Category: Korea-General Topics

Unlike those that have avoided the mandatory military service obligation in Korea, I definitely have respect for the BTS members who are putting their lives on hold to serve their country:

The remaining four members of K-pop megastar BTS — RM, Jimin, V and Jungkook — will begin their mandatory military service next month, music industry sources said Wednesday.

According to the sources well informed of the matter, RM and V will enlist on Dec. 11, followed by Jimin and Jungkook the next day.

In South Korea, all able-bodied men are required to serve in the military for about two years. The members were allowed to postpone their military service until the end of the year when they turn 30, under a conscription law revised in 2020.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This is incredibly sad for the parents to lose their teenage daughter like this, but their decision on organ donations is giving extended life to people from five other families:

This photo shows Lee Ye-won (right) and her younger sister. (Korea Organ Donation Agency)

The state-run organ donation agency on Monday revealed the story of a 15-year-old middle school student, whose post-mortem donation of her vital organs gave five people a new lease on life.

Lee Ye-won, who passed away last year on May 11 after extensive damage to her brain from a cerebral hemorrhage, had her heart, lungs, liver and both kidneys donated to five individuals, said the Korea Organ Donation Agency, an affiliate of the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

The child collapsed on April 26 of the same year after suffering an acute headache and failed to regain consciousness after surgery. She was pronounced brain-dead.

Lee’s parents decided on organ donation, saying that considering their daughter had always been a kind and helpful person, she would have wanted to do something meaningful for the world.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

It looks like the Saudi money overcame what was clearly a better Expo site in Busan. Who is excited to go to Riyadh?:

South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo shakes hands with a Saudi official after the final presentation for South Korea’s bid to host the 2030 World Expo at the 173rd general assembly of the Bureau International des Expositions held at the Palais des Congres in Paris before its members their vote for the host city on Nov. 28, 2023. (Yonhap)

 South Korea’s Busan came up short in its bid to host the 2030 World Expo on Tuesday as Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh won a resounding victory over Busan and Italy’s Rome without a runoff vote.

Members of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), the body responsible for overseeing the international fair with the potential to generate economic benefits and stimulate job creation, held a ballot in Paris after representatives from the three candidates made final presentations of their proposals.

In the first round of voting, the Saudi capital won 119 votes against Busan’s 29 votes and Rome’s 17 votes. Riyadh’s votes were more than a two-thirds majority needed for a candidate to win without a runoff.

The Saudi delegation celebrated as the results were displayed on an electronic board, concluding the anonymous voting held in Issy-les-Moulineaux, the southwestern suburban area of the French capital.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This is something that people can expect to see more of in Korea as the technology continues to improve:

Dilly, a self-driving delivery robot developed by food delivery service Baemin’s operator Woowa Brothers, crosses a road while en route to deliver food on Teheran-ro in southern Seoul’s Gangnam District, which has been specially designated for robot delivery, Nov. 7. Courtesy of Woowa Brothers

Robots are gradually becoming part of daily life in Korea, as the country’s recent amendment to the act governing the use of robots has allowed outdoor autonomous robots to drive on sidewalks for delivery, patrols and other purposes.

This change has opened new avenues for related industries, as various advantages are expected for companies utilizing robots such as labor cost reduction, increased efficiency in last-mile delivery and improvement in safety, industry officials and experts said Thursday.

On Nov. 17, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the National Police Agency implemented the revised Act on Development and Supply of Intelligent Robots. Previously, robots were not permitted to operate on sidewalks, but the revised law allows for new businesses to utilize robot delivery and patrols in outdoor environments.

These outdoor self-driving robots are required to comply with the Road Traffic Act, just like pedestrians. Jaywalking or walking on roadways is illegal, and operators of these robots who violate the regulations will be fined 30,000 won ($23). Additionally, businesses seeking to use outdoor autonomous driving robots are obliged to have insurance coverage.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

From a national security perspective this is not good news because it means a smaller population of young men to conscript to defend the country. Hopefully North Korea, China, and Russia are not even greater threats than they are now in the next 30 years towards the ROK:

The number of young South Koreans is forecast to halve in 30 years amid a rapid aging trend and a record low birthrate, the statistics agency said Monday.

The number of people aged 19-34 came to 10.21 million in 2020, and the figure is forecast to tumble to 5.21 million in 2050, according to the analysis by Statistics Korea.

The proportion of the young population out of the country’s total came to 20.4 percent in 2020, but it is expected to fall to 11 percent in 2050, it added.

The number of young people has been on a steady decline over the past decades from 13.85 million in 1990, accounting for 31.9 percent of the total, to 12.88 million in 2000, 10.97 million in 2010 and 10.21 million in 2020.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I am not sure what they are going to talk about because China is not going to stop their provacative activities in the region no matter what the ROK and Japan tell them:

Foreign Minister Park Jin departs from Incheon International Airport in Incheon, southwest of Seoul, on Nov. 14, 2023, to attend a ministerial meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in San Francisco, in this file photo provided by the foreign ministry. (Yonhap)

Top diplomats of South Korea, China and Japan were set to hold talks in the southeastern port city of Busan on Sunday, with discussions on resuming the long-stalled three-way summit of the three countries’ leaders expected to be in focus. 

The trilateral meeting among Foreign Minister Park Jin, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa also comes after about a four-year hiatus as the three neighboring countries seek to deepen the tripartite cooperation despite many pending bilateral issues. 

Wang and Kamikawa arrived in Busan on Saturday.

Park is joining the two ministers the day after returning from a trip to London and Paris, where he accompanied President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

As more FCEV’s hit the road in Korea, more hydrogen production facilities will have to be built that will hopefully reduce the vulnerability from one plant having a maintenance issue:

The recent shortage of hydrogen for vehicles in Korea has prompted a controversy about the country’s readiness to popularize hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs), cars that run on electricity genreated by using oxygen from the air and compressed hydrogen, according to industry officials, Sunday.

Since a malfunction last week at hydrogen production facilities at Hyundai Steel’s Dangjin factory in South Chungcheong Province, charging stations in interior parts of Korea have faced difficulties securing hydrogen. As a result, FCEV drivers have had to line up for several hours to fuel their cars.

Earlier this month, passenger cars and buses using hydrogen had engine troubles after fueling from a charging station in Chungju, North Chungcheong Province, because of impurities in the station’s hydrogen supply. In August last year, an oil price hike reduced hydrogen production, forcing a maximum on hydrogen purchases of 1 kilogram per driver at each station.

The series of problems caused skepticism about switching from diesel-powered buses and trucks to hydrogen-powered vehicles, as well as over Hyundai Motor’s plan to launch the next version of the NEXO, its hydrogen passenger car.

“The government’s rapidly changing roadmap for the hydrogen economy has caused confusion, delaying the private sector’s investments,” Korea Energy Economics Institute research fellow Kim Jae-kyung said in a recent forum.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

This is just another reason why smartphones should be banned in schools. Social media just encourages these kids to be confrontational with teachers in order to get online views:

A female student and a middle-aged male teacher are seen arguing at a school in Korea in a video that has gone viral online. (Screenshot from inssahumor2’s Instagram account)

A video showing a quarrel between a female student and a male teacher has sparked online controversy.

The video shows a female student, believed to be a high schooler, arguing loudly in the hallway with a middle-aged male teacher.

The quarrel between the two begins when the teacher loudly instructs the student to go inside the classroom. The student argues back, saying “Why are you yelling at me? Don’t you think I’m a precious daughter of our family?”

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.