Here is the latest on South Korea’s never-ending sex doll controversy:

A recent court ruling in favor of importing life-size sex dolls has reignited heated debate here over its possible effects on society.

While importers and supporters say sex dolls should be treated the same as other sex toys on shelves, opponents say the dolls constitute the objectification of women.

Earlier this month, the Seoul Administrative Court overturned a January 2020 decision by the customs office at Gimpo International Airport to ban the importation of life-size real doll products. The office said the dolls would harm public morals, but the court said the toys are for personal use and do not corrupt morals.

Controversy over sex dolls erupted in June 2019 when the Supreme Court ruled in favor of another doll importer that sued the government customs agency for blocking their imports. The top court stated that the government should not interfere with people’s private lives, and using sex dolls was part of that. The customs authorities then allowed imports by the specific company that filed the suit, but have banned those of other companies.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Political leaders in both the UK and United States are speaking out against the ban put on activist groups sending leaflets to North Korea:

The international community’s move against South Korea’s ban on sending anti-Kim Jong-un regime propaganda leaflets to North Korea is intensifying. Since the National Assembly, which is dominated by the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), passed a bill to implement the ban last December, criticism has continued to grow internationally that the law undermines freedom of speech, with members of the U.K. Parliament and the U.S. Congress raising the issue and planning to hold a debate and hearing session, respectively.

The DPK passed the law claiming it is needed to protect the lives of South Koreans living in the border region, although critics claim it is caving into North Korea’s demands in the hope of keeping bilateral relations alive. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but according to the article Park Sang-hak the leader of Fighters for a Free North Korea that the Korean left has been trying to get jailed, is traveling to Washington, DC to speak at a Congressional hearing on this topic.

It is pretty amazing that the Moon administration wants to build a nuclear power plant in North Korea while trying to close down nuclear power plants in South Korea:

 A political controversy appears to be brewing over the Seoul government’s possible attempt years ago to help North Korea build a nuclear power plant, after a local broadcaster on Thursday disclosed the existence of relevant government documents.

SBS TV, citing prosecutors investigating the destruction of government documents related to the closure of an aging nuclear reactor by some officials of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy in 2019, reported that a number of files on inter-Korean energy cooperation, including the planned construction of a nuclear plant in the North, were among the deleted documents.

Last month, prosecutors in the central city of Daejeon indicted three energy ministry officials on charges of destroying 530 kinds of computer documents linked to the closure of Wolsong-1, the country’s second-oldest nuclear reactor, right before the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) requested the submission of the documents in December 2019.

The BAI had opened an audit into the closure of Wolsong-1, in southeastern South Korea, as it emerged as a hot-button issue after President Moon Jae-in decided in 2017 to phase out nuclear power generation in line with his energy policy.

According to the bill of their indictments, disclosed by the broadcaster, the deleted computer documents, recovered later by BAI officials, contained numerous files on plans to build a nuclear power plant in North Korea and other inter-Korean energy cooperation projects.

Notably, the deleted documents included reports titled “North Korean nuclear power plant construction implementation plan” and “Inter-Korean economic cooperation experts in energy field,” which were produced from May 2-15, 2018, and stored under the folder title of “pohjois,” a Finnish word meaning north.

Moon’s first and second summit meetings with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un were held in late April and late May, respectively, of the same year.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It appears the Vice Justice Minister was given some special treatment by the Korean police:

The National Police Agency issued an apology Monday for misleading the public about the existence of footage capturing Vice Justice Minister Lee Yong-gu allegedly assaulting a taxi driver in November.  

Choi Seung-ryul, acting chief of the police’s newly formed National Investigation Headquarters (NIH), admitted his earlier briefing on Dec. 28 last year suggesting there was no dashboard camera footage of the incident was “partly incorrect.”  

Lee, who was appointed the No. 2 figure at the Justice Ministry in December, has been in the hot seat after opposition politicians claimed police may have let him off the hook for the incident.  

According to police, Lee took a taxi to his home in Seocho-dong in Seocho District, southern Seoul, on Nov. 6. He fell asleep in the car, and the driver woke him up when they reached the destination. Lee allegedly hurled insults at the driver and grabbed him by the collar.  

The driver called the police to report an assault, and a unit went to the scene and took his statement.  

The taxi driver reached a settlement with Lee the next day and informed the police that he did not want to press criminal charges. The police closed the case without a criminal investigation.  

But controversy flared up again after media reports surfaced there was in fact footage from the taxi, and that the taxi driver had shown the video in question to a police officer through his mobile phone in a police investigation on Nov. 11.  

The taxi driver claimed the officer watched the approximately 30-second-long video, then said he was going to “pretend [he] never saw” the footage. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but this appears to be another one of those incidents where the cover up was worse than the crime.

Here is yet another example of someone from the South Korean political left sexually assaulting someone. This time it is a party chairman sexually assaulting a lawmaker:

Justice Party Chairman Kim Jong-cheol stepped down after admitting to sexually assaulting one of the party’s lawmakers.    
   
“I am here to announce very humiliating, devastating news that Chairman Kim committed sexual assault on Jan. 15,” Bae Bok-joo, deputy chair of the party, said in a press conference Monday. “The victim is Rep. Jang Hye-young, a member of the party.” 

The alleged assault took place on Jan. 15 after a dinner, and Jang filed a complaint with the party on Jan. 18. Bae, who is also in charge of the party’s gender and human rights division, said the party had conducted a one-week investigation.   
   
“The outcome was reported to the leadership earlier this morning, a serious discussion followed and a swift decision was made since it involves the party’s chairman.”   

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but in the past two years the left wing politicians former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon and former Governor An Hee-jung all involved in sexual assault scandals.