Anyone surprised by this? I hope not because it is simple math that employers would cut back on employees if labor costs became too expensive due to forced minimum wage increases. This is especially true for all the mom and pop shops you see in South Korea:

The steep increase in the minimum wage caused 42,000 full-time jobs in convenience stores to disappear in 2018 as they were unable to pay the increased salaries, the Korea Association of Convenience Store Industry said Tuesday.

According to the association, the average number of jobs available per convenience store plummeted to five, down from 5.8 in 2017. The number of full-time staff who worked more than three to four days per week and received monthly wages fell from 2.3 to 1.1.

Chosun Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but young people in South Korea are already having a hard time finding a job and now even a convenience store job is harder to get.

This is just another example of North Korea trying to create more tension prior to the end of the year in hopes of getting a deal with the Trump administration:

The lack of courtesy shown to Kim had “prompted the waves of hatred of our people against the U.S. and the Americans and they are getting higher and higher”, Choe said.

“It would be fortunate” if Trump’s remarks were simply “an instantaneous verbal lapse, but the matter becomes different if they were a planned provocation that deliberately targeted us”, she said. 

North Korea would watch closely to see if Trump repeated the comments, Choe said. 

“If any language and expressions stoking the atmosphere of confrontation are used once again on purpose at a crucial moment as now, that must really be diagnosed as the relapse of the dotage of a dotard,” she concluded. 

Trump said on Tuesday he still had confidence in the North Korean leader but noted that Kim “likes sending rockets up”. 

“…That’s why I call him Rocket Man,” Trump told reporters at a NATO meeting in London.

Reuters

The North Koreans have never been known for their sense of humor, but clearly the President was trying to be funny.

Here is more details on the incident involving an F-16 at Kunsan Airbase:

An F-16 pilot who was injured when he ejected at Kunsan Air Base has been released from the hospital, but the aircraft was damaged, according to the Air Force.

The Fighting Falcon pilot from the 8th Fighter Wing suffered minor injuries when he ejected during a landing after a routine sortie on Monday.

He was released in good condition, the 8th Fighter Wing said Wednesday in a press release.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but the article did not say exactly what caused the pilot to eject.

Is it just me or once again these English language slogans are not very good?:

The listed names above are a shortlist of English slogans subject to an online poll to select one for the city of Daejeon. 

What is your choice and why? 

The poll will continue through Dec. 13 on the city’s opinion-collecting website. Each signed-up subscriber is entitled to cast a vote. 

The event is to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Daejeon winning “metropolitan city” status. 

The shortlist of 20 slogans was selected out of 2,900 through a multi-step review by experts and civilian panels.

Korea Times

Does anyone have any favorites or new suggestions for a Daejeon slogan?

Here is the latest on the US-ROK cost sharing negotiations:

South Korea’s chief negotiator for the defense cost-sharing issue with the United States dismissed speculations of a possible withdrawal of the United States Forces Korea (USFK) from South Korea.

“The possible USFK withdrawal from South Korea wasn’t an issue,” South Korean official Jeong Eun-bo told reporters after closing the fourth round of defense cost negotiations with his U.S counterpart at the State Department, Washington D.C., Wednesday morning (KST).

Jeong added he and his U.S. counterpart didn’t delve into the specifics of recent remarks made by U.S. President Donald Trump in London regarding the fate of the USFK. About 28,500 U.S. troops are currently stationed in South Korea. 

Korea Times

Here is what President Trump had to say recently about the US-ROK alliance:

In London, Trump, who attended an event to mark the 70th anniversary of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), said it’s up for debate whether maintaining the USFK is in Washington’s national security interest. “It can be debated and I can go either way and make arguments both ways,” Trump told reporters.

Not surprisingly, the U.S. president asked South Korea to make fairer financial contributions and claimed he was able to extract an additional $500 million from Seoul last year for U.S. “protection,” adding Washington wants additional commitments.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

President Moon has to get someone appointed as the Justice Minister to slow down all the corruption investigations into the Blue House:

Choo Mi-ae, a five-term ruling party lawmaker, has been nominated for the position of justice minister, Cheong Wa Dae announced Thursday amid keen attention to her role in the South Korean government’s push for prosecution reform.

President Moon Jae-in picked Choo to fill the post that has been vacant for several weeks since Cho Kuk stepped down in the face of state prosecutors’ probe into alleged irregularities involving his family. (……..)

For Moon, the choice of Choo is viewed as a card to counter the prosecution’s thinly veiled pressure on Cheong Wa Dae with intensive probes into high-profile corruption suspicions, involving longtime confidants to the president, under the leadership of Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but this is what the Joong Ang Ilbo is speculating she will do once in charge of the Justice Ministry:

Speculation is running high that Choo will shake up the prosecution as soon as she becomes minister. As of now, the prosecution is carrying out at least three investigations that involve allies of President Moon. Probes are ongoing into an allegation that the Moon Blue House carried out a political operation to influence the 2018 local election; the suspicious suspension of a Blue House probe into Moon’s associate Yoo Jae-soo; and the continuing investigation of corruption allegations involving Cho Kuk and his family. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but she is essentially expected to help cover up the corruption allegations surrounding the Blue House.