This will be a big summit for President Yoon when it gets scheduled. It will be interesting if THAAD will be a talking point for President Xi when this summit happens:
Foreign Minister Park Jin smiles during his virtual meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, at the government complex in Seoul, Monday. Courtesy of Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The foreign ministers of South Korea and China agreed to strengthen bilateral diplomatic ties, Monday, as the two countries seek to hold high-level exchanges, including a summit in Seoul, “in the new era of cooperation.”
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Minister Park Jin and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi held a virtual meeting and agreed to “maintain exchange momentum” for President Yoon Suk-yeol and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping following their first summit in Bali, Indonesia, last month.
The top diplomats said they will work together to honor what was agreed upon during the previous summit and to possibly hold a second one in South Korea, but did not elaborate.
It looks like the KCTU trucker protest has been a failure for them:
Cargo truck union leadership holds their head down after the members voted in favor of ending the strike at the inland container depot in Eulwang, Gyeonggi, on Friday. The strike lasted for 16 days, the longeset stretch since 2003.
The trucker strike is over 16 days after it started, a majority of union members voting to go back to work, and some just dispersing.
In votes held at 16 locations nationwide, 62 percent of the 3,574 that cast ballots agreed to end the strike.
The decisive climb down came a day after the government said it would order more truckers back to work, extending the legally binding orders to steel and petrochemical truckers. Cement truckers received back-to-work orders last week, and all but one complied or indicated the intent to do so. (…….)
“We decided not to ask the opinion of our union members as asking the members to vote on whether to continue to strike is an attempt by leadership to avoid accountability and pass that responsibility to the members,” a Busan union official said. “The general strike didn’t end up with the results that we expected was because of the Yoon Suk-yeol government breaking its promise, oppression and anti-labor policies.”
Truckers went into strike on Nov. 24. Cargo Truckers Solidarity, the trucker union under the militant Korea Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), failed to rally public support amid concerns over the weakening economy and several reports of violence directed at non-union truck drivers.
The strikers were also swayed by the heavy penalties of the back-to-work order. They could face up to three years in jail and up to 30 million won in fines for not complying. Threats to end certain government subsidies were also made.
You can read more at the link, but I think the threats the KCTU was making against trucker drivers trying to go to work really soured the public on the protests.
This is a really bad situation and I had no idea that South Korea does so little to return children that are abducted:
John Sichi, a U.S. citizen whose children have gone missing in Korea involving an international abduction case of his children by his Korean spouse, stages a treadmill protest in front of Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul, Nov. 30. Sichi is demanding the Korean authorities to enforce court orders that the children should be returned to the U.S. under the Hague Convention. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
On a cold Nov. 30 afternoon, when temperatures nosedived to minus seven degrees Celsius in Seoul, bringing with it the nation’s first cold wave alert of the season, John Sichi was walking on a treadmill in front of Dongdaemun Design Plaza in central Seoul. Undeterred by the biting winds, the U.S. citizen walked for nearly four hours.
Near the treadmill stood a placard reading, “Please let me see my children,” and a life-size cardboard cutout of his two kids ― a 5-year-old boy and 3-year-old girl.
People walking by approached him ― some with curiosity and some with empathy ― to see why a man would be walking on a treadmill in freezing weather. A woman handed him 10,000 won, probably assuming it was a fundraising campaign.
Sichi has been staging the treadmill protest since October in various spots in Seoul, in a desperate effort to find his missing children who have been allegedly abducted by his Korean wife.
His demand is simple: The Korean government should enforce court orders from both the U.S. and Korea that the children should be returned to the U.S.
Even if the ROK government lifts the indoor mask mandate I think most people will still be wearing masks indoors anyway. It just seems people are not so conditioned to wearing masks that they actually prefer to wear them indoors now:
A sign attached at the entrance of a book store in Seoul, Sunday, reads that visitors are required to wear a face mask. Yonhap
A debate has reignited over the indoor face mask mandate following a move by the Daejeon city government to lift the requirement in the region, going against the nationwide directive that has been in place for over two years.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) has requested the city government to refrain from making unilateral decisions in COVID-19 response measures. But Daejeon’s move has added pressure on the government to expedite its discussions on dropping the mask mandate, as the country is experiencing a less threatening winter surge than previous years.
The nationwide requirement to wear masks in indoor spaces such as offices, cafes, hospitals and public transportation was first implemented in October 2020. After the outdoor mask mandate was lifted in May of this year, there have been growing calls among the pandemic-weary public that the government should begin to ease the indoor requirement as well.
With the KCTU behind these protests I don’t know if these truckers are actually striking for improved pay or to crater the ROK economy because someone from the Korean right is President:
President Yoon Suk-yeol speaks during a ministerial meeting on the Cargo Truckers Solidarity’s strike at the presidential office in Yongsan District, Seoul, Sunday. Courtesy of presidential office
President Yoon Suk-yeol ordered his ministers, Sunday, to make preparations to expand executive orders to striking truckers in the refining and steel industries, with the government vowing to mobilize a maximum number of police to crack down on illegal protests by the unionized truckers.
“The government will not compromise with any forces that collectively resort to illegal acts and violence, and will hold them accountable for each of their infractions,” Yoon said during a ministerial meeting on the truckers’ strike. “Otherwise, damage stemming from chronic illegal strikes will be repeated in the future.”
