Tag: South Korea

The real question is why is there any South Koreans left in Haiti when you have a gang called the Cannibal Army running around killing people?:

South Korea has evacuated 11 citizens from Haiti via helicopter due to deteriorating security, the foreign ministry said Monday.

The ministry said they were airlifted to the neighboring Dominican Republic, adding that further details would be withheld to ensure the safety of other South Koreans in Haiti.

Last month, the government evacuated two citizens from the Caribbean country, as gang violence has gripped the island nation.

Haiti has seen a rise in violence and poverty since the assassination of then President Jovenel Moise in 2021.

Around 60 South Koreans are currently believed to be in Haiti.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

That is what some analysts believe:

Now in his 13th year running North Korea, Kim is more aggressively testing the boundaries of what his adversaries will tolerate. Backed by rapid progress in his nation’s nuclear capabilities and missile program, the 40-year-old dictator began 2024 by removing the goal of peaceful unification from North Korea’s constitution and declaring he had the right to “annihilate” South Korea.

While such bellicose rhetoric would normally be dismissed — Kim could just be posturing ahead of South Korean elections on April 10 — two prominent analysts set off a round of discussion among North Korea watchers with an article suggesting that this time Kim isn’t bluffing. “Like his grandfather in 1950, Kim Jong Un has made a strategic decision to go to war,” former CIA officer Robert Carlin and nuclear scientist Siegfried Hecker wrote in early 2024 on the website 38 North, which focuses on North Korea.

They didn’t forecast how soon that could take place. Carlin and Hecker’s views are not universal: Most analysts argue that any full-scale attack would be a move of desperation or suicide, inviting a response from South Korea and the US that would end the Kim family’s nearly eight-decade-long rule.

But with multiple conflicts raging in Ukraine and the Middle East, it’s just the kind of war the world could stumble into – with potentially devastating consequences for not just the Korean Peninsula, but the global economy and, particularly, the chip supply chain.

Stars & Stripes

I don’t agree that North Korea is plotting some sneak attack war on South Korea. Kim Jong-un cares about preserving his regime and a war would end it. I agree with Daniel Pinkston’s analysis of what North Korea’s strategy towards the ROK is:

Kim would’ve already invaded South Korea if he was actually preparing for war, according to Daniel Pinkston, an international relations lecturer at Troy University in Seoul and a former Korean linguist with the US Air Force. A simpler explanation, he said, is that North Korea is deterred from doing so. “The North Korea leadership is waiting for a restructuring of the world order and the collapse of the US-led alliance system in East Asia,” said Pinkston. “Unless that happens, I don’t see a theory of victory for North Korea.”

You can read more at the link.

It would be great if the Korean government told him no on acquiring citizenship since he waited until he was old enough to avoid mandatory military service:

Shin Yoo-yeol, front row second from left, head of Lotte Corp.’s future growth office, listens to Lotte Innovate officials during CES 2024 in Las Vegas in this Jan. 10 file photo. Courtesy of Lotte Innovate

Speculation is growing that Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin’s oldest son, Shin Yoo-yeol, also known by his Japanese name, Satoshi Shigemitsu, may give up his Japanese citizenship this year to be naturalized as a Korean citizen, as he turned 38 years old on Saturday, according to industry officials, Sunday. At this age, one can acquire Korean citizenship regardless of the completion of military service.

The heir apparent, who currently assumes executive positions at Lotte’s holding company and its health care subsidiary, was born in London in 1986 and grew up in Tokyo. After joining Lotte in 2020, he has worked for his father’s company in Korea and Japan.

Due to his frequent attendance at the conglomerate’s important events recently, he has been expected to follow in the footsteps of his father, who gave up his Japanese citizenship at the age of 41 in 1996 to acquire Korean citizenship that year without completing military service. At that time, men younger than 40 were not allowed to be exempt from military service.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It appears the strike by Korean doctors to stop President Yoon from expanding medical school students is beginning to work. The Korean public may want to have more doctors, but the current strike denying them care now is impacting the ruling party in election polls:

President Yoon Suk Yeol reaffirmed his determination to expand the admissions quota for medical schools, Monday, urging the public to support the scheme, which he believes is crucial for safeguarding public safety.

