Tag: South Korea

Some how I doubt the first thing on these kids minds will attending school will be converting people to Islam:

Some locals are protesting the government’s decision to enroll Afghan children resettled in the southern city of Ulsan at a single elementary school and kindergarten.  
   
“I can’t help but wonder if my children won’t be influenced, including by Islamic practices,” wrote one user on an online community forum of parents in Ulsan on Wednesday, following the announcement by the city’s education office of schools and kindergartens for the Afghan families resettled in Ulsan.  
   
When Kabul fell to Taliban forces last August, Korea airlifted 391 Afghans out of the city. Members of the families brought to the country had worked for Korea’s embassy in Kabul or on Korean aid projects and include medical professionals, IT experts and interpreters. They did not enter Korea as refugees but as “special contributors” and were issued long-term residence visas after relevant laws were amended.  
   
Of them, nearly half — 157 Afghans of 29 households — were employed by a subcontractor of Hyundai Heavy Industries in Ulsan last month. 

As the Afghans resettled in the southern city — the eighth most populated city in Korea, also known as a hub for shipbuilding industry — some Korean parents asked the local government to ensure that the Afghan children be dispersed throughout several schools and kindergartens, “for fear of the safety” of their own children.  
   
A few even held rallies in front of an elementary school in the city to demand they do not accept Afghan students.  
   
The Afghan children brought to Korea include 16 kindergartners, 28 elementary school students, 19 middle school students and 22 high school students. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but not properly integrating these kids into South Korean society is what will cause issues later on if they feel isolated as adults.

It is amazing how COVID just continues to spread in South Korea, but there has been a sharp drop in the mortality rate. Last month it was .84% and now it is .24%:

South Korea’s daily coronavirus cases surpassed 200,000 for the first time Wednesday as the highly transmissible omicron variant continues its frenetic spread across the nation.

The surge came after the government temporarily suspended the enforcement of the vaccine pass system Tuesday, citing the lack of staff handling the pandemic. 

The country reported a record high of 219,241 new coronavirus infections, including 219,173 local cases, raising the total caseload to 3,492,686 according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

The daily caseload exceeded 100,000 for the first time in mid-February.

Virus-related deaths fell to 96 on Wednesday from 112 a day earlier, bringing the death toll to 8,266. The fatality rate was 0.24 percent, the KDCA said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the fact that South Korean teachers are handing out self test kits to kids in schools will likely mean the daily case rate number will only rise further.

I don’t know what point Sim Sang-jung as trying to make because it appears she wants the ROK to not pursue new weapons programs because it would upset North Korea and China? If Ukraine did not have advanced anti-tank and aircraft weapons right now they would have already lost the war. Is this what Ms. Sim wants for the ROK if attacked? If anything should be learned from Ukraine it is that the ROK needs to be militarily advanced and have strong friends to deter the threats from China and North Korea:

South Korea could become “the Ukraine of Asia” in the event of conflict between its ally the United States and its neighbor China, the progressive candidate for South Korean president said during a recent televised debate.

Sim Sang-jung, a National Assembly lawmaker and a former leader of the minority Justice Party, explained her vision for South Korea’s foreign policy on Friday as Russia continued its invasion of Ukraine. Sim and three other candidates are competing in the election March 9.

In her remarks, Sim compared South Korea’s relationships with China and the United States to the ongoing instability in Eastern Europe. Seoul’s relations with Beijing are experiencing a “breakdown,” and talk by other candidates of bolstering South Korea’s weapons programs may cause “considerable tension on the Korean Peninsula,” Sim said during the debate.

“We should learn from what happened in Ukraine now,” she said. “So, to speak, we can be the Ukraine of Asia when some strategic balance in northeast Asia collapses.”

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

South Korea’s COVID situation continues to be pretty bizarre because across the rest of the world cases are dropping significantly while the ROK’s continues to skyrocket. Anyone have any guesses on why this is?:

 South Korea’s new COVID-19 infections hit a fresh high of over 176,000 on Tuesday amid the fast spread of the omicron variant across the country.