Yoon added, “The government should crack down on these illegal acts and take stern measures by mobilizing the full administrative forces. … Also, ministers should prepare to expand the executive order to truckers who are involved in the refining and steel industries.”
The comments came after a strike by the Cargo Truckers Solidarity (CTS) stretched on for the 11th day as of Sunday. The CTS has been refusing to transport cargo since Nov. 24, demanding a permanent guarantee of a minimum freight rate by the government.
The president signed an executive order last week to get unionized truckers to return to work. The strike, involving 2,500 truckers transporting mostly cement products, caused significant damage to the country’s construction industry. Losses have also been reported in the refining and steel industries. (……)
Referring to a nationwide strike by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) scheduled on Tuesday as “politically motivated,” Yoon ordered his ministers to crack down on illegal acts by “mobilizing the full administrative forces.”
Having more than 1 million members, the KCTU is one of Korea’s largest labor unions. It is also the umbrella organization of the CTS and plans to stage the nationwide strike on Tuesday to support the truckers.
You can read more at the link, but the Yoon administration has a good argument that this is politically motivated because why didn’t the KCTU conduct this strike when Moon Jae-in was president? Yoon has only been president for a few months and now they launch their strike?
For people that own iPhones in Korea, Apple Pay appears to finally be on its way and Apple has Hyundai to thank for it:
Despite earlier market expectations that Apple Pay would be launched in Korea from Nov. 30, it is estimated that the starting date of the payment service in the country will be delayed to sometime around December.
Hyundai Card, which is a key partner in bringing Apple Pay to be available in Korea, remained tight-lipped about the matter, in a phone conversation with The Korea Times on Wednesday.
“As of now, we cannot confirm any matters regarding Apple Pay,” an official from Hyundai Card told The Korea Times.
I mean really what is South Korea going to do in response to a nuclear test that hasn’t already been done in the past? The only thing I see getting the Kim regime’s attention and more importantly President Emperor Xi’s attention, is if the ROK develops their own nuclear capability, which I doubt the U.S. will support. That leaves the ROK with its usual response options of show of forces which has not deterred the North Koreans:
President Yoon Suk-yeol said any new nuclear test by North Korea will be met with an international response “not seen in the past” and called on China to play a greater role to deter the North’s provocations.
Yoon made the remarks in an interview with Reuters, released Tuesday, amid growing concerns the North could conduct its seventh nuclear test after a series of recent missile launches.
Should the North forge ahead with a test, Yoon vowed a response “not seen in the past” by South Korea and its partners.
2045 is a long ways off so I will believe it when I see it, however I do agree the space economy will be the next big economic driver for those who have the technology to access it:
President Yoon Suk-yeol announces Korea’s Future Space Economy Roadmap during an event at the JW Marriot Hotel in Seocho District, Seoul, Monday. Yonhap
Korea will launch a space mission to Mars no later than 2045, according to a roadmap for the nation’s space mission unveiled by President Yoon Suk-yeol on Monday.
“A country having a space mission will lead the world economy and be able to resolve challenges human beings are facing,” Yoon said during an event to announce the country’s roadmap for the space economy at the JW Marriot Hotel in Seoul.
The space economy refers to the economy beyond our planet, including exploring deep space, extracting resources that are rare on Earth and developing technologies necessary for space exploration.
“The dream of becoming a powerhouse in space is not distant. It will be an opportunity and hope for children and the youth,” he added.
This is a pretty big investment in Antarctica that the ROK government is making:
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Cho Seung-hwan speaks during a press briefing at Sejong Government Complex, Monday. Yonhap
The government will build an inland research station in Antarctica by 2030, as part of a long-term plan to elevate the country’s standing in the global science and research community, the oceans ministry said Tuesday. About 277.4 billion won ($205 million) will be spent by 2027 to construct the 15,000-ton Araon 2, the latest model of the icebreaker research vessel Araon built in 2009.
The chief priority of the first comprehensive policy assistance package is to secure greater power and influence in the global science and technology hegemonic war, marked by fierce competition over the past few decades.
This here is a perfect example of a lawmaker passing on fake news to attack the President’s wife with for political gain:
Democratic Party of Korea Rep. Jang Kyung-tae speaks during a party meeting at the National Assembly on Yeouido, Seoul, Nov. 16. Yonhap
The presidential office filed a complaint with the police against main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) Rep. Jang Kyung-tae for “spreading false information” about photos taken earlier this month during first lady Kim Keon-hee’s visit with a Cambodian child suffering a congenital heart disease. The presidential office complained that Jang had described the first lady’s photo shoot as a “concept shoot using at least two or three lights and other on-site studio-level equipment.”
Rep. Jang had stirred up debate over his remarks that Kim’s photo shoot amounted to “poverty porn,” or the exploitation of people in impoverished conditions to garner sympathy or support for a cause, and that it was a diplomatic discourtesy as she met the child instead of attending an official program organized at the same time for spouses of visiting world leaders. He is now under investigation by the National Assembly’s ethics committee.
The presidential office said it filed a complaint against Jang with the police for his remarks during a Nov. 18 DPK Supreme Council member meeting and subsequent Facebook posting. (……)
During the meeting, Jang supported his claims, saying that “foreign media and photography experts analyze the photo of Kim Keon-hee as having been taken with at least two to three lights to create an on-site studio, as a concept photo shoot, rather than being a photograph taken of the natural volunteering process.” It later turned out he was citing a posting on the U.S.-based global web forum Reddit, which had since been deleted.
