Here is some good news for native English teachers:

The top court has ruled that native English teachers working at private language institutes here are eligible for severance pay and annual vacation allowance according to the Labor Standards Act. 

The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld an appellate court’s decision to recognize native English instructors as employees protected by the law and thus provide them various allowances. 

But the court sent the case back to the Seoul High Court to amend the calculation of such payment.

The lawsuit started in 2015 when eight English teachers sued their language institute demanding unpaid severance pay and allowances in lieu of annual vacation. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

The North Koreans will be very unhappy with this news:

A New York court has formally handed the US ownership of a North Korean cargo ship seized for violating international sanctions, the Justice Department said.

The 17,061 ton bulk carrier Wise Honest — the first North Korean vessel seized by Washington for sanctions violations — was caught carrying a $3 million shipment of coal in Indonesian waters last year and later handed over to US authorities.

The court in the Southern District of New York ordered the vessel to be forfeited to Washington and for the Treasury Department to “dispose of” it, an order released by the Justice Department showed.

The sale process has already taken place, according to the US Coast Guard, which earlier this month said the ship had been auctioned in a court-ordered process.

AFP

You can read more at the link, but seizing the Kim’s regime ships caught smuggling and then selling them off is an idea I have long advocated for.

Well at least this time the Russians did not violate South Korean airspace like they did earlier this past summer:

Six Russian military aircraft violated South Korea’s air defense identification zone on Tuesday, prompting the Air Force to scramble fighter jets to turn them back, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.

An A-50 early-warning aircraft, three SU-27 fighter jets and two TU-95 bombers entered the Korean Air Defense Identification Zone (KADIZ) four times between 9:23 a.m. and 2:44 p.m. without prior notice and stayed in the zone for about four hours in total before leaving at around 3:13 p.m., according to the JCS.

The warplanes breached the KADIZ over waters surrounding the Korean Peninsula, including the country’s easternmost islets of Dokdo and the island of Ulleung in the East Sea; above the southern city of Pohang and the island of Jeju and areas in the Yellow Sea.

But none of the aircraft violated South Korea’s territorial airspace, the JCS said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Gallup Korea had President Moon’s approval rating decreasing to 39% while Realmeter has it rising to 45%. So which poll should people believe?:

 President Moon Jae-in’s approval rating has bounced back to 45 percent after Cho Kuk’s resignation as justice minister, a weekly poll showed Monday.

According to Realmeter, the rating gained 3.6 percentage points on-week to 45 percent. It conducted the phone survey of 2,505 people nationwide, aged 19 or older, for the five business days last week. The margin of error is plus or minus 2 percentage points.

It marked Realmeter’s first weekly poll of Moon’s approval rating since Cho stepped down last Monday after months of controversy over whether he’s suitable for the Cabinet post.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It looks like the United Nations Command is not to eager to move forward with the Moon administration’s so called “Peace Park” within the DMZ:

Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul said Monday that South Korea and the United Nations Command (UNC) are cooperating closely to narrow “differences” on how to enforce rules restricting entry to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).

Kim made the remark during a parliamentary audit in response to a lawmaker’s call for a need to “supplement” UNC regulations on passage in the DMZ that bisect the two Koreas. The UNC has jurisdiction over the area.

“There have been differences in opinions (between the government and the UNC) over matters involving entry to and exit from the DMZ and passage of the MDL (military demarcation line),” Kim told lawmakers. “We are now closely in discussion to narrow the differences.”

“While keeping safety measures in place, I think there should be regulatory supplementation with regard to entry to and exit from the DMZ when it has a non-military nature,” he added. “Under the armistice agreement, the right for permission is confined to things with military character.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Technology like this make sense for Korea to pursue, however I hope they realize windmills are not going to be able to power this initiative:

The Korean government is planning to build electrified roads that can recharge the batteries of cars and trucks that run fast on them by 2030.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on Oct. 18 that it has established the Road Technology Development Strategy (2021-2030) to realize a plan to build future roads incorporating such technologies as data, artificial intelligence (AI), and the internet of things (IoT).

The strategy aims to achieve four goals – reduction of the number of deaths by traffic accidents by 30 percent, lowering traffic congestion by 30 percent, cutting road maintenance costs by 30 percent, and reduction of road noises by 20 percent and harmful substances by 15 percent.

First of all, the ministry will begin to develop self-heating and light-emitting lanes using solar energy, and prevent traffic accidents by enabling drivers to recognize lanes even during heavy snow and heavy rains. In addition, the ministry will implement a project to protect drivers and pedestrians from pollutants such as fine dust by applying pollutant adsorption and self-decomposition technology to road pavements.

The ministry plans to develop wireless electric charging technology so that electric vehicles can run on the road at high speed while being wirelessly recharged. “Researchers at the Korea Institute for Science and Technology (KAIST) are currently conducting research and development on wireless recharging technology,” a ministry official said.

Business Korea

You can read more at the link.