Category: Korea-General Topics

It is not often you have porn actresses contributing to an event next door to an elementary school, but that is what is happening in Suwon. However, if the kids cannot see what is going on inside the building during the event, is this really a big deal?:

Members of Suwon Women’s Network, comprised of seven women’s groups, hold a press conference in front of Suwon Station Cultural Plaza, March 12, urging the cancellation of the adult festival “2024 K-XF The Fashion.”

A controversial adult-themed event scheduled to be held in Suwon next month is drawing strong opposition, especially due to its proximity to an elementary school that is just 50 meters away.

The upcoming “2024 K-XF The Fashion ” is scheduled to be held April 20-21 at Suwon Messe in Gwonseon District of Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, and is expected to attract around 10,000 visitors, according to organizers.

The event will feature guest appearances from popular Japanese adult film actresses, lingerie fashion shows, and more, marking a significant increase from its predecessor in Gwangmyeong City, Gyeonggi Province, last December.

Organizers defend the event’s legality and the importance of open discussions on sex in society. After reviewing relevant laws, Suwon City officials found no legal basis to prohibit the event but have requested ID checks to prevent minors from entering and informed local schools.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Last year the cherry blossoms festivals were moved up due to warmer winter weather and various cities kept them scheduled for the same time this year. However, this year the weather was colder this spring and thus the trees are blossoming at its normal time:

Cherry blossoms are budding in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, Saturday. The annual spring flower festival kicked off, Saturday, with less than 10 percent of flowering rate due to climate change.

Local governments, renowned for hosting iconic flower festivals every spring, find themselves grappling with flowerless venues this year.

The delayed blooming of seasonal flowers, primarily attributed to climate change, has resulted in a significant setback, leaving these venues bereft of their usual vibrant displays.

The Jinhae Gunhangje Festival, Korea’s largest cherry blossom festival that is held in the southern port city of Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, kicked off on Saturday. However, as of Sunday, the city’s flowering rate stood at only 15 percent, with the full bloom phase anticipated to occur later next week, according to the city government. (…….)

Even a month ago, many anticipated the flowers to bloom earlier than usual, again, as abnormally high temperatures were recorded last winter. The country’s average temperature last month was 4.1 degrees Celsius, registered as the highest in February since 1973. 

But the weather changed suddenly in March, with abnormal subzero temperatures and lower precipitation levels, failing to offer the necessary and sufficient conditions for the spring flowers to bloom.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but this sounds less like climate change and more like the weather.

Korean doctors are now going to ramp up their use of denying care to patients as leverage against the government:

The monthlong confrontation between the government and doctors was feared to worsen further as medical school professors were to tender mass resignations and cut back on patient care starting this week, while the government was to suspend the licenses of striking trainee doctors, officials said Sunday.

More than 90 percent of the country’s 13,000 trainee doctors have been on strike in the form of mass resignations for about a month to protest the government’s decision to increase the medical school enrollment quota by 2,000 seats from the current 3,058 starting next year to enhance health care services in remote areas, as well as essential but less popular medical disciplines. 

Joining the collective action, professors of medical schools nationwide will begin to submit their resignations Monday and will reduce their weekly work hours to 52 hours by adjusting surgeries and other medical treatments, according to the national medical school professors’ council.

Starting April 1, they will also “minimize” medical services for outpatients to focus on seriously ill patients and emergency patient care.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but Korean doctors have to be one of the most selfish groups in South Korea.

According to the article as Koreans travel more and more people travel to Korea it is causing more opportunities for international couples to meet:

More than 10 percent of marriages in Korea last year were between Koreans and foreign nationals, rising to the highest level in 13 years, according to Statistics Korea, Tuesday.

In its annual report on marriage and divorce, the statistics agency said the number of international marriages totaled 19,700 in 2023, up 18.3 percent from a year earlier.

International marriages accounted for 10.2 percent of 193,700 marriages reported nationwide in 2023 — the highest ratio since 2010 when the figure stood at 10.5 percent.

“The 2023 ratio of international couples among all newlyweds is noteworthy,” a Statistics Korea official said, noting that the ratio had been above 10 percent mostly in the 2000s but remained in the single digit level from 2011 to 2022.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

A tragedy has just happened off the coast of Japan involving a South Korean tanker ship. Interestingly the article does say what chemicals were being transported in this ship. Hopefully this doesn’t lead to an ecological disaster as well:

 A South Korean chemical tanker capsized off Japan’s west coast Wednesday, claiming eight lives with two still missing, Japan’s coast guard officials said.

The Keoyoung Sun vessel, carrying 11 crew members, made a distress call to the Japanese Coast Guard at around 7 a.m., reporting that it was tilting in waters near an island of the Shimonoseki city in the Yamaguchi Prefecture.

Of the 11 crew members on board — two South Koreans, eight Indonesians and one Chinese — nine have been rescued and two others were unaccounted for.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This demonstrates how incredibly selfish Korean doctors are to protect their fiefdoms. These medical professors are willing to go on strike to pressure the government to not increase medical school students which is being done to try and address the nation’s doctor shortage:

Professors from medical schools nationwide have begun to contemplate whether to submit resignations in collective action pressuring the government to seek a breakthrough in the protracted walkout by trainee doctors, a medical professors’ group said Wednesday.

On Tuesday night, medical professors from 19 universities met online, decided to form a joint emergency response committee and resolved to decide at their respective schools by Friday whether to collectively submit resignations. 

The 19 schools include Seoul National University, Yonsei University, University of Ulsan, the Catholic University of Korea and Pusan National University.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Fortunately no one was injured or worse when they discovered this huge bomb:

An unexploded 1,000-pound bomb leftover from the Korean War was partially dismantled and removed from a construction site last week south of Seoul, a South Korean air force spokesman said.

The AN-M65 general-purpose bomb from the 1950-53 conflict was discovered Thursday by workers at a construction site in Cheongju city, roughly 60 miles south of the capital, a South Korean air force spokesman said by phone Monday. The spokesman declined to say precisely where the bomb was discovered. South Korean officials regularly speak to the media on a customary condition of anonymity.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.