The way I look at this is that by releasing the locations the government is putting pressure on these businesses to disinfect their buildings. After being cleaned these businesses are probably the safe place to go visit afterwards:

Doctors from the Korean Society for Preventive Medicine and the Korean Society of Epidemiology said Monday in a joint statement that the government’s disclosure of places visited by people later diagnosed with the new coronavirus had “zero effect” on public health, saying it only aroused unnecessary anxiety.

The two groups said members of the public shouldn’t worry about contracting the disease by visiting the establishments or passing by areas where infected patients went – as long as those areas have been disinfected. 

“The biggest obstacles for overcoming the new coronavirus crisis are fake news and disinformation, excessive anxiety, groundless ‘solutions’ constantly raised by non-experts, stigma against patients and people who contacted them and a lack of voluntary help from people with symptoms of the virus or those who are subject to epidemiological investigations,” read the joint statement.

“In terms of public health, there’s zero effect in shutting down schools and stores near places infected patients visited,” the statement continued. “Such acts only cause unnecessary social costs.”

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

This horrible that an entire family which includes three Korean nationals has been infected by the coronavirus:

Three Korean citizens in mainland China were confirmed to have been infected with the new coronavirus, the Korean government said Monday.

Kim Gang-lip, deputy head of the central disaster headquarters, told reporters that three members of a family staying in Qingdao, in the country’s eastern province of Shandong, have tested positive for the virus, which has killed 904 people and infected nearly 41,000 in 29 countries over the past few weeks.

“The World Health Organization and the Chinese government notified on Sunday that they were confirmed to be infected,” Kim said.

The three ― a father and his two children ― are “in a stable condition” and have been treated at a local hospital, he said. The man is the spouse of a Chinese woman who was confirmed to have been infected with the virus on Jan. 31.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

I don’t think a cost sharing agreement getting done until after the parliamentary elections in April. The ROK will end up paying more and they would likely rather pay more after the election. It would not look good going into an election and having the appearance of backing down to the U.S. on the cost sharing issue. In the meantime the Korean national employees on U.S. bases will be out of work beginning April 1st:

Yi Myong Hwa, who has worked for the U.S. military for nearly half her life, has been getting headaches and wakes up these days to a feeling of dread.

Yi is one of some 9,000 South Korean employees who received notice late last month that they may be forced to take unpaid leave beginning on April 1 if the United States and South Korea fail to agree on a new defense cost-sharing agreement.

“The furlough notice hit us like a bolt of lightning,” the 46-year-old fire department dispatcher told Stars and Stripes in a recent interview at her office at Camp Casey, the closest U.S. base to the border with North Korea.

“Korean employees have been working for U.S. troops and the security of the United States and South Korea,” she said. “It’s outrageous that we’re being used as a bargaining chip.”

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

It was a big night for the Korean film industry as the highly acclaimed movie ‘Parasite’ won four Oscars:

 Bong Joon-ho’s sensational black comedy “Parasite” has bagged four Oscar titles, becoming the first non-English language film to win best picture.

At the 92nd Academy Awards held at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday (U.S. local time), Bong’s seventh feature film, a tale of class division, won the ceremony’s highest prize — best picture. 

It beat out strong competition from “1917” and “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” for the win. Other nominees were “The Irishman,” “Jojo Rabbit,” “Ford v Ferrari,” “Little Women,” “Joker,” and “Marriage Story.” 

“Parasite” also won best director, best original screenplay and best international feature film. It is South Korea’s first Oscar-nominated film. 

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but for those that have not seen the movie it is a satire about class struggle in South Korea involving a poor family using illegals ways to work for a rich family. Everything is going fine until an outside person breaks the balance that had been formed between the rich and the poor family. Things then go down hill very quickly.

I found it to be a well acted, filmed, and directed movie, but not one of the best Korean movies I have seen. In fact it is one of the few movies I have watched where I disliked every single character. It is definitely not something I would rush to go watch again. That is why I think this win for ‘Parasite’ had more to do with the weak competition it faced this year, left wing politics that love movies like this, and Hollywood trying to diversify.

But, maybe I am wrong, has anyone else watched the movie and thought this is the best movie they have seen?

I think all of us that follow these issues know why this is:

In all fairness, one may wonder why the “new” Chinese ambassador to Seoul was given a free pass on his diplomatic gaffe, while the U.S. ambassador ― who was born to a Japanese mother ― was pilloried over his mustache that critics compared to the facial hair of Japanese colonial-period leaders preying on Koreans. 

If one were to draw comparisons of Ambassador Harry Harris to Japan’s cruel governor-general during that country’s 1940-1945 occupation, then it would be justified in comparing Ambassador Xing Haiming to arrogant senior messengers from Ming or Qing emperors who treated Joseon kings as their subordinates. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

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