Category: Korea-General Topics

The Yoon administration has decided to crackdown on Park Sang-hak and his Fighters for a Free North Korea:

 South Korean activists say they clashed with police while launching balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang propaganda materials across the North Korean border, ignoring their government’s plea to stop such activities since the North has threatened to respond with “deadly” retaliation.

Park Sang-hak, a North Korean defector-turned-activist, said he his group had launched about eight balloons from an area in the South Korean border town of Paju Saturday night when police officers arrived at the scene and prevented them from sending their 12 remaining balloons. Park said police confiscated some of their materials and detained him and three other members of his group over mild scuffles with officers before releasing them after questioning.

Officials at the Paju police and the northern Gyeonggi provincial police agencies didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment Sunday.

The balloons flown toward North Korea carried masks, Tylenol and Vitamin C tablets along with propaganda materials, including booklets praising South Korea’s economic wealth and democratic society and hundreds of USB sticks containing videos of U.S. Congress members denouncing the North’s human rights record, Park said.

Associated Press

You can read more at the link.

There was a horrible fire yesterday in Daejeon that unfortunately caused seven people to be killed:

The death toll from an outlet mall fire in the central city of Daejeon has risen to seven, with one person under medical treatment after sustaining serious injuries, officials said Monday.

The blaze at Hyundai Premium Outlet in Daejeon, about 160 kilometers south of Seoul, is believed to have started from the basement parking lot at 7:45 a.m. and spread quickly on cardboard boxes, sending dark smoke filling the entire floor, according to witnesses and survivors. The fire was completely extinguished around 3 p.m.

Two men, one in his 50s and the other in his 30s, were found with serious injuries and sent to a hospital but were later pronounced dead in the morning. Five more people were later found dead while another person was sent to a hospital after sustaining serious injuries, according to the officials.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

South Korea is taking longer than other countries to drop their COVID protocols, but they appear to be realizing that the protocols are arguably more detrimental to the population than the virus:

The government is expected to speed up the pace of its COVID-19 exit strategy after its decision to lift all outdoor mask mandates starting Monday. 

The next steps are likely to range from ending the post-arrival PCR test to resuming face-to-face visits at nursing hospitals, and it is considering a step-by-step easing of the seven-day quarantine for infected patients. 

Until Sunday, those at outdoor gatherings of 50 or more people, such as sporting events, had to wear masks, but it is no longer required, according to the government.

“We are clearly overcoming the hurdle of the recent resurgence of the coronavirus,” Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said during a government meeting at the Government Complex in Sejong, Friday. The government plans to map out a new set of low-risk quarantine measures to solve the public’s inconveniences based on feedback from experts, the prime minister said.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but I expect we will still see many Koreans masked up outdoors even with the dropping of this mandate.

As long as the COVID virus continues to mutate herd immunity to it will continue to be a fantasy despite such a high level of antibodies in the Korean population:

While a recent government study found that almost all Koreans have developed antibodies against the coronavirus either by vaccination or natural infection, this finding does not mean that the population has achieved herd immunity, according to health officials.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) unveiled on Friday the results of its latest study, which showed that 97.4 percent of those surveyed had antibodies against the spike protein (S) of the coronavirus. The survey, co-organized with the Korea National Institute of Health (NIH), involved some 10,000 people aged five and above living in 17 cities and provinces. 

A COVID-19 antibody test checks whether an individual has developed S-antibodies or nucleocapsid protein (N)-antibodies. S-antibodies are produced either through natural infection or vaccination, while the N-antibodies are formed only through natural infection. 

Although the vast majority of the population has developed antibodies against the coronavirus, people should still remain vigilant and receive an updated booster shot, health officials warn. (……)

He also said that the latest study has only confirmed the presence of antibodies for the original COVID-19 virus, not for the Omicron variant and its subvariants.

“Antibodies diminish over time and the possible emergence of new variants may weaken the protection offered by antibodies from a previous variant,” he said, explaining that inoculation via a booster shot is essential after four months or longer following either infection or vaccination.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but calling for more booster shots is probably going to fall on deaf ears for most people at this point.

Here is the latest sign that relations are continuing to improve between Japan and Korea. I guess we will see if it leads to anything positive, but considering how low the popularity is domestically for both leaders they both probably do not have the political capital to get any big deals done:

The summit took place suddenly, as the details had been kept under wraps for days, in the form of Yoon visiting the venue of an event hosted by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in New York.

Yoon and Kishida “agreed on the need to improve bilateral relations by resolving pending issues,” South Korea’s readout of the meeting said. The two agreed to instruct their diplomats to accelerate talks to that end.

Yoon and Kishida also “shared serious concern about North Korea’s nuclear program,” including its recent legalization of nuclear arms and the possibility of a seventh nuclear test, and “agreed to cooperate closely with the international community to respond to it,” according to the readout.

A presidential official hailed the summit as “the first step toward producing tangible results.”

“After two years and 10 months, despite the existence of various disputes between South Korea and Japan, the two leaders met and took the first step toward a resolution. That is why it was highly significant,” the official told reporters in New York.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I am not sure what rights Korean residents are deprived of in the U.S., but President Yoon says he is concerned about this:

 President Yoon Suk-yeol met with Korean residents in New York on Tuesday and promised to ask the U.S. government to ensure their rights and safety.

The banquet, which was held as part of Yoon’s visit to the city to attend the U.N. General Assembly, brought together some 170 Korean residents, including the head of the Korean American Association of Greater New York and business owners.

Yoon said he is proud of their achievements and grateful for their love for their fatherland.

“Our government will do our best so that overseas Koreans can enjoy their proper rights in U.S. society and develop further,” he said during the dinner, where he was joined by first lady Kim Keon-hee.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The ROK President was shown a lot of respect being seated in the front row with Presidents Biden and Macron:

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol attended the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in London on Monday, one of hundreds of world leaders who gathered here to honor the legacy of Britain’s longest-reigning monarch.

Yoon and first lady Kim Keon-hee attended the funeral service at Westminster Abbey at 11 a.m. They were seated in the 14th row in the section reserved for foreign leaders, behind French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, and in the same row as U.S. President Joe Biden and his wife.

“President Yoon mourned the death of the queen, who demonstrated through practice the solidarity of liberal democratic nations during her 70-year reign,” the presidential office said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.