Crime may be dropping in Seoul, but the perception apparentlhy is that crime is a growing problem to be concerned about:

The number of crimes in Seoul has been declining, however, anxiety about the issue among residents is increasing, particularly among women and older adults, according to a report released by the Seoul Foundation of Women and Family, Sunday.

The foundation published the report based on data provided by Statistics Korea, which interviewed 3,007 Seoulites aged 20 and older in 2022.

According to the report, the number of crimes in the city declined from 296,178 in 2020 to 279,507 in 2022. The five major violent crimes — murder, robbery, theft, assault and sexual violence — also decreased from 92,679 to 90,339 during that period.

Despite this decline, residents’ sense of safety has not improved. On a scale from 1 (very safe) to 5 (very unsafe), the average score increased slightly from 3.13 in 2020 to 3.17 in 2022, indicating a growing perception of insecurity.

The report highlighted that women feel more anxious than men about potential crimes in their daily lives. On a scale from 1 (feeling very safe) to 10 (feeling very anxious), women scored 6.38 compared to men’s 5.4.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but I think the media highlighting major crimes is probably what feeds into the public’s anxiety.

If these Korean doctors keep striking they may not have as many jobs to go back to if foreigners start filling them:

Those holding a medical license issued from foreign nations will be allowed to legally practice medicine in South Korea in the case the government declares a top-level medical service warning, the health ministry said Wednesday.

The revision to the enforcement regulation of the Medical Act came as the country is experiencing major medical service disruptions due to the monthslong walkout by trainee doctors in protest of the government’s push to increase the number of medical students by 2,000 starting next year from the current 3,058.

Under the revision, those who have foreign medical licenses will be able to practice medicine in South Korea upon the approval by the health minister when the country is in the highest medical disaster alert mode.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The striking Korean doctors have lost their court case against the Korean government’s plan to stop the increase of medical students to address the country’s doctor shortage. I wonder what the doctors’ legal defense was against the quota? I can’t imagine they argued for their real reason which was to keep an artificial doctor shortage to ensure they keeping getting high paychecks:

A Seoul appellate court rejected Thursday an injunction sought by the doctors’ community to halt the government’s highly contested plan to increase the nationwide medical school admission quota, paving the way for the first such quota hike in 27 years. 

The Seoul High Court made the decision on an injunction filed by trainee doctors, medical professors and students seeking to suspend the government’s plan to increase the medical school quota by 2,000 starting in the 2025 academic year.

This would pave the way for the government to finalize the first medical school quota hike in 27 years, aimed at addressing chronic shortages in essential but unpopular medical fields as well as remote rural areas. 

With the legal limbo lifted, the government is expected to expedite the process of having increased medical quotas reflected in universities’ 2025 admission announcements to be made public by late May or early June.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Somebody must have said something for the Thai police to have found a body in a barrel filled with concrete in a reservoir:

Thailand plans to request South Korea hand over a suspect in the murder of a South Korean tourist and disposal of the body in Pattaya, a local media report said Wednesday. 

Thai authorities are seeking the extradition of one of the three suspects, who was arrested in a provincial county in South Korea on Monday, the Khaosod daily reported quoting a local police official. 

Thai police are investigating the brutal murder case, in which the body of the 34-year-old victim was found in a plastic container filled with cement in a reservoir in Pattaya.

A Bangkok court has also issued arrest warrants for the three suspects on charges of abduction and murder, the news outlet said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It looks like Kim Jong-un has something else to celebrate other than weapons tests:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his “beloved daughter” Ju-ae attended a ceremony marking a newly built street at the north gateway of Pyongyang, the North’s state media reported Wednesday. 

It was the first time in about two months that Ju-ae made a public appearance since she visited a military unit on March 15. Kim and his daughter attended the ceremony on Tuesday, according to the North’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The KCNA described the street as “clear proof of validity and vitality of the WPK’s ideology of valuing the youth and a striking demonstration of invincibility of the revolutionary cause of Juche.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Some people look for racism any chance they can get:

As a K-pop fan, I was delighted that Stray Kids were attending the Met Gala on May 6, 2024. K-pop fans generally and Stays (the name of Stray Kids’ fandom) specifically celebrated the increasing inclusion of K-pop. Perhaps the US media now took K-pop seriously and would treat its artists respectfully.

We were wrong.

A few members of the paparazzi’s treatment of Stray Kids was shameful and racist, and embarrassed me as a fellow American. However, none of it was surprising and all of it was reminiscent of America’s history of racist treatment of Asian Americans.

I watched the behind-the-scenes footage shot by someone standing behind the photographers first posted on X and later to YouTube. Many K-pop fans have commented on this viral video. Below, I’ve transcribed what I could hear. It is loud in the room, and everyone is shouting. These lines are spoken by the photographers, but it was difficult to hear all of them. They are mostly shouting at the group members, but some commentary takes place amongst the photographers. My comments are in parentheses.

“How many are there? Guys, can you step back?”

“Guys, you need to be on the same level.”

“You all look crooked.”

“Get close. Move back, move back.”

“Can everybody face us? They’re diagonal.”

“Annyeonghaseyo” (mockingly).

“That guy is like 20,000 feet back.”

“We need them straight.”

Korea Herald

You can read the rest at the link or watch the video and judge for yourself, but in my opinion this all just the paparazzi being their normal rude selves. The paparazzi are well known for how rude they are and you can watch whole Youtube videos of this. Being rude doesn’t make you a racist unless your a sociology and professor of ethnicity, race and migration professor at Yale University where everything is viewed through a racist lens.