Category: Korea-General Topics

It appears the going rate for a DPK politician to visit North Korea is at least $3 million:

Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung was grilled by prosecutors again Tuesday over allegations of his involvement in a company’s illegal remittance to North Korea in 2019.

Lee, chair of the main opposition Democratic Party, left the Suwon District Prosecutors Office after around five hours of questioning on charges of third-party bribery, three days after he underwent the first round of questioning on Saturday.

“I don’t know why (investigators) called me again, as they again failed to put forth even a single piece of evidence,” Lee told reporters upon leaving the office.

The investigation centers on allegations that Ssangbangwool Group, an underwear maker, illegally transferred US$8 million to North Korea between January 2019 and January 2020 on behalf of Gyeonggi Province.

Prosecutors suspect that, of the total remittance, $5 million was meant for Gyeonggi’s smart farm support program in North Korea while the remaining $3 million was what the North had demanded as the cost of facilitating Lee’s visit to North Korea.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but this story only came out because the former company chairman was arrested for embezzlement and made the accusations.

This would be a very interesting summit if it ever happened. I wonder if they would do it if China said North Korea has to attend as well?:

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol (L) and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida talk during a visit to the Raj Ghat memorial in New Delhi on Sept. 10, 2023. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida agreed Sunday to work toward realizing a trilateral summit with China, the presidential office said.

The two held talks on the margins of a Group of 20 summit in New Delhi, expressing their pleasure at meeting a total of six times since March, when Yoon traveled to Tokyo to mend bilateral relations badly frayed over historical disputes.

“The president said the two countries should continue active meetings in the second half of the year and smoothly implement the process to hold a South Korea-Japan-China summit,” the presidential office said in a press release. “Prime Minister Kishida said he would actively respond.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Here are some interesting statistics provided by the Korean government:

Around eight in 10 foreigners in Korea say they are satisfied with life here, data showed on Wednesday. 

In its 2022 survey aimed at analyzing the quality of life in Korea, Statistics Korea said 40.8 percent of the respondents said they were “extremely satisfied” with life in Korea while another 39.6 percent responded they were “a little satisfied.”

Meanwhile, nearly one out of every five foreign residents of Korea has experienced discrimination in the midst of an increase in the foreign population. The data showed that 19.7 percent of the 25,000 foreign residents responded that they had faced discrimination in the previous year.

The level of discrimination was “minor” in general, with 37.6 percent of the respondents saying they experienced discrimination at stores, restaurants and banks.

Another 34.1 percent said they experienced discrimination at workplaces while another 32.2 percent picked streets and neighborhoods. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Even if she was a bully in middle school why should this impact her now? Kids in middle school are 10-13 years old, Kim Hieora is 34 years old now. People grow up and change over time. I think these allegations say more about the complainers than Kim Hieora because they need to grow up and change as well instead of trying to drag someone down from middle school:

Actress Kim Hieora, renowned for her role in the Netflix drama, “The Glory,” faces bullying allegations raised by a local news outlet. 

The actress denied the allegations, while her entertainment company urged the public to refrain from spreading baseless information and warned of legal consequences for defamation. 

“We’d like to ask people to stop spreading factually incorrect information,” Kim’s entertainment company said in a statement. “We will respond to malicious actions that defame the actress.” 

According to the Korean-language news agency, Dispatch, Kim was allegedly part of a notorious school gang at Sangji Middle School in Wonju, Gangwon Province. She allegedly harassed her schoolmates and was also reportedly involved in case of theft on campus. Dispatch interviewed the victims.

The actress acknowledged her association with the school gang, but denied any involvement in acts of physical violence against others. “I wasn’t a good student. I was a gang member, but wasn’t active. I wasn’t so bad that I intentionally harmed others,” she wrote on her Instagram account.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

The massive protests by Korean teachers has less to do with the recent teacher suicides and more to do with wanting to get the child abuse law changed. None of the teacher suicides has been linked to the child abuse law, but the activists are creating the impression the law caused the suicide to get it changed:

On Saturday, around 200,000 teachers from around the country gathered in Seoul’s Yeouido near the National Assembly to commemorate the recent deaths of teachers and to call for the better protection of their rights.

It is very rare for teachers to stage such a large rally on their own without the involvement of labor unions.

The Education Ministry maintains that any teacher taking a leave of absence to join the collective action will be dealt with sternly in accordance with the law and principles. 

Education Minister Lee Ju-ho on Sunday asked for teachers to refrain from taking a leave of absence to attend the planned mass rally while pledging to take measures to enhance their rights and authority in the classroom.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but what is going on is that a change in the child abuse law caused any teacher accused of abuse to be suspended. This allowed parents that maybe do not like a teacher to claim abuse of their child to get the teacher suspended until cleared of the abuse allegations. Some of these suspension have lasted an entire year. This has caused teachers to not inflict discipline in classrooms because of fears of being accused of child abuse.

It will be interesting to see how hard the Democratic Party of Korea fights this move:

The Korea Military Academy said Thursday it will remove the bust of revered independence fighter Hong Beom-do from its grounds following a heated debate over the defense ministry’s push for the relocation.

The decision came as the ministry has recently been considering relocating the busts of Hong from the academy and its headquarters, both in Seoul, citing his past record of collaborating with Soviet communist forces.

“By considering the academy’s identity and honoring (Hong) as an independence fighter, the bust of General Hong Beom-do will be relocated to an appropriate location outside the academy, where his independence movement achievements can be well displayed,” the academy said in a statement.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It seems eating dog meat is close to being eradicated in South Korea as it is. In the past twenty years it has become hard to even find restaurants that serve it:

First lady Kim Keon Hee said she would work with animal activists until the dog meat industry was eradicated in Korea, continuing her campaign to promote awareness of animal rights.

“We all know how we came forward today with a heart filled with sadness and urgency. Here, all of you are giving everything to save these small lives, but there are animals out there dying so cruelly and unbearably that it’s truly hard to watch,” she said as she appeared at a press conference held by local animal rights activists on Wednesday.

“I will become friends with these individuals and work tirelessly until the consumption of dog meat is banned. I promise,” she said.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

Just another example of how COVID has become normalized:

As South Korea reclassifies COVID-19 to the same category as the seasonal flu starting Thursday, coronavirus tests will still be available, but will no longer be free of charge to everyone, health authorities said Wednesday.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency has announced that COVID-19 will go down from class 2 to class 4, the lowest infectious disease category, bringing changes to state policies that have provided COVID-19 testing for free and discounted medical benefits for more than three years.

Prior to the planned reclassification, the government covered the complete expense of the rapid antigen test for individuals with symptoms at local clinics. People only paid a medical examination fee for doctors ranging from 4,000 won to 6,000 won ($3-4.5). However, after COVID-19’s reclassification to class 4, most people — with the exception of high-risk individuals — must pay for the entire cost of the RAT, ranging from 20,000 won to 50,000 won per test from Thursday.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.