Here are some interesting survey results from Koreans who voted in the Seoul and Busan mayoral elections that were decisive defeats for President Moon’s ruling Democratic Party:

Only three percent felt the PPP won because of its policies, another three percent because voters supported the individual candidate, and a measly one percent attributed the victory to the main opposition’s accomplishments in the National Assembly. Even among PPP supporters, 81 percent admitted that the party won because of the ruling party’s mistakes.

Some 43 percent blamed the Minjoo Party’s failed real-estate policies for its defeat, followed by its refusal to admit its mistakes (18 percent), railroading through of unpopular policies (15 percent) and lack of remorse over the sexual harassment scandals that ousted the former Seoul and Busan mayors (10 percent).

Some 46 percent said the vote was only a warning to Cheong Wa Dae and the ruling party, but the same proportion said voters have completely turned their backs on President Moon Jae-in and the MP, so it remains to be seen how these ambivalent sentiments play out in the presidential election next year.

Chosun Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

The participation of South Korea in the IAEA team probably isn’t going to matter since the opposition to this Japanese plan is political and not scientific:

Japanese Ambassador Koichi Aiboshi said Monday that he thinks South Korean experts can be part of a U.N. nuclear watchdog-led monitoring team for his country’s planned release of radioactive water from its crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant. 

South Korea has expressed concerns about potential health risks over Japan’s plan to release over 1.2 million tons of Fukushima’s contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean and said it wants to take part in safety verification efforts by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

We are already see the slow build up the past few months towards a North Korean provocation cycle happening:

U.S. intelligence officials believe North Korea will test another nuclear weapon or intercontinental ballistic missile this year as leader Kim Jong-un seeks to gain negotiation leverage. 

The North halted nuclear and ICBM tests in 2018 amid a brief honeymoon with then-U.S. President Donald Trump. The prediction is part of an annual report released on Tuesday by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees 18 intelligence agencies.

Chosun Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

Korea is seeing the same problem many cities in the US are seeing with e-scooters just strewn around all over the place on sidewalks:

Electric scooters, an innovative eco-friendly form of transportation, have gained increasing popularity in Korea since their sharing platforms were commercialized in 2018. (………)

Users can unlock an e-scooter on the street by scanning a QR code using their smartphone, ride to their destination and park it there after their trip. Unlike rental bicycles, e-scooters do not have designated parking areas they should be returned to.

The “dockless” scheme is what makes the personal mobility devices convenient for riders, but on the other hand, it creates inconvenience for pedestrians, who frequently find pathways blocked by e-scooters left standing in the middle of sidewalks.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but Seoul plans to start issuing fines to e-scooter operators with improperly parked scooters.

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

I would have handled this differently in this situation, but of course the media is making this into a racial incident when it is not:

A white Fort Jackson soldier seen in a video pushing and yelling at a young Black man in a northeast Columbia neighborhood has been criminally charged, according to the Richland County Sheriff’s Department.

The incident took place in the Summit neighborhood, a sprawling community located between Clemson and Hardscrabble roads.

At an evening news conference, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott identified the man charged as Jonathan Pentland, 42. Deputies charged him with third-degree assault and battery.

The State

You can read more at the link. Pentland did push the guy in the video after he walked towards his wife. The rest of the time he was just aggressively questioning and yelling at the other man. Of course the media is trying to frame this as a white guy doesn’t want a black guy walking around this neighborhood narrative.

What many in the media are not mentioning is what happened before the confrontation. Four days before the incident a man sexually assaulted a woman on the sidewalk in the neighborhood. Then two days before the incident a man tried to walk away with a baby he took from a woman and had to be stopped. The day of the incident caught on the clip something else happened because Pentland’s wife can clearly be heard in the video saying that the man picked a fight with one of their female neighbors. According to the Washington Post the man that Pentland pushed is being investigated for the prior assaults on women in the neighborhood, however police say he has an underlying medical conditions that could explain his behavior.

So essentially we have someone who has possible mental issues assaulting and harassing women in the neighborhood and Pentland intervenes more aggressively than he should of, but should this make him a racist? I see nothing in this video indicating that Pentland targeted him because he was walking while black like the narrative is claiming. If the man was just walking down the sidewalk not bothering anyone, no one would have bothered him.

Pentland was charged for pushing the man and will likely face bigger punishment from the Army, but is anyone going to charge the man in the video with assaulting and harassing women in the neighborhood? Additionally is anyone going to charge the protesters who vandalized Pentland’s home? Pentland is far from the only person in the wrong in this incident, but he is the only one many in the media are focusing on because of the narrative they want to push.