The Moon administration is messing with the hagwons, watch out there is going to be some angry ajummas:

Students and parents are protesting the government’s new vaccine pass system, saying it infringes upon adolescents’ right not to get vaccinated.    
   
Starting Monday, Korea’s vaccine pass systemwas expanded to hagwon (cram school) libraries, PC bang (internet cafes), public study rooms, movie theatres, restaurants and cafes — but only for adults using them.    
   
From Feb. 1, 12 to 18-year-olds — people born between the years 2003 and 2009 — will require vaccine passes to enter those places, unless they submit a negative PCR test that was conducted within the previous 48 hours, according to the Central Disaster Management Headquarters’ briefing Friday.    
   
In protest, an 18-year-old student in Daegu filed an online petition on the Blue House website Nov. 26, writing that the regulation is discriminatory against students and their right to an education.   (…..)

“The government has decided to more strongly advise vaccinations for minors because the situation has grown that much more dangerous over the past month,” said Son Young-rae, senior epidemiological strategist at the Central Disaster Management Headquarters.  
   
“As the necessity grew for more people to be vaccinated, we have decided to expand the vaccine pass system to include individuals from ages 12 to 18.”  
   
Son added that the infection rate for Covid among minors surpassed that for adults over the last four weeks.  
   
According to the Central Disaster Management Headquarters, 99.7 out of every 100,000 minors were infected from Nov. 1 to Dec. 1, compared to 76.9 out of every 100,000 adults.    
   
Yet, teens and their parents say that requiring a vaccine pass in places like hagwon, which are considered essential facilities for nearly all middle and high school students in Korea, is unfair.    
   
“Enforcing a vaccine pass system in hagwon is a violation of the children’s right to learn,” said Ms. Lee, 47, a mother of two in Seongbuk District, central Seoul.   

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

Remember when the Moon administration said that they didn’t care if cases hit 10,000 when they began their “Living with COVID” strategy. It didn’t take long for them to back away from this strategy and the cases were no where near 10,000:

South Korea’s new coronavirus cases fell below 5,000 for the first time in three days Monday as the country reimposed toughened social distancing rules amid concerns over the spread of the omicron variant.

The country added 4,325 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total caseload to 477,358, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). 

Daily infections soared to a record high of 5,352 cases on Saturday before falling to 5,127 on Sunday. 

On Monday, the government began four-week stricter social distancing rules to contain the rapid spread of the coronavirus and the omicron variant.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This is a great program to thank U.S. military veterans that served in South Korea:

Nine U.S. veterans, who served in Korea following the 1953 armistice ending the Korean War, revisited the country last month along with their family members.

The revisit program, the first of its kind by the Korea Defense Veterans Association (KDVA) and the Korea-U.S. Alliance Foundation, was sponsored by the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs (MPVA). 

A total of 16 people made the five-day trip to Korea starting Nov. 29, visiting the Joint Security Area, Camp Casey, Camp Humphreys and Osan Air Base, where they served, according to the KDVA. 

Additionally, they participated in the ROK-U.S. Alliance Night in Seoul, co-hosted by Defense Minister Suh Wook and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Wednesday. ROK is an acronym for the Republic of Korea.

“I am honored to revisit Korea 30 years later since I served in Korea in 1991. I miss my old base, Camp Greaves, in the north of the Imjin River. It is closed now. But I cannot forget my days in Korea, and I am very proud of how advanced the ROK has become in the world, and think my service here was very valuable,” said Kevin Miller from Pennsylvania. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Here is the further erosion of Korea’s “Living with COVID” strategy:

The U.S. military command in South Korea on Friday imposed a 10-day quarantine for inbound personnel and did away with the “working quarantine” that allowed individuals to move between their homes and workplaces.

The new policy for U.S. service members, Defense Department employees and their families, regardless of vaccination status, aligns with South Korea’s updated measures as it confronts an increase in new coronavirus cases.

The 14-day “working quarantine” that permitted new arrivals under the status of forces agreement to move between their homes or other quarantine sites and their workplaces is no longer permitted, according to a U.S. Forces Korea announcement Friday. SOFA outlines the rights and privileges of U.S. servicemembers, Defense Department civilians and their families in the host nation.

During quarantine, individuals must take a PCR, or polymerase chain reaction, test on the first and eighth or ninth day, according to USFK. Sponsors of newly arrived individuals may travel if their guest or cohabitant tests negative on the first test.

South Korea imposed a 10-day quarantine for all arrivals this week following a surge of new cases in the country. The Korea Disease and Prevention Agency reported 5,266 new cases Thursday, a record high since the pandemic began in March 2020.

In its latest update, USFK reported 36 new cases between Nov. 23 and Monday. Roughly 98% of its service members are fully vaccinated, the command said in November.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.

It looks like the couple that contracted South Korea’s first cases of Omicron could face legal troubles:

A couple, who tested positive for the omicron coronavirus variant for the first time in South Korea, was found to have lied about how they went home from the airport upon return from Nigeria, leaving dozens of people exposed to the risk of infection.

The couple — a pastor and his wife in their 40s — initially told health authorities they took one of the officially designated infection-proof “quarantine” taxies to return home from Incheon International Airport on Nov. 24.

But it was found later that a friend of the couple, a Uzbek national, drove them home in a private vehicle. That left the friend out of health authorities’ radar even after the couple tested positive for COVID-19 on Nov. 25.

The friend moved around without any restrictions for six days, coming into contact with 87 people, including family, friends and co-workers, and putting them at risk of COVID-19 infection. He later tested positive for the new variant.

Officials said two of them — his wife and his mother-in-law — have been categorized as suspected omicron cases and an investigation is under way. 

Health authorities said they are mulling over the option of filing charges of infectious disease prevention law violations against the couple, saying “their false statement left the Uzbek man uncategorized as those who came in close contact with COVID-19 patients.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but I once talked to a contract tracer that said people lying to them is actually quite common. For example I would not be surprised if this Uzbek national that picked them up at the airport may have immigration issues. If so the couple may have lied to protect him.