If you think South Korea already has too many Chinese tourists, well it is about to get worse:

Repeat short-haul visits by Chinese travelers to Korea are expected to rise after Seoul eased multiple-entry visa rules, but analysts say the immediate impact may be limited because of growing competition from Southeast Asia and higher airfares linked to the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran.

The Korean embassy in Beijing announced that Chinese nationals who had previously visited Korea would now be eligible for a five-year multiple-entry visa.

Those holding residency status in 14 major cities — including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou — could also apply for 10-year multiple-entry visas, the embassy said this week. Employees of Chinese companies that have invested at least $1 million in Korea were also eligible for 10-year multiple-entry visas.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

An intermediate-range ballistic missile tipped with a hypersonic warhead being launched Wednesday, in this photo released by Korea Central News Agency the following day. Yonhap

As the war drags on expect more measures like this to be implemented:

Suwon Urban Development Corporation employees stage a publicity campaign at Jangan-dong Public Parking Lot in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday. (Yonhap)

Starting Wednesday, Seoul will roll out a “1-in-5” parking system in more than half of its public parking lots, meaning drivers can only park on certain days depending on their license plate numbers, city officials said Tuesday.

The move comes after the government raised the national oil resource security alert to “warning” and introduced emergency measures nationwide.

Under the system, vehicles with plate numbers ending in 1 or 6 will be barred on Mondays, 2 or 7 on Tuesdays, 3 or 8 on Wednesdays, 4 or 9 on Thursdays, and 5 or 0 on Fridays. The measure will not apply on weekends or public holidays.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

Just like I predicted Kim Yo-jong’s recent statement about President Lee would be heralded as peace in our time is near and the North Koreans wasted no time pouring cold water on that assessment:

A North Korean official said Tuesday that a statement by Kim Yo-jong, issued after President Lee Jae Myung expressed regret over drone incursions, should be seen as a clear warning, dismissing Seoul’s response as a “wishful interpretation.”

Jang Kum-chol, North Korea’s first vice foreign minister, issued a statement after Seoul officials positively assessed Kim’s statement Monday. The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un described Lee as “frank and broad-minded” following his expression of regret over drone incursions by individuals into the North.

Jang said the South Korean side’s interpretation of the statement as an “unprecedented favorable response” would amount to a “pipe dream” and a “wishful interpretation,” 

“The core of the statement was a clear warning,” Jang said, adding that he interpreted Kim Yo-jong’s message as a call for South Korea to acknowledge its “wrongdoing” and refrain from approaching North Korea.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

That is what some are suggesting as the reason why North Korea has increased diplomacy with Russia and China in recent weeks:

North Korea has launched a diplomatic sprint in recent weeks, deepening ties with both China and Russia in what experts describe as a calculated bid to strengthen its bargaining position ahead of any engagement with the United States.

Long regarded as one of the world’s most isolated states — a reputation reinforced by years of pandemic-era border closures — Pyongyang moved quickly to normalize relations with its two most important partners while quietly maintaining outreach to Southeast Asian nations.

The moves come against the backdrop of a planned U.S.-China summit in May that is expected to touch on North Korea’s nuclear program and growing speculation about the possibility of a U.S.-North Korea summit in the second half of the year.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

I don’t think Yoon will ever get out of jail as long as the Korean left is in power. It will take a future conservative leader to pardon him to ever get him out because the left intends to bury him with as many charges as they can find:

Former President Yoon Suk Yeol (Pool photo) (Yonhap)

 A special counsel team on Monday demanded a 10-year prison term for former President Yoon Suk Yeol during the appeals trial of his obstruction of justice case stemming from his 2024 imposition of martial law.

Special counsel Cho Eun-suk’s team sought the sentence at the final hearing at the Seoul High Court, double the five-year term handed down by a lower court in January.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but this is just one of 8 trials Yoon is involved in.

I am sure the Lee administration will probably use these comments to increase North Korea appeasement attempts:

The file photo taken Feb. 10, 2018, shows Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. (Yonhap)

Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, said Monday the leader Kim described President Lee Jae Myung as “frank and broad-minded” following Lee’s expression of regret over unauthorized drone flights into the North.

Earlier in the day, Lee expressed regret over the incident at a Cabinet meeting, saying “Although this was not an act by our government, I express regret to the North Korean side over the unnecessary military tension caused by such reckless behavior.”

In a statement released by the North’s state media under her name, Kim, who serves as department director of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party, said Pyongyang “appreciated it as a very fortunate and wise behavior.”

“Our head of state commented on it as a manifestation of a frank and broad-minded man’s attitude,” the statement read.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The impeachment of former President Yoon continues to drag down the PPP’s favorability in Korea:

One year after former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s ouster over his botched martial law crisis, the People Power Party (PPP), to which he belonged, is facing its worst slump in years. A new poll shows the main opposition party trailing the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) by 30 percentage points — the widest gap between the two parties since 2018. (…..)

The nationwide survey by Gallup Korea released Friday and conducted on 1,001 adults from March 31 to April 2 shows the DPK’s approval rating at 48 percent while the PPP’s was at 18 percent.

The 30-percentage-point gap is the largest since November 2018 by-elections, when the Liberty Korea Party, the predecessor to the PPP at the time, lost four seats in the National Assembly in the aftermath of the 2017 impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye, also a member of the conservative bloc. It is also the PPP’s lowest Gallup Korea result since November 2020.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.