Category: Korea-General Topics

It looks like the KCTU has immunity to coronavirus prevention measures put in place across South Korea. The next time any organization wants to hold a large gathering I guess they can just call it a KCTU protest and they will be okay:

The protesters affiliated with the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) poured onto the streets in downtown en masse around 1:30 p.m. and began marching toward Seodaemun Station, holding flags and banners calling for labor rights.

Some of them scuffled with police trying to prevent them from moving to the rally site.

Police mobilized about 12,000 personnel and set up fences and bus walls in central Seoul to prevent the rally.

The strike was held despite the government’s call for restraint amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Unionized members called for guaranteeing workers’ rights and ensuring better working conditions, as they sought to bring labor issues to the forefront in the run-up to the 2022 presidential elections.You can read more at the link.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the KCTU claims 27,000 protesters showed up.

Like many other places in the world it appears that the spread of the coronavirus is now seeing sharp drop in cases in South Korea as well:

 South Korea’s daily coronavirus cases dropped to the lowest level in more than three months Monday as the country eased restrictions on private gatherings ahead of preparations for a gradual shift to the “living with COVID-19” scheme. 

The country reported 1,050 new cases, including 1,030 local infections, raising the total caseload to 343,445, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.

Monday’s tally is the lowest daily number since July 7, when the country reported 1,211 additional virus cases on the onset of the fourth wave of the pandemic. The daily cases have since stayed in the quadruple digits, including the record high of 3,273 on Sept. 25.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but hopefully the cases continues to drop so some kind of normal life can return to the people and small businesses in South Korea.

Some early cold this year for everyone living in South Korea:

Temperatures in Seoul sharply dropped to nearly 1 degree Celsius on Sunday, marking the coldest morning for mid-October in 64 years, the state weather agency said.

The morning low in Seoul came to 1.3 C in the day, the lowest since Oct. 19, 1957, when the figure was minus 0.4 C, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA).

Some areas of the capital city saw the mercury drop below zero, and the season’s first ice was seen in the city, 17 days earlier than average, it added.

Cold weather also hit other parts of the country, with temperatures on average nationwide falling more than 10 C from a day earlier.

Temperatures on Mount Seorak in Gangwon Province plunged to minus 9.3 C in the mornning, and the border county of Yeoncheon saw its mercury dive to minus 3.9 C, the agency said, adding that first ice and frost were witnessed across the country.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Here is an interesting academic corruption nugget from the Korea Times:

Nearly half of all underage co-authors listed in research papers from Seoul National University (SNU) were the children of SNU professors, a ruling party lawmaker said, Thursday, calling for harsher disciplinary action against misconduct involving research by professors abusing their status. 

According to Rep. Seo Dong-yong of the Democratic Party of Korea, who is on the National Assembly Education Committee, the university’s 22 research papers that listed minors as co-authors were concluded as cases of misconduct. Among them, nine involved children of SNU professors.

Among the nine cases, four professors listed their own children as co-authors, while five listed children of their colleagues. 

Other than children of SNU professors, there were more cases involving children of their acquaintances, such as friends and relatives, Rep. Seo said. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but this is a clever way that these professor are giving their children a leg up on college admissions by showing their have published research articles when really their parent likely did all the work for them.

It looks like the Moon administration is thinking the Biden administration is probably at its most amiable time to push this initiative thinking they are desperate for a foreign policy “victory”:

Suh Hoon, director of national security, said Monday that he plans to discuss President Moon Jae-in’s recent proposal to declare an end to the 1950-53 Korean War in the United States this week.    

“The communication channels between the two Koreas are up and working again, it is time to reaffirm where we stand on inter-Korean and North-U.S. relations,” Suh told a group of reporters upon arrival at Reagan airport on Monday.    

“The declaration to end the Korean War will also be discussed [with my counterparts],” he said, adding that the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and possible sanctions relief for North Korea may also be included in the conversations.  

The Moon government from its early days has been calling for a formal declaration to end the Korean War, with the call repeated again at the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York last month, when Moon gave a speech. The Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty, leaving the two Koreas technically still at war.   

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but I guess we will see if the Biden administration falls for this or not.

A Korean War peace treaty is something that North Korea has long sought as a way to end the presence of US troops in South Korea. If there is peace why is USFK needed?

President Moon has been saying all the right things that USFK will remain after any peace treaty is signed, to include claiming Kim Jong-un understands this as well. However, this is likely just rhetoric to prevent energizing South Korean conservatives against a peace treaty before next Spring’s presidential election.

Remember Moon is a very skilled politician that needs to keep the Korean right at bay and public anxiety down.  If he openly advocated for a USFK withdrawal, that would give the South Korean right an issue to strongly attack him and the ruling party with and cause much public anxiety after decades of security guarantees provided by US forces.  

Expect the Moon administration to continue to push this initiative along with dropping sanctions while North Korea pressures the Biden administration with their weapons provocations. This is all intended to push the Biden administration into a deal the Kim regime wants while Washington can claim a foreign policy victory by ending the provocation cycle.

The easiest way to get less riot police at the THAAD site is for the protesters to assemble and protest in an area that is not blocking a public road that leads to the THAAD site:

A human rights committee under the National Police Agency (NPA) has recommended the law enforcement authorities to reduce the number of riot police deployed to a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile base in the southeastern county of Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province.

“As the current number of riot police there can lead to a violation of the protesters’ freedom of assembly and demonstration, the authorities should actively take necessary measures,” the committee said during a regular meeting held late September.

The NPA committee consists of 13 members ― 12 external members and one police officer from the audit and inspection division. 

The committee further asked the authorities to submit additional data, based on which it can judge whether the police are guaranteeing the protesters’ freedom of assembly and demonstration.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Remember when the Korean media was in lockstep condemning South Korean conservatives for rallying last year against President Moon? The leftist organization, KCTU has held multiple rallies since then and threatening to hold illegal “guerrilla rallies” to get around COVID restrictions with hardly any criticism from the media:

The Seoul city government has prohibited South Korea’s major umbrella labor group from staging street rallies this month in accordance with a law on preventing the spread of infectious diseases, an official said Sunday.

The measure came in response to a formal report submitted by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) on its plan to hold outdoor rallies in some areas of the capital on Oct. 20. The KCTU stated it will carry out a general strike on the day.

City authorities, however, sent an official document to the KCTU notifying it of a decision to forbid such rallies. The city government plans to maintain a ban on street rallies as part of efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19, with stringent social distancing restrictions in place.

It raises the possibility that KCTU members will again push for “guerrilla-style” illicit rallies as they did in downtown Seoul in July that led to the arrest of the labor organization’s leader, Yang Kyung-soo.

Under the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act, the Seoul mayor is empowered to prohibit rallies in the city.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but as much as I dislike the KCTU at some point they need to be allowed to hold their rallies along with other organizations. As South Korea is quickly increasing its vaccination status there has to come a point where a level is reached where groups can gather again. Protests and rallies are a strong part of the democratic process in South Korea.

It looks like South Korea is looking at becoming the latest country to accept reality and figure out how to live with COVID:

South Korea said Sunday it will set up a committee this week for a strategy on the “New Normal” of “living with COVID-19,” with the vaccination campaign picking up speed.

The government plans to hold the inaugural meeting of the committee later this week, presided over by Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum, according to health authorities. 

Private sector experts are expected to participate in the meeting with government officials to discuss ways to carry out the envisioned transition in the economic, education, security, coronavirus control and quarantine sectors.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.