Condolences to the friends and family of Byun Hee-soo:

Byun hee-soo, a 23-year-old transgender former soldier forced to discharge from the Army last year, was found dead at her home, police said Wednesday.

The Army made the discharge decision in January last year after judging that Byun’s loss of male genitals belongs to the Level 3 physical disability under the military laws.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but according to this report Byun tried to commit suicide three months ago and was seeing a mental health counselor.

Considering how packed Seoul always seems it is hard to believe it is going through a population decline:

 Seoul’s population has fallen below 10 million for the first time in over 30 years, the city government said Wednesday. 

The total number of inhabitants in the capital stood at 9,911,088 at the end of last year, with 9,668,465 citizens and 242,623 foreign nationals, the local government said, citing data from the ministries of interior and justice. 

This marks the first time Seoul’s population has sunk below 10 million since it crossed the threshold in 1988.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The Moon administration has finally gotten Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl to resign:

 Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl resigned Thursday, after strongly objecting to the ruling party’s push to create a new state agency to fully take over investigative powers from the prosecution service.

“I am offering to resign as of today,” Yoon said at a brief press conference held in front of the Supreme Prosecutors Office in Seoul.

“The spirits of the Constitution and the system of rule of law are crumbling. And it will cause damage to people. It is hard to watch common sense and justice collapsing,” he said, adding that he has done everything he could do in his capacity as prosecutor general.

President Moon Jae-in swiftly accepted his resignation offer, Cheong Wa Dae said, shortly after the prosecution chief made the announcement.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the Moon administration has been trying to take out Yoon because he had the nerve to investigate corruption within the administration. That is what makes this new investigation agency they want to establish so controversial because an administration with a numerous corruption issues wants to form their own agency to investigate corruption and other crimes. The concern is that ruling party will use it to protect themselves and go after their political enemies. If this new agency was in operation when the Cho Kuk scandal hit does anyone think this Blue House appointed agency would have done much to investigate and indict him and his family for corruption?

As I have said before South Korea has long been a rule by law country and not a rule of law country. This agency may make it worse.

Here is an issue that women in Japan are looking to see addressed:

Mari Inoue is a 34-year-old English professor in Tokyo. She got engaged to her boyfriend Kotaro Usui three years ago. A wedding, they say, is out of the question.

It’s not the pandemic that is preventing them, but an archaic Japanese law that requires married couples to adopt the same surname. (…..)

Japan is among only a few advanced economies to stop couples holding separate surnames after marriage – through a law that explicitly discriminates against women, according to a UN committee.

BBC

You can read more at the link, but lawsuits have failed to change the law because the judges think this is something that should be addressed through legislation. Will women care enough to make this a major election issue? I guess we will find out in the coming months and years.

Here is the latest strategy to counter China by the Biden administration:

The Biden administration is moving to put semiconductors, artificial intelligence and next-generation networks at the heart of U.S. strategy toward Asia, attempting to rally what officials are calling “techno-democracies” to stand up to China and other “techno-autocracies.”

The new framing for the U.S. rivalry with China has been given added urgency by the sudden global shortage of microchips needed in products such as cars, mobile phones and refrigerators. The strategy would seek to rally an alliance of nations fighting for an edge in semiconductor fabrication and quantum computing, upending traditional arenas of competition such as missile stockpiles and troop numbers.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but the article says there is a global shortage of microchips because China has been stockpiling them. The theory is that if major microchip producers like Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan restrict sales of technology to China it will quash large Chinese companies like Huawei.

Of these three nations I would expect there would be little pushback from Taiwan or Japan on such a strategy, but the Moon administration in South Korea may be a tougher sell. Samsung is the world’s largest producer of semiconductors so restricting sales to China would be a huge loss for them. Additionally the Moon administration has arguably a policy of not upsetting China or the U.S.; siding against China on this issue they know will lead to severe retaliation far worse than what they experienced on the THAAD issue. This is not an easy policy decision for the Moon administration and I would not be surprised if they just delayed any decision on this as long as possible to see if it goes away.

Soldiers on Camp Casey are currently barred from going outside the gates to neighboring Dongducheon:

An uptick in coronavirus cases near a U.S. base in South Korea prompted the commander to impose a travel ban Wednesday between the base and the neighboring city.

Dongducheon city is off-limits to anyone associated with Camp Casey, except for “approved mission essential travel,” according to a U.S. Forces Korea news release. Dining in off-post restaurants is also restricted.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but apparently an uptick in coronavirus cases in Gyeongi province this week from 111 to 135 cases is what led to the travel ban.