However, at the same time, he left room for dialogue, saying doctors should come up with a unified alternative proposal if they want to reduce the number of new slots. This appears to be an effort to address the ruling People Power Party’s (PPP) demand for the president to display greater flexibility on the issue, which is impacting support for the ruling bloc ahead of the April 10 general elections.

In a televised 51-minute address to the nation, Yoon outlined his rationale for adding 2,000 new slots and criticized doctors for walking off their jobs for nearly 50 days to protest the government plan.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but if the doctors want to cut a deal with President Yoon they better do it before the election. Whether Yoon’s ruling party wins or not; after the election he will have no incentive to strike a deal to end the strike.

To be fair a growing number of students may be overweight, but compared to U.S. obesity levels South Korea is doing way better:

The percentage of South Korean students who are overweight or obese inched down in 2023 compared to the year before, but a growing percentage of students were categorized as heavy drinkers, a government report showed Thursday.

Some 29.6 percent of elementary, middle and high school students across the country fell into the overweight or obese categories, according to the joint report by the Ministry of Education and the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. This figure marked a slight decrease of 0.9 percentage points from the year before, and of 1.2 percentage points compared to 2021.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

I have seen the Yale, National Geographic, and Discovery apparel in Korea, but never CNN or BBC. Lockheed Martin has got to be the weirdest fashion branding. Has anyone else seen any other weird fashion branding in South Korea?:

On Seoul’s streets today, seeing someone clad in a CNN hoodie, Kodak pants, Yale socks, a Discovery jacket, a National Geographic backpack and a BBC Earth baseball cap may not seem out of the ordinary.

The presence of logos from global non-fashion brands, spanning academia, media and sports, in Korean everyday wear seems to be only growing, now including unexpected entrants like arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin. (…..)

In the case of Yale, its apparel line was launched by the Korean fashion company Words Corporation in 2020 through such a licensing deal. The same goes for the recently launched Lockheed Martin streetwear collections, manufactured by the local firm Doojin Yanghang Corp.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link, but basically clothing manufacturers license logos from corporations that have brand appeal in South Korea. They find putting them on clothing sells in the Korean market. When it comes to Lockheed Martin they are the manufacturer for both the F-35 and THAAD which explains why they have brand recognition in South Korea.

The NLL in the Yellow Sea has always been a flashpoint that could lead to a wider conflict. The ROK defense minister is clearly letting the North Korean regime know that any provocation they launch could lead to a wider conflict:

Defense Minister Shin Won-sik visits a memorial for 46 sailors killed in the 2010 sinking of the ROKS Cheonan corvette on the 14th anniversary of the incident at Baengnyeong Island in the Yellow Sea on March 26, 2024, in this photo provided by his office. 

Defense Minister Shin Won-sik on Tuesday called for defending the western sea border against enemy threats on the anniversary of the 2010 sinking of a South Korean warship by a North Korean torpedo attack.

The ROKS Cheonan corvette sank near the western Northern Limit Line (NLL), a de facto inter-Korean sea border, in March 2010, after a North Korean midget submarine fired a torpedo at it, killing 46 sailors.

“North Korea is claiming the NLL is a ghost line without legal grounds and is continuously trying to nullify it,” Shin said in his phone talks with the commanding officer of a new frigate named after the torpedoed warship.

“Protect the Yellow Sea and the NLL that the comrades before you have defended by giving up their lives.”

In turn, Cdr. Park Yeon-soo, the commanding officer, vowed to avenge the sailors of the Cheonan if the enemy undertakes a provocation. Park served on the previous warship and is a survivor of the 2010 attack.

Shin’s call came after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un last month rejected the NLL as a “ghost” line and called for using force against South Korean vessels violating its waters.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but it will be interesting to see if the Kim regime tries to see whether or not the ROK government is bluffing on their hardline rhetoric. Kim Jong-un got away with sinking the Cheonan back in 2010 and may think he could get away with such a provocation today as well.