Category: Korea-General Topics

You know it is spring time when the major yellow dust storms start rolling in:

Local air quality may further worsen later this week, as high levels of yellow dust originating from the inland deserts in northern China are forecast to blow into the Korean Peninsula, which has been hit by heavy concentrations of ultrafine dust particles for nearly a week, the state weather agency said Monday.

According to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA), yellow dust originating from the extensive inland areas of China and Mongolia and the Gobi Desert is expected to arrive over South Korea beginning early Tuesday morning.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Doctors have concluded that so far 8 out of the 11 reported vaccine deaths were caused by pre-existing conditions:

South Korea has tentatively concluded that there is no causal relation between COVID-19 vaccines and eight out of 11 reported deaths after vaccinations, health authorities said Monday.

Investigations were concluded on the eight people who died within days of receiving AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccines. An epidemiological survey is still under way for three other recipients.

The authorities tentatively concluded that their deaths were highly likely to be connected to their pre-existing conditions.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but all 8 people who died after getting the vaccine were not only unwell, but were in longterm care facilities as well. The government is stilling doing epidemiological surveys on the remaining three deaths.

This same phenomenon is devastating many businesses in university town’s in the United States as well:

The streets near the campus of Hannam University in Daejeon used to be packed with students at this time of year.    
   
Now only advertisements plastered on the windows of empty stores greet visitors.  
   
“Many of us in the area are going out of business, as most university classes are being held online in the pandemic and students are not returning to the campus,” one store owner in the neighborhood told the JoongAng Ilbo on Wednesday. “I’m afraid that at this rate, half of the stores in the area will go out of business in the next couple of years.” 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

Due to a surge in coronavirus cases among the foreign population in Gyeongi province all foreign workers must now take a free of charge COVID-19 test by March 22nd:

All foreign workers in Gyeonggi Province, which surrounds Seoul, were ordered Monday to take the coronavirus test before March 22, as part of authorities’ efforts to cope with a recent spike in COVID-19 cases in foreigner-dense areas and workplaces.

The latest administrative order from the provincial government of Gyeonggi was delivered to about 85,000 foreign workers in the nation’s most populous province via their employers, officials said.

Under the order, the migrant workers hired by some 25,000 workplaces with at least one foreign employee are obliged to take the virus test between Monday and March 22, they said.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but the article said that 151 foreign workers in Dongducheon tested positive for the coronavirus. That explains why U.S. soldiers at Camp Casey currently have a travel ban on them.

PETA is was recently protesting the Thai embassy in the Yongsan district of Seoul because apparently farmers in Thailand use monkeys to help pick coconuts and keep them in very poor conditions:

A performer, dressed in a monkey costume with a chain around his neck, pushes a cart piled high with coconuts in front of the Royal Thai Embassy in Yongsan District, Seoul, Friday afternoon. After taking several steps forward, he suddenly empties the cart, leaving dozens of coconuts precariously tumbling down the road, before picking up a sign.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but it is interesting that PETA is having this protest at the same time that abuses of migrant workers in South Korea is making headlines.

South Korea’s Employment Permit System is coming under scrutiny by the foreign media which is likening its migrant agriculture workers as modern day slaves:

The Employment Permit System was launched in 2004, to replace a 1990s industrial trainee system notorious for exposing migrant workers to horrific working conditions. It was meant to afford migrant workers the same basic legal rights as Koreans. But critics say the current system is even more exploitative and traps workers into a form of servitude.

Migrant farm workers are more vulnerable than factory workers since rules about working hours, breaks and time off don’t apply to agriculture. The country’s Labor Standards Act doesn’t apply at all to workplaces with four or less employees, which is typical of many farms.

Choi Jung Kyu, a human rights lawyer, says workers at these farms are virtually unprotected against unjust firings or wage theft, uncompensated for workplace injuries and have scant access to health care. They often must pay $90-$270 a month to stay in miserable makeshift dormitories that often are just shipping containers equipped with propane tanks for cooking. Such temporary structures usually only have portable toilets.

Associated Press

You can read more at the link, but many of these elderly farm owners likely grew up in the same rough conditions these migrant workers find themselves in. It doesn’t make it right, but in their minds this is probably how they justify the conditions they have their workers living in.

Condolences to the friends and family of Byun Hee-soo:

Byun hee-soo, a 23-year-old transgender former soldier forced to discharge from the Army last year, was found dead at her home, police said Wednesday.

The Army made the discharge decision in January last year after judging that Byun’s loss of male genitals belongs to the Level 3 physical disability under the military laws.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but according to this report Byun tried to commit suicide three months ago and was seeing a mental health counselor.

I don’t play these games, but based off of what I am reading this does appear to be a form of gambling. Does anyone that plays these games want to comment on this proposed legislation?

A loot box is a common feature in both PC and mobile games. Users pay to draw game items like weapons or armor from a loot box. The prize may be worth several times what they paid for the draw — or worth close to nothing at all.  
   
The problem occurs when players start drawing multiple times to get their hands on items they want, which some say becomes a form of gambling. Although game publishers officially ban the practice, rare items are often traded online in exchange for cash.   

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

This will be a big accomplishment by South Korea’s aerospace industry once complete:

A nearly completed prototype of Korea’s first indigenous fighter jet was unveiled to the media in Sacheon, South Gyeongsang on Wednesday ahead of its official rollout in April.  
   
Jung Kwang-sun, chief of the Korea Fighter Experimental (KF-X) project of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), said the first domestically produced fighter jet will be a “landmark moment” for the country and its aerospace industry. 
   
Aimed at replacing the Air Force’s dated McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II and Northrop F-5 fighter jets, the 92-percent-completed KF-X prototype is the first fruit of a development project that began in 2015, led by Korea’s sole aircraft manufacturer, Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI). 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.