Tag: South Korea

Foreigners in South Korea may soon have some new trash bags to help them understand the recycling process:

The Gyeonggi Provincial Government rolled out plans Monday to encourage every city in the province to include common foreign languages — like Chinese and English — on their authorized garbage bags to improve recycling.  
   
Gyeonggi, which surrounds the capital of Seoul, is known to have the largest foreign-born population out of all provinces and metropolitan cities in Korea. Some 720,000 people, or 32.5 percent of all foreigners living in Korea, reside in Gyeonggi, the provincial government said.  
   
Currently eight cities in Gyeonggi have some form of foreign language instructions on their garbage bags, the provincial government said Monday in a statement — Suwon, Bucheon, Hwaseong, Ansan, Pyeongtaek, Gwangmyeong, Gunpo and Dongducheon. 

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I have been saying for months that reacting to cluster infections would be the new reality for South Korea until a vaccine is developed and it appears that this will be the case:

South Korea’s new coronavirus cases rose by triple digits for the second day Monday, with a series of cluster infections being reported from venues of everyday life, ranging from markets to family gatherings, straining the country’s anti-virus fight.

The country added 126 more COVID-19 cases, including 99 local infections, raising the total caseload to 27,553, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

It marked a slight drop from 143 cases added on Sunday, but Monday’s caseloads are relatively high given the lower number of tests carried out over the weekend.

South Korea, which has been striving to curb COVID-19 from hospitals and nursing homes, recently saw more sporadic cluster infections at risk-prone facilities, such as nursing homes and private gatherings.

Over the past two weeks, around 35.7 percent of the newly added cases have been group infections, with some 13.6 percent not having clear transmission routes.

Yonhap

South Korea might be stressing about being in triple digits of daily coronavirus infections in a country of 51 million people, but this is basically what large U.S. cities are facing every day. For example the city of El Paso, Texas when I checked their dashboard had 899 new cases.

This is likely a trial balloon for something that will eventually be implemented on the rest of the country:

Seoul City will ban high-emission cars from the roads in the greater metro area from December to March as part of efforts to reduce fine dust during the winter months.

The city government announced on Sunday that anyone caught driving vehicles classified as Grade 5 in terms of emission levels inside the capital region will be fined 100-thousand won from December.

People can face fines if they drive Grade 5 vehicles without an emission-reduction device from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays in the capital region.

As of September, there are about one-point-46 million vehicles nationwide that fall into this grade.

KBS World Radio

I doubt that this will do much of anything in regards to the pollution when the majority of it is coming from China. This seems like the Korean government is saying they are “doing something” when they know the problem is unsolvable as long as China doesn’t change its own pollution policies.

Here is the latest COVID regulations to be put in place in South Korea:

Health authorities Sunday announced a new five-tier social distancing system to replace the current three-tier scheme, which they hope will minimize shutdown orders for local businesses while cranking up mandatory preventive measures such as mask wearing, social distancing and better ventilation.  
   
The new measures came as the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) announced Sunday morning that the nation added 124 new infections of the coronavirus Saturday, the fifth day in a row that the daily tally was above 100.  
   
No large-scale clusters have been reported yet from Halloween revelry last Saturday in bars in Itaewon, central Seoul; Hongdae, western Seoul; and Gangnam District, southern Seoul. Many popular nightclubs closed that day in compliance with recommendations from the Seoul Metropolitan Government, which feared partygoers spreading the virus like in May, when a cluster of some 300 coronavirus infections emerged from several nightclubs in Itaewon.  (…………..)

There will be five levels — Levels 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5 and 3 — with each level having different guidelines and rules. Level 1 has been dubbed “the stage of everyday preventive measures,” while Level 1.5 and Level 2 have been dubbed “the stage of regional spread.” Level 2.5 and Level 3 are together called “the stage of national spread.”  
   
In the past, the central government usually imposed one of three social distancing levels for the entire nation, even when most new infections were coming from hot spots limited to a few areas. In the new system, the country will be divided into seven areas, and each zone will be monitored separately. That means one area can be subject to Level 1, while another is subject to Level 3.  
   
The seven zones are the Seoul metropolitan area encompassing Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi, also known as greater Seoul; the Chungcheong area of North Chungcheong and South Chungcheong; the Honam area of North Jeolla and South Jeolla; North Gyeongsang; South Gyeongsang; Gangwon; and Jeju Island.  
   
In the past, the main criterion for deciding whether to adjust the social distancing level was the number of new infections detected nationwide over the prior two weeks. Now, that has been shortened to a single week.  

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read much more about the new social distancing guidelines at the link.

The payback from the Korean left against former President Lee Myung-bak is now complete:

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a 17-year prison sentence handed down by an appeals court for former President Lee Myung-bak on embezzlement and bribery charges.

In February, the Seoul High Court sentenced the 78-year-old to 17 years in prison, a fine of 13 billion won (US$10.9 million) and a forfeit of 5.7 billion won in a high-profile corruption case.

The former president, who governed the country from 2008-2013, was charged in April 2018 with 16 counts of criminal allegations, including embezzlement in connection with the auto parts company DAS and receiving bribes from various companies and individuals, including Samsung Electronics Co.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but President Lee after he took office had his predecessor Roh Moo-hyun investigated for corruption. Roh ended up committing suicide after the investigation disclosed the corrupt dealings of him and his family. The Korean left blamed Lee for Roh’s suicide and one of the first things after current left wing President Moon Jae-in did was to investigate Lee for corruption. Moon was the former Chief of Staff for President Roh at the time.

With everyone already scared of the coronavirus now there is a new fear, the flu vaccine:

Public fear is escalating over the safety of the seasonal flu vaccination after a series of deaths among people who had recently received the vaccination, although the health authorities have said there was no connection.

As of 4 p.m., Thursday, the number of deaths nationwide of people who had been vaccinated against the seasonal influenza increased to 25, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). 

An increasing number of elderly people here are expressing concerns over the vaccination as most cases were in this age group, although the KDCA repeated that the deaths were not associated with the flu shots.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but 25 is a lot of people. To put that is perspective that is the amount of people killed by the coronavirus in South Korea since September 30th.

As long as the Moon administration is in power I don’t see South Korea getting tough on Chinese aggression in the region:

The United States is raising pressure on Korea to participate in its anti-China alliance, with Washington seeking unity with its allies against Beijing’s assertiveness in the region.

Korea has been reluctant to adopt the U.S.-led Indo-Pacific strategy, aimed at containing China, despite repeated calls from its biggest ally, because a stand against China would come at a large cost, given that it is Seoul’s largest trading partner. 

On Tuesday, Adm. Philip Davidson, the commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, made a visit to Defense Minister Suh Wook and discussed the security situation on the Korean Peninsula, according to the Ministry of National Defense. 

However, the meeting was seen as unusual given that the 52nd Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) was just held a week ago in the U.S., where Suh met with his American counterpart Mark Esper. Davidson also accompanied them. 

In that respect, Davidson’s visit raised speculation that the U.S. would pressure Korea to jump on the anti-China bandwagon although the Korean defense ministry denied it. 

“The U.S. badly wanted to be able to cite Korea’s participation in or support for the anti-China coalition in the joint communique (after SCM), but to no avail,” said Park Won-gon, a professor of international politics at Handong Global University.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.