Category: Korea-General Topics

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.

These regulations which are probably intended to help Korean tech companies at the expense of U.S. companies would also benefit Chinese tech companies as well in Korea:

Fair Trade Commission Chairman Han Ki Jeong, right, speaks with American Chamber of Commerce in Korea Chairman James Kim during a special luncheon event at Grand Hyatt Seoul in this March 2023 file photo. Yonhap

The Yoon Suk Yeol administration’s drive to regulate market-dominant online platforms could be evolving into a potential diplomatic dispute with the U.S., according to industry officials, Thursday.

The U.S. state and commerce departments reportedly raised their concerns regarding South Korea’s proposed regulations. They conveyed these concerns by sending messages to Yoon’s office, the foreign ministry, and the trade ministry late last year.

Although a Fair Trade Commission (FTC) official in charge of the matter said the agency has not received an official comment from Washington, Seoul is said to be trying to persuade the U.S. government by emphasizing that there is no intention of imposing regulations more strictly on foreign firms in favor of domestic companies.

The primary concern for U.S. firms revolves around the potential that the upcoming competition policy rules might inadvertently favor Chinese late movers, like Aliexpress and Temu, which are not expected to be affected by the regulation due to their relatively low market shares.

“It now appears the European Union’s approach is contagious, as Korea’s pro-tech government has tabled a Digital Markets Act-like bill that would unfairly target U.S. platforms while giving Chinese platforms a pass, a policy very much not in U.S. companies’ interests,” the Center for Strategic & International Studies said in a report on Jan. 11. “Korea’s proposed act and the bills under discussion set limits that unfairly target U.S. companies which will, in turn end up helping Chinese companies gain larger market share.”

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

The Korean left continues their crusade against President Yoon’s wife:

The state anti-corruption agency said Thursday that it is looking into allegations that first lady Kim Keon Hee improperly received a high-end designer bag from a pastor last year. 

A liberal YouTube-based news channel had previously claimed that the wife of President Yoon Suk Yeol had been gifted the Christian Dior bag valued at around 3 million won (US$2,200) by the Korean American pastor and released a video recording of the incident.

A civic group later filed a complaint with the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, requesting an investigation into Kim for the alleged violation of anti-graft laws.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Expect Lee Jae-myung to play up his one centimeter puncture wound as much as possible:

Rep. Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), speaks to reporters in front of Seoul National University Hospital on Jan. 10, 2024, eight days after he underwent surgery on a knife wound sustained in an attack. (Yonhap)

Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung will not be able to attend hearings in his corruption trial for the time being because he has yet to recover from a stabbing attack, his legal representative said Friday.

“It seems it will be hard (for Lee) to attend the trials for now,” Lee’s lawyer said during a preparatory hearing held at the Seoul Central District Court. “On the face of it, he seemed to have trouble even speaking.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but I am not a doctor, but I am not sure how a one centimeter wound to the juglar vein impacts the vocal cords?

It has finally happened, Korea has passed the ban on dog meat. This ban will go into affect in 2027 giving people in the industry three years to find another job:

The National Assembly passed a special bill banning dog meat consumption Tuesday, paving the way for ending the practice that has fallen out of favor in recent decades.

The bill, which bans the breeding, butchering, distributing and selling of dogs for meat, passed through the parliament with 208 votes in favor and 2 abstentions.

The ruling People Power Party (PPP) and the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) have jointly pushed for the ban amid growing awareness of animal rights and an increasing number of pet owners in the country.

The bill also calls for providing subsidies to help people in the dog meat industry switch jobs.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.