It appears the Japanese government does not want to do President Moon any favors before he leaves office which will likely influence whether he visits the Olympics or not:

President Moon Jae-in has a hard decision to make on whether to visit Japan on the occasion of the Tokyo Olympics as the envisaged trip is drawing a mixed response. 

Advocates for the President’s participation in the opening ceremony of the quadrennial sporting event, which kicks off July 23, insist that he needs to go in order to break a deadlock in strained bilateral ties, but those critical of this say he should not travel to Tokyo as Japan is taking a lukewarm attitude toward a summit and not showing much resolve in addressing various disputes between the two countries.

Moon is making a last-ditch effort to normalize Korea’s relations with Japan before his term ends in May 2022, as this could enhance trilateral cooperation with the United States. In that sense, the two neighboring countries have been in talks over Moon’s attendance at the opening ceremony, which would lead to his first summit with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and a discussion about pending bilateral issues, according to the foreign ministry here.

However, Tokyo is seemingly unwilling to commit to a meeting, repeatedly leaking information on the negotiations to the media that deprecates a possible summit. Some media reported that any talks between Moon and Suga may last only 15 minutes due to time constraints.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

The fact that China did not make a big deal out of this 60 year treaty anniversary with North Korea shows they maybe relations are not as tight as they may want people to think:

The leaders of North Korea and China pledged greater mutual assistance and cooperation on the 60th anniversary of their treaty of friendship through a letter exchange, according to the North’s state news agency on Sunday.  
   
The North’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) released on Sunday the full texts of the letters exchanged by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Chinese President Xi Jinping marking the 60th anniversary of the Sino-North Korean Mutual Aid and Cooperation Friendship Treaty, which was signed on July 11, 1961.  
   
In his letter to Xi, Kim described the friendship between the two countries as growing in vitality, especially in the face of what he called “hostile forces” around the world.  
   
“Despite the unprecedentedly complicated international situation in recent years, comradely trust and militant friendship between the DPRK and China grow stronger day by day,” Kim wrote, according to the KCNA.  
   
Xi wrote back that he looked forward to strengthening “strategic communication” between the two countries and called the 1961 treaty as laying “important political and legal foundations for consolidating the militant friendship” between China and the North. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

Here is an interesting way to power a building:

Using a toilet can pay for your coffee or buy you bananas at a university in South Korea, where human waste is being used to help power a building.

Cho Jae-weon, an urban and environmental engineering professor at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), has designed an eco-friendly toilet connected to a laboratory that uses excrement to produce biogas and manure.

The BeeVi toilet – a portmanteau of the words bee and vision – uses a vacuum pump to send faeces into an underground tank, reducing water use. There, microorganisms break down the waste to methane, which becomes a source of energy for the building, powering a gas stove, hot-water boiler and solid oxide fuel cell.

Channel News Asia via a reader tip

You can read more at the link.

As COVID cases increase the Korean government is implementing stricter restrictions on the public:

South Korea’s daily new COVID-19 cases rose above 1,300 for the third straight day Sunday, as health authorities were set to impose the toughest virus curbs in the greater Seoul area to bring the fourth wave of the outbreak under control. 

The country recorded 1,324 more COVID-19 cases, including 1,280 local infections, raising the total caseload to 168,046, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.

It is the first time that the nation’s daily infections have risen above 1,300 for three straight days since the beginning of the pandemic. Sunday’s figure compares with 1,275 on Thursday, 1,316 on Friday and 1,378 on Saturday. (……….)

Under the Level 4 rules, private gatherings of three or more people will be banned after 6 p.m. and in-person classes will be closed. Weddings and funerals can only be joined by relatives. Entertainment establishments, including night clubs and bars, will be ordered to shut down, while restaurants will be allowed to have dine-in customers until 10 p.m.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

There may be a new general in charge of USFK, but the same COVID playbook is being used:

 The U.S. military in South Korea reimposed a mandatory mask policy and restricted travel to Seoul as the nation recorded another record-breaking number of coronavirus cases Friday.

The U.S. Forces Korea directive, which lasts through July 23, came as the South Korean government announced 1,316 new patients Friday, bringing the country’s number of known infections to 165,344.

“To protect our communities and our mission, we are implementing an immediate, aggressive approach to prevent the virus’ spread any further,” USFK commander Gen. Paul LaCamera said in a statement. (…..)

Seoul reported 583 cases Wednesday, the highest number of daily transmissions there since the pandemic began. There were 503 new patients on Friday.

Travel to Areas I and II, which includes the Seoul metropolitan area, is limited to mission-essential and official duties for USFK personnel until the directive expires. The command also reimposed a requirement that everyone wear masks while indoors on military installations, regardless of whether they are fully vaccinated.

Those who have been vaccinated will be allowed to remove their masks while “actively” exercising in on-post gyms, as long as they observe social distancing measures, according to the USFK statement.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but bars and clubs remain off limits to US personnel as well.

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