Vaccine pass scheme in jeopardy, unreal virtual influencers, and a new law: separate labels from plastic bottles
K-NEWS BITES
Fri 2022-01-07 (KST)
Moon: Repeated Border Security Failure a 'Grave' Problem, Countermeasures Needed (1 min read)
“President Moon Jae-in has expressed his concerns over a recent military failure to detect a North Korean defector crossing the fortified border, despite surveillance cameras catching the man on five separate occasions. According [to] his spokesperson… Moon said the botched patrol operations at the 22nd Division is one that simply cannot happen, stressing the gravity of the issue… He ordered an on-site inspection and appropriate countermeasures to problems identified in readiness level and systemic deficiencies, as well as a military-wide inspection on security posture.”
KTX train en route to Busan from Seoul derails, injuring 7 (1 min read)
“Korea Railroad Corp. (KORAIL) and firefighters said the derailment occurred at 12:58 p.m., [on Wednesday] when the KTX-Sancheon train was just passing a tunnel in Yeongdong of North Chungcheong Province, 214 kilometers south of Seoul… Seven passengers suffered minor injuries from being struck by shards of glass from broken windows or objects that fell from the shelves, they said. Only one of them was transported to hospital. The train was carrying 303 passengers and crew members. ‘The train was not completely derailed and one passenger car was slightly off the track due to the collision,’ an official [said].”
Main opposition candidate seeks to stand on his own (3 min read)
“Main opposition People Power Party (PPP) presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol dissolved his election committee and formed a streamlined campaign team, which appears to be the political novice's attempt to maintain a distance from the party's influence and stand on his own during the remainder of his race. Yoon announced the drastic reform, Wednesday, saying he will start over from scratch. In doing so, existing election committee chief [and so-called ‘kingmaker’] Kim Chong-in will step down from Yoon's presidential campaign, and PPP Rep. Kwon Young-se will lead the new team… As Kim and other election committee members depart, questions remain over how Yoon will fill the vacuum of Kim's influence and withstand the ensuing political turbulence on his own.”
Cheong Wa Dae confident about stabilizing housing prices, pundits doubtful (3 min read)
“The Korean government says the nation is moving toward stabilizing housing prices due to its supply and policy measures, but experts are scratching their heads… The nation’s housing prices have continuously increased during Moon’s administration, but a slowdown had been detected since the end of 2021… Despite Cheong Wa Dae’s confidence, experts still predict that prices will grow this year.” A senior researcher said, “‘In his New Year’s address last year, the president said that the rise in housing prices was due to a global increase in liquidity and an increase in single-person households. But there are no signs of easing or resolving the two things now.’”
Court's suspension decision likely to affect entire vaccine pass scheme (3 min read)
“A court decision to suspend the government's COVID-19 vaccine pass mandate for private academies and education facilities is expected to shake up the nation's entire vaccine pass scheme, as it ruled the system infringes on people's basic rights and the right to self-determination. It is likely to cause a series of similar suits by operators of other facilities where the vaccine certificate system is ― or will be ― applied, complicating the government's plan to expand its vaccine pass requirement… Epidemiologists showed mixed responses. Some say the expansion of the vaccine pass requirement to educational facilities lacked sufficient scientific evidence, while others say it was regrettable that the court made the decision without considering the whole virus situation.”
Over 1,000 file suit against govt. over vaccine pass (1 min read)
“Over 1,000 people have jointly filed a lawsuit against the government's requirement of presenting proof of vaccination in multiuse facilities on concerns over discrimination against unvaccinated people, sources said Sunday… The plaintiffs, including doctors, accused the government of forcing people to get vaccine jabs by barring unvaccinated people from much of public life and requested an injunction to nullify the administrative order… Instead of enforcing ‘excessive regulations,’ they urged the government to relax rules on patients who had mild symptoms or were asymptomatic to help create herd immunity and provide intensive care for critically ill patients.”
