Thank goodness this was only another small earthquake, I can only imagine how much damaged would be caused in South Korea if ever hit by a large earthquake:
A 3.5 magnitude earthquake struck northern Jangsu, 216 km south of Seoul, on Saturday, South Korea’s weather agency reported, with no casualties or damage being immediately reported.
The quake occurred in the region in North Jeolla Province at 7:07 p.m. according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA). The KMA initially reported the earthquake was a magnitude 4.1 but shortly revised it down.
The depth was estimated at 6 km.
It was the third-strongest quake to occur on the Korean Peninsula or waters around it so far this year.
The province’s fire authorities have confirmed receiving around 40 reports related to the earthquake, but no damages have been reported so far.
The case of a 23 year old elementary school teacher that committed suicide inside her classroom before school started has drawn big headlines in South Korea:
An elementary student on Tuesday pays his respects at a memorial set up for the 23-year-old elementary school teacher in Seoul’s Seocho-gu who took her own life last week. (Yonhap)
The bereaved family of a 23-year-old junior elementary school teacher who took her own life last week released part of her diary indicating that she had struggled with too much work and an unruly student on Tuesday, amid the ongoing investigation into the circumstances surrounding her death.
“After going to work on Monday, I was bombarded with an immense workload and chaos caused by a student. I just wanted to let go of everything (at that point),” a diary entry presumed to have been written on July 3 reads.
Another entry read, “I was out of breath. My hands were shaking, and I almost burst into tears while eating.”
Amid rumors that the teacher may have been bullied by several parents’ excessive complaints and reports filed at her school regarding her teaching and handling of school affairs, police said Tuesday that they had summoned a parent who had allegedly complained in an attempt to determine the exact cause of her death.
According to reports, the late first grade teacher had been verbally harassed by the parent of a student who had suffered from school violence in the first semester. The parent had allegedly complained about the teacher’s lack of qualifications for failing to prevent the bullying from occurring.
You can read more at the link, but in my opinion she was working in the wrong profession if she could not handle one unruly first grader and a parent complaining about their kid being bullied. I would not be surprised if there is more going on here.
The impeachment of the Interior Minister was political since the Democratic Party controls the National Assembly. They have been trying to turn the Itaewon tragedy into President Yoon’s Sewol and so far have been unsuccessful:
The Constitutional Court on Tuesday unanimously overturned the National Assembly’s impeachment of Interior Minister Lee Sang-min over last year’s fatal crowd crush in Itaewon, central Seoul, which claimed 159 lives.
Lee, who had been suspended from his duties, was immediately reinstated after the court decision. (…..)
The court’s decision came 167 days since the National Assembly passed an impeachment motion against Lee, marking the first time the legislative body impeached a sitting Cabinet member. (……)
In a much-anticipated ruling, all nine judges of the Constitutional Court ruled against the impeachment on Tuesday, saying that from a constitutional and legal perspective, it was hard to believe that Lee failed his constitutional duty to protect citizens by violating the Framework Act on the Management of Disasters and Safety and the State Public Officials Act.
“The Itaewon tragedy did not arise or escalate due to a single cause or specific individual,” said the court. “It was the result of combined factors, such as each government agency’s failure to cultivate integrated response capabilities to large-scale disasters.”
You can read more at the link, but as the court ruled the Interior Minister should not be working at the police station level ensuring where police officers are deployed for crowd control. Additionally as I have always said if Itaewon Station was shut down that night, that would have prevented this disaster as well.
It is great to see that this final smear from the Korean left against the late General Paik has finally been removed:
This file photo, taken July 5, 2023, shows a statue of the late Gen. Paik Sun-yup being unveiled at a ceremony in the southern county of Chilgok, 215 kilometers southeast of Seoul. (Yonhap)
South Korea’s veterans ministry said Monday it has deleted a state burial record describing Korean War hero Gen. Paik Sun-yup as a pro-Japanese figure, saying that such an expression was written with no legal grounds.
The ministry said it has decided to remove a phrase identifying Paik as a person who engaged in pro-Japanese and anti-national activities in the late general’s online burial record on the Daejeon National Cemetery’s website, a term that strikes a sour note due to Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
The description had been in place since his burial in 2020 at the cemetery in Daejeon, 139 kilometers south of Seoul, as a presidential committee put him on a list of pro-Japanese figures in 2009, citing his military service for Manchukuo, a puppet state for Imperial Japan, during Tokyo’s colonial rule.
