The nursing act that has caused huge protests in South Korea from the health care community against it, has been vetoed by President Yoon:

A Cabinet meeting led by President Yoon Suk Yeol is held at the presidential office in Seoul on May 16, 2023. (Yonhap)

President Yoon Suk Yeol rejected the opposition-led nursing act Tuesday amid strong protests from doctors and nursing assistants against it, exercising his veto power for the second time since taking office.

The act, which was railroaded by the main opposition Democratic Party last month, is aimed at stipulating the roles and responsibilities of nurses, and improving their working conditions.

“The people’s health cannot be exchanged for anything,” Yoon said during a Cabinet meeting at the presidential office, before rejecting the legislation and asking the National Assembly to reconsider it.

Yoon said people’s health comes ahead of anything else, such as politics, foreign policy and economic policy, and can only be properly maintained through cooperation between various groups of medical professionals.

“The nursing act is creating excessive conflict between these related groups, and the move to separate nursing services from medical institutions is causing people to feel anxious about their health,” he said.

Yonhap

Here is why there has been much criticism of the bill:

Doctors and nursing assistants have opposed the bill, arguing the legislation would cause confusion in the medical sector because it could lead to nurses opening their own clinics without doctors’ supervision and that nursing assistants could be discriminated against.

You can read more at the link.

To be fair South Korea is far from the only country with a vulnerability to drone strikes. Militaries around the world are all struggling to develop defenses against this new technology that is being used heavily on the battlefields in Ukraine:

An incursion of South Korean airspace by North Korean drones exposed Seoul’s lack of preparedness in defending against such threats, and it will likely take years for the military to correct its shortcomings, according to a classified U.S. intelligence assessment of the December incident.

The findings, outlined in a leak of U.S. secrets circulated on the Discord messaging platform and obtained by The Washington Post, spotlight the vulnerable state of South Korea’s air defense as its volatile neighbor’s aggressive development of a nuclear arsenal has Seoul and Washington on edge.

South Korea has prioritized its defenses to confront incoming missiles while investing heavily in growing its air and naval forces, but Seoul’s focus has come at the cost of neglecting other air defense needs, experts said — leaving the country vulnerable to a threat responsible for extensive carnage in Ukraine, Syria and elsewhere.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

U.S. government civilians will have a little less in their pay checks this month:

Civilians working for the U.S. government in South Korea will see 5% less post allowance in their next paycheck as the dollar continued its climb against the won. 

The change in post allowance — the equivalent of the tax-free cost-of-living allowance received by service members and their families — took effect May 7 and will remain in place at least until May 21, according to the State Department’s website.

Post allowance rates in South Korea are based on an employee’s duty station and are between 15% to 25% of a worker’s annual spendable income, which is calculated by salary and family size.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Another win for South Korea’s defense industry:

This photo, provided by Hanwha Systems Co. on May 12, 2023, shows a Jose Rizal-class frigate of the Philippine Navy. 

Hanwha Systems Co., the defense and ICT unit of South Korea’s Hanwha Group, said Friday it has won a US$34.5 million contract to supply its combat management system (CMS) to the Philippine Navy. 

Hanwha’s indigenous combat system will be installed in six 2,400-ton offshore patrol vessels, in a deal valued at $29.5 million, the Seoul-based company said in a release. 

The contract also includes the export of the standard digital communications system, known as the tactical data link, worth $5 million. 

A CMS works as the brain of a vessel and is designed to integrate all equipment, like sensors, weapons and communications systems, into one single system to help counter threats more efficiently during combat.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

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