According to health authorities and local governments, a total of 176,786 cases had been confirmed nationwide as of 6 p.m., up 58,786 from the tally posted at the same time the previous day, and marked an all-time high. The previous daily record was set on Feb. 23 at 171,451.

The total number for Tuesday is expected to rise further, as daily cases are counted until midnight and announced the following morning.

Earlier, the country reported 138,993 new coronavirus infections, including 138,935 local cases, raising the total caseload to 3,273,449, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

President Moon criticizes Japan in his March 1st speech to show a humble attitude towards its wartime past, but mentions nothing about North Korea and China to do the same. Those two countries most recently went war against the ROK and are responsible for more death and destruction on the peninsula than Japan ever caused:

“We will never again experience that pain from one hundred years ago,” Moon said. “We will safeguard the survival and raise the pride of all Koreans through peace and prosper in peace.” 

Moon also called for Japan to look squarely at history and show a humble attitude over its wartime past in order for the two countries to overcome historical feuds and move forward for cooperation.

“In this time of many difficulties, Korea and Japan — close neighbors — must be able to overcome the history of the once unfortunate past and cooperate for the future,” Moon said. 

“Beyond Korea-Japan relations, I sincerely hope that Japan will take leadership as an advanced nation. To this end, Japan must squarely face history and be humble before it,” Moon said. 

South Korea remains open to dialogue with Japan to work together on various regional and global issues, such as COVID-19 and supply chains, Moon said. 

Moon said Seoul “will always keep the door open for dialogue to join forces not only for regional peace and prosperity but also in responding to global challenges — ranging from COVID-19 and the climate crisis to the supply chain crisis and the new economic order.”

With North Korea showing signs of ratcheting up tensions by test-firing ballistic missiles, Moon said dialogue with the North must be resumed to bring peace to the Korean Peninsula. 

Recalling heightened tension about five years ago, when North Korea conducted a nuclear test, Moon said his administration “was able to achieve peace through dramatic dialogue. However, dialogue has been suspended, making our peace tenuous.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It seems inevitable with the constant nuclear threats from North Korea plus the growing militarism of the Chinese that the Korean public would want its own nukes to defend itself with:

There has long been a desire among South Koreans for domestic nuclear weapons capability, but a poll shows that in the face of North Korea’s nuclear ambitions and an assertive China, that view has ballooned to more than 70 percent of the population — most of whom want to go nuclear even when the potential drawbacks are explained.

The poll, released Tuesday by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, found robust support for nuclear weapons in South Korea: South Koreans want nuclear weapons even when they feel confident about the country’s alliance with the United States and about the strength of their own military. And those who support nuclear weapons now see a level of prestige associated with them.

Washington Post

You can read more at the link, but fortunately the poll showed that the Korean public did not view the Japanese as a military threat like they do the North Koreans and Chinese. You wouldn’t know that from past Korean media articles that make it sound like a Japanese invasion of Dokdo is ready to happen at any minute.

Lee Jae-myung has now really doubled down on slinging as much mud on Yoon as possible considering he even used a prop at a debate to help do this:

Lee accused Yoon’s wife, Kim Keon-hee, of participating in stock manipulation in 2010 by Deutsch Motors, a BMW car dealer in Korea, and pressed the PPP candidate on the origins of her personal assets, worth approximately 7 billion won, given her monthly income of 2 million won.  
   
Yoon retorted that his wife had traded in stocks around the time of the Deutsch Motors stock manipulation, but was not involved in the scheme, and that she had seen both profits and losses on her stock trades over the years. He added that his wife had already amassed “significant personal assets” before 2010.  
   
The DP candidate also accused Yoon of being guilty of unspecified crimes, and at one point even pulled out a board with a written transcript of a recorded conversation between Kim Man-bae, the owner of a small asset management company at the center of the Daejang-dong development corruption scandal, and another unnamed individual talking about Yoon’s alleged past misdeeds. 

Kim, a former reporter who interviewed Lee in 2014 when the latter was still mayor of Seongnam, Gyeonggi, has been indicted of committing breach of trust and bribery in connection with the Daejang-dong development.  
   
