Category: Korea-General Topics

The latest variant of the coronavirus has been confirmed to have arrived in Korea. I guess we will see if the Moon administration is going to use this news to justify even stricter lockdowns:

Korea confirmed its first two cases of the Delta Plus variant of Covid-19 on Tuesday — and both patients were fully vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine.  
   
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said Tuesday that the Delta plus variant was found in a man in his 40s who had no recent travel record, and in someone recently returned from the U.S.  
   
The Delta Plus variant is a mutation of the Delta variant and it has three sub-lineages: AY.1, AY.2 and AY.3.  
   
Delta Plus cases have been found in around 20 countries, including the U.S., Britain, Portugal, Japan and China, while the original highly contagious Delta strain has now spread to more than 130 countries.  

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

It looks like tougher anti-COVID measures will be coming soon for all Koreans:

The government has signaled that it will introduce additional antivirus measures on top of the toughest Level 4 social distancing regulations imposed on the Seoul metropolitan area, as these do not appear to have curtailed the rampant spread of COVID-19 over the past three weeks amid the fourth wave of the pandemic. 

Some medical experts have said it will only be a matter of time for new daily cases to exceed 2,000, calling on the government to preemptively impose tougher measures, such as placing the entire country under the Level 4 rules.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

This must be a thankless job cracking down on these parties:

Virus or not, a growing number of people have been caught attending parties in violation of COVID-19 rules, with some business owners opting to open and pay a fine than not open at all. (……)

Still, in the eastern coastal city of Gangneung, 237 kilometers east of Seoul, police walked in on a hotel pool party attended by dozens of people Saturday.

The city government of Gangneung said the party broke multiple COVID-19 rules, including a mandate on wearing masks, keeping a distance between people and other restrictions that apply to swimming pools.

The hotel was ordered to suspend operations for 10 days for violating the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act, according to the city government.

In other popular vacation spots, police reported cases of business owners boldly defying COVID-19 rules.

On Friday, a karaoke bar in Busan, 453 kilometers southeast of Seoul, entertained 15 guests only five days after it was caught doing business with its door locked, police said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Even though the Blue House is saying this summit negotiations are not true, I still believe there is something back channel going on to explain the good behavior of the Kim regime in recent months:

The office of President Moon Jae-in dismissed a news report Wednesday that the two Koreas are in talks to arrange another summit.

Quoting unnamed government sources, Reuters reported that the two sides are seeking to hold summit talks between Moon and the North’s leader Kim Jong-un. One of the sources was quoted as adding that a virtual summit could be an option due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The foreign news report is not true,” Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson Park Kyung-mee said in a brief statement. “There has been no (relevant) discussion.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The Joong Ang Ilbo has a report about what happened to the Korean climber who went missing in the Karakoram Range:

A Russian who tried to rescue stranded Korean mountaineer Kim Hong-bin said at least 15 climbers passed by Kim without offering any help.  
   
Kim, the first Korean mountaineer with a physical impairment to climb all 14 peaks of the Himalayan and Karakoram mountains more than 8,000 meters (26,250 feet) above sea level, fell down a crevasse while trying to descend the 14th, Broad Peak on the border of Pakistan and China, on July 18.  
   
Russian mountaineer Vitaly Lazo reported on Risk.ru, a website with posts from mountaineers, that he and fellow rescuers received a report that same night that a Russian climber named Anastasia Runova had fallen through a crevasse on Broad Peak and needed help. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but according to the report if someone would have stopped to help the exhausted porter trying to rescue Kim Hong-bin, he may have been saved. Instead his body will probably forever be lost on that mountain.

Areas outside of Seoul are now going to be hit with increased anti-virus measures this week:

South Korea will apply the second highest level of virus restrictions for non-capital areas starting this week, health officials said Sunday, in the latest step to stem the rapid spread of the virus in provincial regions at the peak of the summer holiday season. 

The announcement was made during a government response meeting, presided over by President Moon Jae-in, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters said.

The heightened distancing rules will take effect Tuesday, to allow time for preparation, and run through Aug. 8.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

According to the article 76% of the cases in Korea are from the Delta variant. However, the article makes no mention of how many people have died from the variant:

South Korea’s daily new coronavirus cases hit a fresh high of over 1,800 on Thursday with mass infections from a virus-hit naval unit, while authorities are increasingly inclined to extend the toughest virus restrictions in the wider Seoul area amid no signs of a letup. 

The country added 1,842 COVID-19 cases, including 1,533 local infections, raising the total caseload to 184,103, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

The latest figure was the highest ever since the country confirmed the first case in January 2020, breaking the previous record of 1,784 on Wednesday.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It is a bit ironic that the Moon administration is relying on nuclear energy to meet the need for increased power supply from the summer heat when they have long claimed they want to do away with nuclear power:

The government is trying to stabilize the nation’s power supply by getting nuclear reactors back into operation.    
   
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said Tuesday that the Shin Kori unit 4 reactor, which was closed for maintenance, will be back in operation July 21, a week earlier than planned.    
   
Shin Wolsong unit 1 reactor, which had its start date moved up a month to July 18, will reach its full capacity of 1,000 megawatts by July 21.    
   
The Wolsong unit 3 reactor, which was shut for maintenance, will go back into operation on schedule on July 23.  
   
The three reactors will be contributing 2,150 additional megawatt of energy this week.    

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but like I have always said windmills and solar panels are not going to power a modern, industrial economy.