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A Record Number of Foreigners Are Now Residents of South Korea

If it seems like there are a lot of foreigners living in South Korea now a days it is because there are compared to the recent past:

The number of foreign residents in Korea reached a record high last year, accounting for more than 5 percent of the country’s total population, justice ministry data showed Monday.

According to the Korea Immigration Service, a justice ministry agency, the number of foreigners living in Korea stood at 2.65 million, making up 5.17 percent of the total population. This marks an increase of 126,127 from the previous high in 2019 and surpasses the 4.89 percent level recorded in 2023.

Over the past decade, Korea has seen a steady rise in foreign residents, from 1.9 million in 2015 to 2.52 million in 2019. Although the numbers declined due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they rebounded in 2022 and have continued to rise since.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Picture of the Day: Samgyeopsal Day

Campaign to promote pork consumption
Campaign to promote pork consumption
Shoppers buy “samgyeopsal,” or three-layered pork strips, the type of pork most preferred by South Korean consumers, in Seoul on Feb. 28, 2025, as the industrial body for Korean pork implements a bargain sale as part of a campaign to promote pork consumption to mark Samgyeopsal Day that falls on March 3. (Yonhap)

IAEA Says North Korea Continues to Violate UN Resolutions with Uranium Enrichment Program

Since when has North Korea ever cared about UN resolutions?:

 The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief said Monday there are signs of North Korea continuing to operate uranium enrichment plants in two different locations, as he stressed further development of its nuclear program is a “clear” breach of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi made the remarks in reference to the plants in Kangson near Pyongyang, and Yongbyon, north of the capital, as he delivered an introductory statement during the agency’s Board of Governors meeting in Vienna, Austria.

The assessment came after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was reported in January to have toured a nuclear-material production base and a nuclear weapons institute — a sign that Pyongyang is doubling down on its nuclear program though Seoul and Washington are pursuing the “complete” denuclearization of North Korea.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

DODEA Administrators Help Organize High School Diversity Protest on Okinawa

Should schools being helping students to organize protests especially during school time?:

More than 60 high school students staged a walkout here Friday to protest Pentagon policies affecting diversity initiatives, the third such demonstration at a Defense Department school since Feb. 11.

The Kadena High School students — children of airmen and DOD employees — walked out at 10 a.m. for a 15-minute protest in front of the school, principal James Bleeker wrote in a letter emailed to parents that afternoon. Stars and Stripes counted at least 80 students in photos taken from about 250 feet away. Sophomore Elliot Field organized the walkout with support from the DODEA Student Advocacy Core Team, which also backed a Feb. 21 protest at Nile C. Kinnick High School on Yokosuka Naval Base, she said by email Wednesday. She took inspiration from that protest, where about 150 students walked out.

“It’s kind of frightening because I’ve never done anything like this before,” she told Stars and Stripes outside the school before the walkout. “I’ve always sort of been like, if something needs to get done, why not just do it? Something needed to happen.” Field said she coordinated the protest with Bleeker. Miranda Ferguson, a spokeswoman for Department of Defense Education Activity-Pacific, confirmed in an email Friday that the demonstration was organized with school administrators.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but would these same DODEA administrators allow students to organize a MAGA protest, an anti-abortion protest, a border security protest, etc.? Where is line for organized protests during school hours?

Tweet of the Day: Birth Rate Concerns in Asia Racially Motivated?

Conservative Presidential Candidates Want to Change ROK Constitution to be More Similar to the U.S.

It looks like ROK conservatives are preparing for President Yoon’s impeachment to be confirmed and are now communicating their platform for the upcoming snap election:

Labor Minister Kim Moon-soo, left, and Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo pay tribute to the 2.28 Democracy Movement Monument in Daegu, Friday. Yonhap

Labor Minister Kim Moon-soo, left, and Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo pay tribute to the 2.28 Democracy Movement Monument in Daegu, Friday. Yonhap

“The current Constitution, adopted in 1987, must change. People should not experience [DPK] Rep. Lee’s 29 impeachment motions or the president’s martial law imposition ever again,” Han told reporters Sunday. “Accomplishing this requires a willingness to make sacrifices on the part of those entrusted with important tasks.”

In an interview, Han said that if elected president, he would advocate for a constitutional amendment to introduce a four-year term with the possibility of reelection and would step down in 2028 to ensure that the next presidential and general elections coincide. He also said establishing a congress with two separate legislative chambers, similar to the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, is essential.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon also echoed the idea, suggesting that whoever is the next president should resign after three years in office so as to align the two elections (presidential and general). Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo expressed his support for the four-year term with reelection and a bicameral legislature but disagreed with the proposal to shorten the next presidential term to three years.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Stop the Steal Protest at Ewha Woman’s University Turns Violent After Pro-Impeachment Protesters Show Up

The divide between the pro and anti-Yoon sides in South Korea is continuing to deepen:

About two dozen students, alumni and others gathered at Ewha Womans University in Seoul last week, denouncing the National Assembly’s impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol as “invalid,” only to encounter another group of students holding an in-school rally calling for Yoon’s ouster at the same time.

The encounter quickly escalated into violence as dozens of pro-Yoon YouTubers and activists broke into the campus to join forces, along with an opposing group of anti-Yoon student activists, despite the female-only university’s ban on outsiders entering the campus for any rally.

Insults were hurled between the opposing groups, while some tugged at others before the scene was brought to an end only after university officials and police personnel were mobilized.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

30% of Phd Holders in South Korea Cannot Find A Job

This makes me wonder what the quality of the Phd these people who cannot have a job have?:

Three out of 10 people who obtained a Ph.D. last year were unemployed, with the ratio going up to nearly 50 percent for those aged under 30, data showed, Sunday.

The unemployment rate of Ph.D. holders is at an all-time high since Statistics Korea began collecting the data in 2014, highlighting a shortage of quality jobs and the widening impact of the job market downturn on highly educated professionals.

According to the data, 70.4 percent of the 10,442 individuals who obtained a Ph.D. last year said they secured a job. Those who failed to find employment accounted for 26.6 percent, while 3 percent were classified as economically inactive.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.