Category: Korea-General Topics

Former President Moon is not happy about the criticism his administration has received from the current President:

 Former President Moon Jae-in has said his administration established a system to counter North Korean drone infiltrations, according to officials of the main opposition Democratic Party.

Moon made the remarks when DP leaders visited his home in the southeastern city of Yangsan on Monday, apparently in response to criticism from President Yoon Suk Yeol that the North’s recent drone infiltration revealed how Seoul’s military readiness and exercises have been “greatly lacking” over the years.

“Former President Moon said the government had introduced radars and prepared substantially with regard to countering drones,” a DP official who met Moon on Monday told Yonhap News Agency.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but I have seen no one criticizing the detection capability. Clearly the ROK military did a good job detecting the drones which Moon’s administration should be given credit for acquiring. However, the inability to shoot them down to include crashing one of their own aircraft is what the criticism of the ROK military has been about.

This is quite a high rate of positives coming in which makes you imagine how many people must be infected right now in China:

Seen here is the arrival hall of Incheon International Airport’s Terminal 1, west of Seoul, on Jan. 3, 2023. According to quarantine authorities, 61, or 19.7 percent, of 309 travelers from China were found to have been infected with the virus in COVID-19 tests at the airport the previous day, when South Korea began to require a PCR test for all entrants from the neighboring country.

Yonhap

It appears the ROK needs to work on their quarantine procedures because one infected Chinese traveler was able to escape by getting on to a bus:

A man of Chinese nationality has escaped a quarantine facility, Tuesday night, where he was placed in isolation after testing positive for COVID-19 upon arriving in Korea earlier in the day. 

The Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency said Wednesday that the 41-year-old Chinese national, who had tested positive in a PCR test upon arriving at Incheon International Airport, disappeared from a hotel on Yeongjongdo Island at around 10 p.m. Tuesday. The hotel is currently being used as a government-designated isolation facility for foreign nationals.

The man allegedly ran away after arriving at the hotel with other virus carriers via a government-provided bus. Footage from surveillance cameras showed that he was last spotted near a large retailer located about 300 meters from the hotel, but his whereabouts are still unknown.

Korea Times

It is going to be interesting to see if China’s COVID surge leads to a surge of infections in other nations in the region like Korea and Japan.

This is a good scientific achievement by the ROK:

South Korea’s unmanned space vehicle Danuri has sent back photos of Earth and the moon after reaching the moon’s orbit last month, the state space research center said Tuesday.

The orbiter began performing three rounds of lunar orbit insertion (LOI) maneuvers Dec. 17 to lower its speed and commit itself to the gravity of the moon before entering the selenocentric orbit on Dec. 27.

The first photo was taken Dec. 24 some 345 kilometers above the moon, when Danuri was carrying out its second round of LOI, and the second one was taken four days later while rotating around the satellite of Earth, according to the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI).

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The wintertime surge that happened last year after the holidays appears to not be happening this year:

South Korea’s new COVID-19 cases fell for the sixth consecutive day Monday amid concerns over a wintertime surge, with the government beginning to require a PCR test for travelers from China as the virus spreads in the neighboring country.

The country confirmed 22,735 new coronavirus infections, including 35 from overseas, bringing the total to 29,139,535, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.

The daily caseload has been on a steady decline since Tuesday when the figure jumped to 87,578. Monday’s figure is smaller than 25,531 infections a week earlier.

The country added 53 COVID-19 deaths, bringing the death toll to 32,272. The death rate stood at 0.11 percent.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It looks like people who like to get their freak on with sex dolls in South Korea will soon have more variety to choose from:

The government’s latest decision to scrap a ban on imports of life-size sex dolls has reignited debates on sex doll experience cafes where customers pay money to enjoy the products in a private space. 

The Korea Customs Service announced on Monday it will lift the ban on the import of complete-bodied sex dolls, ending a years-long dispute with importers of the products. Although there are currently no laws specifically prohibiting the import of sex dolls, customs authorities had been seizing most of them, citing a clause that bans the import of goods that may harm public morals.

The customs agency’s move came after a series of court rulings sided with the importers by saying that the use of sex dolls should be left to individual discretion. The authorities, however, stressed that child-like sex dolls and those resembling certain people will continue to be banned.

The lifting of import bans came as good news to owners of sex doll experience shops that have been increasing here in recent years. These shops offer customers a chance to enjoy the sex dolls at a private place. Now that the import ban is lifted, the shops will be able to provide their clients with more product options, not limited to domestically manufactured ones.

But the operation of such businesses in Korea is still in a legal gray zone, with opponents describing them as a “new form of sex trafficking.” 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but calling dolls a form of sex trafficking is ridiculous.

It will be interesting to see if this suspension of flights had anything to do with North Korea:

South Korea’s transport ministry said Monday it temporarily suspended flights at the Gimpo and Incheon international airports, but it didn’t specify the reason. 

At the request of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said it had banned flights at the country’s two major airports for about an hour Monday afternoon. 

Flights at the Gimpo and Incheon airports resumed at 2:10 p.m. after the flights were halted at 1:08 p.m. and 1:22 p.m., respectively, the ministry said. 

Twenty flights at Gimpo and 10 flights at Incheon were delayed due to the suspension order, according to the airports’ operators.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but Incheon International Airport I have always felt is a very easy provocation target for North Korea that would have immense impact on South Korea.

Many Koreans regardless of government regulations are not going to be taking their masks off anytime soon:

Many Koreans aren’t ready to take off their masks indoors.  
   
According to a survey by polling institution Real Research Korea from Dec. 5 to 9, 44.3 percent of the 3,800 people surveyed said they would “keep their masks on” no matter what.  
   
Korea is the only OECD member nation still requiring masks be worn in all indoor spaces, a regulation it has kept since October 2020. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but you can walk around Seoul and even outdoors the majority of people are masked up. Even people jogging in the park are masked up. However, you can go into a packed restaurant with everyone eating with their masks off. It is probably going to be quite a while before people get socially reverted back to not wearing masks.

South Korea’s daily COVID rate continues to remain at a manageable level. At this point it seems the government should provide weekly instead of daily updates just to stop the COVID fear:

South Korea’s new COVID-19 cases fell below 60,000 Sunday due to fewer tests a day earlier amid concerns of a surge in cases during the winter season.

The country reported 58,862 new COVID-19 infections, including 85 from overseas, bringing the total to 28,188,293, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.

The daily caseload jumped to over 86,830 on Tuesday, the highest in three months, from 25,657 a day ago but it had been on the decline to 66,930 on Saturday.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.