Category: Korea-General Topics

The U.S. went through this same problem of trying to avoid vaccine doses going to waste through missed appointments:

 South Korea on Thursday launched an innovative pilot program to help non-priority people receive AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines made available from canceled appointments, but the so-called leftover vaccines can hardly be found in reality, many citizens said.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) began the test operation of the search and reservation system for AstraZeneca vaccines available from appointment no-shows through the country’s largest web portal Naver and top mobile messenger KakaoTalk at 1 p.m.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It looks like South Korea is having the same problem many other countries are having with vaccine hesitancy:

Deaths following Pfizer jabs are exceeding those after AstraZeneca shots, although experts say that many of the casualties were over the age of 74, with weaker immune systems and pre-existing medical conditions.  

Since the vaccination program began on Feb. 26, a total of 153 cases of death after inoculation had been reported as of Monday, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). Pfizer accounted for 93 cases and AstraZeneca 60.  (……….)  

Enthusiasm for the shots isn’t high. As of Monday, the booking rate for Covid-19 vaccinations — the percentage of people in an age group who have made reservations — was only 55.9 percent among people aged 60 to 74, who are eligible for the AstraZeneca vaccine. The booking rate for people between the ages of 60 to 64 was only 47.4 percent.  (……….)

Health authorities, however, explained that none of the deaths reported so far are related to the vaccinations.  

“On the elderly without underlying diseases who died after inoculation, we could find the causes of death through an autopsy, such as cardiac infarction, heart rupture or pulmonary embolism,” an official from the KDCA told the Korea JoongAng Daily.  

“We don’t think there is a meaningful difference [between AstraZeneca and Pfizer in terms of deaths] seeing the situations abroad,” the official added.  

The death rate per 100,000 vaccinated people was similar between Pfizer (2.71 per 100,000 people) and AstraZeneca (2.62 per 100,000 people), and those results were similar to other countries, according to the KDCA.  

For example, in the U.K. where a larger number of inoculations have being done, there were 3.19 deaths per 100,000 people for Pfizer, and 3.29 for AstraZeneca. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

You may soon be able to walk outdoors in South Korea without a mask if you are vaccinated. Really why wait until July 1st, why not just drop the mask mandate for vaccinated people now?:

South Korea announced Wednesday that people who have received a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine will no longer be required to wear masks outdoors starting in July, as part of incentives for those participating in the public vaccine campaign.

The incentive program announced at a daily interagency coronavirus response meeting also included a plan to lift the gathering ban for direct family members who have had their first vaccine dose.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but governments are finally realizing that the mask mandates after getting a vaccine is a disincentive to getting the vaccine.

Apparently expats do not have a high opinion of living in South Korea and a lot of has to do with making friends and settling in. From a U.S. military perspective there are so many KATUSAs and other to make friends with on base that this is really not an issue. Additionally it is easier to settle in on base as well when you don’t have to worry about getting cheated by landlords:

Korea ranked 47th out of 59 countries in an index based on a survey to determine the favorability of the living environment and conditions for expats. In the Expats Insider 2021 index released by InterNations, the world’s largest expat community with around 4 million members, those in Korea had difficulty settling in, finding friends and feeling at home.

The community conducted the annual survey in January on 12,420 expat respondents, representing 174 nationalities and living in 186 countries or territories, regarding their satisfaction in areas including quality of life, ease of settling in, working life, personal finance and cost of living.

Korea ranked 13th in general living conditions among 61 countries in 2014, but its ranking fell to 55th in 2019. It bounced back slightly to 54th in 2020 and 47th this year.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Here is something good that is happening for South Korea’s school age kids:

Parents and educators are showing mixed responses to the education ministry’s plan to resume fully in-person classes at schools in the second semester.

Supporters of the plan say the quality of education has deteriorated and that a learning gap between children has widened due to online classes conducted over the past year, while opponents say that the full-fledged resumption of in-person classes should be decided carefully as there is still a risk of virus transmissions inside classrooms.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It appears this is going to be the new left wing talking point that COVID was caused by global warming even though there is plenty of circumstantial evidence that it was accidentally released from a Chinese lab:

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic may be the “last warning from nature” that is urging humanity to respond immediately to the climate crisis, former U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday. 

Ban, who currently chairs the Ban Ki-moon Foundation for a Better Future, made the remark during the Korea Forum 2021, co-hosted by The Korea Times and its sister paper, the Hankook Ilbo.

“The COVID-19 pandemic is a phenomenon of the climate crisis,” he said in a keynote address at the forum held at the Cultural Depot Park in Seoul. “Following the virus outbreak, humans have realized the need to fundamentally resolve environmental problems for their sustainable survival.”

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

If possible try to stay indoors if you live in South Korea:

A yellow dust storm that originated in the Gobi Desert in northern China and Mongolia on Friday blanketed most of South Korea, including the greater Seoul area, the state weather agency said.

A fine dust advisory, issued for Seoul at 1 p.m., was upgraded to a fine dust warning one hour later, as the average hourly concentration of fine dust particles smaller than 10 micrometers in diameter, known as PM 10, surged to 610 micrograms per cubic meter in the capital Friday afternoon.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Here is an interesting issue that I doubt the Moon administration would do anything to change:

Growing anti-China sentiment is leading some to call for taking away the right of foreign permanent residents to vote here. 

The move is intended to target Chinese residents, as they make up the majority of eligible immigrant voters in Korea. Recent disputes have pitted the people of the two countries against each other over various cultural issues, including recent claims coming from China that some elements of Korean culture, including kimchi, hanbok and samgyetang, originated there.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but the article says there are 121,806 foreign residents in Korea and 80% of them are Chinese.

I wonder if living conditions has anything to do with this spread of COVID-19 in Gangneung among migrant workers?:

 More than 40 foreign migrant workers in the east coast city of Gangneung tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday after preemptive coronavirus testing, municipal officials said.

The municipality of Gangneung, 240 kilometers east of Seoul, has so far conducted the preemptive testing on 743 migrant workers and 43 of them were diagnosed with the new coronavirus, the officials said.

By nationality, Russians accounted for 36 of the confirmed cases, with the others from Central Asian nations, they noted.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.