Hopefully this mountaineer can be found, but considering the altitude he got lost at and the extreme terrain, it seems any rescue is going to be difficult:
Kim Hong-bin, a fingerless mountaineer who went missing in the Himalayas, is shown in this photo provided by the mountaineers’ association in Gwangju, on July 19, 2021.
South Korea has asked China and Pakistan for help in the search for a Korean mountaineer missing in the Himalayas, a foreign ministry official said Tuesday.
Kim Hong-bin, a mountaineer also known for having lost his fingers to frostbite, went missing on Monday while on his way back down from the summit of the 8,047-meter high Broad Peak, located in Pakistan’s Karakoram Range.
He broke the record of climbing all of the world’s 14 highest peaks in the Himalayas as a person with a disability.
“We contacted the authorities in Pakistan and China as soon as we learned he went missing and requested a dispatch of rescue teams, including a helicopter,” ministry spokesperson Choi Young-sam said in a press briefing.
I guess we will see if the KCTU gets bashed like Korean conservatives were after a rally last August by the Korean media and government:
Members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) march down the Jongno district during a rally in Seoul on July 3, 2021. (Yonhap)
At least three protesters who took part in the latest massive rally organized by a major umbrella labor group have tested positive for COVID-19, health authorities said Saturday, sparking concerns about potential further infections amid spiking virus cases.
A woman in her 50s was confirmed Friday to be infected with the virus after attending the street rally held by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) in central Seoul on July 3, and two more protesters tested positive Saturday.
Around 8,000 members of the KCTU participated in the rally to demand a revision to the labor act, despite authorities’ repeated call to cancel it amid the pandemic.
People are getting angry. It's amazing how patient and resilient South Koreans have been. But, sooner or later, things are going to boil over. https://t.co/CNHUtOyXrr
I think it is arguable that the government is trying to blame younger people for the current COVID surge instead of themselves for the slow vaccine rollout:
People in their 20s and 30s are complaining of being stigmatized as the main culprits of the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, in which the number of infections among people in this age group is significantly higher compared to during previous waves.
Many young people point out that the government is trying to leave the responsibility for controlling the fourth wave to them while they have been pushed to the back of the line in the country’s vaccination plans. In recent weeks, public health authorities have urged people in their 20s and 30s to abide by the social distancing guidelines, all the while suggesting that they are the most responsible for the spreading of the virus. (……..)
In response, young people have said that they are unable to understand the government’s message because they are the last group planned to be vaccinated according to the government’s vaccination schedule, and thus have lower vaccination rates than other age groups, making them more vulnerable to infection.
I guess we will see if the South Korean government tries to cancel the upcoming vacation season for South Koreans:
Local governments in charge of antivirus measures at popular summer vacation destinations are on high alert for a massive influx of vacationers from the greater Seoul area and other regions hit by a surge of COVID-19 cases.
South Korea’s daily new coronavirus cases have been in excess of 1,500 in recent days, with the capital area accounting for approximately three-fourths of the total.
Fearing that increased tourist arrivals at famous beaches and mountains nationwide will further fuel the spread of the coronavirus, local governments are moving to beef up their quarantine efforts.
This reads like a story you would read on a news satire site, but it is actually happening in South Korea:
Gyms in the capital area may need a new instrument in the fight against COVID-19 — a metronome.
As of Monday, the government has banned gyms in the greater Seoul area from playing music faster than 120 beats per minute (bpm) during group exercises.
That’s to prevent people from breathing heavily and accidentally getting saliva on each other — an extra precaution amid a record-breaking surge in COVID-19 cases in the country.
Both business and the labor unions are unhappy with the rise:
Park Jun-sik, head of the Minimum Wage Commission, leaves the commission’s final meeting held at Government Complex Sejong, Tuesday, during which the minimum hourly wage for 2022 was set at 9,160 won. Yonhap
The country’s hourly minimum wage for 2022 has been set at 9,160 won ($7.98), a 5.1 percent increase from the current 8,720 won, which did not satisfy either the union or business sectors.
Unions expressed anger over President Moon Jae-in’s unfulfilled campaign pledge to hike the minimum wage to 10,000 won per hour during his five-year-term, as this year’s negotiations were the last to be held during his term.
Representatives from business were equally unsatisfied, as they had been calling for a virtual freeze of the minimum wage considering the problems facing small- and medium-sized enterprises due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Around midnight, Monday, the 27-member Minimum Wage Commission, a trilateral panel composed of nine members each from the union, business and public sectors, voted on the new wage during its final plenary session held at the Government Complex Sejong.
Only 14 members participated in the vote as all nine members from the business sector and four union representatives left the room in protest against the proposed wage hike.
If there is actually a bear on the lose I hope it gets far away from the horrible conditions it is being held in based on the pictures of these cages:
Officials of Yongin City and the environment ministry inspect a bear farm in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, July 8, two days after two three-year-old bears escaped from the breeding farm. One of them was found and killed on the day of the escape, and the authorities are searching for the remaining one. Yonhap
It has been a week since two Asian black bears escaped from a breeding farm in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, but authorities are still searching for one of them after the other was killed.
Earlier on July 6, the owner of a bear breeding farm in Yongin reported to the city government that two three-year-old male bears, weighing 60 kilograms each, disappeared at around 10:30 a.m. Workers from the city’s wild animal control department and the Ministry of Environment conducted a search operation of nearby mountainous areas and killed one of them after finding it near a house about a kilometer from the farm.
But the authorities suspended the search two days later as no trace of the other bear had been found. The city government said it would lure the bear to the farm and attempt to capture it rather than killing it following protests from animal rights groups. It installed three unmanned traps and three thermal imaging cameras near the farm.
You can read more at the link, but according to the article the owner of the farm may be lying about there being two bears escaped and it could have only been the one that was shot.
It looks like Koreans may see reduced restaurant hours due to the current coronavirus wave:
A restaurant owner prepares to open for business in Seoul on July 11, 2021. (Yonhap)
Owners of mom-and-pop restaurants and cafes in the greater Seoul area are considering scaling back operating hours for two weeks, as the country went into a semi-lockdown Monday and most people are expected to cancel dinner appointments and stay at home.
The government imposed the most stringent social distancing rules in the area, effective until July 25, since coronavirus cases have been surging to record levels, with a majority of the cases breaking out in the capital and its surrounding region.
Gatherings of three people or more in restaurants and cafes are banned after 6 p.m., and most public and private companies ordered their employees to work from home to bring the rapid spread of the coronavirus under control.
It appears the Japanese government does not want to do President Moon any favors before he leaves office which will likely influence whether he visits the Olympics or not:
President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga
President Moon Jae-in has a hard decision to make on whether to visit Japan on the occasion of the Tokyo Olympics as the envisaged trip is drawing a mixed response.
Advocates for the President’s participation in the opening ceremony of the quadrennial sporting event, which kicks off July 23, insist that he needs to go in order to break a deadlock in strained bilateral ties, but those critical of this say he should not travel to Tokyo as Japan is taking a lukewarm attitude toward a summit and not showing much resolve in addressing various disputes between the two countries.
Moon is making a last-ditch effort to normalize Korea’s relations with Japan before his term ends in May 2022, as this could enhance trilateral cooperation with the United States. In that sense, the two neighboring countries have been in talks over Moon’s attendance at the opening ceremony, which would lead to his first summit with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and a discussion about pending bilateral issues, according to the foreign ministry here.
However, Tokyo is seemingly unwilling to commit to a meeting, repeatedly leaking information on the negotiations to the media that deprecates a possible summit. Some media reported that any talks between Moon and Suga may last only 15 minutes due to time constraints.