His relationship with Lee gave rise to unproven suspicions that the DP candidate was behind the inclusion of Hwacheon Daeyu and its affiliates in the residential development.  
   
Hwacheon Daeyu’s outsized profits from the project sparked a months-long probe by prosecutors into those suspected of rigging the project’s shareholder composition and profit distribution scheme to favor the previously little-known company, its affiliates and their owners.  
   
However, Yoon was quick to return the fire at Lee, alleging that the recorded conversation also mentioned a “Lee-gate” scandal that the DP candidate had omitted from the transcript he showed debate viewers.  
   
“I believe that recording also includes something about a ‘Lee-gate’ scandal,” Yoon retorted. “Why don’t you show that portion of the conversation, too?”  
   
Yoon’s retort alluded to allegations of corruption by Lee’s former aide and acting president of the Seongnam Development Corporation, Yoo Dong-kyu, during the selection of investment bids for the development in Seongnam, which took off during the DP candidate’s term as mayor of the city.  
   
Yoo has also been indicted on charges of breach of trust and bribery in the case. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but I think it is pretty obvious that these two despise each other.

Cases continue to rise, but the fatality rate from COVID has continued to plummet for ROK citizens; just three weeks ago it was .69% and now it is .35%:

South Korea’s new COVID-19 infections surpassed 150,000 for the first time Tuesday amid the fast spread of the omicron variant across the country.

According to health authorities and local governments, a total of 158,005 cases had been confirmed nationwide as of 9 p.m., up 60,070 from 97,935 posted the same time the previous day. The previous daily high was set last Friday at 109,823.

The death toll from COVID-19 came to 7,508, up 58 from Monday. The fatality rate was 0.35 percent, according to the KDCA.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The Three No’s strategy is currently a point of contention in South Korea’s Presidential election:

In the wake of the THAAD retaliation, the Moon administration agreed with the Chinese government on so-called “Three-Nos” policy in order to assuage China. The policy includes no additional THAAD deployments, no participation in the U.S.-led strategic missile defense system and no trilateral military alliance with the United States and Japan.

Lee maintains that the policy is the right direction to go for economic cooperation with China.

“Considering economic cooperation with China, the policy is proper,” Lee said during a TV debate, Feb. 3. 

However, Yoon strongly denounced the Three Nos policy, calling it a subservient and pro-China approach to diplomacy. 

“The Moon government responded with overly accommodating gestures meant to placate China, declaring the ‘Three Nos’ policy. These pledges undercut South Korea’s sovereign right to protect its people. South Korea should never feel compelled to choose between the United States and China; rather, it must always maintain the principled position that it will not compromise on its core security interests,” Yoon said in a Feb. 8 contribution to Foreign Affairs magazine. 

In the wake of controversial decisions by judges at the ongoing Beijing Winter Olympics that favored Chinese athletes over Koreans, anti-China sentiment has been rising sharply, prompting political circles, including presidential candidates, to capitalize on the resentment.

However, some warn that politicians need to refrain from exploiting the populist strategy for the presidential election, which could hurt diplomatic ties with China.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but Yoon Suk-yeol’s has said that he wants South Korea to purchase their own THAAD battery to better protect Seoul. If that happens the Chinese reaction should be interesting to watch.

South Korea is experiencing a huge amount of cases, but it is actually leading to a lower fatality rate as more Koreans recover from the virus:

South Korea’s daily virus cases surpassed the grim milestone of 80,000 Tuesday, as the highly transmissible omicron variant fueled a surge of cases around the country.

According to health authorities and local governments, a total of 85,114 infection cases had been confirmed nationwide as of 9 p.m., up 28,787 from the same time a day ago. 

The figure was up 2.1 times from a week ago and 5.4 times from two weeks ago. (……)

The KDCA said the death toll from COVID-19 came to 7,163, up 61 from the previous day. The fatality rate was 0.49 percent.

The KDCA said the number of critically ill COVID-19 patients was 314, up eight from a day earlier, it added. The daily tally stayed above 300 for the second straight day.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but just two days ago when the daily COVID number was over 56,000 the fatality rate was .52%. Nearly two weeks ago the fatality rate was .68%.