Category: Korea-General Topics

I have always thought this whole transgender restroom issue is quite easy to resolve, have you had your junk chopped off or not? If so you can use the female restroom, if not use the male restroom:

A court has ruled that police advising an LGBTQ+ individual, who was undergoing the process of gender correction and changing their resident registration number, to avoid using public restrooms for a period constitutes an infringement of personal rights.

The court’s decision highlights the illegality of such remarks, noting that they fail to consider the reality faced by LGBTQ+ individuals who often struggle with using public restrooms due to societal scrutiny.

The Seoul Central District Court (presiding judge Chung In-jae) dismissed an appeal and ruled partially in favor of plaintiff A in a damages lawsuit against the state.

Neither party appealed the decision, making it final on July 2. The court awarded 300,000 won ($240) in damages, recognizing a portion of the 3 million won claim.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

The greedy doctors in Korea are now vowing to not train medical students in order to stop the government’s plan of increasing the number of doctors in South Korea:

Some medical professors vowed Saturday to boycott training programs for junior doctors in protest of the government’s push for accepting the resignations of striking trainees and the medical school admission quota hikes.

Professors of the radiology department at Catholic University of Korea said in a statement that they will not take part in education and training programs for trainee doctors set to join the course in the second half of this year as long as the government goes ahead with “wrongful policy measures.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the government is trying to address the doctor shortage, especially in rural areas with an increase in medical students. The doctors however do not want the increase because it means increased competition for their services which ultimately impacts their wallets.

South Korea despite not being a NATO member has become the key attendee at the NATO conference underway in Washington D.C.:

One of the most influential people attending the NATO summit in Washington leads a country that is not a member. Yet it holds vast stores of weapons sought by the bloc to help Ukraine fight off Russia, and perhaps tip the battle in Kyiv’s favor. Ukraine needs artillery shells. South Korea has millions, and there is a push to convince its President Yoon Suk Yeol to change a government policy that prohibits Seoul from sending lethal aid to countries at war. Yoon is attending the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit this week for the third time, but this visit is different.

Just weeks before it opened, his government said a defense pact signed between Russia and North Korea in June has made it consider whether it’s time to start sending weapons to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s forces. Zelenskyy, who has been seeking weapons from South Korea since Russia’s full-scale invasion started in 2022, will be attending the summit in Washington aimed at proving that NATO is as strong as ever in its 75th year.

He is expected to speak at a meeting of the Indo-Pacific Four partners — Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea — the Yomiuri newspaper reported, where he could again lay out his case for weapons. “The types of weapons South Korea can provide Ukraine are the ones that can make breakthroughs in the current stalemate on the front lines,” said Park Won Gon, a professor at South Korea’s Ewha Womans University specializing in international relations.

Stars and Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Hopefully everyone living on the southern tip of the Korean peninsula is keeping safe:

Heavy rains triggered landslides and flash floods in the Korean Peninsula’s southern regions, Wednesday, leaving at least six people dead and two missing, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) and regional fire headquarters.

Record-level downpours — up to nearly 150 millimeters in an hour — pounded the provinces of Chungcheong, Jeolla and Gyeongsang, causing casualties and property damage.

A man in Nonsan, South Chungcheong Province, was found dead inside an elevator at a residential building after apparently being trapped there.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It looks like the Korean government is starting to wobble a bit on their initiative to increase the number of medical school students to address the ongoing doctor shortage in South Korea:

The government has decided to drop all punitive measures against striking trainee doctors as it refocuses efforts on swiftly restoring the operation of medical services disrupted by their absences nationwide for months.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare said Monday that it shelved its plan to enforce penalties, including the suspensions of their medical licenses, on more than 12,000 trainee doctors for their refusal to comply with its order to return to work.

This would put an end to a nearly five-month standoff between the trainee doctors and the ministry, which refused to approve the resignations of those who left hospitals in protest of its decision to increase the nation’s medical school admissions quota.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

If measures are taken to reduce elderly drivers in South Korea it will be interesting to see what the impact is to the taxi industry which seems to have a lot of older drivers:

Authorities conduct a recovery work at the scene of the car crash that killed nine pedestrians at an intersection near Seoul City Hall in central Seoul, July 1. Yonhap

Public opinion is reigniting over the need for stricter measures for older drivers after a 68-year-old man involved in a deadly car crash near Seoul City Hall, which claimed nine lives, was identified.

However, there are growing concerns that this debate could deteriorate into indiscriminate criticism or personal attacks on older drivers.

Even before last week’s tragedy, how to deal with older drivers — specifically, encouraging older drivers to return their licenses — has been a hot-button issue as the number of drivers aged 65 or older is increasing steadily amid the nation’s aging population.

Just two days after the fatal car crash, a taxi driven by a man in his 70s crashed into the National Medical Center building, Wednesday, where an altar had been set up for one of the victims of the City Hall car crash, injuring three people, one seriously.

On Saturday, another incident occurred near Seoul Station, where a car driven by a man in his 80s struck pedestrians while attempting a U-turn, injuring two people. The vehicle continued for about 20 meters after hitting the first pedestrian before striking another and stopped after crashing into a wall.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.