It seems like the Korean left is getting desperate with the Presidential election just days away by comparing Yoon to Trump:

Is Yoon Suk-yeol the South Korean Trump?

That is what his opponents and critics seem to think for the many parallels the conservative candidate from the People Power Party has with former US President Donald Trump. 

Both have made remarks that would be offensive to other countries, praised heavily controversial political figures, gone after foreigners and shown a poor understanding of feminism. On top of using anti-China rhetoric, the two also like to speak to their base on social media and announce policies that read like slogans. For example, Yoon’s “Abolish the Gender Equality Ministry” could be compared to Trump’s “Build the Wall.” 

With just a week left before the election, the long list of similarities between the two outsiders who came to represent their respective countries’ mainstream conservative parties seems to be only growing.

Many voters in Korea seem to believe the March 9 presidential election is about the liberals and whether they should be allowed to stay in power after major missteps like their housing policies. But experts who talked to The Korea Herald said it may be about K-Trumpism, or the rise of the alt-right movement in Korea, as seen in the United States, United Kingdom and some other democracies around the world. 

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link, but this opinion piece also claims that the election of Yoon would be a blow to democracy. Notice how if a conservative wins its always a blow to democracy with the left? Just like Trump was voted out in 2020 there will be an election again in five years if Yoon some how wins this upcoming election. Democracy will continue in South Korea.

Some how I doubt the first thing on these kids minds will attending school will be converting people to Islam:

Some locals are protesting the government’s decision to enroll Afghan children resettled in the southern city of Ulsan at a single elementary school and kindergarten.  
   
“I can’t help but wonder if my children won’t be influenced, including by Islamic practices,” wrote one user on an online community forum of parents in Ulsan on Wednesday, following the announcement by the city’s education office of schools and kindergartens for the Afghan families resettled in Ulsan.  
   
When Kabul fell to Taliban forces last August, Korea airlifted 391 Afghans out of the city. Members of the families brought to the country had worked for Korea’s embassy in Kabul or on Korean aid projects and include medical professionals, IT experts and interpreters. They did not enter Korea as refugees but as “special contributors” and were issued long-term residence visas after relevant laws were amended.  
   
Of them, nearly half — 157 Afghans of 29 households — were employed by a subcontractor of Hyundai Heavy Industries in Ulsan last month. 

As the Afghans resettled in the southern city — the eighth most populated city in Korea, also known as a hub for shipbuilding industry — some Korean parents asked the local government to ensure that the Afghan children be dispersed throughout several schools and kindergartens, “for fear of the safety” of their own children.  
   
A few even held rallies in front of an elementary school in the city to demand they do not accept Afghan students.  
   
The Afghan children brought to Korea include 16 kindergartners, 28 elementary school students, 19 middle school students and 22 high school students. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but not properly integrating these kids into South Korean society is what will cause issues later on if they feel isolated as adults.

North Korea has commented for the first time about the Russian invasion of Ukraine and it is about what you would expect, Russia has done nothing wrong and it is all the U.S.’s fault:

North Korea spoke on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for the first time three days after the first attack. North Korea defended Russia and criticized the United States. However, Pyongyang did not specifically mention the details of Russia’s invasion and did not voice its views in an official statement released by the government, but instead released a comment by a researcher at the Society for International Politics Studies, implying the North’s complicated calculations behind the latest incident.

On February 26, the North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs released on its website a post arguing that the U.S. should not tear down the foundation of international peace and stability in the name of Ri Ji-song, a researcher at the Society for International Politics Studies. Ri wrote that in every region and country that the U.S. intervened in, seeds of discord were being sowed and relationships between nations were deteriorating. He argued that this trend was being established like a principle and that this was the current international order. He further criticized, “The root cause of the Ukrainian crisis also lies in the high-handedness and arbitrariness of the U.S. which has held on solely to the unilateral sanction and pressure while pursuing only global hegemony and military supremacy in disregard of the legitimate demand of Russia for its security.” Ri cited comments by global media and experts and claimed it was no coincidence that they found the fundamental reason for the Ukrainian crisis in the “imbalance of power in Europe due to the unilateral expansion of NATO and its threat as well as the grave threat to the national security of Russia.”

Kyunghyang Shinmun

You can read more at the link, but notably no where in the statement does North Korea actually mention that Ukraine was invaded by Russia.

It is amazing how COVID just continues to spread in South Korea, but there has been a sharp drop in the mortality rate. Last month it was .84% and now it is .24%:

South Korea’s daily coronavirus cases surpassed 200,000 for the first time Wednesday as the highly transmissible omicron variant continues its frenetic spread across the nation.

The surge came after the government temporarily suspended the enforcement of the vaccine pass system Tuesday, citing the lack of staff handling the pandemic. 

The country reported a record high of 219,241 new coronavirus infections, including 219,173 local cases, raising the total caseload to 3,492,686 according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

The daily caseload exceeded 100,000 for the first time in mid-February.

Virus-related deaths fell to 96 on Wednesday from 112 a day earlier, bringing the death toll to 8,266. The fatality rate was 0.24 percent, the KDCA said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the fact that South Korean teachers are handing out self test kits to kids in schools will likely mean the daily case rate number will only rise further.

I don’t know what point Sim Sang-jung as trying to make because it appears she wants the ROK to not pursue new weapons programs because it would upset North Korea and China? If Ukraine did not have advanced anti-tank and aircraft weapons right now they would have already lost the war. Is this what Ms. Sim wants for the ROK if attacked? If anything should be learned from Ukraine it is that the ROK needs to be militarily advanced and have strong friends to deter the threats from China and North Korea:

South Korea could become “the Ukraine of Asia” in the event of conflict between its ally the United States and its neighbor China, the progressive candidate for South Korean president said during a recent televised debate.

Sim Sang-jung, a National Assembly lawmaker and a former leader of the minority Justice Party, explained her vision for South Korea’s foreign policy on Friday as Russia continued its invasion of Ukraine. Sim and three other candidates are competing in the election March 9.

In her remarks, Sim compared South Korea’s relationships with China and the United States to the ongoing instability in Eastern Europe. Seoul’s relations with Beijing are experiencing a “breakdown,” and talk by other candidates of bolstering South Korea’s weapons programs may cause “considerable tension on the Korean Peninsula,” Sim said during the debate.

“We should learn from what happened in Ukraine now,” she said. “So, to speak, we can be the Ukraine of Asia when some strategic balance in northeast Asia collapses.”

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.