This is not a bad idea for the entrepreneurs that came up with the PC-tel concept, but I guess we will see if the Korean government decides to regulate them out of existence:

An increasing number of teenagers in Korea are heading to unstaffed motels at night to use the venues to play computer games, raising concerns about the facilities’ lack of monitoring against underage visitors.

The issue has stoked further a more deeply troubling side effect of the facilities that they are creating a space for teenagers to engage in the illegal consumption of alcohol, prostitution and sex crimes.

The lodges welcome visitors with kiosks at their fronts instead of concierge staff. The machines offer rooms to anyone who pays in advance, regardless of age. The facilities, because of the unmonitored check-in system and lax screening regarding customer age, are becoming more popular option for teenagers who are restricted from using PC rooms after 10 p.m. under the country’s Youth Protection Act. 

These so-called “PC-tels” ― a compound of PC and motel ― aren’t difficult to locate. One can easily find a list of PC-tels at popular online lodge searching brands using websites or smartphone apps like Good Choice or Yanolja. Users, once agreeing to provide their real-time location information through those search engines, can conveniently browse a list of lodges offering high-performing computers with pre-installed popular games ― like League of Legends or Battlegrounds ― in their vicinity.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It will be interesting to see how many claims get submitted to this compensation center:

Korea opened a Covid-19 vaccine injury compensation center on Tuesday as access to fourth vaccine doses was widened amid a new wave of the virus.  
   
Previously, compensation for vaccine side effects was managed by the Covid-19 vaccination task force team under the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).    
   
The newly-created Compensation & Support Center for Covid-19 Vaccine Injury will take over, the KDCA announced Tuesday. It vowed to increase the number of personnel and build the center’s expertise. 

Apart from deciding compensation, the center will also provide counseling to patients with post-vaccine reactions.  
   
Health authorities also announced they will expand financial support for vaccination side effects that were difficult to prove were caused by the jabs.  
   
The KDCA said Tuesday that people with diseases that are suspected to be related to Covid vaccination — but haven’t been proved — can receive up to 50 million won ($38,150), up from the previous 30 million won.  
   
Compensation for post-vaccine deaths that couldn’t be proved was raised from 50 million won to 100 million won.  
   
In addition, the government will give 10 million won to survivors of people who died within 42 days of receiving a Covid vaccine even if the cause of death was not established by a post mortem examination. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

Hackers continue to be a major money source for Kim crime family in North Korea:

The FBI and Justice Department recently disrupted the activities of a hacking group that was sponsored by the North Korean government and that targeted U.S. hospitals with ransomware, ultimately recovering half a million dollars in ransom payments and cryptocurrency, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said Tuesday.

Monaco revealed new details of the attacks during a speech in which she encouraged organizations hit by ransomware to report the crime to law enforcement, both so that officials can investigate and so that they can help victim companies try to get ransom payments back.

In this case, Monaco said, a Kansas hospital that paid a ransom last year after being attacked by ransomware also contacted the FBI, which traced the payment and identified China-based money launderers who assisted the North Korean hackers in cashing out the illicit proceeds. The FBI was able to recover half a million dollars, including the entire ransom payment from the hospital.

Associated Press

You can read more at the link, but besides doing this for the cash these hackers are also exfiltrating private medical information. It makes me wonder how secure the DOD’s medical record servers are?

This should have been a great event for the U.S. troops involved in this training:

South Korea and the United States have been conducting combined military drills, involving a high-tech training system, Seoul official said Monday, amid the allies’ stepped-up efforts to sharpen deterrence against North Korea’s evolving security threats.

The 11-day training got under way at the Army’s Korea Combat Training Center (KCTC) in Inje, 165 kilometers east of Seoul, on July 11. It involved 4,300 South Korean troops from the 51st Brigade of the 12th Division and 81st Brigade of the 28th Division, as well as 300 U.S. troops of the 1st Armored Brigade.

It marked the first time that U.S. troops have been assigned to the South’s two separate brigade combat teams fighting against each other under a KCTC training program, according to Army officials.

During the troops, the South Korean and U.S. militaries mobilized some 100 pieces of battle equipment, including tanks, armored vehicles, self-propelled howitzers, attack helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles.

“Through high-intensity combat training, I have felt a sense of comradeship,” a South Korean participant was quoted as saying. “I will continue to engage in training programs to build strong combat capabilities to be able to fight and win right away in a battle against the enemy.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This is a tricky issue that the Yoon administration is likely not going to win any domestic political points from even if they come up with a resolution. This issue is just too easy for the political opposition to demagogue:

The top diplomats of South Korea and Japan agreed Monday on the need for an early resolution of the long-running dispute over Korean victims of wartime forced labor.

Foreign Minister Park Jin and his Japanese counterpart, Yoshimasa Hayashi, held talks in Tokyo to discuss ways to mend soured bilateral ties and settle historical feuds stemming from Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule of Korea. Park arrived earlier in the day in his first official visit to Japan since taking office in May. 

During the talks, Park said the Seoul government will make efforts to draw “a reasonable solution” related to the force labor issue and the two sides shared the view that the issue needs to be promptly resolved, Seoul’s ministry said in a release. (….)

Possible solutions suggested by observers include the creation of a fund with contributions from Korean and Japanese firms or the South Korean government compensating the victims on behalf of the Japanese companies.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I can understand why this guy has a grudge against the Unification Church, but it in no way justifies murdering Shinzo Abe:

The mother of the man suspected of murdering former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe donated more than 100 million yen ($720,000) to the Unification Church, a relative said.

The contributions to the religious group included 50 million yen she received from a life insurance policy taken on her husband, as well as proceeds from property sales, the relative told The Asahi Shimbun.

She was declared bankrupt in 2002.

Her son, Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, has been sent to prosecutors on suspicion of murdering Abe, 67, who was gunned down on July 8 while giving an election campaign speech in Nara.

Asahi.com

You can read more at the link.