Tag: South Korea

This disapproval of group tours is largely seen as payback against South Korea for restricting Chinese travel during China’s COVID crisis this past winter:

China on Friday shunned South Korea in its second batch of countries allowed for Chinese group tourists, a move widely seen as a form of political complaint.

The Chinese culture ministry added 40 foreign countries, including France, Italy, Denmark, Portugal and Iran, but not South Korea, to its list of officially permitted destinations for group tour packages for Chinese people, starting Wednesday.

China gave South Korea the cold shoulder in its initial batch of 20 such countries released on Jan. 20. The United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Russia and Indonesia were among the list.

Friday’s move is widely viewed as an expression of Beijing’s unresolved feud against Seoul’s previous anti-COVID-19 measures on entrants from China, Hong Kong and Macao during the virus’ surge in winter.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Like I predicted, the Korean left is going apocalyptic with the forced labor agreement with Japan:

A group of civic groups on Tuesday condemned the government’s plan to compensate victims of Japan’s wartime forced labor on its own, saying the decision amounts to national humiliation similar to Korea’s 1910 forced annexation by Japan.

The government of President Yoon Suk Yeol announced the plan Monday in an effort to restore strained relations with Tokyo. It calls for establishing a foundation charged with collecting public donations and compensating more than a dozen victims.

Critics, including some victims, civic groups and the main opposition Democratic Party, bristled strongly at the decision, arguing that it makes no sense to compensate victims with public donations, rather than money from Japanese companies that exploited them for hard labor.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but there was never going to be a deal the Korean left would be happy signing with Japan because they need to keep this issue alive. Stoking anti-Japanese sentiment has long been a way to distract the Korean public from other issues. Even the Korean right has done this before in the past as well. Unfortunately this deal will probably not last because as soon as the Korean left takes power again they will likely scrap it.

This is a pretty bad case of arson, fortunately no one was killed:

Vice Minister of the Interior and Safety Han Chang-seob, left, and Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok inspect the charred ruins of Hyundae Market in Dong District, Incheon on Sunday. [YONHAP]

A man detained Sunday morning on suspicion of starting a massive overnight blaze that burned down more than 50 stores in an Incheon market set fire to five different locations inside and near the market, according to police.  
   
The suspect, whom the Incheon Jungbu Police Precinct described only as a man in his 40s, is accused of starting three fires inside the Hyeondae Market in Songnim-dong, Dong District, at around 11:38 p.m. the previous day.  
   
Police said closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage recorded by street cameras outside the market showed the man also setting fire to garbage awaiting collection next to a church outside the market, then to a small cargo truck parked nearby.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

I figured some fund like this would be set up to resolve the forced labor issue. I like the scholarship fund idea though instead of just paying the victim’s families cash because it shows that the Japanese are investing in Korea’s future:

South Korea and Japan have tentatively agreed to create a “future youth fund” to sponsor scholarships for students, as part of a deal on settling the issue of compensation for Korean victims of Japan’s wartime forced labor, sources said Sunday.

The fund will be jointly formed by the Federation of Korean Industries, South Korea’s big business lobby, and the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren), according to the government sources.

The South Korean foreign ministry is expected to announce the details Monday along with the details of a broader agreement reached between the two countries to settle the issue of compensation for Korean victims of forced labor during World War II, the sources said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but expect the Korean left to go bonkers in their criticism due to President Yoon trying to settle this issue and improve relations with Japan.

Entry into South Korea has gotten a little bit easier for Chinese travelers:

The South Korean government on Wednesday lifted the post-entry PCR test requirement for travelers from China.

Health authorities had initially disclosed that quarantine measures for arrivals from China will be eased further amid a decline in the infection rate among arrivals from that country. 

The latest move comes after the government had required travelers from China to take a PCR test for COVID-19 upon arrival and suspended short-term visa issuance as of January 2, following a resurgence of the pandemic in the neighboring country. 

KBS World

You can read more at the link.

This should be no surprise that protesters would come out against trying to improve relations with Japan:

Soon after President Yoon Suk Yeol gave a key address, calling Japan a partner for South Korea’s regional security and economy, some hundreds held a rally on Independence Movement Day on Wednesday, urging him to keep his promise of resolving historic disputes with the neighboring country including the one over sexual slavery during its 1910-45 rule of Korean Peninsula.

In the late morning chill, around 200 civic activists gathered near the Japanese Embassy in central Seoul, holding paper cutouts of yellow butterflies — a symbol of victims representing a wish to escape from violence and fly — chanting “apologize,” and demanding compensation from Japan.

The protest was a part of the 1,585th weekly rally protesting Japan’s wartime sexual enslavement of Korean women during World War II that has been held for the last 30 years.

Lee Yong-soo, a 93-year-old victim of Japan’s wartime sexual slavery, took over the microphone, said she still has a faith in President Yoon, and demanded his administration to send the matter to the United Nations Committee Against Torture.

“The then-presidential-candidate Yoon Suk Yeol was the third person to visit me, and he said he would resolve the comfort women issue even if he wasn’t elected. His words touched me,” she said. “I don’t think that he lied (at that time), and I will believe in him.”

Watching Lee’s tearful speech, 63-year-old Kim Deok-yeon said he has participated in the demonstration since last year to raise awareness, especially among the younger generation.

“These people were forced to become sex slaves of Japan’s wartime brothels, but Japan seems reluctant (to take responsibility). As a Korean citizen, I couldn’t stand my anger toward Japan for committing such atrocities,” he said, referring to the victims as “survivors of a dark part of history.”

Kim stressed the importance of educating Korean students about undistorted facts in and out of the country, lamenting Japan’s recognition of Dokdo as part of its territory.

“History doesn’t lie — it has everything recorded down. Now is a time to properly educate the younger generation about our country’s past so that the same history will not repeat itself in the future,” he said, hoping young people would create a change.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link, but if this 63 year old man really cared about sex slaves then what is he doing about modern day sexual slavery of Korean women in China right now?

According to one report the sexual trafficking of Korean women is a $105 million industry in China. Imperial Japan was obviously wrong about trafficking Korean women 80 years ago which they claim was resolved with the payments made in the 1965 Normalization Treaty. The Japanese government had apologized even started a victim compensation fund before the prior President Moon shut it down for political reasons. Restarting this victim compensation fund appears to be the route that President Yoon is trying to go again, but we will see what happens.