The furloughs are coming:

U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) issued a 30-day advance notice of a potential furlough to its Korean employees, apparently to further pressure Seoul in defense cost-sharing negotiations.

Korea and the United States have been engaged in talks over how much Seoul should pay for the upkeep of the 28,500-strong USFK under their cost-sharing deal, the Special Measures Agreement (SMA), but have yet to reach a deal. “Their loss will have an impact on readiness,” USFK commander Gen. Robert Abrams said. “Unfortunately, without an agreed upon SMA, we must continue to prepare for a potential furlough.”

Absent an agreement, the furlough will begin on April 1, it said.

The U.S. Department of Defense earlier said it will fund the salaries of key Korean workers who provide life, health, safety and other readiness services, but USFK sent the notice, as required by U.S. law, to all its nearly 9,000 Korean employees as it is still unclear who will be subject to the potential furlough, it said.“We’ve explored all options that remain within my authority to delay a potential furlough due to the SMA lapse, and we will continue to explore funding alternatives up to and even during a required furlough,” Abrams said.

Joong Ang Ilbo

The Korean government is now advocating for Chinese students to not return to South Korea until after the coronavirus fears die down:

Education authorities of South Korea and China agreed to advise their students against returning to school in the other country as part of their cooperation to contain the spread of the new coronavirus, Seoul officials said Friday.

The move comes as the spread of the virus is showing little sign of easing in the two countries after it emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late December.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest on the coronavirus spread in South Korea:

South Korea’s confirmed cases of the new coronavirus approached 2,400, with an additional three deaths being reported, on Friday as the nation worked to aggressively counter the fast-spreading virus with extensive testing. Health authorities renewed calls for citizens to keep away from others and avoid mass gatherings such as religious services over the weekend.

The 571 new cases — the sharpest daily spike yet, outnumbering 327 new cases reported in China earlier in the day — brought the nation’s total infections to 2,337, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC). Two days ago, the number of infections surpassed the 1,000 mark.

The latest fatalities all occurred in Daegu, 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul, with the death toll here rising to 16. Health authorities said two of the latest victims posthumously tested positive for the virus, with one being confirmed on Feb. 23. All were women in their 60 through 90s, and were being treated at hospitals or in self quarantine when they died. Authorities said they are trying to determine the exact cause of their deaths. 

South Korea confirmed its first new coronavirus case from a Chinese woman from Wuhan, the epicenter of the virus outbreak, on Jan. 20. 

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but I will ask the obvious question, why was a Chinese woman from Wuhan allowed into the country in the first place?

Here is the story of how patient 31 spread the coronavirus that has nearly sealed off Daegu from the rest of the country because of its spread:

Patient 31 first checked into the Saeronan Chinese Medicine Hospital on Feb. 7, complaining of headaches after being involved in a car accident the day before. According to the hospital, the patient didn’t have any record of traveling overseas nor any known contact with a coronavirus patient. She also didn’t have any fever, cough or respiratory symptoms.

On the third day of being hospitalized, the patient developed a fever and received a flu test, which came back negative, according to the hospital.

The next day, she left the hospital for two hours to attend a morning service at the Shincheonji church in southern Daegu, according to Korea’s CDC. It’s common in South Korea for hospital patients to come and go — even walking outside wearing hospital garb and wheeling intravenous drips alongside them.

The woman also had lunch with a friend at a hotel in eastern Daegu on Feb. 15 and attended another Shincheonji worship service on Feb. 16, the country’s health authorities said.

It wasn’t until Feb. 17, as her condition worsened and a scan showed signs of pneumonia, that doctors were prompted to test for the coronavirus. Ten days after Patient 31 first set foot in a hospital, her infection was confirmed after a diagnosis at a public health clinic.

Health officials in South Korea still don’t know how she was infected, and how she spread the virus to fellow Shincheonji members.

Bloomberg

You can read more at the link.

Of course numbers from China are unreliable, but if you believe the numbers, the spread of the coronavirus in South Korea is growing at a rate larger now than where it started:

South Korea reported yet another record spike of new cases of the novel coronavirus on Thursday, with most new infections identified in the hardest-hit city of Daegu as virus tests started on more than 210,000 members of a religious sect at the center of the epidemic.

The 505 new cases, marking the sharpest daily spike yet and outnumbering the 433 new cases reported in China, where the virus originated, earlier in the day, took the nation’s total infections to 1,766, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).

A 75-year-old virus patient who is tied to the religious sect in Daegu died of respiratory failure earlier Thursday, bringing the nation’s death toll to 13.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but of the 505 new cases 422 of them were in Daegu and mostly tied to members of the religious sect that began the outbreak in the city.

USINDOPACIFIC Command has announced that all non-essential U.S. military and civilian personnel are restricted from traveling to South Korea:

Travel to South Korea is being restricted immediately for all service members and civilians who are nonessential due to the growing cases of coronavirus in the country, the regional military combatant command announced Wednesday.

There are now 1,261 confirmed cases of coronavirus in South Korea, the largest outbreak of the virus outside of China, with 284 new cases reported as of Wednesday, according to the World Health Organization. So far, 12 people have died in the country.

Stars and Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Here is a good common sense decision to unnecessarily avoid exposing more U.S. military personnel to the coronavirus:

South Korea and the United States decided to postpone their springtime joint military exercises over growing concerns about the spread of the new coronavirus, their combined command said Thursday.

The two sides had initially planned to stage their computer-simulated combined command post training in March but decided to put it off “until further notice” in light of Seoul’s decision to raise its alert rating to “severe,” the highest level, over COVID-19, according to the Combined Forces Command (CFC).

It is the first time that the allies have decided to modify combined exercises due to health-related issues.

Yonhap

The news of the exercise cancellation comes on top of the fact that USFK employee in Daegu has now come down with the coronavirus as well.