South Korea’s daily COVID rate continues to shatter records:

South Korea’s new daily COVID-19 cases spiked to more than 600,000 on Thursday, setting another record high, fueled by the spread of the highly transmissible omicron variant amid an easing of virus curbs.

The country reported 621,328 new COVID-19 infections, including 62 cases from overseas, raising the total to 8,250,592, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. 

The latest tally marks a 55 percent surge in just one day. South Korea has seen a spike in the caseload since it reported the first five-digit figures in late January of this year. Since then, the numbers have grown fast, surpassing 300,000 on March 9.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but remember the days when the Moon administration was gloating about their COVID policies and wanting it to be a model for the world. Looking back it appears the Swedes were right all along.

I feel horrible for this little girl who must have been terrified being dropped off and abandoned by her mom in the middle of country road:

A 35-year-old woman admitted to abandoning her 4-year-old daughter on a deserted road on a freezing cold night during a court hearing on her child abuse case Monday.

A 25-year-old man, known as the woman’s acquaintance, also pleaded guilty to taking part in her act of child abuse in the hearing at the Incheon District Court in Incheon, 50 kilometers west of Seoul.

The woman, whose identity was withheld, was indicted on child abandonment and neglect charges after abandoning her young daughter on a back road near her daycare center in Goyang, northwest of Seoul, at about 10 p.m. on Nov. 26 last year, when the temperature dropped below zero.

The man, who allegedly became acquainted with the woman through an internet game, was also indicted for taking part in her child abuse.

They are accused of having gone to a nearby motel after getting the child out of the man’s car and leaving her on the deserted road.

The woman told police earlier parenting was difficult for her and her acquaintance suggested abandoning the child.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It is amazing that likely one cigarette butt has caused this much damage:

Police and fire officials conducted a probe Wednesday at an east coast mountain site believed to be the ignition point of a recent major wildfire.

The wildfire, which started in Uljin, 330 kilometers southeast of Seoul, on March 4, became the country’s most devastating on record as it spread to nearby areas in the eastern province of Gangwon, wiping out 643 facilities and scorching an estimated 20,923 hectares of woodland. 

Officials from the police, the National Forensic Service and the Korea Forest Service (KFS) conducted a joint probe at the purported ignition site, taking photos and collecting various evidence.

Authorities believe the blaze may have started due to a cigarette butt thrown from a passing vehicle, as the fire was kindled near a road, according to CCTV footage.

The KFS and police have identified the owners of four vehicles that passed through the area close to the time when the fire broke and also obtained black boxes from the vehicles in question. Officials said they plan to further the investigation based on the collected evidence and results of their forensic analysis.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It is just becoming bizarre how South Korea just continues to set new record highs for COVID cases while most of the rest of the world is in a steep decline. However with that all said the fatality rate continues to drop to .14% when it was .69% back in early February:

South Korea’s new COVID-19 cases hit yet another somber milestone of more than 400,000 on Wednesday, driven by the dominant omicron variant spreading at an overwhelming speed. 

The country added 400,741 new daily COVID-19 infections, mostly locally transmitted, raising the total caseload to 7,629,275, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. 

It’s an all-time high since South Korea reported the first COVID-19 case on Jan. 20, 2020, and a big jump from Tuesday’s 362,338. The previous record high was 383,659 reported last Saturday.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It is important to remember that the North Koreans assuming they have the proper instrumentation can still learn a lot from a failed test to help improve whatever system they were testing:

North Korea fired an apparent ballistic missile Wednesday, but the launch appears to have ended in a failure, South Korea’s military said.

The North shot the projectile from the Sunan area in Pyongyang at around 9:30 a.m., according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). It did not elaborate further, only saying an additional analysis is needed.

The missile appears to have exploded in midair at an altitude of below 20 kilometers, informed sources said later. 

“At this point, our assessment is that the projectile launch appears to have been botched as it failed to reach a certain altitude in its early boost phase,” a JCS official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

Military authorities are putting weight to the possibility the latest launch involved the same intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that the North tested on Feb. 27 and March 5.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

A Chinese academic Hu Wei is the vice-chairman of the Public Policy Research Center of the Counselor’s Office of the State Council has written an article that has been translated into English that provides some good analysis on how China should react to the current crisis in Ukraine. Ultimately He advocates for China breaking from Putin:

China should achieve the greatest possible strategic breakthrough and not be further isolated by the West. Cutting off from Putin and giving up neutrality will help build China’s international image and ease its relations with the U.S. and the West. Though difficult and requiring great wisdom, it is the best option for the future. The view that a geopolitical tussle in Europe triggered by the war in Ukraine will significantly delay the U.S. strategic shift from Europe to the Indo-Pacific region cannot be treated with excessive optimism. There are already voices in the U.S. that Europe is important, but China is more so, and the primary goal of the U.S. is to contain China from becoming the dominant power in the Indo-Pacific region. Under such circumstances, China’s top priority is to make appropriate strategic adjustments accordingly, to change the hostile American attitudes towards China, and to save itself from isolation. The bottom line is to prevent the U.S. and the West from imposing joint sanctions on China.

US-China Perception Monitor

I highly recommend reading the whole article at the link.

Rhee Keun is still alive in Ukraine and it will be interesting to learn at some point what the Ukraine military has him tasked to do:

 A former Korean Navy special warfare officer who recently left for Ukraine to join the war against Russia as a volunteer soldier posted news of his survival on social media Tuesday.

“I’m alive,” Rhee Keun wrote on his Instagram account in an apparent denial of recent rumors about his death after Russia claimed to have killed about 180 foreign volunteer fighters in an attack on a training base in western Ukraine.

“My teammates withdrew safely from Ukraine, and I’m alone in the country,” he said. “I have a lot of things to do. I’m busy combating every day. There will be no news from me until I complete my mission,” he added.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It appears the reason that Yoon Suk-yeol is asking President Moon to pardon former President Lee Myung-bak when Yoon could just do it himself when he takes office is to promote national reconciliation. If that is what Yoon wants to promote have Moon give out the pardon to the man he personally went after to humiliate and put in jail is a very symbolic way of doing this:

 President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol will hold a one-on-one lunch meeting with President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday with no aides in attendance for a “heart-to-heart” discussion, his spokesperson said.

Yoon plans to use the meeting to ask for a special pardon for imprisoned former President Lee Myung-bak, spokesperson Kim Eun-hye told reporters during a press briefing. Lee has been serving a 17-year prison term for embezzlement and bribery.

“The meeting will serve as an occasion where they can hold a heart-to-heart discussion,” she said. “President-elect Yoon has long thought that he would ask for a pardon for former President Lee Myung-bak, and we hope this meeting will serve as a chance for national unity and reconciliation.”

Multiple sources in Cheong Wa Dae and the ruling bloc said chances are high that Moon will pardon Lee.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.