How can the operators of this business overlook not securing the carabiner before a bungee jump? Condolences to the deceased friends and family because this is absolutely horrible:

This Yonhap file photo shows Starfield Anseong Mall. (Yonhap)

A woman in her 60s died after falling from a bungee jumping platform at a large shopping mall in Anseong, just south of Seoul, on Monday, police said. 

The victim, whose identity has been withheld, plummeted eight meters to the concrete floor at a sports experience facility housed at Starfield Anseong Mall, they said. The facility offers various experience facilities, such as bungee jumping and climbing.

The victim was wearing safety equipment at the moment, but a key safety component, a carabiner, which is a type of safety hook, was unsecured at the time, they said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The government should threaten to suspend their licenses for far longer than three months. How about a 5-10 years; that would probably get them back into the hospital:

Interior Minister Lee Sang-min speaks during a meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters at the government complex in Seoul on Feb. 26, 2024.

The government issued an ultimatum on Monday to trainee doctors who stopped work for a seventh day to protest against the government’s plan to boost medical students, warning that it could begin suspending the licenses of trainee doctors next month unless they return to work soon.

Second Vice Health Minister Park Min-soo told reporters that trainee doctors who refused to return to work by Thursday could start facing punishment the following day amid deepening concerns over public health as doctors and the government were on a collision course over the plan to raise the medical school admission quota by 2,000 seats next year.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The bromance between Putin and Kim continues:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has received a Russian-made luxury car from Russian President Vladimir Putin as a gift demonstrating the special bonds between the two leaders, state media reported Tuesday.

The gift serves as a “clear demonstration of the special personal relations between the two leaders and as the best one,” according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Russia conveyed the vehicle for Kim’s personal use Sunday to Pak Jong-chon, a secretary of the ruling Worker’s Party of Korea, and Kim Yo-jong, the sister of the North’s leader. She delivered Kim Jong-un’s thanks to Putin to the Russian side, the report said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The government should really revoke medical licenses from anyone participating in this strike that is adversely impacting so many patients:

To cope with a potential disruption of medical services, the government will extend operating hours at 97 public hospitals and emergency rooms at 12 military hospitals will be opened to the public, Park said.

“We are deeply disappointed and concerned that the collective action by trainee doctors has led to a disruption in medical services, such as the cancellation of surgeries,” Park said. 

“We cannot give justification to the actions of the doctors leaving their patients behind to protest a policy despite knowing what the collective action could result in,” Park added. 

“The government will put in utmost efforts to operate an emergency medical system to minimize possible damage to the patients.”

The government says the increase in the admission quota is needed to address a shortage of doctors, particularly in rural areas and essential medical fields, such as high-risk surgeries, pediatrics, obstetrics and emergency medicine.

The number of doctors in South Korea relative to the size of the population is among the lowest in the developed world, according to health authorities.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The cover up is what caused these senior police officials to be convicted of a crime, not the incompetence that contributed to the Itaewon crowd crush disaster:

A South Korean court on Wednesday convicted three former police officers of destroying internal files and other evidence in an attempted cover-up after a Halloween crowd crush that killed nearly 160 people in the capital, Seoul, in 2022. They were the first convictions over the deaths. The high death toll was largely blamed on official failures in disaster planning and a botched emergency response. More than 20 government and police officials were indicted.

The Seoul Western District Court sentenced Park Seong-min, a former senior intelligence officer at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, to 18 months in prison on charges that he ordered subordinates to erase internal documents after the crush. Those included reports showing how police ignored warnings about possible crowd-related accidents in the nightlife district of Itaewon. Kim Jin-ho, a former intelligence officer at Seoul’s Yongsan district police station, received a suspended one-year sentence on similar charges. Kwang Yeong-seok, a lower-ranking officer at the Yongsan station, received a four-month deferred sentence after being found guilty of destroying files under Kim’s instruction.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but what continues to amaze me about this Itaewon tragedy is that there is a police station right across the street from the Hamilton Hotel where the disaster happened. The police received warnings for hours of the dangerous crowds in the area and nothing was done by the police personnel in the station right across the street.

It looks like Japan is the one democratic nation that the North Koreans are looking to play nice with:

The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un offered a rare opening for Japan, saying she saw a positive tone in comments from Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who is seeking a summit. Kim Yo Jong indicated a meeting of leaders would be possible if Japan “does not lay such a stumbling block as the already settled abduction issue,” she said in a press statement issued Thursday on state media.

“It is my opinion that if Japan makes a political decision to open up a new way of mending the relations through its courteous behavior and trustworthy action on the basis of courageously breaking with anachronistic hostility and unattainable desire and recognizing each other, the two countries can open up a new future together,” the statement carried on the Korean Central News Agency said.

The tone is a marked change from comments she issued nearly two years ago when she lumped Japan in with a bunch of “sinister” nations she accused of raising rabble at the United Nations to criticize Pyongyang for the test of an intercontinental ballistic missile.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but what I suspect is that the Kim regime sees the growing relationship between Japan and South Korea. Because of this they probably want to play nice with Japan in order to try and separate them from South Korea.