It is interesting that with all the talk of global warming from the Korean Democratic Party, it is President Yoon from the Korean conservative party who has actually done more to cut carbon emissions. I have always said that any global warming person who doesn’t advocate for the use of nuclear power is not serious in their beliefs and this just proves it:

As the Yoon Suk Yeol government significantly increased the proportion of nuclear power generation, its dependence on fossil fuels fell significantly. Dependence on fossil fuels has become lower than during the Moon Jae In government, which implemented a policy of de-nuclearization to reduce carbon emissions. Attention is focusing on how strongly the Democratic Party of Korea, which won a landslide victory in the general election, will push for the restoration of its policy on denuclearization, which it had promised.

According to the Korea Electric Power Corporation on the 15th, nuclear power accounted for 30.2% of the total power generation in the two years since the inauguration of the Yoon Suk Yeol government until last year. This is an increase of 3.7 percentage points from the previous Moon Jae In administration, which was only 26.5 percent. The share of renewable power generation also rose 2.8 percentage points from 7.6% during the Moon administration to 10.4% during the Yoon administration.

Maeil Kyeongchae

You can read more at the link.

The missile may have failed, but the test is only a failure if the engineers did not learn anything from it. As we have seen in the past, the North Koreans learn from their mistakes and have successfully built a number of capable missile systems:

Defense Minister Shin Won-sik said Sunday that North Korea’s hypersonic missile launched earlier this month was “unsuccessful in its last glide flight” but predicted that the North’s hypersonic missile with an intermediate range could be “successful one day.” 

Shin made the assessment during an interview with public broadcaster KBS after the North claimed it successfully test-fired the Hwasongpho-16B, a new intermediate-range ballistic missile tipped with a hypersonic warhead.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It is amazing how much of a difference not having makeup and being exposed to the sun can do to someone’s face:

A Chinese woman in her 20s who went on a 10,000km long hike turned into a grandmother in her 60s in three months.

According to the Hong Kong South China Morning Post on the 10th, Xasha (28), from Hubei Province in central China, departed from Chongqing City in southwest China in January and embarked on a walking tour to the Tibetan Autonomous Region. With a backpack weighing 50 kilograms, the walking distance so far is about 10,000 kilometers.

Sasha, who walks about 50km a day, receives donations through live streaming online from time to time. When there is a lot of donations, it is about 10,000 yuan (1.87 million won) per month.

A Chinese influencer filmed her hike and posted it on social media. What made headlines was her face, not her hiking scene.

This is because she did not wear makeup and her sunburnt face looked different from her previous appearance. On social media, “Your face looks 58 years old (not 28 years old).”

Maeil Kyeongchae

You can read more at the link.

For South Korea, a regional war that disrupts their energy supplies from the Middle East would be devestating to their economy. This is true for many other countries as well, which is wahy Israel is probably under enormous pressure right now to not retaliate for the attack on their country this weekend:

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Sunday presided over an emergency meeting to discuss the economic and security impact of heightened tensions in the Middle East following Iran’s recent missile and drone strikes against Israel, his office said.

The meeting was held to discuss the global security and economic situation following the latest Mideast crisis and its impact on South Korea’s economy and security, it added.

Noting the growing uncertainty of the global economy arising from the geopolitical instability in the Middle East, the participants agreed to keep close tabs on the impact on the international oil prices and exchange rate movements and to respond quickly to its effect on the economy, including supply chains.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Its an election year and it is pretty clear the Biden administration wants Kim Jong-un to behave, so offering talks may be an attempt to do this:

 The top U.S. envoy to the U.N. will reaffirm America’s “ironclad” security partnership with South Korea and its openness to “unconditional” dialogue with North Korea during her visit to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas next week, a senior U.S. official said Friday.

On Tuesday, Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield plans to pay a visit to the DMZ, after which she will have a roundtable with North Korean escapees. She is set to arrive in Korea on Sunday as part of her East Asia swing that will also take her to Japan.

“The message that Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield will send by visiting the DMZ is that the security partnership with the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Japan is ironclad. She wants to obviously go to the DMZ to get a firsthand look at the situation there,” the official said in an online press briefing. ROK is the abbreviation for South Korea’s official name.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

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