Here is the latest on the comfort woman statue controversy in Berlin:

A Berlin district office has withheld its order to remove a statue symbolizing victims of Japan’s wartime sexual slavery following protests from activists and citizens.

The Mitte district office said in a statement Tuesday that the order to remove “The Statue of Peace” by Wednesday was no longer applicable due to an injunction filed by local civic group Korea Verband, which brands itself as a platform for all who are interested in Korea.

“We will take time to thoroughly study the positions of all parties involved in this complex dispute, as well as our own position,” Stephan von Dassel, district mayor of Mitte, said in the statement.

“We would like to reach a compromise that reflects fairly the interests of Korea Verband and the interests of the Japanese side,” he said.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Of all the things to criticize the WHO over this is by far the least important. How boring of a life you must have to troll websites to look for a reason to feign outrage over Dokdo:

The World Health Organization (WHO) has yet to add the easternmost islets of Dokdo to a map of Korea on its official website, despite repeated calls from civic activists and citizens here, according to the Voluntary Agency Network of Korea (VANK) Tuesday. VANK is a civic diplomacy organization with more than 120,000 members.

In the ‘countries’ section of the website, the health organization provides brief information about each member state including a map. The map of South Korea is missing some of its territories including Dokdo and nearby Ulleung Island in the East Sea. 

However, the islands are included in the map of Japan, which some believe gives the impression that they are Japan’s territory. The country has been making repeated territorial claims on Dokdo, over which Korea claims sovereignty.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but no one who goes to the WHO website would think that Dokdo is owned by Japan based on these maps. Hardly anyone outside of Korea knows where or what Dokdo is. It is pretty clear whoever put the website together just zoomed in the map on South Korea because it is so small. Japan on the other hand is much larger and the map was zoomed out to picture it.

This would be the equivalent of an American being upset because the Farallón de Pájaros island was not included on a map of the United States.

If you have the Canadians angry at you then you know you have done something wrong:

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned China on Tuesday that its “coercive diplomacy,” repressive measures in Hong Kong and detention of Uighur Muslims are counterproductive for itself and the rest of the world.

Trudeau took aim at Beijing’s record as he marked the 50th anniversary of Canada’s diplomatic ties with China.

“We will remain absolutely committed to working with our allies to ensure that China’s approach of coercive diplomacy, its arbitrary detention of two Canadian citizens alongside other citizens of other countries around the world is not viewed as a successful tactic by them,” Trudeau said at a press conference.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

This is just more of the new normal in South Korea of dealing with coronavirus outbreaks at different locations around the country; the latest area is in Busan:

More than 50 patients and workers at a nursing hospital in Busan have been diagnosed with COVID-19, municipal authorities said Wednesday, in the southern port city’s latest coronavirus cluster.

The authorities said 43 patients of the Busan nursing hospital, located in the city’s Mandeok neighborhood, and its 10 staff members tested positive for the new coronavirus. One of the infected patients has already died, they added.

The authorities also said that four other people from the same room as the deceased have died with similar symptoms.

Including the four, eight deaths have been reported in the nursing hospital over the last month.

The mass virus infections have come to light after an assistant nurse in her 50s was confirmed to be infected Tuesday, prompting the authorities to conduct the coronavirus tests for all 261 patients and staff.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

More bad news for Korean Air:

The Seoul Metropolitan Government has designated a large plot of land owned by Korean Air in the center of Seoul as a public park.  
   
On Wednesday, the city government announced it would designate the Songhyeon-dong, central Seoul, site as a public park, changing it from the current “special-purpose complex.”  
   
The redesignation will not come into effect until the Anti‑Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC) comes up with an arbitration plan between the city government and Korean Air, which opposes the designation. The procedure was initiated upon Korean Air’s request in August after Seoul City first proposed turning the land into a park for public use.  
   
Covering nine acres, the piece of land in Songhyeon-dong is located right next to Gyeongbok Palace. The company purchased it from Samsung Life Insurance in 2008 and had planned to develop a cultural complex.  
   
After years of failing to proceed with the project due to construction regulations in one of Seoul’s most preserved neighborhoods, the company announced that it would sell the plot of land along with other non-core property assets in February this year. It was part of a grand plan to secure funds amid a management crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.  
   
Now that the site faces a future as a public park, it’s unlikely that Korea Air will be able to sell it for the high price it was looking for. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but the public park designation pretty much means the only possible buyer of the property will be the Seoul city government. They will likely not pay what the land would of been worth if it was not designated a park.

Korean Air had been trying to maximize the sale of the property due to the ongoing loss of profits by the COVID-19 pandemic.