It was unsustainable for Lee to keep such high approval ratings and ever since the election controversy his approval rating has been declining:

President Lee Jae Myung’s approval rating fell for a sixth consecutive week to 46.5 percent, remaining below the 50 percent mark for the second straight week, according to a Realmeter poll released Monday.

The survey, conducted by Realmeter from June 22-26 among 2,502 eligible voters aged 18 and older, put Lee’s job approval rating at 46.5 percent, down 0.2 percentage point from the previous week. Negative assessments of his performance also edged down 0.2 percentage point to 49.5 percent, while 4 percent of respondents said they were unsure.

Lee’s approval rating has been on a steady decline from 60.5 percent in the second week of May, to 59.3 percent in the third week of May, 59.1 percent in the fourth week of May, 55.2 percent in the first week of June, 51.5 percent in the second week of June, 46.7 percent in the third week of June, and 46.5 percent in the fourth week of June.

Realmeter attributed the continued decline to the lingering controversy over the National Election Commission’s mishandling of ballots during the June 3 local elections, coupled with growing public concerns over the economy, including a weak won, persistent inflation and instability in the housing market.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

What do they hope to find this far after the election is already over? I have no idea if something nefarious occurred or if the ballot shortage was just incompetence, but this stunt isn’t going to change any minds because if something nefarious did occur the evidence would have long been destroyed by now:

Wi Chul-hwan (2nd from R, front), acting chairman of the National Election Commission, answers a lawmaker’s question during a meeting of a parliamentary special committee investigating ballot shortages in the June 3 local elections at the National Assembly in Seoul on July 1, 2026. (Yonhap)

A parliamentary special committee looking into ballot shortages during the June local elections will conduct its first on-site inspection this week, officials said Wednesday.

During a plenary meeting earlier in the day, the committee approved a plan to inspect the Songpa District Election Commission and the Olympic Park Handball Gymnasium in southern Seoul at 10 a.m. Thursday as part of its investigation into the voting and ballot-counting process.

The committee plans to send an official letter requesting police cooperation ahead of the inspection, considering the ongoing protest at the Olympic Park area over the ballot shortages.

The second on-site inspection, originally scheduled for next Wednesday, has been moved up to Tuesday, though its location has yet to be decided, according to committee officials.

During Wednesday’s meeting, Kang Dong-wan, the acting secretary-general of the National Election Commission (NEC), said the commission was open to the idea of allowing representatives from the ruling and main opposition parties, as well as civic groups, to inspect the ballot boxes stored at the stadium, which served as a ballot counting site on election day.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This is one of the larger groups of service members I have ever seen punished for criminal activity:

A sailor’s fatal fall in 2023 sparked a Navy probe that uncovered a drug distribution network aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and led to punishment for 58 sailors, according to service officials and heavily redacted court records. The investigation resulted in six courts-martial, 24 administrative separations and 28 cases of nonjudicial punishment, Navy officials said. Court records describe a network that used the U.S. Postal Service to ship hundreds of LSD tablets to Japan that were then distributed to sailors. The Navy acknowledged in 2023 that an unspecified number of Ronald Reagan sailors were under investigation, but the extent of that probe did not emerge until records became public and recent Navy responses.

Stars and Stripes

You can read more at the link.

It looks like businesses in Korea among other countries will be able to continue the pregnancy tours to the United States to help parents give their kids U.S. citizenship:

The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected U.S. President Donald Trump’s attempt to restrict birthright citizenship in a high-profile ruling, dealing a legal setback to his administration’s immigration policy.

In a 6-3 decision, the top court upheld a lower court decision against Trump’s executive order issued in January last year, which sought to deny birthright citizenship to children born in the United States to undocumented immigrants and temporary visa holders.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

You have to be one committed soccer fan with nothing better to do to have the time to travel to Incheon Airport early in the morning just to go boo the national soccer team:

Former head coach Hong Myung-bo and a few of his players for the South Korean men’s national football team were met with boos from angry people as they returned home Tuesday from a short stay at the FIFA World Cup.

Hong and nine of his 26 players landed at Incheon International Airport, just west of Seoul, in the wee hours of Tuesday, a little over 24 hours after Hong announced his resignation from the post to take responsibility for South Korea’s exit from the World Cup after the group stage.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.