news at the U.S.-led virtual Summit for Democracy.

Presidential spokesperson Park Kyung-mee said Moon made the remarks Thursday night, Korea Standard time, at the closed-door leaders’ plenary session hosted by U.S. President Joe Biden. 

Moon said mankind has made unprecedented progress along with democracy, but is faced with the challenges of populism, extremism, inequality, polarization, fake news and hatred. 

Calling for serious consultation to discuss ways to protect democracy, Moon stressed that personal liberty and freedom of expression must be guaranteed but they should be in harmony with freedom for everyone.

He underscored the need to guard against the harm of fake news while guaranteeing freedom of speech. 

The president also said South Korea will actively join and contribute to efforts to promote democracy in Asia based on its experiences of achieving economic development and democracy. He did not mention China in his speech. 

KBS World

You can read more at the link.

I don’t think this is discrimination because foreigners can attend the museum’s special programs if someone is willing to translate without interfering with the class. It seems like this is much to do about nothing:

A tea museum operated by South Korean cosmetics giant Amorepacific is found to have a rather controversial policy: It says no foreigners are allowed in its guided tours or tea classes because no interpretation services are provided. 

Even if the foreigner is OK with not having an interpreter or has a native Korean speaker to help, the museum is apparently reluctant to accept the guest, warning, “The translation (by another guest) may be restricted if it disturbs other participants of the program.” 

The museum in question – Osulloc Tea Museum – is one of Jeju Island’s most popular tourist spots. 

Opened in September 2001 and located near the scenic Seokwang tea fields in Seogwipo, it is the first tea museum in Korea designed to introduce and promote the nation’s traditional tea culture. As of 2020, more than 15 million people have visited the venue, it says, with some 20-30 percent of those being foreign visitors. 

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.