People must have a lot of money to waste to spend up $1,800 over the current asking price for the Vision Pro just to get it earlier than when it is officially released in South Korea:

A customer uses Apple’s Vision Pro headset at the Apple Fifth Avenue store in Manhattan in New York City, U.S., February 2, 2024. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Apple’s Vision Pro is being sold at a premium of as much as 2.4 million won ($1,800) in Korea as the new wearable is not officially available in the country. 
  
Some are even paying to experience the device for a couple of hours.

Apple’s MR (mixed reality) headset, the Vision Pro, launched in the United States on Feb. 1 to better-than-expected popularity despite a hefty price tag of $3,500 for the cheapest 256-gigabyte storage option. An estimated 180,000 units or more have been sold, selling out the pre-order quantity.

Major secondhand marketplaces in Korea have dozens of posts reselling the device at an inflated price. Mostly purchased in the U.S., these devices are listed with a price 1 million won to 2 million won over the official price tag.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but has any ROK Heads try this headset out yet? Is it anywhere near being worth the price currently listed for it?

Is this a good thing or a bad thing that South Korea has so many Starbucks stores?:

 South Korea held the fourth-largest number of Starbucks stores around the globe as of last year, data showed Monday, driven by solid demand from local consumers.

South Korea held 1,893 Starbucks stores as of 2023, up 116 from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the U.S. coffee giant.

The figure falls just behind Japan’s count at 1,901, despite the Asian neighbor having a population twice the size of South Korea’s.

The Seattle-based coffee giant introduced its first store in Seoul in 1999 in partnership with Shinsegae Group, a Korean retail group.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Normally a 39.2% approval rating would be a bad thing, but for President Yoon it is actually a sign of improvement:

President Yoon Suk Yeol’s approval rating rose slightly to 39.2 percent from a week earlier, a survey showed Monday.

According to the Realmeter survey, the positive assessment of Yoon’s performance rose 1.9 percentage points from the week earlier, while the negative assessment fell 1.7 percentage points.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

The make up of the ROK military will look a little different by 2030:

The number of soldiers coming from a multicultural background will account for 5 percent of the nation’s entire conscripts by 2030 after a notable increase since the 2009 amendment to the Military Service Act, which mandates military service for all Korean nationals, according to the report released by the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, Monday.

The report suggested that a growing number of conscripts from multicultural households could become a crucial resource in sustaining the military, helping address potential conscript shortages stemming from the country’s low birthrate. It raised the need for the military to establish and implement management and support policies tailored to multicultural soldiers.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Korea is one of the places in the world where EV’s actually make sense due to the shorter distances between cities:

Electric cars accounted for 9.3 percent of newly purchased cars in South Korea last year, data showed Monday, hovering above that of other major counterparts, including the United States and Japan.

The electric vehicles (EVs) took up 162,507 of 1.74 million cars sold in South Korea in 2023, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

The ratio marked a significant rise from just 1.9 percent tallied in 2019.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

My kids have done their part to contributing to Shin Ramyun’s popularity because they love eating it. I on the otherhand would rather eat Chapagetti:

Shin Ramyun was the bestselling instant noodles in South Korea last year and Saeukkang was the top selling snack, data showed Sunday.

Retail sales of Shin Ramyun of Nongshim, available in both packaged and cup noodle forms, amounted to 383.6 billion won (US$287.8 million) last year, topping the list of instant noodles, according to the data compiled by the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp.

Nongshim’s Chapagetti came in next with 213.1 billion won in sales, followed by Jin Ramen with 209.2 billion won and Buldak Ramen, known as hot chicken flavor ramen, with 147.2 billion won.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.