Category: Korea-General Topics

The trash attacks into South Korea are continuing:

North Korea on Monday sent balloons presumed to be carrying trash toward South Korea again, Seoul’s military said.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff said the balloons appeared to be travelling in a southeastern direction from the northern part of Gyeonggi Province that surrounds Seoul.

It advised the public to not touch fallen balloons and report them to military or police authorities.

On Friday, Kim Yo-jong, the influential sister of the North’s leader, hinted about launching more balloons after North Korean defectors in the South sent balloons with anti-Pyongyang leaflets toward the North earlier in the week.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

South Korea is now on the best level in regards to combating human trafficking according to the U.S. State Department:

The State Department put South Korea back on a top-tier list of countries for meeting standards for the elimination of human trafficking, while leaving North Korea in the lowest third tier for the 22nd straight year, its annual report showed Monday.

The department released the 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report, where South Korea was listed in the Tier 1 group of 33 countries and territories, including the United States, Britain, Taiwan, France, Germany, Australia, Singapore, Poland and Sweden.

Countries, whose governments fully meet the Trafficking Victims Protection Act’s minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, are included in Tier 1. South Korea was put into Tier 2 in the 2022 report for the first time in 20 years and remained in the tier in last year’s report.

The report measured progress in efforts to eliminate trafficking in 188 countries and territories. Its reporting period was from April 1 last year through March 31.

“The Government of the Republic of Korea (ROK) fully meets the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking,” the report read, referring to South Korea by its official name. “The government made key achievements to do so during the reporting period; therefore the ROK was upgraded to Tier 1.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This has to be the worst type of fire that a firefighter could try and extinguish. We have all seen the videos of how hard it is to extinguish an electric car that catches fire, imagine trying to put out the flames from an entire factory of lithium on fire:

At least 22 workers, mostly Chinese nationals, were killed in a lithium battery plant fire in Hwaseong, south of Seoul, Monday, firefighters said, in what could be the worst accident to occur at a chemical factory in the country.

The death toll could rise further as one went missing while being out of contact, according to the authorities.

As of 6:30 p.m., 22 workers had been killed, with two seriously injured and six others suffering mild injuries.

Among those confirmed killed, 20 are foreigners — 18 Chinese nationals, one Laotian and another whose nationality is not known, they said.

Yonhap

Here is how the fire supposedly started:

One witness, who escaped from the second floor of the plant, told the Hwaseong Fire Station that an explosive combustion occurred in one battery cell at the time of the fire.

The station said the fire spread rapidly as the battery cells inside exploded continuously, making it difficult for rescuers to go inside and search. At least 35,000 batteries are believed to be inside the plant. 

CCTV footage unveiled by the fire authorities showed a small amount of smoke started from one battery cell and sharply grew to fill the inside of the factory in just 15 seconds

You can read more at the link.

That is what some in the U.S. government and think tanks believe:

The idea of South Korea developing its own nuclear weapons is resurfacing among some U.S. pundits in light of the strengthened military partnership between North Korea and Russia.

However, while local analysts describe this as highly unlikely, they are skeptical about whether the growing camaraderie between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin is significant enough to push South Korea to withdraw from its decades-long commitment to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), a move that would likely draw major international sanctions.

Allison Hooker, former senior director for Asia at the National Security Council under former U.S. President Donald Trump, suggested, Friday, that the deepening military relationship between Moscow and Pyongyang might prompt Seoul to consider pursuing its own nuclear weapons.

“I think we cannot rule out the possibility that South Korea might move more rapidly toward its own nuclear program. We need to determine how we feel about that within the U.S. and the alliance context as well,” Hooker said during a webinar hosted by the Asia Society Policy Institute.

Her remarks came a day after Republican Senator Roger Wicker called for redeploying U.S. tactical nuclear weapons to South Korea, reiterating a proposal he floated in late May.

“With our allies South Korea, Japan and Australia, we should discuss nuclear burden-sharing agreements. It’s time for them to step forward and join us in nuclear burden-sharing,” Wicker said Thursday on the Senate floor, as he spoke about the latest Kim-Putin summit.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but the ROK officials the Korea Times interviewed believe this talk is all a bluff by the U.S. side. This is because the ROK developing its own nuclear deterrent would decrase U.S. influence in South Korea. It is also believed it would cause a nuclear domino effect with Taiwan and Japan wanting their own nuclear deterrents as well.

The ROK should be selling their advanced weaponry to Ukraine as a major export to help drive the Korean economy. With Poland and Romania buying ROK equipment as well, Ukraine would have allies next door with compatible capabilities:

The South Korean government said Thursday it will reconsider its stance on arms supply to Ukraine after North Korea and Russia signed a treaty that involves a mutual pledge to provide immediate military assistance if one of them is attacked.

