Another week and yet another corruption allegation coming from a member of the ruling government:

Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae is in the hot seat over her alleged illicit use of her prior position in the ruling party to help her son receive preferential treatment during his mandatory military service years ago.

She is the second justice minister to be embroiled in allegations of using influence for family members, following Cho Kuk who allegedly helped his children gain fraudulent admissions to prestigious universities, although the position is meant to require a higher morality in law abidance than other officials. There is now rising criticism that these allegations involving former and incumbent justice ministers are damaging the spirit of equality, fairness and justice ― the so-called key values that the Moon Jae-in administration has pledged to pursue since its inauguration.

The allegations concern Choo’s son surnamed Seo, who was assigned to the Korean Augmentation Troops to the United States Army (KATUSA) to carry out his mandatory service from 2016 to 2018.

Seo apparently had two consecutive sick leaves for a combined 19 days in June 2017 for knee surgery, which was rather long compared to other cases. However, there are no military record regarding this leave, although Seo’s lawyer claims he submitted all the necessary documents at that time, including medical certificates from doctors. At the time Choo was the head of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK).

In response to the allegation, Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo said at a National Assembly session Tuesday that the leave was approved according to due procedure but there were some administrative errors.

It is also alleged that after the 19-day sick leave, Seo did not return to his base and did not report this until his absence was noticed by a senior soldier two days later. He was also absent for a further two days. One of Choo’s aides allegedly called an officer at Seo’s unit and asked him to record the four-day absence as part of annual leave ― a request that was complied with ― according to the main opposition People Power Party (PPP), formerly the United Future Party.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but how pathetic her son must be to sham out of KATUSA duty? He should sent to make up the mandatory military service time he missed in a frontline ROK infantry unit.

No relief for Seoul’s small business owners who have at least another week of being shutdown ahead of them:

South Korea on Friday decided to extend tougher anti-virus curbs on restaurants, bakeries and coffee shops in the greater Seoul area for another week, as sporadic cluster infections and untraceable cases are still popping up in the densely populated area.

Since Sunday, the country began limiting operations of restaurants, bakeries and franchise coffee chains in the Seoul metropolitan area under the so-called Level 2.5 social distancing guidelines, while implementing the Level 2 measures across the country since mid-August.

The toughened distancing in daily lives for the capital area, originally set to end Sunday, will be maintained until Sept. 13. The Level 2 measures in place across the country will also be extended by two weeks until Sept. 20, according to health authorities.

“In order to regain our control over the spread of the virus and to secure a stable medical system, we need to extend the social distancing measures until the number of new patients clearly drops,” Health Minister Park Neunghoo said during a briefing.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Popular South Korean entertainer, Lee Hyo-ri has decided to give up on Instagram:

Singer and entertainer Lee Hyo-ri is leaving social media, she announced on Instagram Wednesday morning, following a wave of criticism from people claiming they were offended by a comment she made on an MBC show.  
   
“In the next three days or so, I will no longer be on Instagram,” she wrote. “It’s not because of the recent event (although of course I can’t say that it hasn’t been entirely irrelevant). I hoped this could have been the gateway for me to interact with fans who were always thirsty for my news, but this is more than what I’ve bargained for and it’s not easy.”

In an Aug. 22 episode of “Hangout with Yoo,” a reality show on MBC, she suggested that she take the stage name “Mao.” That resulted in a barrage of negative posts on Instagram by those who interpreted the comment as a slight toward Mao Zedong, the Chinese communist leader.  
   
“Hangout with Yoo” staff insisted in online posts that the name “Mao” was suggested generically and was not meant to make any sort of connection to the party leader. They also said that a different name has been chosen, while the scene has been deleted from the episode. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but Lee Hyo-ri was attacked by Chinese social media users after joking about the Mao name. It makes me wonder if this is another 50 Cent Army operation?

Here is the carnage from the latest typhoon to hit South Korea:

Typhoon Maysak swept across South Korea, leaving two people dead and three others injured, causing power outages, disrupting transportation and damaging homes and farmland, authorities said Thursday. The weather agency warns of another typhoon, possibly even more powerful than Mayak, to strike the country early next week. 

Casualties and damages from Maysak, the ninth typhoon of this season, were mainly in the southern part of the country, where it came ashore early Thursday morning with top winds of 45 meters per second, the fourth strongest in history, before weakening to a tropical depression at around noon in the East Sea. 

According to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters, a woman in her 60s died of severe bleeding from glass shards after strong guests shattered the windows of her apartment unit in Busan. Another, a man in 50s, also suffered cuts from broken windows at his apartment unit also in the southeastern port city. 

Some 22 people from 17 households saw their homes destroyed by the typhoon, while some 2,280 people from 1,505 households had to temporarily evacuate from their homes in a precautionary measure. 

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest on the coronavirus front in Seoul:

The number of additional new coronavirus cases fell to below 200 for the first time in more than two weeks Thursday, but cluster infections continued to pop up across the country and critically ill patients are on the rise.

The country reported 195 new COVID-19 cases, including 188 local infections, raising the total caseload to 20,644, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).

Thursday’s daily tally marks the smallest since 197 on Aug. 17. 

Health authorities said this week will be critical in determining whether the virus curve sharply flattens or not.

The country plans to decide whether to extend the quasi-Level 3 scheme in greater Seoul beyond Sunday over the weekend.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but Yonhap is still blaming churches and the anti-government protest for the virus spread. Buried at the end of the article is that only 329 people out of a nation of 51 million have died from the coronavirus.

So this is this the real reason a peace deal wasn’t struck between Trump and Kim, Sarah Huckabee Sanders wouldn’t take one for the team? 😉

President Donald Trump told Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a former White House press secretary, to go to North Korea and take one “for the team” after Kim Jong Un appeared to wink at her during a summit in 2018, she said in a new book.

In her memoir, a copy of which was obtained by The Guardian, Sanders described an incident at the summit in Singapore with Trump, Kim, and a collection of their aides.

She said in the book, set to be released next Tuesday, that during a session of talks, Kim “reluctantly” accepted a Tic Tac mint from Trump, who “dramatically blew into the air to reassure Kim it was just a breath mint” and not poison. (……)

The former press secretary said that later, in the presidential limousine, she told Trump and John Kelly, who was then his chief of staff, about the incident.

“Kim Jong Un hit on you!” Trump said, according to Sanders. “He did! He f—ing hit on you!”

Sanders replied, “Sir, please stop.”

“Well, Sarah, that settles it. You’re going to North Korea and taking one for the team!” Trump told her, Sanders said. “Your husband and kids will miss you, but you’ll be a hero to your country!”

Trump and Kelly then “howled with laughter,” Sanders said.

Business Insider

You can read more at the link, but if Trump was to hold another summit and brought current Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany with him Kim Jong-un might just surrender on the spot. 🙂