Category: Korea-General Topics

The reality has set in with South Korea’s youth that North Korea has become such a different country that unification is not likely:

This file photo, taken March 13, 2023, shows the Kaesong Industrial Complex, a joint industrial park in the North’s border city of Kaesong. (Yonhap)

About 60 percent of South Koreans in their 20s and 30s said unification with North Korea is not necessary, a survey showed Sunday, amid a prolonged impasse in inter-Korean relations and denuclearization talks. 

The survey, commissioned by a civic media group called Barun Media Citizen Action, found that 61 percent of people in their 20s and 30s say Korean reunification is “not absolutely necessary.” 

In comparison, 24 percent of them say unification with North Korea is “absolutely necessary.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the good news from this survey is that 67% percent of Korean youths had a positive opinion of the U.S. For Japan the number was 63% had a positive view which shows that all the politically demagoguery towards Japan has not caused the majority of Korean youths to despise the country.

With the increasingly hostile neighborhood that South Korea lives in it is not surprising that a majority of South Koreans now support developing their own nuclear weapons to defend themselves:

About 56 percent of South Koreans support developing nuclear weapons to counter North Korea’s escalating nuclear threats, a survey showed Sunday. 

The survey of 1,008 adults, conducted by pollster Realmeter last week, found that 56.5 percent of respondents say they support building own nuclear weapons and the issue needs to be discussed at an upcoming summit between President Yoon Suk Yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden. 

In contrast, 40.8 percent said they oppose developing nuclear weapons.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

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.