This will be a big step reopen schools, not so much for the students who really aren’t effected by the coronavirus, but the teachers and family members they may spread the virus to:
Soldiers disinfect a middle school in Daegu as part of efforts to help the city cope with the COVID-19 crisis, in this March 17 photo. /Yonhap
The government appears to be in a dilemma over whether to resume normal classes at schools, according to education officials Tuesday, as the number of new coronavirus infections has been on a downward trend.
Officials want to open schools as quickly as possible and return teachers and students to classrooms. But at the same time, they are equally concerned that if they open the schools too soon, they could become a hotbed for the highly contagious virus as students come into contact with one another.
As the number of newly confirmed daily cases of COVID-19 has stayed around 15 or less for 10 consecutive days, many educators, teachers and students expect to see schools resuming normal classes. Schools have been closed since March 2, when the new school semester was originally scheduled to commence.
The Ministry of Education said Tuesday that it had held a videoconference with local education superintendents to come up with a detailed plan for any reopening. During the conference, Education Minister Yoo Eun-hae and the 17 regional superintendents discussed how to resume normal classes while preventing them from becoming hotbeds for the coronavirus.
A decision is expected between May 3 and 5, after the government decides whether to further ease social distancing next week.
The only problem with the proposed Inter-Korean Railway project is that the North Koreans have not agreed to it yet. However, I suspect that this will be part of an effort to restart tourism to the Kumgang Resort in North Korea that the Moon administration will eventually try to circumvent sanctions to do if they are not dropped by the time this railway extension is completed:
The South Korean government on Monday held a ceremony to reconnect its railroad system to the North’s, marking the second anniversary of the inter-Korean summit at Panmunjom in 2018.
South Korea’s railway on its eastern coast, called the Northern East Sea Line, will be extended by a total of 110.9 kilometers (69 miles) from its current northernmost point in Gangneung all the way to Jaejin Station in Goseong County, Gangwon, the last stop on South Korean territory below the military demarcation line with the North.
Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul, who led the ceremony, in an opening address called the construction of the railway a “Korean Peninsula New Deal” project meant to “inaugurate a new age in which the continent meets the ocean.”
Halal food street to be created This photo, provided by the Yongsan Ward office in Seoul on April 28, 2020, shows a rendering of a halal food culture street (pink line) to be created near the Islam Korea Seoul Central Masjid. (Yonhap)
So does anyone believe the Blue House did not know about this:
Oh Keo-don
The main opposition party on Monday accused the Blue House of arranging Busan Mayor Oh Keo-don’s resignation and admission of sexual assault to take place after this month’s general elections, following a revelation that a law firm hired to communicate with the victim was once headed by President Moon Jae-in.
“No one can possibly believe that the Blue House and ruling Democratic Party [DP] had no prior knowledge of the incident,” Rep. Shim Jae-cheol, floor leader and acting chairman of the United Future Party (UFP), said Monday. “Who will believe that Oh did not inform the party about this important incident?”
Busan Mayor Oh resigned Thursday after admitting to molesting a female employee of the city government. The resignation of the 71-year-old politician, the first DP member to win the mayor post of the southern port city in 2018 after three unsuccessful runs, took place one week after the ruling party’s landslide victory in the April 15 general elections.
You can read more at the link, but to be fair even if the Blue House knew and wanted to keep this out of the headlines, the victim said she did not want this incident publicized before the election either. However, even if this did come out before the election I doubt it would have made much difference nationally considering how big the Korean left won the parliamentary elections.
Congratulations to the Korean Unification Minister for creating a new word, “infodemic”:
Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha (L) and Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul speak during a parliamentary session at the National Assembly in Seoul on April 28, 2020. (Yonhap)
Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul on Tuesday rejected unconfirmed reports of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s illness as “fake news” and “infodemic,” insisting he can say confidently there have been no unusual signs in the communist state.
Speculation about Kim’s health spiked after he skipped an annual visit to the mausoleum of his grandfather Kim Il-sung on the late national founder’s April 15 birth anniversary, the North’s most important national holiday.
Media reports have since speculated that Kim might be seriously ill, but Seoul officials have disputed the reports, repeatedly saying there are no unusual signs found in North Korea and that Kim is believed to be staying in the country’s eastern coastal town of Wonsan.
“It can be seen as a phenomenon of infodemic,” Minister Kim said during a parliamentary foreign affairs committee meeting, referring to a recent deluge of unfounded rumors about the leader’s heath. “We have intelligence capacity that allows us to say confidently that there are no unusual signs.”
Here is the latest from President Trump on the health of Kim Jong-un:
President Trump was asked about the widespread speculation surrounding the health of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a White House news conference on the coronavirus on Monday. Trump suggested he knew “exactly” how Kim is doing, but declined to reveal that information.
“Yes I do have a very good idea, but I can’t talk about it now,” said Trump when he was asked to provide an update on Kim’s condition. “I just wish him well.”
The statement mentions nothing about his health, but instead thanks workers building a special tourism area:
This photo, carried by North Korea’s state news agency on April 6, 2019, shows its leader Kim Jong-un (C) inspecting the Wonsan-Kalma coastal tourist area. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un expressed his gratitude to workers building a tourist zone in the east coast region of Wonsan, state media said Monday, amid reports his special train is parked at the area amid persisting speculation about his health.
“Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un has sent his appreciation to the workers who devoted themselves to building the Wonsan-Kalma tourist zone,” the Rodong Sinmun, the North’s main newspaper, said. The Korean Central Broadcasting Station carried a similar report.
Later in the day, the state-run Korean Central News Agency also reported that Kim sent a congratulatory telegram message to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday.
