The community spread of the coronavirus continues to worsen in South Korea like much of the rest of the northern hemisphere that is entering winter:

South Korea’s single-day coronavirus cases broke the 1,000-mark for the first time on Sunday, prompting President Moon Jae-in to warn that the country will have to consider enforcing the toughest level of social distancing unless the current spread is curbed.

The country added 1,030 more COVID-19 cases, including 1,002 local infections, raising the total caseload to 42,766, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

Sunday’s daily caseload jumped from the previous day’s record high of 950, marking the highest since the country reported its first COVID-19 case in January.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It appears the autopilot in a Tesla vehicle may have contributed to this crash:

Police are investigating the fatal conflagration of a Tesla Model X that killed its owner and injured two others in an underground parking garage in Seoul.  
   
The Model X crashed into the wall of the parking garage of an apartment complex in Yongsan District, central Seoul, then caught fire, on Wednesday. This led to the burning death of the car’s owner, who was in the passenger seat.  
   
The driver, who escaped with injuries, claimed “the car suddenly got out of control,” raising the possibility of a sudden unintended acceleration as the cause of the accident, according to police.  
   
It is unusual for a car slowly winding its way through a parking garage to suddenly smash into a wall and result in the death of a passenger. The police will ask the National Forensic Service to try to determine the cause of the accident.    
   
Some experts asked about the case suggested that the Tesla’s autopilot function could have played a role.  
   
“It is more likely that the car’s autopilot feature malfunctioned or the driver’s misunderstanding of the system caused the accident, instead of a sudden unintended acceleration,” said Kim Pil-soo, a professor at Daelim University College department of automotive engineering, who observed the accident site. “If the car was powered by an internal combustion engine, the fire could have been more easily extinguished. But since it was an electric car, it was harder to stop the fire.” 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but using the autopilot in a parking garage seems to be a very bad idea.

Ever since being accused of sexual assault by a number of actresses, Kim Ki-duk has kept a low profile and has now reportedly passed away from the coronavirus in Latvia of all places:

Filmmaker Kim Ki-duk has died following complications after contracting the coronavirus.   
   
Foreign media reported Friday evening that the 59-year-old filmmaker had passed away at a hospital in Latvia.   
   
Local media later confirmed the reports after contacting Kim’s family.   
   
Kim is best known for his 2012 drama “Pieta,” which won him the Golden Lion Prize at the Venice Film Festival that year, and other representative works include “Arirang” (2011) and “Moebius” (2013).   

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

ROK Heads may remember that this guy is a notorious career criminal who used the “I was drunk” defense to have his sentence reduced:

Cho Doo-soon, one of South Korea’s most notorious child rapists in recent memory, was released from prison on Saturday amid strong protests against the heinous criminal’s return to society. 

Cho served a 12-year term for kidnapping and raping an 8-year-old girl in a church bathroom in Ansan, 42 kilometers southwest of Seoul, in December 2008. A huge public outcry has erupted over what has been seen as too lenient a punishment for a horrendous sexual crime against a minor.

He left the correctional facility in southern Seoul early Saturday and returned to his home in Ansan, south of the capital, escorted by probation officers. 

Some of about 150 angry protesters, who waited for his appearance near his residence, threw eggs at Cho when he arrived and shouted slogans calling for him to be executed or expelled from the city.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This may be a new daily record of 950 COVID cases for Korea, but compared to California’s daily rate of over 35,000 daily cases it is still quite low:

The daily number of new coronavirus cases in South Korea crossed the 900-mark on Saturday, reaching a record high nearly 11 months after the country reported its first virus case.

The country added 950 more COVID-19 cases, including 928 local infections, raising the total caseload to 41,736, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). 

Saturday’s daily caseload marks a sharp jump from 689 the previous day and is the highest mark since January, when the country reported its first confirmed COVID-19 case. The previous record was 909 tallied on Feb. 29. 

Cluster infections from private gatherings coupled with massive infections at a church and a hospital pushed up the tally.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

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