Category: Korea-General Topics

Korea is seeing the same problem many cities in the US are seeing with e-scooters just strewn around all over the place on sidewalks:

Electric scooters, an innovative eco-friendly form of transportation, have gained increasing popularity in Korea since their sharing platforms were commercialized in 2018. (………)

Users can unlock an e-scooter on the street by scanning a QR code using their smartphone, ride to their destination and park it there after their trip. Unlike rental bicycles, e-scooters do not have designated parking areas they should be returned to.

The “dockless” scheme is what makes the personal mobility devices convenient for riders, but on the other hand, it creates inconvenience for pedestrians, who frequently find pathways blocked by e-scooters left standing in the middle of sidewalks.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but Seoul plans to start issuing fines to e-scooter operators with improperly parked scooters.

If there wasn’t enough issues of contention between South Korea and Japan and here is yet another one:

South Korea is considering lodging a complaint with an international tribunal against Japan’s decision to dump a huge amount of contaminated wastewater from a crippled nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean, Cheong Wa Dae said Wednesday.

President Moon Jae-in issued the instruction before meeting with Japan’s new ambassador here, Koichi Aiboshi, to receive his credentials.

In an internal meeting, Moon ordered his government to “proactively consider” bringing the matter to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, according to Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kang Min-seok.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the Chinese are loving this decision as well because they can bash Japan while they continue to freely pollute the oceans themselves. Additionally the waste water will not be released until 2 years from now as they treat it. The treatment is supposed to clean it enough to be safe to release. This seems like something that international nuclear inspectors should monitor just build confidence in the process. It probably won’t matter though to those bashing Japan.

Here is another example of a Tom Hanks like stranding at an airport:

A man seeking asylum status in Korea was allowed to leave Incheon International Airport and enter the country after being stuck there for 14 months, as his refugee application had been denied. 

Incheon District Court made a ruling, Tuesday, to allow temporary dismissal of his status as an “internee” and granted him the right to stay at a local hospital in order to undergo medical treatment. 

The man, whose nationality was not revealed, from his home country due to political persecution and arrived at Incheon International Airport in February 2020. But his refugee application was denied by the Ministry of Justice, as the final destination of his flight was another country, with Korea as a transfer point. Refugees can make applications as asylum seekers at immigration checkpoints. 

Since that time, he had been living in the transit zone of the airport. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest on the pandemic in South Korea:

Korea may be at the beginning of a fourth big wave of COVID-19 infections, according to health experts, with the daily caseload reaching its highest level in three months amid sporadic cluster infections across the country. 

According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), the country reported 700 daily new cases for Wednesday, the highest level in 91 days, bringing the total caseload to 107,598. Among the new cases were 674 local infections and 26 cases from overseas.

Medical experts who viewed that Korea has already entered its fourth wave of infections expressed concerns that the daily caseload could cross into the thousands unless the government introduces tighter social distancing measures, considering deepened public fatigue from the year-long pandemic and increased outdoor activities in the warming weather. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest on the vaccine efforts in South Korea:

The government is temporarily suspending AstraZeneca vaccines for people under 60 after a third blood clot developed in a patient after an AstraZeneca shot.  
   
Korea’s Covid-19 vaccination Task Force team said Wednesday that a medical worker in her 20s was diagnosed with blood clots in her legs and lungs twelve days after she got her first AstraZeneca jab on March 17.    
   
She developed shortness of breath on March 29.   
   
This was the third case of blood clot problems following AstraZeneca inoculations. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest COVID policy coming to South Korea:

South Korea will introduce a digital certification system to verify a person’s COVID-19 vaccination status through a smartphone application this month, amid the government’s efforts to boost people’s participation in the public vaccine program, the prime minister said Thursday.

“The people will be able to experience a sense of return to normality from a vaccine passport or green card systems,” Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said during a daily interagency meeting on the government’s coronavirus response.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Its that time of the year again in Korea:

An extraordinarily strong yellow dust storm originating from the inland deserts in northern China and Mongolia blanketed all of South Korea on Monday, prompting authorities to issue a yellow dust warning for Seoul and almost all parts of the country for the first time in a decade.

The density of fine dust particles smaller than 10 micrometers in diameter, known as PM 10, soared to 1,174 micrograms per cubic meter in Daegu on Monday morning, the worst level since Nov. 12, 2010, when the corresponding figure reached 1,047 micrograms in the southeastern city.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest coronavirus restriction in South Korea:

 The government will ban eating at mass gathering establishments like sports stadiums, libraries and museums starting Monday, officials said, amid an uptick in COVID-19 cases.

Eating will be banned at 21 types of public places, which also include karaoke bars, public saunas and movie theaters, and violators will be fined 100,000 (US$88) starting April 5 after a one-week grace period, officials said.

Other facilities subject to the ban include cram schools, hair dressers, gyms, casinos and exhibition halls.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Not a good look even if there isn’t corruption going on, but in the case of the LH scandal we know there was corruption likely going on:

About half of top officials at the central government and state-run institutions own land as part of their wealth, a government report showed Thursday, amid mounting public outrage over a land speculation scandal involving public officials. (…….)

The report came in light of a snowballing controversy surrounding alleged speculative land purchases by employees at the Korea Land and Housing Corp. (LH), the state housing supply arm, based on insider knowledge. 

At least 20 LH employees are suspected of having purchased huge swathes of undeveloped land around Seoul over a few years with undisclosed information on plans to construct major residential towns there. The scandal has rocked the nation as it emerged at a time when public anger over the nation’s soaring housing and rent prices is running high.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.