Tag: South Korea

It looks like South Korea is breaking out of the omicron phase of the pandemic. Most notably is that the fatality rate has fallen from .69% in February to .13% now in May:

 South Korea’s new COVID-19 cases fell below 30,000 on Saturday in an apparent sign that the country’s virus cases are significantly declining amid eased social distancing rules.

The country added 29,581 new virus infections, including 25 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 17,756,627, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

The daily figure fell below the 30,000 mark for the first time in 15 weeks for any Saturday. 

The figure marked a sharp drop from 32,451 reported the previous day and 35,906 added on Thursday.

The country added 55 COVID-19 deaths, bringing the total to 23,661, the KDCA said. The fatality rate came to 0.13 percent.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Critics are saying that President Moon has passed this bill in order to protect himself and others in this administration from prosecution after they leave office:

President Moon Jae-in signed into law bills aimed at limiting prosecutors’ investigative powers, snubbing protests from prosecutors and the main opposition People Power Party (PPP).

During a Cabinet meeting, Tuesday, Moon approved revised bills of the Prosecutors’ Office Act and the Criminal Procedure Act, which were passed by the National Assembly on April 30 and Tuesday, respectively.

“Despite the government’s achievements to help authorities to be faithful to their roles, there are concerns about the prosecution’s political neutrality, fairness and selective justice,” Moon said during the meeting. “I believe this is why the National Assembly took a step forward to separate prosecutors’ investigative powers from their authority to indict.”

Korea Times

Here is what the critics are saying:

The main opposition PPP has condemned the prosecutorial reform bills, claiming they are aimed at protecting Moon and former officials of the Moon government from possible investigations by prosecutors. But proponents of the reform bills claim they will limit prosecutors from abusing their authority for political purposes.

“President Moon should convince the public of the reason why he seeks to pass the bills at the end of his presidency, and what are the benefits for the people,” PPP floor leader Rep. Kweon Seong-dong said during a rally in front of Cheong Wa Dae, Tuesday.

“We should think of why the DPK is striving to pass the bills despite using mean tricks. … While persuading lawmakers, a DPK member said at least 20 members of the party may go to jail (if the bills are not passed). This is the nature of the party’s effort to strip prosecutors of their investigative rights.”

To pass the bills, the DPK used the so-called “salami tactic,” which is cutting the plenary session into shorter one-day sessions. Due to this, the PPP’s efforts to stop the dominant ruling party from unilaterally passing the bills through filibusters ended in vain.

You can read more at the link.

The big news here is not that the Yoon administration may be stepping back from wanting an additional THAAD battery; it is the fact they want to improve access to the existing site:

 South Korea’s foreign minister nominee stressed the need Monday for “in-depth” deliberations on whether to deploy additional U.S.-made THAAD missile defense systems here, in an apparent sign of cautiousness on the geopolitically charged issue.

During his confirmation hearing, Park Jin responded to a lawmaker’s question about President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s campaign pledge to bring in more THAAD systems, which opponents say would undermine ties with China, South Korea’s top trade partner.

China has opposed Korea’s hosting of the THAAD system, arguing the anti-missile asset undermines its security interests. The installation of a THAAD battery here in 2017 triggered apparent Chinese economic retaliation.

Yonhap

Here is the part where he discusses the existing THAAD battery:

Despite his cautious stance, Park highlighted the “first task” of ensuring U.S. Forces Korea can normally operate its THAAD unit in the southeastern county of Seongju.

Since the THAAD battery was installed here, it has been in the status of “temporary installation” pending South Korea’s environmental impact assessment.

“I think that there needs to be an environment for the normal operation of the THAAD battery, as access to the unit has been restricted, while living conditions for troops there are also poor,” he said.

You can read more at the link, but the current Moon administration has allowed protesters to block the road since the THAAD battery was put in, which causes daily logistical support to the site to be conducted by helicopter. Only when materials that cannot be moved by helicopter need to be brought in does the police open the road. I have always been concerned that over an extended period of time this could increase the chances of a helicopter crash happening.

It is probably going to be a while before everyone takes off their masks because of the group culture in South Korea where many people don’t want to stand out from the crowd:

It may be that news of the mandate’s lift on Monday hasn’t reached all, as some wearing masks may still think the measure is in place. Or it may be that the eased quarantine regulation simply needs more time for more members of the public to put themselves at ease and expose their faces more comfortably.

“I feel weird that I don’t have to wear it anymore,” one of the passers-by wearing her mask in Seoul told The Korea Times, asking not to be named. “I think I’ve become accustomed to wearing it so I was reluctant to go outside without it this morning. I want to take time and see how others are doing before I decide to go mask-free.”

