Category: Korea-General Topics

It is going to be interesting to see how well this new traffic law is going to be enforced:

A new road traffic law obligating drivers to stop when turning right at intersections to better protect pedestrians will be formally enforced, beginning this weekend, after a three-month grace period, the National Police Agency (NPA) said Thursday.

The NPA said it will begin to crack down on drivers caught violating the new right turn rules starting Saturday.

Under the new rules, drivers must make a full stop prior to a right turn not only when pedestrians are on the crosswalk but also when they are trying to get on it. Even if a right turn is permitted according to the traffic signal, vehicles must stop immediately if a pedestrian is spotted crossing the crosswalk.

At intersections where a right turn signal is installed, drivers cannot turn right on a red light and are allowed to turn right only when a green arrow signal is on.

Violators could face fines of up to 200,000 won (US$150) or detention for under 30 days. If violators pay certain penalties, however, the fines or detention will be exempted. The penalty is 70,000 won for a van, 60,000 won for a passenger car and 40,000 won for a two-wheeled vehicle.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It will be interesting to see if this new policy has any effect on the amount of bullying in Korean schools:

This is a still image of Netflix’s “The Glory,” which revolves around the revenge-driven female character who survived horrifying abuse in high school. (Netflix)

Students with a history of bullying or school violence will have their records reflected in the regular college admissions process starting in 2024, and the current bullying record retention period of two years will be extended to four years after graduation, the government said Wednesday.

School violence records will be submitted to colleges “voluntarily” in the admissions process for the 2025 school year, but will be reflected on a “mandatory” basis for admissions in 2026. According to the Education Ministry, bullying records would not be included in this year’s college admissions because changes to university criteria and admissions guidelines must be announced two years in advance.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

Here is an update on South Korea’s first lunar orbiter:

 South Korea’s unmanned space vehicle Danuri has sent photos of the moon’s far side during its mission to collect selenographic data, the science ministry said Wednesday.

Danuri, which is rotating around the moon 100 kilometers above the surface, took pictures of the Tsiolkovskiy crater on March 22 and the Vallis Schrodinger and Szilard M craters each on March 24 with its high-definition cameras, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI).

They are the first photos of the moon’s far side that South Korea has taken.

On top of that, Danuri has sent separate photos taken with its wide-angle polarimetric camera, PolCam for short, designed to study the moon’s surface composition and its volcanic deposits through measuring the degree of polarization.

The science ministry said people can check the real-time location of Danuri on the lunar orbit, along with its photos and collected data, on the orbiter’s website (http://www.kari.re.kr/kplo).

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The spring is my least favorite time of the year in South Korea due to the yellow dust storms. These storms are a great reason to wear a mask:

Almost all of South Korea was shrouded Wednesday by a yellow dust storm originating in the Gobi Desert in northern China and Mongolia, the state weather agency said.

The yellow storm had spread to almost all of the country as of 7 a.m. and will affect the entire nation until Thursday, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA).

A fine dust advisory was issued for all parts of South Korea, authorities said.

The average hourly concentration of fine dust particles smaller than 10 micrometers in diameter, known as PM 10, had risen to 192 micrograms per cubic meter in Seoul as of 7 a.m. and 494 micrograms in the city of Ulsan, 307 kilometers southeast of Seoul, the KMA said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but past studies have showed that 55% of air pollution in Seoul comes from China and these dust storms makes it even worse.

This guy claims President Yoon has ruined the country and wants to kill him:

Police said Monday they were tracking a suspect who posted a terror threat online toward President Yoon Suk Yeol.

According to police, a 112 report was filed Sunday night that a terror threat had been posted to a moderate conservative online community.

he suspect uploaded the post at 10:22 p.m. on Sunday along with a photo of a pistol. The registration number of the pistol was covered.

“I bought the pistol with cryptocurrency and finally received it. The president has ruined the country and I will save the country by killing the president,” he wrote. The post was deleted some hours later.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

This is really horrible for everyone that lost their homes. Hopefully the firefighters can quickly get this under control:

Hundreds of residents and tourists evacuated from a wildfire that spread fast with strong winds blowing across Gangneung, Gangwon Province, on Tuesday, amid growing concerns over additional damages due to high winds and dry weather.

According to the Gangwon Fire Headquarters, the forest fire broke out in Nangok-dong of Gangneung, Gangwon Province, at around 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, and the flames began to spread to houses nearby and other areas through strong winds. About 103 hectares of forest, the size of 144 soccer fields, were damaged and about 40 homes were destroyed. No casualties were reported as of 1 p.m., but authorities said they were having difficulties in extinguishing the fire as they were unable to dispatch helicopters due to strong winds.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

South Korea just reported their first locally transmitted case of the monkeypox:

Health authorities reported the nation’s first locally transmitted case of monkeypox Saturday, bringing the total number of infections to six.

The South Korean national, who has no recent overseas travel history, tested positive for the disease the previous day, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

The person visited a hospital with a skin rash Monday and was reported to health authorities as a suspected monkeypox case Thursday.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.