Just like nearby Japan, South Korea has reached a new record for daily new COVID cases:

South Korea’s daily coronavirus cases hit a record high of 8,571 on Tuesday, driven by the fast spread of the new dominant omicron variant, as the country is set to put in force revised virus curbs to rein in the highly transmissible variant.

Tuesday’s cases, including 8,356 local infections, took the total caseload to 749,979, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. 

It marks the first time the daily caseload has surpassed the 8,000 mark since the country reported the first COVID-19 infection on Jan. 20, 2020. The previous all-time high was 7,848 on Dec. 15 last year.

South Korea has seen the daily counts skyrocket over the past week, from 3,857 on Jan. 17 to 7,513 reported Monday. 

The death toll from COVID-19 came to 6,588, up 23 from Monday. The fatality rate stood at 0.88 percent.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but with the Lunar New Year holiday coming up it will likely rise to a much higher level before eventually declining.

Japan’s daily COVID case rate continues to surge:

The sixth wave of COVID-19 pushed past its own record in Japan’s capital city on Saturday with 11,227 new cases reported by the metropolitan government.

The new record in Tokyo is nearly double the previous pandemic high of 5,908 in August, according to metropolitan government data online. On Monday, the city reported a modest decline to 8,503 new infections, according to public broadcaster NHK.

Japan reported more than 100,000 new cases on Saturday and Sunday, both record-setting days, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Huawei is making it rain benjamins for people with connects to the Biden administration:

High-profile Democratic lobbyist Tony Podesta, whose firm collapsed under scrutiny during special counsel Robert Mueller‘s investigation, was paid $1 million by Huawei in 2021 as Beijing sought to soften the Biden administration’s position on the Chinese telecommunications giant.

Huawei appears to have hired Podesta effective as of July, with Senate lobbying disclosure forms showing he agreed to work for Huawei Technologies USA to lobby on “issues related to telecommunication services and impacted trade issues.” An October filing showed that the Chinese company paid Podesta $500,000 for the third quarter of 2021, and a filing this week showed he was paid another $500,000 in the fourth quarter. One filing said he was specifically lobbying the “White House Office,” while the other similarly said he was targeting the “Executive Office of the President.”

The Gazette via One Free Korea

You can read much more at the link, but ROK Heads may remember that the prior ROK Presidency of Park Geun-hye was brought down and impeached because her good friend Choi soon-sil was accepting money from Samsung into her sports foundation for influence with President Park. Both Park and Choi ended up going to prison. In the U.S. such lobbying activity is just another day in the office.

This is a pretty cool story that the young girl from the great Korean revenge movie, “Sympathy for Lady Vengeance” is now an officer in the U.S. Army serving in Korea:

An American child actor who played an important role in a critically acclaimed South Korean film is now stationed in the country her grandparents emigrated from in the 1970s. 

“Because of them, I’m here now,” Army 1st Lt. Kirsten Kwon told Stars and Stripes earlier this month. “They’re the reason why I’m an American citizen.”

Kwon, 28, is the executive officer of the U.N. Command Honor Guard Company, roughly 50 service members who carry out the command’s ceremonies, such as dignified remains transfers, and provide security for high-ranking officers. (……..)

Kwon’s film career began at age 10 when a South Korean casting director heard her speaking English and asked her parents if they were interested in a role for her in an upcoming movie.

That film, “Sympathy for Lady Vengeance,” featured a star-studded cast and was directed by Park Chan-wook, who is described as “the man who put Korean cinema on the map,” according to a New York Times Style magazine column from 2017.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

The Chinese are not going to be happy with Yoon’s foreign policy platform:

Yoon Suk-yeol, the presidential candidate of the main opposition conservative People Power Party (PPP), vowed, Monday, to “rebuild” Korea’s alliance with the U.S. to deal more effectively with both North Korea’s nuclear threats and other regional security and economic cooperation issues. 

He also said he would expand South Korea’s role in U.S.-led multilateral initiatives, including the Quadrilateral Strategic Dialogue, widely known as the “Quad.”

“I would focus on bolstering a comprehensive and strategic alliance with the United States based on the shared values and principles of freedom, democracy, the market economy, constitutionalism and human rights,” Yoon said during a press conference on his diplomacy and security policy pledges at party headquarters in Seoul.

“I will pursue open cooperation to expand common interests with related countries in the region by participating in working groups for vaccines, climate change and new technology under the Quad, a partnership between the U.S., Japan, Australia and India.”

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but Yoon is not planning on joining the quad formerly. He also says he is willing to provide full economic support to North Korea if they denuclearize which we all know isn’t happening.

This is an unusual deal, good on South Korea for being trusted to do important work like this:

South Korea said Sunday it has signed a deal with Egypt to dismantle and restore the gateway of an ancient temple in the Egyptian city of Luxor.

South Korea plans to begin restoring the pylon and refurbish the access road of the Ramesseum, a mortuary temple of Pharaoh Ramses II, starting next year, according to the Cultural Heritage Administration.

The move came as Mostafa Waziry, secretary-general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, requested the Cultural Heritage Administration to restore the Ramesseum during senior-level talks on Thursday.

On Friday, the two sides inked a memorandum of understanding during President Moon Jae-in’s visit to Cairo.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.