Category: Korea-General Topics

Some further relief for business owners in South Korea:

The government said Saturday it will allow businesses outside the greater Seoul area to operate until 10 p.m. starting next week, relaxing the distancing rules amid growing discontent over the prolonged virus curbs. 

The revised measure will permit businesses like restaurants and fitness clubs to extend their operating hours by one hour under Level 2 distancing currently imposed on the provincial regions, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said in a government response meeting.

“After careful deliberation based on the various opinions from all walks of life, we are adjusting the business hours for publicly used facilities,” he said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I wonder if this really is to cool the real estate market or is it just an attempt by the government to make money from the hot real estate market?:

The government is expected to announce a plan this week to provide a total of 850,000 homes to cool down the overheated property market, government and parliamentary officials said Wednesday.

Under the plan, likely to be unveiled Thursday, about 325,000 units will be supplied in Seoul, and the rest in other major cities, including Busan, Daegu and Gwangju, where property prices have soared over the recent months, the officials said. 

Public companies like Korea Land & Housing Corp. and Seoul Housing & Communities Corp. will lead the project to offer quality housing at lower prices, they said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This is a horrible accident caused by speeding:

A speeding van with 12 construction workers and others on board overturned on an expressway exit ramp in central South Korea on Monday, killing seven and injuring the five others, police and expressway officials said.

The fatal accident occurred on the Dangjin–Yeongdeok Expressway’s Sejong section, about 120 kilometers south of Seoul, at 8:20 a.m., when the Starex van turned upside-down on a road leading to the South Sejong Toll Gate after colliding into a roadside signpost.

It was confirmed that the vehicle was speeding to overtake another car just prior to entering the curved exit ramp, where the speed limit is 40 kph, according to police and the Korea Expressway Corp.

The automobile was found to have lost its center of gravity and overturned after first impacting the signpost on the left side of the road while going around the ramp road that curves to the right, they explained.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the only one wearing a seatbelt was the driver.

It is ironic that the Korean left that used a dubious tablet PC to take down the last Presidential administration is claiming these reactor papers are all lies by the political opposition:

The ruling bloc is going all out to defend itself against escalating suspicions that the Moon Jae-in administration attempted to initiate the construction of a nuclear power plant in North Korea in 2018. 

Cheong Wa Dae and the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) are lashing out at the main opposition People Party of Korea (PPP) for raising the allegations ahead of the April 7 mayoral by-elections for Seoul and Busan, claiming it was re-engaging in the politics of “northern winds” often used by conservatives during election season.

President Moon called on the political circle to refrain from outdated political wrangling, in response to the rising calls from the opposition to clarify exactly whether there was any mention of a nuclear plant building project during his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at Panmunjeom in April 2018. 

“At a time when the people are already struggling (from the coronavirus pandemic), we should not instigate conflict and make politics regress through outdated tactics. I urge the political circle to find better ways to cooperate in improving the peoples’ lives,” Moon said during a meeting with senior aides at Cheong Wa Dae, Monday.

Korea Times

The Moon administration is even threatening to take legal action against people criticizing the administration because of the reactor papers. We know this administration has a long track record of jailing journalists and now they may even try and jail a politician:

The presidential office said it would consider taking legal action immediately after PPP interim leader Kim Chong-in remarked Jan. 29 that the ruling bloc’s actions were “benefiting the North” when he first raised the suspicion about the nuclear power plant project. “It is a reckless political offensive meant to delude the people,” a senior presidential aide said Monday.

You can read more at the link.

The ongoing historical disputes between Korea and Japan has caused the sales of Japanese beer to drop by 86% in South Korea:

Japanese beer is fast losing share in the Korean market as drinkers shun the suds from across the East Sea.    
   
In 2020, only $5.67 million worth of Japanese beer was imported, down 85.7 percent, according to Korea Customs Service.  
   
It was the second consecutive yearly decline, and Japan now ranks ninth among imported beers.  
   
The top position is held by Dutch beers, as $40.7 million worth was imported from the Netherlands. American beer ranked second at $34.9 million. Chinese beer took third place at $32.3 million, and Belgium beer ranked fourth at $26.7 million.  
   
In 2019, $39.8 million worth of Japanese beer was imported, down nearly 50 percent year-on-year. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest on South Korea’s never-ending sex doll controversy:

A recent court ruling in favor of importing life-size sex dolls has reignited heated debate here over its possible effects on society.

While importers and supporters say sex dolls should be treated the same as other sex toys on shelves, opponents say the dolls constitute the objectification of women.

Earlier this month, the Seoul Administrative Court overturned a January 2020 decision by the customs office at Gimpo International Airport to ban the importation of life-size real doll products. The office said the dolls would harm public morals, but the court said the toys are for personal use and do not corrupt morals.

Controversy over sex dolls erupted in June 2019 when the Supreme Court ruled in favor of another doll importer that sued the government customs agency for blocking their imports. The top court stated that the government should not interfere with people’s private lives, and using sex dolls was part of that. The customs authorities then allowed imports by the specific company that filed the suit, but have banned those of other companies.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Political leaders in both the UK and United States are speaking out against the ban put on activist groups sending leaflets to North Korea:

The international community’s move against South Korea’s ban on sending anti-Kim Jong-un regime propaganda leaflets to North Korea is intensifying. Since the National Assembly, which is dominated by the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), passed a bill to implement the ban last December, criticism has continued to grow internationally that the law undermines freedom of speech, with members of the U.K. Parliament and the U.S. Congress raising the issue and planning to hold a debate and hearing session, respectively.

The DPK passed the law claiming it is needed to protect the lives of South Koreans living in the border region, although critics claim it is caving into North Korea’s demands in the hope of keeping bilateral relations alive. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but according to the article Park Sang-hak the leader of Fighters for a Free North Korea that the Korean left has been trying to get jailed, is traveling to Washington, DC to speak at a Congressional hearing on this topic.

I am assuming the Japanese government is not appealing the ruling because they don’t recognize it in the first place:

The Japanese government will not appeal a Seoul court order to compensate South Korean women who were forced to work in military brothels during World War II, its foreign minister said Friday.

Toshimitsu Motegi made the remarks hours before a midnight deadline to file an appeal against the landmark ruling, which rekindled diplomatic tensions between the two neighbors. 

On Jan. 8, the Seoul Central District Court ordered Tokyo to pay financial reparations of 100 million won (US$91,300) each to 12 so-called comfort women, in the country’s first ruling of its kind.

The ruling will be finalized at 12 a.m. Saturday if the defendant, the Japanese government, does not appeal by then. 

During a press conference, Motegi also said that he would like to reiterate his government’s position on the issue, once the ruling is confirmed, without giving more details.

Tokyo has maintained that the case should be dropped based on state immunity, a legal doctrine that allows a state to be immune from a civil suit in foreign courts. 

But the Seoul court dismissed the claim, saying it should not apply to “systematic crimes against humanity” and war crimes.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but using this logic from the Korean courts, should the American government assist Native-American tribes with suing colonial powers in North America like the British and Spanish for “systemic crimes against humanity” that occurred to them?