If former President Moon could not get these people back after all the appeasement he did with North Korea, how does President Lee think he can get them released?:

The presidential office on Thursday confirmed that six South Korean nationals have been detained in North Korea and vowed to make efforts to secure the release of them by swiftly resuming talks with Pyongyang. 

The six citizens, including three North Koreans who had defected to South Korea, have been held in the North on charges of espionage and others since between 2013 and 2016.

They include three missionaries arrested by the North Korean authorities from 2013 and 2014, namely Kim Jung-wook, Kim Kook-kie and Choi Chun-gil. The presidential office did not disclose the identities of the three North Korean defectors to protect the safety of their families in the North.

Yonhap

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This is pretty bold stripping an entire orchard of all of its tangerines:

A tangerine farm on Jeju Island, spanning about 56,000 square meters, was stripped clean overnight, local media reported Thursday.

According to the reports, the farm owner arrived at her farm in Bongae-dong, Jeju, on Monday, only to find that every last tangerine had disappeared.

“I thought I was in the wrong field,” she told a Jeju broadcaster. “All the tangerines that had been hanging from the trees were gone, and all I could see were green branches. It was unbelievable.”

Local police, based on trash and other items left at the scene, have identified a suspect in his 50s. During questioning, he reportedly said he deployed nine workers and harvested the entire orchard in a single day, claiming he was simply following instructions from a team leader.

The orchard had been expected to yield about 3 tons of tangerines this year.

As of Nov. 18, the average wholesale price of tangerines at the nation’s nine largest markets was 13,000 won per 5 kilograms, which is 7.4 percent higher than the same period last year, when the price was 12,100 won. It is also 15 percent higher than in 2023, when it was 11,300 won.

Korea Herald

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This is quite a high number of Koreans who choose to live alone, the article says that South Korea aging population is the main driver of this:

South Korea’s demographic structure is shifting at its fastest pace yet, with the share of single-person households surpassing 36 percent for the first time last year and the senior citizen population crossing the 10 million mark, new government data showed Sunday.

According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s statistics yearbook on social security, the number of single-person households reached a record high of nearly 8.05 million last year. This marks a sharp rise from 5.2 million households in 2015 to 6.64 million in 2020, with the figure first exceeding the 30 percent threshold.

If the current pace continues, the ministry projects single-person households will reach 8.55 million by 2027, 9.71 million by 2037 and nearly 10 million by 2042, cementing the model as the country’s dominant living arrangement.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

President Lee wants more penalties for data breaches, but maybe South Korea should stop hiring Chinese since the Coupang data breach was an inside job perpetuated by a former Chinese employee who fled to China:

President Lee Jae Myung called Tuesday for strengthening penalties and implementing the punitive damages system in the event of data leaks similar to the massive breach at e-commerce giant Coupang.

Lee issued the call during a Cabinet meeting days after the company said the personal information of nearly 34 million customers had been stolen, including names, addresses and phone numbers.

“We must swiftly determine the cause of the accident and strictly demand accountability,” he said during the meeting at the presidential office, expressing shock that the company had been unaware of the breach for five months. (……)

Police said Monday they are tracking down the suspect behind the data breach after securing the Internet Protocol (IP) address that was used.

The breach began in June, and a former employee, a Chinese national who has since left South Korea, has been identified as the perpetrator, Coupang said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

To restore communications with North Korea will require South Korea to make concessions of some kind. When Lee uses wording such as “shared growth”, that is likely code for whatever monetary concessions the ROK government plans to give to North Korea to restore these communcations:

President Lee Jae Myung proposed restoring communication channels with North Korea on Tuesday, saying it will serve as a starting point for “peaceful coexistence” between Seoul and Pyongyang.

Lee made the remarks during an event to mark the launch of the 22th Peaceful Unification Advisory Council, stressing that unification is a path that must be taken regardless of whether it takes decades or even a millennia.

“The historic task given to us is to end hostility and confrontation between the two Koreas, and to build a new inter-Korean relationship based on peaceful existence,” Lee said, suggesting the Koreas begin by restoring their dialogue channels that have been suspended for seven years.

He stressed the need for “shared growth” that benefits both Seoul and Pyongyang, and called for gradual efforts to start cooperation in areas of global interest, such as climate and environmental issues, disaster, safety, and public health.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

South Korea continues to make strides in their efforts to add a space industry to their economy:

Arirang 7, South Korea’s multipurpose satellite, has successfully entered orbit after lifting off from a space center in South America, the country’s space agency said Tuesday.

Also known as the Korea Multipurpose Satellite 7, the satellite was deployed from the Vega-C rocket 44 minutes after launching from the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana at 2:21 p.m. Monday (French Guiana time), or 2:21 a.m. Tuesday (Korean time), according to the Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA). The rocket is operated by France-based Arianespace.

The Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), the developer of Arirang 7, confirmed the satellite’s condition when it made contact with Russia’s Antarctic ground station at 3:30 a.m. (Korean time).

KARI also verified its successful orbital insertion through data from Arianespace.

Arirang 7, equipped with an ultra-high-resolution electro-optical camera and an infrared sensor, is expected to provide high-quality imagery for environmental and disaster monitoring, and urban heat island analysis.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.