I don’t know enough about this act to determine whether it is good or bad, what I do know it has created great divisions within South Korea’s health care community:

Korean Licensed Practical Nurses Association (KLPNA) President Kwak Ji-yeon, front, is transferred to a hospital from the association’s sit-in protest tent in front of the National Assembly, ending a six-day hunger strike to protest the Nursing Act upon the persuasion of Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong, second from right, Sunday. Courtesy of Ministry of Health and Welfare

Tension within the country’s medical community is growing as doctors, nursing assistants and various other medical workers announce a joint strike in protest of the recently passed Nursing Act, which they claim privileges nurses unfairly.

Starting Wednesday, a coalition of 13 medical workers’ organizations including the Korea Medical Association (KMA) and the Korean Licensed Practical Nurses Association (KLPNA), both in opposition to the Nursing Act legislation, have decided to go on strike, a KMA official told The Korea Times, Monday.

The coalition will also hold rallies on Tuesday in front of the National Assembly in Seoul and the Incheon office of Rep. Lee Jae-myung, chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), to condemn the DPK, which controls more than half of the 300-seat Assembly, for passing the bill. (…..)

The Nursing Act, which aims to improve nurses’ working conditions and clarify the scope of their duties independently from the existing Medical Services Act, has increased clashes within medical circles and among the rival parties regarding its legislation, which was passed at the National Assembly’s plenary session last Thursday.  (….)

However, the bill faced fierce opposition from other medical groups including doctors, nursing assistants and paramedics and the ruling People Power Party (PPP), claiming that it favors a certain professional group and will create new conflicts in the health care system.

The Nursing Act contains a provision that broadens the scope of nurses’ responsibilities from medical institutions to community and public health, in response to the ramifications of an aging population.

However, the doctors’ group is concerned that the legislation may enable nurses to intervene in the duties of other medical workers and give privileges to nurses over other medical professionals.

Nursing assistants also claimed they could suffer discrimination in recruitment if the new law comes into effect, as it will put the nursing assistants under the supervision of nurses.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Considering North Korea’s stated commitment to expanding its nuclear arsenal this news should not be surprising:

Recent commercial satellite imagery indicates North Korea continues to expand and refurbish its Yongbyon nuclear complex, reinforcing concerns the country is acting on leader Kim Jong-un’s recent call for an “exponential” increase in its nuclear arsenal, 38 North, a U.S. think tank, said Friday.

The report based on satellite imagery taken April 20 said significant construction and improvement activities have been detected throughout the Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center, particularly around the Experimental Light Water Reactor (ELWR), the 5 MWe Reactor and within the uranium conversion area.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

This Canadian man walked to the airport in Vancouver, British Columbia and then walked 186 miles from Incheon International Airport to the Kapyong Valley in South Korea:

A Canadian with a penchant for fostering the memory of his nation’s military service recently walked nearly 200 miles to a hilltop where his countrymen distinguished themselves in the Korean War.

Guy Black spent more than 2 ½ years planning and training for his trek, which began in British Columbia and concluded at the Kapyong battlefield east of Seoul. He timed his walk to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the conflict’s end.

“I hope that I can inspire more people to do something for remembrance,” he said April 21 at the Kapyong memorial. “I want people to just know more about the Korean War. I would like veterans to get more recognition and I hope that this walk gets people to remember and also do something that was worthy of a tribute to these people.” 

The Battle of Kapyong, or Gapyeong, April 23-25, 1951, belonged to the outnumbered Canadian and Australian troops of the 27th British Commonwealth Infantry Brigade who prevailed over their adversaries in three larger Chinese regiments. 

Ten Canadians lost their lives and another 23 were wounded, according to Veterans Affairs Canada. The Australians lost 32 killed and 59 wounded. An estimated 2,000 Chinese soldiers were killed or wounded.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link. I also recommend reading my prior posting about Canadian Korean War hero, Lieutenant Colonel J.R. Stone.

Here is another development in the improving ties between South Korea and Japan:

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is expected to visit South Korea later this month, in what appears to be a move to gain the upper hand over Seoul in trilateral relations between South Korea, Japan and the U.S.

Citing multiple government officials from both the South Korean and Japanese governments, Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun reported on Sunday that the prime minister will visit Seoul from May 7 to 8. It will be his first trip to South Korea since taking office.

The newspaper reported that the visit is aimed at responding to President Yoon Suk Yeol’s visit to Japan in March, during which the South Korean leader showed his willingness to improve chilled bilateral relations. 

The South Korean presidential office did not confirm this, but admitted that “consultations are ongoing” over the prime minister’s visit to South Korea.

If it takes place, the visit will be the first by a Japanese prime minister since February 2018, when Shinzo Abe made one on the occasion of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics here. In terms of bilateral diplomacy, however, it will be the first visit since October 2011, when Yoshihiko Noda visited Seoul for a summit with then-South Korean President Lee Myung-bak.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Should bars in Korea that deny entry to foreigners be prevented from doing so? That is what this academic working in Korea believes:

“Oegugin churip geumji,” said the doorman. Entry prohibited for foreigners.

This article was nearly a very angry one. After I was denied entry to a bar two weeks ago for not being Korean, I was fulminating internally over the piece that I would write.

I was going to write about the closemindedness and inherent insularity of Korea that the “no foreigners” rule reveals. Why should anyone support Busan’s bid for the 2030 World Expo if the people it seeks to attract are not welcome here? Why should Scottish distillers or Belgian brewers sell their products to Korean pubs that refuse entry to the very people who created that precious nectar? Why should woke fans abroad laud K-pop as something special or somehow anti-racist when some of the genre’s biggest stars (members of BlACKPINK and Twice, for instance) could themselves be banned from the country’s pubs?

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but denying entry to foreigners in certain bars has been going on for decades. It also works in reverse where some bars near US military installations would not let in Koreans. The academic that wrote this article was so upset he took his complaints to the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK). Personally I just don’t have the time to worry about being denied entry to a bar much less file a complaint to the NHRCK. Instead I would just walk to one of the vast majority of bars in Korea that have no problem accepting business from foreigners.

North Korea has officially responded to the US-ROK summit last week where President Biden said the regime would be destroyed if they used nuclear weapons. None of these insults and threats coming from Kim Yo-jong should be surprising in response considering North Korea’s past history of insulting US and ROK presidents:

In her comments published on state media, Kim Yo Jong said the U.S.-South Korean agreement reflected the allies’ “most hostile and aggressive will of action” against the North and will push regional peace and security into “more serious danger.”

Kim, who is one of her brother’s top foreign policy officials, said the summit further strengthened the North’s conviction to enhance its nuclear arms capabilities. She said it would be especially important for the North to perfect the “second mission of the nuclear war deterrent,” in an apparent reference to the country’s escalatory nuclear doctrine that calls for preemptive nuclear strikes over a broad range of scenarios where it may perceive its leadership as under threat.

She lashed out at Biden over his blunt warning that North Korean nuclear aggression would result in the end of its regime, calling him senile and “too miscalculating and irresponsibly brave.” However, she said the North wouldn’t simply dismiss his words as a “nonsensical remark from the person in his dotage.”

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.