It is not so much that Lee Jun-seok switched to English, but what he said, “You became one of us but you don’t look like us as of now” that is really racist:

Naturalized South Korean doctor Yohan Ihn’s appointment as reform head of the ruling People Power Party in October came as a surprise move in a country with a relatively short history of racial or ethnic diversity in politics.

Following his appointment, the 64-year-old Ihn, also known as John Linton, who is white and the descendant of US missionaries, has faced personal attacks over his ethnicity from political opponents who sought to undermine his power, overshadowing his reform agenda.

At the same time, the issue has opened up opportunities for counterattacks by Ihn’s supporters over the bigoted nature of the attacks.

On Saturday, Ihn made a surprise appearance at a conference in Busan, where disgraced ex-People Power Party Chair Lee Jun-seok was scheduled to speak. Ihn attended the conference to meet Lee face-to-face, two days after his party membership suspension was lifted upon Ihn’s recommendation.

Lee appeared to give Ihn the cold shoulder and, while onstage during the conference, switched to English and argued to Ihn that he thought it was not the right time to hold such a meeting.

Lee said that Ihn had “failed to meet the prerequisites” for an in-person meeting with him on the grounds that, he believes, Ihn represents the current leadership of the party over which President Yoon Suk Yeol holds sway. Lee further believes that the party leadership has not learned its lesson from its critical by-election loss in Seoul’s Gangseo-gu in October.

“The reason I spoke to you in English is,” Lee said in Korean, before switching back to English to continue: “You became one of us but you don’t look like us as of now. Please be (on) our side, and speak in the same language as we do, and speak in the language of democracy with us, please. I said please.”

Korea Herald

Dr. Ihn has also faced attacks from local media for talking positively about the late General Paik Sun-yup who is arguably one of the most important Koreans in the ROK’s modern history:

The critical public reception of Ihn has not been hard to notice in Korea over the last few weeks. Citizens’ Press Dandelion, a local citizens’ media outlet, in October described Ihn as a “special Korean” who has a “lopsided and superficial understanding of Korea’s history and politics.”

The comments were made in criticism of Ihn’s past remarks praising a controversial historical figure, the late former Gen. Paik Sun-yup, in a news report headlined, “Heavy burden on Yohan Ihn, who loves Korea but does not know much about it.”

You can read more at the link.

President Yoon still has a low approval rating, but for the first time in a while he is showing a significant positive increase of 3% from the last poll taken a month ago:

President Yoon Suk Yeol’s approval rating increased to 37 percent from a month ago, according to a survey conducted jointly by Yonhap News Agency and Yonhap News TV on Wednesday.

The survey also showed that the ruling People Power Party and the main opposition Democratic Party would secure 33 percent and 32 percent of the vote, respectively, if the parliamentary elections scheduled for next April were held tomorrow.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

I did not realize that no Columbians had ever been buried at the UN Cemetery in Busan until now:

Four Colombians will soon become the first Korean War veterans from their country to be laid to rest at the world’s only U.N. cemetery in Busan, South Korea.

The remains of Luis Carlos García Ardila, 89; José Gustavo Pascagaza León, 81; José Sergio Romero, 81; and Jorge Sánchez Tapia, 87, will arrive on the peninsula Wednesday, according to a news release Tuesday from South Korea’s Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs.

Their remains will be temporarily placed at Seoul National Cemetery until their interment Saturday at United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Busan.

Two British veterans of the Korean War — Bryan Laurenson, 94, and Brian Wood, 88 — will also be interred during a separate ceremony on the same day, according to the release.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

If you use the Seoul subway to get to work be ready for alternate transportation means if you ride these subway lines:

Unionized workers of Seoul Metro, the operator of Seoul subway lines No. 1-8, will stage a strike starting Thursday in protest of the company’s manpower reduction plan, officials said Wednesday.

The labor union has threatened to take the collective action after the company announced a plan to reduce its workforce by 2,212, or 13.5 percent, by 2026 to overcome its chronic deficit and normalize management.

The labor and management of the company, run by the Seoul city government, have held rounds of talks since July, but failed to narrow differences, the officials said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

If the North Koreans cannot get their rocket to work after receiving assistance from the Russians they might as well give up trying:

This file photo, taken Oct. 18, 2023, shows Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho speaking in an interview with Yonhap News Agency and Yonhap News TV. (Yonhap)

North Korea appears to have been receiving technical assistance from Russia over the launch of a military spy satellite, and there is a “very high” chance for the North to press ahead with it once the country completes fixing technical glitches, South Korea’s unification minister said Monday.

Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho made the remark during a meeting with a group of reporters amid speculation that North Korea is in the final stage of its preparations to make a third attempt to put a military spy satellite into orbit after its failed attempts in May and August.

“It is hard to predict when North Korea will make the third attempt for the launch. But there seem to be signs of the North receiving technical assistance from Russia,” Kim said in a meeting marking his 100th day in office.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This was a horrible crime that happened to the woman just trying to do her job at a convenience store:

This image captured from X, also formerly known as Twitter, shows an ongoing campaign in which women with short hair share their photos, which began after a female part-timer in her 20s, who was working at a convenience store, was assaulted by a man in his 20s simply because of her short hair. Captured from X

Should women with short hair be labeled as feminists? And do feminists harm men?

Such questions, which sound a bit peculiar, have been raised in Korea, once again, following a recent incident, in which a female part-timer in her 20s, who was working at a convenience store, was assaulted by a man in his 20s simply because of her short hair. 

The incident immediately led to an online campaign encouraging women with short hair to share their photos under #women_shortcut_campaign.

According to police, the assailant was caught assaulting the part-timer at the convenience store in Jinju, South Gyeongsang Province, on Saturday. The man also assaulted a male customer in his 50s who was trying to stop the attack.

At the time of the attack, the attacker said to the victim, “You must be a feminist as you have short hair. The feminist should get punished,” according to the police.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.