It will be interesting to see if the opening of relations with Cuba will open increased trade with South Korea from the island nation:
South Korea established diplomatic relations with Cuba on Wednesday, its mission to the United Nations said, in a surprise announcement that could pose a setback to North Korea that has long boasted brotherly ties with the Latin American country.
In New York, the two countries’ representatives to the United Nations exchanged diplomatic notes marking the establishment of the formal ties. Cuba is the 193rd country which South Korea has built diplomatic relations with.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
With the high cost of living being a digital nomad in South Korea may not be as appealing as in other more affordable countries. Additionally this visa is not open to freelancers which most digital nomads normally are:
About a month has passed since the highly-anticipated workcation visa for digital nomads was launched, but the visa is off to a slow start.
Just seven people applied for the visa as of Jan. 31, according to the Ministry of Justice.The workcation visa, or the F-1-D, was introduced in a trial run on Jan. 1 for foreigners to work remotely in Korea over a longer period. Applicants must be employed at a company abroad, working remotely for their company. Applying for a job within Korea is strictly prohibited.
Joong Ang Ilbo
The visa allows a one-year stay, which can be extended for another year for a total two-year stay. Without a visa, many foreigners can only stay in Korea for up to 90 days.
One obstacle is that the visa isn’t currently open to freelancers, who make up a large portion of the digital nomad population.
You can read more at the link.
South Korea is already working on a “diplomatic buffer zone” with the early renegotiation of the USFK upkeep in case Trump does get elected:
With Donald Trump cruising to a rematch with United States President Joe Biden in the presidential election in November, the world, including South Korea, is preparing for a possible second Trump presidency, which is anticipated to force many countries to recalibrate their diplomatic strategies.
Throughout last year, the Yoon Suk Yeol administration has concentrated on strengthening its alliance with the U.S. to an unprecedented level, aligning South Korea’s diplomatic stance with its traditional ally on most issues, including sensitive ones such as the war between Ukraine and Russia.
Experts said, however, that South Korea this year will have to focus on securing a “diplomatic buffer zone” to prepare for a possible second Trump presidency, which is expected to force Seoul to shoulder a greater amount of the cost of maintaining U.S. Forces Korea’s (USFK) presence on the peninsula and make greater efforts for containing China. The speculation that Trump may condone North Korea’s possession of nuclear weapons is also a concern for Seoul, which has been striving to stymie Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions through U.S. extended deterrence.
“In terms of the relations with the U.S., the top agenda item that South Korea should focus on this year would be creating a diplomatic buffer zone for requests that Washington may make under a possible second Trump presidency in 2025,” said Lee Geun, professor of international politics at Seoul National University’s (SNU) Graduate School of International Studies.
Korea Times
You can read more at the link.
You would think these fire evacuation spaces would not have doors that lock you in like this:
A man in Incheon was rescued after being trapped in a small space within his apartment flat for 20 hours. The successful rescue was attributed to the man’s resourcefulness and a neighbor’s response, according to police on Monday.
On the last day of 2023, the man in his 70s found himself locked inside the building’s evacuation area, which is a mandatory 6.6 square meter space in new apartment buildings designed for fire emergencies. Stranded without a phone in the cold for 20 hours, he resorted to desperate and resourceful measures.
He discovered a piece of cardboard and a knife and used the blade to inscribe “SOS” on the paper. He then suspended the message outside his window, hoping that someone would notice and alert the police.
His hopes were realized when a resident in a neighboring apartment building spotted the message and promptly called the police.
Korea Times
You can read more at the link, but this man was lucky someone spotted his sign and called the police.
The Yoon administration is probably calculating that a new investigation will not try and determine what caused the Itaewon crowd crush, but instead try to create a narrative to blame it all on Yoon to impeach him:
President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday vetoed a special bill mandating a new investigation into the Itaewon crowd crush in 2022, his office said.
Yoon exercised his veto power by endorsing a motion demanding the National Assembly reconsider the legislation that the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) railroaded through the National Assembly earlier this month.
The motion was approved during a Cabinet meeting earlier in the day.
The legislation, which will now be sent back to the Assembly, calls for establishing a special investigation committee to reexamine the causes of the deadly crowd crush that claimed 159 lives in a narrow alley in central Seoul’s Itaewon during Halloween weekend in 2022 and to ensure the rights of the victims.
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said the legislation gives the special investigation committee too much power in a way that could potentially undermine constitutional principles and that fairness and neutrality cannot be guaranteed in the committee’s formation.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link, but the only questions I have remaining from the Itaewon crushing disaster is who started the pushing at the top of the hill that led to people falling on top of each other like dominoes? Finally why did it take a police station literally across the street from the Hamilton Hotel four hours to respond to overcrowding in the area?
It will be interesting to see how this safety law is enforced because you can have good safety practices and sometime things just happen:
An employee makes dough at a bakery in Seoul on Friday, one day before expanded implementation of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, a workplace safety law aimed at penalizing employers for serious industrial accidents, takes effect as scheduled. (Yonhap)
Expanded application of the workplace safety law is expected to have a substantial impact on the South Korean business community, as it holds employers with more than five workers legally responsible for deadly accidents. Concerns are growing as this change, which officially took effect Saturday, will cover 837,000 workplaces, including small neighborhood restaurants, bakeries, pubs, cafes and mom-and-pop stores.
Regardless of the size of the businesses and their financial capabilities, under the law, employers of small and large companies face the same criminal charges if a deadly accident happens during their operations.
“I am paying more attention to safety as the workplace safety law is expanded. But I am very concerned that if an accident occurs, the business will be forced to close,” said a business owner surnamed Kim, who has been running a timber company in North Chungcheong Province for 30 years. His company has 20 employees.
The food service industry argues that safety support should be provided before punishment is pursued.
“Many restaurant business owners are anxious because they think guidelines on the scope of responsibility are unclear. They are also worried since even with good safety training, accidents can always occur due to employee negligence. Some business owners are expected to reduce the number of employees they have hired for a long time to avoid the application of the law,” an official from the Korea Food Service Industry Association said.
Korea Herald
You can read more at the link.
The ROK defense minister had some blunt talk for the Kim regime:
Defense Minister Shin Won-sik visits the 17th Fighter Wing at Cheongju Air Base, 112 kilometers south of Seoul, which operates 40 F-35 stealth fighter jets, on Jan. 24, 2024, in this photo provided by his office.
South Korea’s defense chief said Wednesday that North Korea will face the end of its regime if it wages war, hours after the North fired several rounds of cruise missiles into the Yellow Sea in its latest series of weapons tests.
Defense Minister Shin Won-sik issued the warning during his visit to the 17th Fighter Wing at Cheongju Air Base, 112 kilometers south of Seoul, which operates 40 F-35 stealth fighter jets.
“North Korea has defined the Republic of Korea as its principal enemy and has maintained a hostile policy under the goal of communizing the whole Korean Peninsula,” Shin was quoted as saying, referring to South Korea’s official name.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
