Tag: South Korea

The wintertime surge that happened last year after the holidays appears to not be happening this year:

South Korea’s new COVID-19 cases fell for the sixth consecutive day Monday amid concerns over a wintertime surge, with the government beginning to require a PCR test for travelers from China as the virus spreads in the neighboring country.

The country confirmed 22,735 new coronavirus infections, including 35 from overseas, bringing the total to 29,139,535, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.

The daily caseload has been on a steady decline since Tuesday when the figure jumped to 87,578. Monday’s figure is smaller than 25,531 infections a week earlier.

The country added 53 COVID-19 deaths, bringing the death toll to 32,272. The death rate stood at 0.11 percent.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It looks like people who like to get their freak on with sex dolls in South Korea will soon have more variety to choose from:

The government’s latest decision to scrap a ban on imports of life-size sex dolls has reignited debates on sex doll experience cafes where customers pay money to enjoy the products in a private space. 

The Korea Customs Service announced on Monday it will lift the ban on the import of complete-bodied sex dolls, ending a years-long dispute with importers of the products. Although there are currently no laws specifically prohibiting the import of sex dolls, customs authorities had been seizing most of them, citing a clause that bans the import of goods that may harm public morals.

The customs agency’s move came after a series of court rulings sided with the importers by saying that the use of sex dolls should be left to individual discretion. The authorities, however, stressed that child-like sex dolls and those resembling certain people will continue to be banned.

The lifting of import bans came as good news to owners of sex doll experience shops that have been increasing here in recent years. These shops offer customers a chance to enjoy the sex dolls at a private place. Now that the import ban is lifted, the shops will be able to provide their clients with more product options, not limited to domestically manufactured ones.

But the operation of such businesses in Korea is still in a legal gray zone, with opponents describing them as a “new form of sex trafficking.” 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but calling dolls a form of sex trafficking is ridiculous.

Shooting down drones, especially high flying ones with out endangering civilian property is not easy, but it is also not impossible:

President Yoon Suk-yeol on Tuesday criticized the military’s response to North Korean drones that intruded across the inter-Korean border the previous day, saying the incident exposed some problems with South Korea’s readiness.

Speaking at a Cabinet meeting, Yoon said the military should be better prepared for such intrusions by North Korean drones and vowed to create a military unit specializing in unmanned aerial vehicles as part of efforts to strengthen South Korea’s air defense capabilities.

“We have a plan to create a military drone unit tasked with monitoring key military facilities in North Korea. But we’ll expedite the process of creating the drone unit after the incident yesterday,” he said. “We’ll also introduce state-of-the art stealth drones to strengthen our surveillance capability.”

Yoon also voiced regret over the National Assembly’s decision to cut the military budget for anti-drone operations, saying the incident once again showed how dangerous it is to rely on North Korea’s “good faith” and paper agreements for peace.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but it is amazing that funding for anti-drone operations was cut by the National Assembly. Drones is obviously the future of warfare. Their importance can be seen right now in the war in Ukraine. This incident should give President Yoon all the rationale he needs to pour money into the new drone command he wants to establish.

This would not be surprising at all if the Chinese had a secret police station in South Korea. I would assume though they would be running it out of their embassy to avoid detection:

Seoul is looking into the alleged presence of a secret Chinese police station in Korea, the Foreign Ministry confirmed Tuesday.  
   
“We have been communicating with relevant departments on the matter,” a Foreign Ministry official told the press in Seoul on Tuesday. “At this point we do not have anything significant to share.”  
   
The nongovernmental human rights organization Safeguard Defenders announced earlier this month that China’s local-level public security bureau based in Nantong, Jiangsu Province, was running at least one police station in Korea, though it couldn’t confirm its exact location. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but these secret police stations are suspected in 53 nations are and are used to monitor Chinese nationals in these countries.

Many Koreans regardless of government regulations are not going to be taking their masks off anytime soon:

Many Koreans aren’t ready to take off their masks indoors.  
   
According to a survey by polling institution Real Research Korea from Dec. 5 to 9, 44.3 percent of the 3,800 people surveyed said they would “keep their masks on” no matter what.  
   
Korea is the only OECD member nation still requiring masks be worn in all indoor spaces, a regulation it has kept since October 2020. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but you can walk around Seoul and even outdoors the majority of people are masked up. Even people jogging in the park are masked up. However, you can go into a packed restaurant with everyone eating with their masks off. It is probably going to be quite a while before people get socially reverted back to not wearing masks.

While North Korea is using nuclear technology to build bombs to kill massive amounts of people, the South Koreans are using nuclear technology to better people’s lives:

Korea is committing 400 billion won ($308 million) a year to the development of small nuclear reactors as it doubles its overall annual spending on nuclear energy to 2 trillion won, according to the president.    
   
“The government will actively support the nuclear energy industry so it can become a major pillar leading our exports and so that Korea can once again be recognized globally as a major nuclear energy power country,” President Yoon Suk-yeol said Wednesday. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but this strategy seems to make sense to me because I don’t know how you advocate for electric cars and against fossil fuels and not have nuclear energy as an option power them.

Getting rare earth minerals from Australia seems like a much more reliable alternative than China where they have demonstrated before they are willing to economically retaliate against South Korea to pressure them on issues:

Korea has been strengthening ties with Australia to produce rare earth elements and decrease its high dependence on China, as core minerals for high-tech industries are becoming increasingly important.

Although Korea is currently dependent on China for rare earth elements, Rowena Smith, CEO of Australia-based critical metals producer ASM, said the company has been strengthening relations in order to provide a stable supply of core minerals to Korean companies. (…….)

“In our experience, Australia’s and Korea’s business culture and shared values make us perfect partners to develop our business, using Australian natural resources and Korea’s access to skills and technology,” she added.

For years, ASM has been conducting the Dubbo project, which mines minerals such as rare earth elements from mines in Dubbo, New South Wales, Australia and processes them in Korea. Australia has the world’s sixth-largest deposit of rare earth elements of 3.27 million tons, after China, Vietnam, Brazil and Russia.

ASM said the Dubbo project serves as a sustainable and reliable source of core minerals such as rare earth elements, meeting the skyrocketing demand for these materials in the global market.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

The yellow dust season just seems to keep coming earlier and earlier for South Korea:

Yellow dust advisories were issued across South Korea except for South Gyeongsang Province on Tuesday, with the fine dust level in Seoul hitting the highest point so far this year, authorities said.

The yellow dust advisories were upgraded from “attention” to “caution,” the second highest in the environmental ministry’s four-notch warning system, in Seoul, Incheon, Gyeonggi Province surrounding the capital and Gangwon Province as of early Tuesday afternoon, the environment authorities said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but yellow dust is a good reason for everyone to wear a mask.