Category: Korea-General Topics

It is amazing how many people died trying to save cars that could have easily been repaired or fixed with insurance:

Nine people have been pulled from a flooded parking garage in the southeastern city of Pohang, two of them alive, with the seven others having died after being found in cardiac arrest, as the search continued for any remaining victims in the wake of Typhoon Hinnamnor.

All of them had been trapped in the underground parking lot at an apartment complex in Pohang, about 270 km southeast of Seoul, after going there to move their cars amid heavy downpours brought on by the typhoon.

Rescue workers searched the flooded garage and pulled the nine people out of the water.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I just don’t understand why people cannot just stay inside and wait until the storm passes. It seems every typhoon the casualty are caused by people not bunkering down inside:

Three people were found dead and eight others went missing in South Korea after Typhoon Hinnamnor passed by the southern part of the country Tuesday, authorities said.

Pohang city officials said seven people were reported to be out of contact after entering the inundated underground parking lot of an apartment building in the city at around 6:30 a.m. to remove their cars. 

Rescuers are currently carrying out an operation to drain the parking garage and find those missing. 

A 66-year-old woman who was unaccounted for after entering the underground parking garage of another apartment building in Pohang in the morning was found dead six hours later, the officials said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It looks like South Korea got very lucky by not getting hit by the worse of Typhoon Hinnamnor:

Super Typhoon Hinnamnor made landfall on Korea’s Geoje early Tuesday morning, possibly becoming the most powerful storm ever to hit the country.

The typhoon, the 11th this year, made landfall at the southeastern city of Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province at 4:50 a.m., according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA). Geoje city is made up of a number of islands, of which by far the largest is Geoje Island.

The strength of the typhoon when it hit Geoje was not immediately available, but the KMA said the typhoon was classified “very strong” when it passed through the southern island of Jeju at around midnight with an atmospheric pressure of 945 hectopascals (hPa) at its center and maximum wind speed of 45 kilometers per second.

“Hinnamnor is a very big typhoon with a radius of 400 kilometers, and can carry strong winds and heavy rainfall almost all across the country,” Han Sang-un, the chief forecaster at the KMA, told a press briefing, urging to minimize possible casualties. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but Ulleungdo is the next possible Korean location this typhoon might strike. Hopefully the cooler waters of the East Sea get this typhoon to die down a bit.

Hopefully everyone in South Korea takes this typhoon seriously, prepares, and stays in doors during its arrival. Likewise the Yoon administration has got to be fully engaged with relief efforts or the political opposition and media will “Katrina” him just months into his Presidency:

Typhoon Hinnamnor is forecast to reach waters off Jeju Island this week as a “super strong” typhoon, the strongest on a four-tier scale, the state weather agency said Sunday.

According to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA), the typhoon, the 11th this year, is expected to arrive 460 kilometers south-southwest of the southern island of Jeju around 9 a.m. Monday, with an atmospheric pressure of 920 hectopascals at its center and a maximum wind speed of 54 meters per second.

Typhoons are classified into four categories, from medium to strong, very strong and super strong.

Super strong refers to typhoons with a maximum wind speed of at least 54 meters per second.

By 9 p.m. Monday, Typhoon Hinnamnor is forecast to reach waters 180 km south-southwest of Jeju as a “very strong” typhoon before moving further north to 20 km north-northwest of the southeastern port city of Busan by 9 a.m. Tuesday, according to the KMA.

The typhoon’s strength when it reaches Busan is forecast to weaken to “strong,” with an atmospheric pressure of 950 hectopascals at its center and a maximum wind speed of 43 meters per second, making it the strongest typhoon ever to make landfall in South Korea.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

My opinion has always been that there has been plenty of Korean celebrities that have completed their mandatory military service. BTS should be expected to do the same thing:

South Korea may conduct a public survey to help determine whether to grant exemptions to mandatory military service to members of the K-pop boyband BTS, officials said Wednesday.

The issue of active military service for the band’s seven members has been a hot-button topic in South Korea because its oldest member, Jin, faces enlistment in December, when he turns 30.

Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup told lawmakers that he ordered officials to implement a survey quickly. He said his ministry will also look into various other factors such as BTS’s economic impact, the importance of military service and overall national interest.

After his comments created a stir, his ministry clarified in a statement that Lee ordered officials to examine whether such a survey is needed, rather than launch it immediately.

Associated Press

You can read more at the link.

For people in the southern part of the Korean peninsula a massive storm is heading their way. Hopefully everyone takes proper precautions:

A super strong typhoon is approaching the Korean Peninsula, and southern parts of the country, including Jeju Island, may come under its direct influence early next week, the state weather agency said Thursday.

Typhoon Hinnamnor is believed to have passed over the sea 550 kilometers southeast of Taipei, the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said.

The 11th typhoon of this year is forecast to start moving northward Friday and reach the sea 430 km south-southwest of Seogwipo on Jeju Island on Monday afternoon. 

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Travelers to South Korea no longer need to present a negative COVID test to enter South Korea, but still have to take a test 24 hours after entry:

South Korea will lift its current pre-travel COVID-19 test requirement for inbound travelers later this week, an official said Wednesday, as the government believes the recent virus wave has passed its peak and the spread of omicron could slow down.

The new rule that will take effect Saturday came after a state infectious disease advisory committee recommended the government lift the mandatory pre-travel polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests for inbound travelers. 

“All inbound travelers, whether our nationals or foreigners, arriving aboard a plane or ship will not need to hand in a negative PCR test starting midnight of Sept. 3,” Second Vice Health Minister Lee Ki-il said in a virus response meeting. (……)

Travelers, however, still need to take a PCR test within the first 24 hours of their arrival in South Korea, a “minimum measure” put in place to prevent the inflow and spread of any variant from overseas, the vice minister said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I would definitely like to view this documentary if it gets released on a streaming channel at some point:

“I wanted to make a film that logically refutes [the distorted historical record.]”These are the words of Lee Suk-jae, who directed the documentary film “Koko Sunyi” about victims of Japanese wartime military sexual slavery. In a recent interview, he pointed out that Japan’s distortion of history is ongoing, which is why he felt the need to make the film. 

Many movies, dramas, TV programs and books related to the so-called comfort women issue have been published so far, but among them, “Koko Sunyi” logically refutes the absurdity of some of the claims of Japan’s far right based on historical data.Much of the information shared in “Koko Sunyi” is based on the Japanese Prisoners of War Interrogation Reports No. 48 and 49 published by the US Office of War Information (OWI), which contains details about the “comfort women” at the time. 

Lee’s film is centered around the life of Grandmother Sun-yi, who was taken to a sexual slavery camp, also known as a “comfort station,” in Myanmar during the war. Lee, who works as an investigative reporter for KBS, found that, among the 20 “comfort women” in Myanmar recorded in the OWI report, a woman with the surname Koko and first name Sun-yi was actually a woman named Park Sun-yi who lived in Hamyang, South Gyeongsang Province.

Hankyoreh

You can read more at the link.