National Security Advisor Chang Ho-jin also condemned “the comprehensive strategic treaty” signed during the summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang on Wednesday. (…..)

Chang said any cooperation that directly or indirectly aids North Korea’s military enhancement is a violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions and will be subject to international scrutiny and sanctions, and vowed to take corresponding measures. 

“We plan to reconsider the issue of arms support to Ukraine,” Chang also said, suggesting a shift in South Korea’s policy of not providing lethal aid to Ukraine.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The entitled and selfish doctors in Seoul have decided to walkout and leave patients without care:

A hospital affiliated with Seoul National University Hospital remains relatively quiet on June 17, 2024, as senior doctors go on an indefinite walkout in protest against the medical school quota hike.

Patients were denied appointments and sent home without treatment as a majority of doctors at Seoul National University Hospital (SNUH) and its three affiliates went on an indefinite walkout, demanding reconsideration of the medical school quota hike.

On Monday, 529 senior doctors, or 54.7 percent of those at SNUH and its three affiliates, began an indefinite strike in protest against the government’s first increase of the nationwide medical school admission quota in 27 years, by about 1,500 slots for next year. 

The walkout is set to be followed by a nationwide one-day general strike by community doctors on Tuesday, although only a fraction of them are expected to join the collective action. 

Doctors at SNUH, one of the most prominent university general hospitals in South Korea, are demanding that the government cancel administrative penalties imposed on protesting trainee doctors and reconsider the 2025 medical school quota hike.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

After all these months why would the government give in now to these entitled doctors? If anything the government should start making demands against the doctors saying their medical licenses will be permanently revoked for intentionally leaving their jobs and canceling appointments:

Lim Hyun-taek, chief of the Korean Medical Association, announces the association’s plan to go on strike against the government’s medical reform measures during a press conference of the organization in Seoul on June 9, 2024. (Yonhap)

The country’s biggest doctors’ group offered Sunday to hold a vote on whether to go ahead with a mass walkout this week if the government accepts three demands, including revisiting the issue of increasing medical school admissions.

The Korean Medical Association (KMA) made the offer two days before it is scheduled to launch the walkout involving medical professors at the “Big 5” hospitals in Seoul, as well as community doctors.

The walkout will be in support of trainee doctors who have remained off the job since February in protest of the government’s medical school enrollment hike plan.

The KMA said it will give the government until 11 p.m. Sunday to respond to its three demands, which also include revising and supplementing key points in the government’s policy package for the essential medical services sector and canceling all penalties against the trainee doctors.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The Danes are apparently scared of little spice in their food:

This food fight is certainly spicing up. 

Officials in Denmark have recalled ramen noodles manufactured by Samyang, saying a chili pepper extract included in three of its popular products could “poison consumers.”

However, the South Korean company has hit back, telling the BBC that there’s no problem with the quality of their products — and that the Danes simply can’t handle hot spice. 

The Danish Veterinary and Food Administration announced the recall on Tuesday, citing high capsaicin levels in the three recalled instant ramen products: Buldak 3x Spicy & Hot Chicken, 2x Spicy & Hot Chicken and Hot Chicken Stew.

New York Post via a reader tip

You can read more at the link.

How bad have Korean presidents been if Roh Moo-hyun comes out as the top president? Can anyone name one great thing Roh Moo-hyun did during his Presidency? Unless you are a North Korean sympathizer he did nothing great. His biggest accomplishments was increasing anti-Americanism to probably the highest levels ever and then funnelling billions of dollars of money to North Korea which allowed them to develop their nuclear and missile programs. If you can believe it there was a time when South Korea was paying more money to North Korea than to help fund the US-ROK alliance.

Anti-American street rally in Seoul in 2002.

Much of the problems with North Korea today can be linked back to the Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun presidencies that believed funding North Korea would lead to economic development and eventual reunification, instead the Kim regime used the funding to advance their nuclear program to threaten the region and now even the world:

Former President Roh Moo Hyun is the favorite of Koreans, and Hyundai Group founder Chung Ju-yung is the No. 1 businessman, according to the survey.

This is the result of a survey of 1,777 people aged 13 or older nationwide (excluding Jeju) from March 22 to April 5. The confidence level is 95% and the sampling error is ±2.3 percentage points.

When asked about the “favorite president of all time”, 31% of the respondents chose former president Roh Moo Hyun. Former President Park Chung-hee followed with 24 percent and former President Kim Dae Jung with 15 percent.

Maeil Business Newspaper

You can read more at the link, but Chung Ju-yung as the best businessman I can at least say he accomplished something great by founding Hyundai and becoming at the time the richest man in Korea. However, like former President Roh, Chung was another guy funneling cash to North Korea on behalf of the Kim Dae-jung presidency. Chung is yet another person through what he thought were good intentions helped create the North Korean nuclear and missile programs that remain a regional and even global threat today.