Tag: South Korea

The past month has been hot in Korea, I mean really hot:

Seoul, Busan and many other parts of the country have been breaking records for the longest streak of consecutive tropical nights, with Seoul having 28 such nights as of Sunday, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA). 

As the intense heat is forecast to persist for the time being despite forecasts of heavy rain across the country early this week, the regions are expected to continue setting new records every day.

The KMA said Seoul’s lowest temperature from Saturday night to Sunday morning was 27 degrees Celsius, marking the 28th consecutive tropical night since July 21.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but I have always said August is one of the worst times to visit Korea due to the heat and humidity.

It has been a rough month for EV’s in South Korea with yet another car catching fire:

Customer concerns about electric vehicles (EVs) have intensified following a recent fire report involving an all-electric Model X luxury SUV from Tesla, the most beloved EV maker in Korea.

The incident further fueled the widespread fear of EVs here, after Mercedes-Benz’s EQE EV burst into flames earlier this month. Drivers have since rapidly lost trust in the once-reliable German carmaker after it became known that the vehicle was equipped with a less-reliable Chinese battery.

The recent fire involving a Model X resulted in the vehicle being completely destroyed after approximately four hours of firefighting efforts. The vehicle was parked on a road in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, on Friday afternoon.

Tesla used a battery from Japan’s Panasonic for its EV. This heightened fears that batteries from famous non-Chinese firms are also not safe either.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

This is so sickening and I can’t understand how any so-called doctor can conduct such procedures:

This screenshot from a YouTube video is of a woman who recently underwent an abortion procedure at 36 weeks. Legal and ethical questions about abortion have been raised amid a police investigation of the woman and her doctor. Screenshot from YouTube

How late is too late to get an abortion? Could terminating a pregnancy at nine months be considered an abortion?

These questions have been under intense scrutiny in Korea after a woman in her 20s was recently found by police to have undergone a procedure at a clinic to end her pregnancy at 36 weeks.

After confirming the basic facts of the case, which first became public through a YouTube video of the woman in question, the police have named both her and the physician as criminal suspects and have launched an investigation.

However, following a 2019 Constitutional Court ruling that deemed the abortion ban unconstitutional, could they still be convicted for performing what was intended as an abortion?

Medical and legal experts contacted by The Korea Times said the doctor could be found guilty of murder ― but only if police find enough evidence showing that fetal termination was completed outside the woman’s body.

They said an abortion at such a late stage may have been performed with a labor induction method, which can be legally defined as a live birth and, therefore, a “murder after birth.”

This was the case in an incident that occurred in March 2019. A doctor was indicted on charges of killing a 34-week-old after putting the live baby in a bucket of water following an abortion procedure. He was eventually sentenced to three years and six months in prison. (…………..)

What could further complicate the case is the possibility that the physician might have used medications to induce fetal demise deliberately inside the woman’s body so as to avoid any legal troubles, experts said.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but an American leftist would probably call this doctor a hero and these women conducting late term abortions strong and empowered. Anyone that supports this is either evil or has a mental disorder.

I had said before that the Filipina caregivers will likely be hired by people who already have caregivers in order to save money. It appears that is what is happening:

Nearly four out of 10 households in Seoul that will hire Filipino caregivers starting in September are located in the affluent southern parts of the capital, according to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, Wednesday.

The hiring of Filipino caregivers by parents in affluent areas under the government’s pilot program aimed at addressing the nation’s low birthrate suggests the initiative may not fully meet its expectations. This trend indicates that the program, intended to offer affordable support through foreign caregivers, might not be effectively reaching all parents as initially hoped.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but something I did not anticipate is that people hiring these Filipina caregivers are also using them as in-house English teachers for their kids.

The ideological war in South Korea has extended to where they cannot even agree on when the country was founded:

 President Yoon Suk Yeol has expressed frustration over the recent controversy surrounding when should be South Korea’s national founding day, saying it is an issue that does no good for people’s livelihoods.

The controversy began after Yoon appointed Kim Hyoung-suk, a figure accused of harboring pro-Japanese views, as the new president of the Independence Hall of Korea. Kim’s past remarks alleging South Korea came into being when its government was established in 1948 led to suspicions his appointment was a precursor to designating Aug. 15, 1948, as national foundation day.

The question of when South Korea came into being has long been a subject of ideological debate, with some arguing it was April 11, 1919, when a provisional government was established during Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.

“What good is this to the people who are struggling to make ends meet?” Yoon was quoted as recently telling his aides, referring to the controversy.

The main opposition Democratic Party and the Heritage of Korean Independence, a state-funded association of independence fighters and their descendants, have vowed to boycott the Aug. 15 Liberation Day ceremony hosted by the government unless the appointment is withdrawn.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Congratulations to all the athletes from South Korea on having a very successful Olympic Games:

South Korea won a medal in the very first medal event of the Paris Olympics on July 27.

The rest of the team picked it up from there and didn’t look back.

South Korea finished the medal race in eighth place with 13 gold medals, nine silver medals and 10 bronze medals, far exceeding its own and many pundits’ projections. South Korea tied its Summer Games record for most gold medals, equaling the mark from 2008 and 2012.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This is a huge compromise of sensitive information by the NIS. The article doesn’t say how high ranking this civilian employee is, but you would think the list of ROK operatives abroad would be a tightly controlled secret that only a few people would have access to:

A civilian employee in South Korea’s military intelligence command was arrested for allegedly leaking military secrets, the Defense Ministry said, as local media speculated the information was about South Korean spies operating abroad and that it may have been sent to North Korea. A military court issued a warrant Tuesday to arrest the employee in the Korea Defense Intelligence Command for alleged leaks of confidential military information, the Defense Ministry said in a brief statement.

It said it won’t disclose details of the employee’s criminal allegations because an investigation was underway. South Korean media reported the employee gave a Chinese national thousands of confidential documents including those on the intelligence command’s list of agents operating in foreign countries with disguised names and jobs. The reports said the leaked documents have the real names and ages of those secret agents and where they are stationed. It was unclear why the employee allegedly handed over the information to the Chinese.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.