Category: Korea-General Topics

Here is the memorial that will be built in Itaewon by the one year anniversary of the crowd crush tragedy:

This image of memorials commemorating the Itaewon crowd crush and its victims is provided by groups representing bereaved families. (Yonhap)

A set of memorials will be installed in commemoration of last year’s deadly crowd crush in Seoul’s Itaewon district on the occasion of the tragedy’s first anniversary next month, bereaved families said Friday.

The crowd crush killed 159 people, many of them women in their 20s, on a narrow, sloped back alley in the nightlife district of Itaewon on Oct. 29 as a massive crowd packed the path amid Halloween festivities. 

With the accident’s first anniversary just a month away, groups representing families of the victims said memorials, called “The Path of Memory and Safety,” will be installed along the accident site and unveiled to the public on Oct. 26. 

The installation, designed by public art creator Kwon Eun-bi, will comprise a signboard bearing the name of the memorials and three light emitting diode-equipped bulletin boards displaying a description of the crowd crush as well as mourning messages from people and photos.

In commemoration of foreign victims of the tragedy, a mourning message, “All may go well today with all of you who remember that night,” will be inscribed in 14 different languages on the boards. 

The memorials will also include two stone sign plates, each to be laid on the ground at the start and the end of the accident alley, to remind visitors of the crowd crush and its victims.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It looks like if a liberal administration takes over again they will have a harder time trying to shutdown Fighters for a Free North Korea with this court ruling:

A South Korean court on Tuesday found a law banning private entities from sending leaflets or other items by balloon into North Korea unconstitutional.

In a 7-2 decision, the Constitutional Court found the Development of Inter-Korean Relations Act, promulgated in 2020 during the liberal Moon Jae-in administration, unconstitutional. Scores of North Korean human rights groups filed the complaint with the Constitutional Court immediately after the law came into effect.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

The annual traffic chaos during Chuseok has begun:

Heavy traffic began to build on major roads and highways across South Korea on Wednesday as people headed to their hometowns to celebrate the extended Chuseok holiday. 

Chuseok, which falls on Friday this year, is the Korean equivalent of Thanksgiving during which people get together with family members and relatives and visit their ancestors’ graves.

The extended Chuseok break this year gives people six days off until next Tuesday, as an extra one-day temporary holiday and National Foundation Day will follow. 

Some 5.85 million vehicles were expected to hit the road on the eve of the rare six-day holiday, with the traffic peaking at around 6-7 p.m. and forecast to continue through the next day, according to the Korea Expressway Corp.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but I have always found Chuseok to be a great time of the year to visit Seoul because of the lack of crowds from everyone leaving to go to their home towns.

Long time Korea expert Victor Cha, who now teaches at Georgetown University, is a big advocate of trilateral cooperation between the U.S., South Korea, and Japan:

The three leaders agreed to “inaugurate a new era of trilateral partnership” to counter military threats from North Korea and “aggressive behavior” from China in the South China Sea, according to a joint statement at the time.

“As we embark together in this new era, our shared values will be our guide and a free and open Indo-Pacific, in which our half-billion people are safe and prosperous, will be our collective purpose,” the statement said.

Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force joined warships from the U.S. and South Korea in several military drills this year, including a ballistic missile defense exercise on Aug. 29 near Jeju Island, south of the Korean Peninsula.

The U.S., South Korea and Japan’s “institutionalization in the broader scope of cooperation really is unprecedented,” Cha said.

“It is transforming the U.S.-[South Korea] and U.S.-Japan alliances from being more than just private goods that provide exclusive benefits to allied partners, to also publicly benefit the world,” Cha added.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

This is horrible what the mother did, but Korean teachers may not want to hold this case up as a shining example of what they are fighting for if in fact the day care worker was negligent and led to the child’s hospitalization:

A photo provided by a day care center worker shows herself with baby excrement smeared on her face. Screencapture from JTBC

More than 50,000 citizens have called on the legislative body to take action to better protect teachers’ rights following a recent assault of a day care center staff member after a parent threw a diaper with baby excrement.

The alleged assault began to gain attention after the worker’s husband posted a petition on the National Assembly’s website, Sept. 12, to call for public support for legal protections for workers and teachers at day care centers and education facilities.

Earlier this month, the parents in question claimed that their two-year-old child received insufficient care at the center in Sejong, which resulted in an injury after a scuffle with another child. As the injured child was hospitalized for treatment, the worker and the head of the center visited the hospital to apologize for their oversight. The mother then threw the child’s diaper containing excrement at the worker’s face.

The worker’s husband then took the humiliating case to the Assembly’s website, and his petition gained more than 50,000 endorsements from the public in four days, which will oblige the relevant Assembly committee to review the petition.

“I’ve witnessed many unpleasant incidents involving teachers and education workers, but never something like this: a baby’s excrement on a worker’s face. And the worker is my wife,” stated the petition filed by the husband who is also a teacher. “Inadequate teachers can be reprimanded, but how about inadequate parents? Do we have measures to hold them accountable? Teachers and education workers need protections and I seek your help.”

Korea Times

You can read the rest of the article at the link that explains the parent’s side of the story.