This is actually a really good idea by MLB to create fan interest in South Korea for their league:

Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers reacts after flying out to left field against South Korea during an exhibition game at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on March 18, 2024. (Yonhap)

 The Los Angeles Dodgers rallied past South Korea 5-2 to win their second straight exhibition game in Seoul on Monday, with the regular season opener against the San Diego Padres on the horizon.

The Dodgers scored three times in the bottom of the third to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 4-2 lead at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, before adding an insurance run in the seventh.

he Dodgers and the Padres will then open the 2024 Major League Baseball (MLB) regular season at Gocheok on Wednesday, with another game scheduled for Thursday. These two will be the first MLB games played in South Korea.

Earlier Monday, the Padres defeated the 2023 Korean Series champions LG Twins 5-4.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the Dodgers have a heck of a team this year if they can keep everyone healthy all year.

North Korea’s war on the fish of the East Sea continues:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has guided firing drills involving super-large multiple rocket launchers and called for perfecting readiness to collapse the capital of the enemy with the “core striking means,” state media said Tuesday.

On the previous day, Kim oversaw the “salvo” drills of artillery units in the country’s western region using the 600mm multiple launch rocket system, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The South Korean military said Monday it detected the firing of multiple short-range ballistic missiles from areas near Pyongyang and they flew about 300 kilometers toward the East Sea. Experts said they might be the KN-25 super-large multiple rocket launcher.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Here are some interesting survey results about the prestige of certain professions. In Korea, China, and Japan lawmakers have the highest level of prestige, however in the U.S. and Germany lawmakers rank very low according to this survey:

Individuals from South Korea, China, and Japan perceive lawmakers as holding the highest societal status job, whereas those from the United States and Germany consider firefighters to have the highest social status, according to survey results released Sunday.

The Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training conducted the survey from July to August 2023. The survey involved 7,500 employed individuals aged between 18 to 64 across five different countries: South Korea, China, Germany, Japan and the US.

Researchers identified 15 occupations spanning diverse sectors and requested respondents to evaluate the societal status of each profession using a five-point scale, ranging from “very low” to “very high.”

The 15 jobs included lawmaker, pharmacist, middle and high school teacher, small business executive, mechanical engineer, software developer, bank teller, factory worker, restaurant employee, construction day laborer, social worker, firefighter, artificial intelligence expert, movie director and digital content creator.

According to KRIVET, the perception of prestige associated with specific occupations also varies depending on the nationalities of the survey respondents.

Korean nationals assigned the highest occupational prestige, scoring 4.16 points, to lawmakers, followed by pharmacists and artificial intelligence experts, respectively marking 3.83 and 3.67 points. In contrast, factory workers, restaurant employees, and construction day laborers were ranked the lowest, ranging between 1.86 to 2.19 points.

Japanese and Chinese respondents also answered that lawmakers held the highest occupational prestige, with 3.59 points and 4.22 points respectively, followed by pharmacists in Japan and movie directors in China.

Unlike the three Asian countries, respondents from Germany and the US answered that firefighters held the highest occupational prestige, followed by software developers. In Korea, firefighters were ranked 11th in their level of prestige. Lawmakers were ranked 12th in the US and 10th in Germany.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link, but considering all the partisanship and how poorly the U.S. Congress performs it is no surprise they rank so lowly by Americans surveyed in this poll. This survey however would have been more interesting if they included military personnel. Would military personnel have outranked firemen?

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that North Korea is likely to ramp up their provocations this year during Korea’s parliamentary elections and the U.S. Presidential election periods:

Yang Uk, a research fellow at Asan Institute of Policy Studies in Seoul, said North Korea had probably been refraining from aggression for the past month in light of political events in China and Russia, like annual plenary sessions and Moscow’s presidential election.

“North Korea is probably going to start to ramp up provocations from now,” he told The Korea Herald. “Pyongyang probably opted for a short-range, rather than a long-range ballistic missile, with its possible summit with Tokyo in mind,” he said, referring to recent news that North Korea is seeking to meet with Japan.

The ruling People Power Party believes North Korea may escalate aggressions ahead of South Korea’s general election and the US presidential election.

Rep. Park Jeong-ha, the People Power Party chief spokesperson, said in a statement Monday that as the risks of “military and cyber provocations” from North Korea were “very high” over the year, greater political fluidity is expected internationally.

“North Korea’s provocations are anticipated to get more frequent and aggressive as the year progresses,” he said.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

Summit for Democracy

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol delivers a congratulatory speech during the 3rd Summit for Democracy at a hotel in Seoul on March 18, 2024. (Yonhap)

The only thing surprising about this missile firing is that they did not do this earlier for the start of the Freedom Shield exercise:

North Korea fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea on Monday, the South Korean military said, just hours before talks between the top diplomats of South Korea and the United States.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the missile launches in the area of Pyongyang between 7:44 a.m. and 8:22 a.m., which flew around 300 kilometers and landed in the East Sea. 

“North Korea fired at least three missiles, and their trajectories were similar to those of KN-24,” a senior military official said.

The KN-24 is a solid-fuel ballistic missile with a range of up to 410 km and a payload of 400-500 kg.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The next time I am in Tokyo I have to check this place out:

Travel enthusiasts living in Japan can “visit” another country at First Airlines, a restaurant that uses virtual reality technology to transport customers to a variety of destinations. First Airlines, on the eighth floor of Parkheim West in Tokyo’s Ikebukuro district, re-creates the experience of an international flight right down to walking the streets of a foreign city. The restaurant foyer simulates the waiting area at an airport gate, complete with a flight information display and a departure counter.

A person dressed as a gate agent greets guests and hands them a boarding pass and a make-believe Japanese passport stamped with the name of their destination. I booked a first-class “flight” to Rome. Other flights are available to Germany, Spain, New Zealand, Finland, France, Ukraine, Hawaii and New York City. The experience is two hours long with a three-course meal. Once customers are checked in, a “flight attendant” guides them to their seats; the restaurant is built to resemble an aircraft interior, with actual seats from Airbus 310 and 340 airliners.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.