Tag: South Korea

I don’t think this is a mission that the Korean government is going to be very eager to support:

The top South Korean diplomat confirmed Monday the United States requested using American military bases here as a housing site for evacuees from war-torn Afghanistan, although there is no related discussion underway now between the allies.

“It is true that (the allies) did discuss the possibility at the very basic level. It, however, was not discussed seriously,” Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong said, responding to a lawmaker’s query during a session of the parliamentary Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee. 

The foreign minister said that currently, however, “there’s no such discussion underway at all”, adding that the option of using American military bases on South Korean soil as a refugee camp would absolutely require consent from the South Korean government.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but from the ROK perspective a concern they must have is what happens to refugees that are denied entry to the U.S.? Do they get sent back to Afghanistan or linger in South Korea? Over time will the U.S. ask the ROK to take in some of these refugees? I am sure the ROK has a lot of questions they want answered before they sign up for this.

I figure once the Biden administration recognizes the Taliban government, that is when everyone else will:

The Taliban wants South Korea to recognize it as a “legitimate” government of Afghanistan and hopes to strengthen economic cooperation and other exchanges between the two countries, a Taliban spokesman said Monday.

Abdul Qahar Balkhi, a member of the Taliban’s Cultural Commission, made the remarks in an exclusive interview with Yonhap News Agency, calling for Seoul to maintain “cordial” ties with the country “replete with untapped mineral resources.”

It marked the first interview a Taliban official has held with a South Korean media outlet since the Islamist movement took over Afghanistan as the United States withdrew troops from the war-torn nation.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The small business community in Korea continues to feel the brunt of the COVID restrictions:

The government’s decision to extend the current social distancing measures has drawn controversy, as many believe that such measures will not help curb the virus spread while only driving more self-employed up against the wall.

Along with the extension, the government also tightened the curfew on eateries and cafes, and expanded incentives offered to people who have been fully vaccinated for the coronavirus.

Small business owners criticized the strengthened limit on operating hours as excessive, while medical experts viewed that the “vaccine incentives” would have limited effects on boosting consumption.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Why don’t they just knock down the old school and make an entirely new building? That seems easier than building on top of an old school:

Presidential contenders have come up with various ideas to increase the housing supply and prevent further price escalation. 

The most sensational among them so far is former Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun’s plan to build apartments on top of school buildings, a plan which is drawing huge attention ― mostly mockery and sarcasm. 

Chung, a presidential hopeful of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), announced the plan to redevelop old schools and turn them into residential-school complexes.

“On the sites of public schools, we could erect a building where the first to fifth floors are used as a school and the sixth and above floors as residential spaces so that parents and students can live there while the children attend the school,” Chung said during a press conference at the National Assembly, Tuesday.

Through this plan, he pledged to provide 200,000 homes in Seoul alone, as a part of his promise to provide 2.8 million homes nationwide through various projects in both the public and private sectors during his term if he is elected president next March.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Really the only thing South Korea can do next to curb the virus is to make people shelter in place, which I don’t will work anyway:

South Korea’s daily new coronavirus cases reached a new high of over 2,200 on Wednesday since the start of the pandemic in January last year in the face of monthlong toughened virus curbs and a slower than expected vaccination campaign.

The country added 2,223 COVID-19 cases, including 2,145 local infections, raising the total caseload to 216,206, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

The latest caseload was up 683 from 1,540 the previous day. The country added one more deaths from COVID-19, raising the death toll to 2,135.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The North Koreans have been much quieter then I was expecting them to be this summer. This leads me to believe there must be a lot of back channel communication happening that we don’t know about:

South and North Korea have restored their communication lines, Cheong Wa Dae said Tuesday, with leaders of the two countries agreeing to rebuild mutual trust for better inter-Korean relations. 

This latest development has raised hopes for another reconciliatory mood on the Korean Peninsula and a resumption of the stalled nuclear talks between the United States and North Korea. 

“South and North Korea have agreed to restore their communication lines, which had been severed, as of 10 a.m., Tuesday,” presidential senior secretary for public communication Park Soo-hyun said during a press conference.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.