Chun Doo-hwan’s authoritarian grip on power continues to reverberate today and it setback Korean democracy by a decade:
Former President Chun Doo-hwan, who seized power in a coup and governed the nation with a firm hand from 1980 to 1988, died, Tuesday. He was 90.
Korea Times
According to Min Jeong-ki, a former presidential secretary, Chun, who had multiple myeloma ― a cancer formed in white blood cells ― died at his home in western Seoul at 8:45 a.m. After he collapsed in a bathroom, emergency services were called at 8:55 a.m. and paramedics who arrived at 9:12 a.m. then confirmed his death. His body was transferred to the Severance Hospital where a memorial altar was set up. Until recently, Chun had been receiving treatment at the medical center due to his worsening health.
“Chun’s last wish was for his remains be buried on high ground at the border overlooking North Korean territory,” Min said, adding the former president’s body will be cremated before being buried at a site to be determined later.
Chun’s death came almost a month after his successor and coup co-conspirator Roh Tae-woo died, Oct. 26.
Cheong Wa Dae expressed regret that Chun died without offering an apology, but offered its prayers for the deceased and condolences to the bereaved family.
You can read more at the link, but I think Chun Doo-hwan is going to missed by few outside of his family.
South Korea’s new “Living with COVID” strategy is now being fully put to the test as daily cases have reached a record high:
South Korea’s new coronavirus cases hit an all-time high on Thursday since the start of the pandemic amid eased social distancing rules, putting health authorities on alert over further upticks.
The country reported a record high of 3,292 new daily cases, including 3,272 local infections, raising the total caseload to 406,065, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
Thursday’s daily caseload marks the highest since the country reported its first COVID-19 case in January last year and exceeds the previous record of 3,270 reported on Sept. 25.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link, but what is unusual about the spread of the virus in South Korea is that nearby Japan is experiencing near disappearance of the virus with a seven day average of only 163 daily COVID cases as of today despite having a population more than double that of South Korea.
It looks like we are going to find out how committed the ROK government is to their new “Living with COVID” strategy as cases continue to rise:
South Korea’s daily new coronavirus cases spiked to surpass the 3,000 mark Wednesday, just shy of an all-time high, health authorities said, deepening concerns over medical capacity amid the continued surge in critical cases.
The country reported 3,187 new COVID-19 cases, including 3,163 local infections, raising the total caseload to 402,775, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
Wednesday’s figure, a sharp hike from 2,125 cases the previous day, is the second-largest figure after the all-time high of 3,270 reported on Sept. 25. It is also the second time ever that the country’s daily caseload hovered over 3,000.
The number of critically ill COVID-19 patients hit an all-time high of 522 on Wednesday, breaking the previous record of 495 a day earlier, the KDCA said.
The health authorities earlier said that they can manage around up to 500 critically ill patients in a stable manner under the current medical capacity.
The country added 21 more deaths from COVID-19, bringing the death toll to 3,158. The fatality rate stood at 0.78 percent.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
I wonder how long this is going to last? Will it be shutdown if another COVID wave breaks out in Singapore?:
The first tourists from Singapore since the start of the coronavirus pandemic arrived Monday in South Korea under a bilateral travel bubble agreement.
A travel bubble refers to a quarantine-free travel partnership between two or more cities or countries with similar levels of COVID-19 cases.
The tourists landed at Incheon International Airport earlier in the day and will be free to travel around the country without quarantine if they test negative on a polymerase chain reaction test, the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) said.
Among them, a group of Singaporeans working in the tourism industry and reporters were invited by KTO to visit major tourist attractions in the greater Seoul area and Gangwon Province this week.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
It seems to me public sector employees should cater their schedules to better serve the public they are there to support and not the other way around:
Controversy is rising over an increasing demand from civil servants across the country to guarantee them a lunch break from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. as offered to other workers.
Korea Times
They are demanding all services at public offices, including the issuance of official documents, be suspended during the one-hour lunchtime to guarantee their “rights,” but critics say this will cause inconvenience, especially to workers who have to utilize their own lunchtime to visit public offices.
The Korean Government Employees’ Union (KGEU) has recently intensified calls for the guaranteed lunch break to safeguard their health and welfare rights, citing the Labor Standards Act and service regulations for civil servants that stipulate their lunchtime is from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.
The law and regulations, however, also stipulate that heads of local governments can decide to advance or put off the lunchtime by one hour, considering the characteristics of the duties of civil servants.
Consequently, most civil servants working at public services centers usually rotate their lunchtimes from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. or from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m., so services at such centers can continue during the “original” lunch hour.
You can read more at the link.
That didn’t take long, just a week ago the Korean government was saying it was no longer going to use case numbers to make COVID decisions. The Health and Welfare Ministry even said that cases would not matter if they even reached 10,000 a day. Now that case numbers have hit 2,500 they are backtracking:
South Korea may not further ease its coronavirus restrictions, the country’s top public health official warned Thursday, amid a spike in COVID-19 cases.
South Korea began easing virus curbs in November in the first of the three-phase “living with COVID-19” scheme. It had planned to move to the second phase in mid-December after a two-week evaluation period.
Jeong Eun-kyeong, commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, said it may be difficult to move to the second phase of the scheme if new cases continue to grow.
The country reported 2,520 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total caseload to 388,351, the KDCA said.
Thursday’s tally marked a slight hike from the previous day’s 2,425, which marked the first time in six days that daily infections exceeded 2,400.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
