If you vote for Lee Jae-myung he is promising to help you get more hair if you are suffering from hair loss:
Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), is receiving ardent support from voters who are suffering hair loss, thanks to his campaign pledge to expand national health insurance coverage to include hair regrowth treatments.
Korea Times
According to an online community platform for people with thinning hair, Tuesday, a number of posts have been uploaded to express their support for the DPK candidate.
“Lee Jae-myung is a Propecia-like figure,” an online user wrote on dcinside, referring to the popular medication for people with thinning hair. Another wrote, “I will ‘implant’ Lee in Cheong Wa Dae.”
You can read more at the link, but if a cosmetic procedure such as regrowing hair will be added to the national health insurance program than why shouldn’t nose jobs, breast enhancement, braces, etc. be added as well?
North Korea continues its usual playbook of provocations to influence potential negotiations:
The Moon Jae-in government is making last-ditch efforts for progress on its inter-Korean peace drive before President Moon’s term ends in about five months, but Pyongyang is remaining unresponsive to Seoul’s continued calls for dialogue.
Rather, North Korea launched a ballistic missile on Wednesday morning, marking this year’s first missile launch. This launch coincided with Moon’s attendance at a groundbreaking ceremony for the railroad construction to connect Gangneung and Jejin of Gangwon Province, a part of the inter-Korean railroad connection project based upon the 2018 Panmunjeom Declaration adopted by Moon and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un.
According to the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), North Korea fired a projectile presumed to be a ballistic missile at around 8:10 a.m. into the sea off its east coast from Jagang Province. The JCS said the South Korean and U.S. militaries are currently analyzing details of the missile launch but are yet to provide further details such as range or speed of the missile. (……)Shin Jong-woo, a senior researcher at the Korea Defense and Security Forum, said Pyongyang seemed to be assured that its missile launch would not bring strong opposition from China, while the Olympics event itself has failed to draw big attention internationally amid the COVID-19 pandemic situation.
“The missile launch could also be used as a bargaining chip when the North engages in negotiations with the South’s next government after the South elects a new president in March,” Shin said. “There have been many signs of economic hardships in the North including the news that Kim Jong-un gave fish to Pyongyang residents as presents. In that respect, the missile launch is also aimed at strengthening internal solidarity among the people of North Korea.”
Korea Times
You can read more at the link, but with the so called diplomatic boycott going on with the Beijing Olympics the CCP is likely has less reservations with North Korea conducting launches before the Olympics.
Hagwon owners are probably breathing a sigh of relief right now because the vaccine requirement was probably going to put many of them out of business:
South Korea on Tuesday suspended the vaccine pass mandate for cram schools and other private education facilities following a court ruling that the system infringes on people’s right to learn.
The Seoul Administrative Court ordered the suspension of a rule that requires adults to show proof of vaccination before accessing private institutes, public study rooms, study cafes and vocational training institutions, pending a trial on a complaint that parents and the industry have filed against the measure.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link, but the Korean government plans to appeal the court ruling and force hagwons to require COVID vaccinations for its students.
Here is what Lee Jae-myung had to say about his rival’s wife’s resume padding issue and his own son’s legal problems:
On December 29, Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, shared his opinion on Kim Keon-hee, the wife of the People Power Party’s candidate Yoon Seok-youl, and her apology to the nation for allegedly fabricating her resume and said, “When you say you’re sorry, you should mention why you are sorry, but if you offer an apology like ‘I’ll say I’m sorry because you want me to say it,’ it must make the people receiving the apology feel uncomfortable.”
This morning, Lee Jae-myung appeared on the MBC radio show, Kim Jong-bae’s Focus and during the interview when the host asked Lee’s assessment of Kim’s apology, Lee also said, “As a competitor, I don’t think it is appropriate (for me to give an evaluation).”
He said, “From a broader perspective, I am also destined (for verification). We are choosing a president who is accountable for the fate of the nation as well as the lives of the people in its entirety, and he will be granted immense power. So it is right that we engage in unlimited competition on all factors that will be affected by that power.” He further said, “We need to do so by revealing everything, including family, aides, one’s own self, and the past.”
Lee also spoke on how his son, unlike Kim who made a public apology, did not publicly apologize for his illegal gambling, and said, “The first lady is a public figure who is given authority and support. The president’s son who is an adult is practically a stranger.” Lee continued and said, “I think the people can make their own judgments on the argument that my son should personally make an apology since the wife did,” and added, “Just because someone made an argument does not make it the truth.”
As for the criticism on his returning his master’s thesis following controversy over plagiarism, Lee said, “I returned it because it wasn’t something I absolutely needed in my life, so the school could just cancel it, but they wouldn’t.” He further explained, “I received a letter in the name of my professor, and it said, ‘This is enough for an evening graduate school degree.’ So I asked them to cancel it since I didn’t need it, but the school wouldn’t.”
Kyunghyang Shinmun
You can read more at the link, but you can read more about Lee’s son’s illegal gambling problems as well as the accusations he has been going to a massage parlor at this link. You can read about Lee’s plagiarism of his Master’s degree which he admits to at this link.
The Omicron is coming:
Health authorities and experts are warning of another upsurge of COVID-19 infections in the spring months due to the fast spread of the omicron variant.
Park Hyang, a senior official of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency(KDCA), at a regular media briefing on Tuesday said expectations are that the nation will not be able to deal with the omicron strain in the same way it did with the delta, given the sheer speed at which omicron spreads.
Accordingly, Park said, officials are considering changes to the current COVID-19 testing systems, and not ruling out the possibility of allowing small-size medical clinics to treat COVID-19 patients, given a possible spike in mild COVID-19 patients.
KBS World
You can read more at the link.