Paik served in the pro-Japan Gando Special Force under the Manchukuo Imperial Army from 1943 to 1945, which was tasked with suppressing anti-Japanese forces. When he was alive, Paik denied that he actually fought against Korean independence forces.
You can read more at the link, but General Paik denied ever hunting down Korean guerrillas during his service in the Manchukuo Imperial Army. Additionally this truth-finding committee that made these claims against Paik was operated by the Korean left to go after conservatives and the U.S. military during the Roh Moo-hyun years. ROK Heads may remember this was the same group who attacked the U.S. military for the fraudulent massacre at No Gun Ri that they could find no physical evidence to support. Any findings from this group are bias and should be suspect.
These clowns made it difficult to even find a place for General Paik to be buried after his death. He is arguably the greatest ROK military hero from the Korean War that ensured South Korea remained a free nation. It is almost as if these Korean leftists are disappointed that General Paik helped lead the successful defense of the country.
Condolences are pouring in after an elementary school teacher in Seocho District, southern Seoul, took her own life in a classroom earlier this week.https://t.co/dWjrzq3uUL
— The Korea JoongAng Daily (@JoongAngDaily) July 20, 2023
The death toll from the deadly flooding in Korea continues to rise:
Four more bodies have been recovered from a flooded underground road in central South Korea, bringing the number of people dead or missing in recent downpours to 49, officials said Monday.
The Osong underground roadway in the central city of Cheongju was flooded Saturday when a nearby river overflowed after an embankment was brought down by rising water levels due to heavy rain.
Four more bodies were recovered overnight, including the driver of a submerged bus, bringing the death toll to 13. Five people were previously found dead in the bus.
Through a search operation, fire authorities found 16 vehicles waterlogged in the underpass, one more than what they had previously said.
Rescuers continued to search for one more person reported missing but were having difficulties due to water mixed with mud at waist height, clogging the central underpass area.
The blame game for the deadly tunnel flooding in South Korea is already beginning. I wonder how long before the Korean left tries to blame President Yoon for this?:
Local authorities in Osong, Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, are facing widespread criticism over a lack of execution of safety measures in response to a flooded tunnel in the area which has left at least nine people dead as of Sunday afternoon.
Critics view that the accident, which occurred amid the days-long torrential rain, could have been prevented had the local municipalities taken preemptive measures such as closing the tunnel and establishing other traffic controls.
According to the Korea Fire Agency, Gungpyeong 2 Underpass in Osong was submerged around 8:45 a.m., Saturday, after the banks of the nearing Miho River collapsed due to heavy rainfall in the region.
The four-lane, 430-meter-long underground passage was flooded by some six tons of water in just three minutes, leaving 15 vehicles ― including a public bus and two trucks ― trapped inside. It is unclear exactly how many individuals were trapped, but the police said at least 11 individuals were reported to be missing in the tunnel, excluding nine survivors who were rescued soon after the flooding as of Saturday.
Hey menswear dude @dieworkwear – wanna see the world's worst fit of suit pants? Feast your eyes on South Korea’s president Yoon Suk-yeol. https://t.co/pNCnQqpUTQ
With NATO showing increasing support for South Korea against North Korean provocations and energy and defense agreements with Poland, President Yoon had a very good NATO summit. He concluded his trip to Europe was a final excursion to Ukraine:
President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks to his aides during a meeting on Korea’s heavy downpour on a train from Ukraine to Poland, Saturday (local time). Courtesy of presidential office
President Yoon Suk Yeol wrapped up his trip to three central European nations, Sunday (local time), during which he signaled Seoul’s stronger bonds with NATO and Ukraine.
While Yoon was attending the 2023 NATO Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile on Tuesday in yet another act of defiance.
Following the summit and attending engagements in Poland, Yoon paid a surprise visit to Ukraine to discuss cooperation in reconstructing the war-torn nation. (…….)
The highlight of the trip, however, came after Yoon finished his preannounced six-day schedule, as he redirected his itinerary to Ukraine.
Yoon was invited to visit Ukraine during Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska’s visit to Seoul in May, and the presidential office had been reviewing this while preparing for the NATO summit. Yoon made the decision during his trip and reportedly asked for Poland’s help for his visit to Ukraine during the summit with Polish President Duda, who offered a safe route via train to Ukraine.
Only a limited number of presidential staff knew about this as it was kept secret even to most staffers until just hours before his departure to Ukraine.
During his summit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Yoon expressed Korea’s empathic support of Kyiv and promised expanded military, humanitarian and educational aid to the country. Zelenskyy responded by asking for South Korea’s participation in the country’s restoration projects.
