This is quite a turn over in restaurants when the number of closures is even worse than the COVID years:

South Korea’s restaurant industry is in the midst of its worst downturn in nearly two decades, with over 107,000 eateries shutting down in 2024 — the highest number on record.

For the first time in 16 years, more restaurants closed than opened, signaling a shift in a sector once known for its resilience and fierce competition. A combination of rising ingredient costs, slowing consumer spending, and post-pandemic economic struggles has created a perfect storm in the industry.

According to government data, 10.4 percent of full-service restaurants closed in 2024, the highest closure rate since 2005. In the capital city of Seoul, the rate was even higher at 13 percent, while Sejong City saw a staggering 14.6 percent closure rate. These figures reflect a growing financial strain on restaurant owners, who have faced mounting challenges since the COVID-19 pandemic reshaped the dining industry.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

You would think by now people would realize any data you give to a Chinese company could eventually be accessed by the Chinese government. With DeepSeek the data is so far just been sent to ByteDance which can then be easily sent to the Chinese government if requested:

South Korea’s data protection regulator has confirmed that the DeepSeek chatbot, developed by a China-based artificial intelligence startup, sent the nation’s user data to a third party, the Chinese owner of TikTok, ByteDance, according to officials Tuesday. 

The confirmation came a day after the regulator, the Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC), announced it has temporarily suspended new downloads of DeepSeek in South Korea over concerns about its data collection practices.

“We confirmed DeepSeek communicating with ByteDance,” a PIPC official said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This is a pretty sick guy to not only kill his girlfriend, but continue to live in an apartment where he hid her body in cement on his balcony:

A 58-year-old man has been arrested for the murder of his girlfriend 16 years ago, after her remains were discovered during construction work.

Geoje Police and the Gyeongnam Provincial Police Agency said Monday they had arrested the man on suspicion of killing his live-in girlfriend in 2008. The man is accused of fatally striking the victim, who was in her 30s at the time, with a blunt object during an argument on Oct. 10 that year, at their residence in Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province.

The suspect then put the body inside a suitcase and hid it on the outdoor balcony next to the rooftop of the building. He then covered the luggage with bricks and poured cement over it to evade discovery.

The crime was uncovered 16 years later when the landlord of the building found the suitcase containing the body while conducting demolition work to prevent water leaks.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

Another Korean celebrity has unfortunately decided to take her own life:

Late actress Kim Sae-ron left no note and her death will be ruled a suicide, police said Monday.

The 24-year-old was found dead at her home in Seoul on Sunday afternoon.

“We believe she made an extreme choice and plan to handle it as a suicide,” a police official told reporters.

Kim gained fame after appearing in films such as “The Man from Nowhere” and “The Neighbors,” but her career took a hit following a DUI incident in 2022.

Yonhap

By the way The Man from Nowhere was a great movie.

Trilateral ties may be unshakeable, but good luck trying to get North Korea to denuclearize because that is pretty much a fantasy as this point:

The top diplomats of South Korea, the United States and Japan held their first meeting since the launch of the new Trump administration, reaffirming their “unshakable trilateral partnership.”

Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul and his American and Japanese counterparts Marco Rubio and Takeshi Iwaya held talks on Saturday on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in Germany.

According to Seoul’s Foreign Ministry, the top diplomats discussed ways to enhance trilateral cooperation, responses to North Korea issues including its nuclear weapons, regional situations, and ways to expand economic cooperation.

In a joint statement, the three sides reaffirmed their resolute commitment to the complete denuclearization of North Korea.

KBS World

You can read more at the link.

The fact that there is a large pro-Yoon protest in Gwangju of all places has to be highly disturbing to the Korean left:

A longtime symbol of South Korea’s pro-democracy movement, Geumnam-ro Street in Gwangju became the staging ground for intensifying political divisions on Saturday, with protesters supporting and opposing President Yoon Suk Yeol gathering at the same time.

The two rallies, held separately along a 680-meter course from May 18 Democracy Square — commemorating the 1980 Gwangju Democratic Uprising — to Geumnam-ro, saw the biggest crowd in Gwangju since Yoon’s declaration of martial law on Dec. 3, 2024, and, in particular, the largest anti-impeachment rally.

The conservative Christian organization Save Korea organized a rally opposing Yoon’s impeachment along Geumnam-ro, specifically on sections 3 and 4 of the road from 1 p.m. until 5 p.m.

While this was happening, a rally in favor of impeaching Yoon was held on the other side of Geumnam-ro, led by the civic group Gwangju Emergency Action for Immediate Resignation of the Yoon Administration and Social Reform.

To maintain order and prevent physical clashes, police formed barriers between the opposing groups using riot buses.

Local media reported that the police unofficially put the number of people who participated in the anti-Yoon impeachment protest at 30,000, while 10,000 to 20,000 participated in the pro-Yoon impeachment protest.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.