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but once the weather heats up more people will probably be clamoring to take their masks off.

It is one thing to say your open to the possibility of joining and quite another to actually join. I guess we will see what happens in the coming years:

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol has said he will “positively review” South Korea’s joining of Quad, a U.S.-led anti-China security partnership, if invited, according to a report.

Yoon made the remark in a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal on Monday (U.S. time), saying he does not expect South Korea to receive an invitation any time soon, but if approached, “will positively review joining.”

The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) is made up of the United States, Australia, India and Japan, and is seen as a partnership aimed at countering China.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Hopefully this is the beginning of an improved relationship between the ROK and Japan:

A delegation of President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol arrived in Tokyo on Sunday for meetings with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and other top officials, carrying a letter from Yoon that outlines his will for “new relations with Japan.”

The visit by the seven-member delegation, led by Rep. Chung Jin-suk of Yoon’s People Power Party, came as Yoon has stressed the importance of restoring relations with Japan that have been frayed badly over the past few years due to rows over issues like wartime sexual slavery and forced labor.

Japan is the second foreign country that Yoon has sent a delegation to after the United States.

“I think the letter carries President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s will and expectations for new relations with Japan, as well as his expectations for positive responses from Japan,” Chung told reporters after arriving at Narita International Airport.

The delegation is expected to meet with Kishida on Wednesday and hand him the letter from Yoon.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The ADIZ incursions happened reportedly last month before North Korea’s ICBM test:

Russian and Chinese military aircraft entered South Korea’s air defense identification zone (KADIZ) without prior notice last month ahead of North Korea’s long-range missile launch, a Seoul official said Tuesday.

Two Russian planes flew into the KADIZ on March 24, prompting South Korea’s military to scramble its fighters to prevent their approach to the country’s airspace, according to the official.

The incident came just hours before Pyongyang test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) into the East Sea — a launch that ended its yearslong moratorium on nuclear and ICBM testing.

The Russian warplanes flew in the KADIZ northwest of South Korea’s Ulleung Island in the East Sea at around 11 a.m. and moved out of it 30 minutes later.

A day earlier, a Chinese military plane also entered the KADIZ near Ieo Islet, a submerged rock south of South Korea’s southern resort island of Jeju. The official said the area was where the air defense identification zones of South Korea and China overlapped.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but China has been claiming Ieodo as their territory and have been flying bombers over it in response for years. The Russians have often had Korean ADIZ incursions and even actively violated Korean airspace over Dokdo before that led to warning shots from the ROK Air Force.

These are going to be great space based capabilities for the ROK once they are put into orbit by SpaceX:

South Korea has signed a contract with SpaceX to launch five spy satellites by 2025, with the first launch on a Falcon 9 rocket by the end of 2023. 

A spokeswoman for the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) confirmed the deal April 11, saying the 2023 launch would deliver an 800-kilogram electro-optical infrared satellite to low Earth orbit.

“The deal was made to launch five satellites involved in the ‘425 project,’” DAPA spokeswoman Park Geun-young told SpaceNews, referring to a space-based reconnaissance project the defense ministry launched in 2018 for closer monitoring of North Korea’s military activities. Under the project, five satellites — four synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites and one featuring an electro-optical infrared (EO/IR) telescope — will be launched to low Earth orbit between 600 and 700 km by 2025, enabling South Korea’s military to observe the nuclear-armed neighbor’s key military facilities every two hours with 30-50 centimeters resolution imagery, according to a 2019 report produced by the Korea Institute of S&T Evaluation and Planning. The spokeswoman declined to share the terms and conditions of the deal, as well as launch schedules for the other four satellites.

Space News via a reader tip

You can read more at the link.

It appears South Korea is trying to pull a balancing act in regards to the current situation in Ukraine by only giving non-lethal aid to not upset the Russians too much, but still appear they are doing something to the rest of the global community:

South Korea’s Defense Minister Suh Wook has reiterated Seoul’s stance against the provision of any lethal arms to Ukraine during last week’s phone talks with his Ukrainian counterpart, his office said Monday.

Suh repeated the position in response to Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov’s request for anti-aircraft weapons in their phone call on Friday.

“Suh had explained that there are limits in providing lethal weapon systems to Ukraine, given our security situation and its potential impact on our military’s readiness posture,” Boo Seung-chan, the spokesperson for the defense ministry, told a regular press briefing.

South Korea has provided Ukraine with non-lethal military supplies worth 1 billion won (US$804,100), such as bulletproof helmets and blankets, as well as medical items in March.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.