The doctor crisis appears to be crushing President Yoon’s approval rating:
President Yoon Suk Yeol’s approval rating fell to 20 percent, marking its lowest level since he took office in May 2022, a poll showed Friday.
The survey, conducted by the polling agency Gallup Korea, showed that the positive assessment of Yoon’s performance plunged 3 percentage points from the previous week, while his negative assessment reached an all-time high of 70 percent, up 3 percent from a week earlier.
Yoon’s handling of medical school quotas, the economy and lack of communication were cited as reasons for the negative assessment.
The approval ratings of the ruling People Power Party (PPP), the main opposition Democratic Party and the Rebuilding Korea Party came to 28 percent, 33 percent and 8 percent, respectively.
You can read more at the link, but if the Yoon administration stands firm on the medical school quota issue the current short term pain of the current doctor strike will ultimately lead to more doctors in the long term.
This is what the doctor strike in South Korea is causing, pregnant women stuck in ambulances for six hours trying to find a hospital that will take them:
It is known that the pregnant woman asked 119 for help, saying, “The amniotic fluid is leaking,” but she was treated after waiting for six hours in an ambulance without finding a hospital. Fire officials knocked on the doors of 75 hospitals but were rejected.
According to the Chungbuk and provincial fire departments on the 15th, a report came into 119 at 11:25 a.m. the previous day that “a 25-week-old pregnant woman’s amniotic fluid burst” in Cheongju.
The 119 paramedics decided that it was an emergency situation where the pregnant woman was bleeding, and began looking for hospitals to accept patients.
The fire authorities requested 75 large hospitals, starting with Chungcheongbuk-do, from Incheon to Incheon, Gyeonggi-do, Jeolla-do, Gyeongsang-do, and Jeju-do, but all refused to transfer due to “no obstetricians” and “lack of newborn hospital rooms.”
You can read more at the link, but fortunately the woman and baby end of being saved.
According to the article Red Sea shipping is down by over 50% due to the Houthi attacks. With the Houthis not attacking Chinese ships it is easy to see who else other than the Iranians are helping them:
One is the falling cost of power-projection. The Houthis aren’t a traditional military juggernaut; they don’t even fully control Yemen. Yet they have employed drones and missiles to control access to vital seas. The Houthis have had help in doing so: Iran has provided weapons and the know-how needed to manufacture them.
But the Red Sea crisis still shows how seemingly minor actors can use relatively cheap capabilities to extend their destructive reach. The second feature is strategic synergy among U.S. foes. The Houthis became more fearsome thanks to mentorship by Iran and Hezbollah. Since October 2023, they have allowed most of China’s shipping to pass without harm. The Houthis have also received encouragement — and, it seems, direct support — from a Russia that is eager to exact vengeance on Washington.
You can read more at the link.
Expect more nuclear rhetoric from Kim Jong-un because currently North Korea is largely being buried in the international headlines due to the Ukraine War and Palestine-Isareal conflict:
North Korea offered a rare glimpse into a secretive facility to produce weapons-grade uranium as state media reported Friday that leader Kim Jong Un visited the area and called for stronger efforts to “exponentially” increase the number of his nuclear weapons.
It’s unclear if the site is at the North’s main Yongbyon nuclear complex, but it’s the North’s first disclosure of a uranium-enrichment facility since it showed one at Yongbyon to visiting American scholars in 2010. While the latest unveiling is likely an attempt to apply more pressure on the U.S. and its allies, the images North Korea’s media released of the area could provide outsiders with a valuable source of information for estimating the amount of nuclear ingredients that North Korea has produced.
You can read more at the link.
It looks like the North Koreans wanted to help the South celebrate Chuseok with a balloon show:
North Korea on Sunday launched balloons likely carrying trash toward South Korea for the second straight day, the South’s military said.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the latest launches, noting the balloons could travel toward the northern part of Gyeonggi Province, which surrounds Seoul, and the broader capital area.
The launch came after the North flew around 50 trash-carrying balloons toward the South from Saturday night to early Sunday, with about 10 trash bundles landing in Gyeonggi Province and Seoul, according to the JCS.
The JCS said the trash mostly consisted of paper, plastic bottles and other household garbage, while no hazardous substances have been found.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
It is Friday the 13th, becareful out there and leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.
Image from here.