Daily virus cases over 4,000 for 2nd day amid omicron woes (2 min read)
“The country added 4,126 new COVID-19 infections… raising the total caseload to 653,792, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA)... South Korea reported 49 more COVID-19 deaths, raising the death toll to 5,887… The figure was lower than the previous day's 57 deaths, and the fatality rate was 0.9 percent. The number of critically ill COVID-19 patients stood at 882, down from the previous day's 953. Thursday's figure marked the lowest in 24 days… A total of 42.76 million people, or 83.3 percent of the country's 52 million population, have been fully vaccinated, and about 19.67 million, or 38.3 percent, have received booster shots.”
General COVID Information for residents in Korea:
Ministry of Health and Welfare, South Korea
Coronavirus Statistics for South Korea
S. Korea becomes 10th non-European country to join Europol (1 min read)
“South Korea on Wednesday [22nd Dec] became the 10th country outside of Europe to join the European Union (EU) law enforcement cooperation agency that fights terrorism and other international crimes, police said… The NPA [National Policy Agency] said the agreement is expected to enhance police response capabilities against global crimes through sharing expertise and training programs, and working together with Europol officers… Europol, established in 1992, is EU's law enforcement agency supporting the fight against terrorism, international drug trafficking and other serious crimes.”
S. Korea ranks 9th in world arms exports: report (1 min read)
“South Korea's arms export ranking rose from 10th place in the 2015-2019 period… [to] 9th-largest arms exporter in the 2016-2020 period, accounting for 2.7 percent of the world's total defense exports, an annual government report showed Monday… the United States remained the top arms exporter, followed by Russia, France, Germany, China, Britain, Spain and Israel. ‘South Korean defense companies have grown enough to be able to produce high-tech weapons systems that are comparable to those produced by major arms exporting countries.’”
North Korea says it test-fired 'hypersonic' missile to bolster strategic capabilities (2 min read)
“North Korea said Thursday that it has successfully conducted a test-firing of what it called a ‘hypersonic’ missile a day earlier, three months after it first showcased the new weapons system… Hypersonic missiles usually fly at a speed of at least Mach 5, five times the speed of sound or 6,125 km per hour, giving little time for enemies to respond. The North conducted the first test-firing of the ‘hypersonic’ missile Hwasong-8 in September last year, though it's known to have flown at a speed of around Mach 3 at that time… The hypersonic missile development is ‘the most important core task out of the five top priority tasks for the strategic arms sector’ under the North's five-year plan, according to the KCNA [Korean Central News Agency].”
Defector who returned to N Korea ‘had a difficult life’ in Seoul (3 min read)
“The person who crossed South Korea’s heavily fortified border into North Korea last week was a defector from the North who had struggled in his new life… he was making a poor living while working as a janitor in the South Korean capital, Seoul. ‘I would say he was classified as lower class, barely scraping a living,’ [an] official said.. The official dismissed concerns that the former defector could have been a spy, saying the man did not have a job that would give him access to sensitive information… [The] returnee had received government support for personal safety, housing, medical treatment and employment.”
Record 500 Korean companies attending 2022 CES in Las Vegas (2 min read)
“The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) of the U.S., the world's largest trade fair for household electronics and information technology, will see this year a record number of Korean companies participating. The Korea Information and Communication Technology Industry Association on Jan. 4 said 500 domestic companies from Jan. 5-7 will participate in the annual event in Las Vegas… Marking its 55th anniversary this year, CES this time will be held offline for the first time in two years as last year's edition was done online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The event will attract an estimated 2,200 companies from around the world.”
Are we all just ignoring that LG's releasing an album with a virtual influencer? (2 min read)
“… No, really, this is happening. I was live-blogging LG's CES 2022 keynote today, and there was a lot of stuff to unpack... but something stuck around in the back of my head, niggling away. ‘Wait... did LG just announce its virtual influencer was going to release a music album this year...?' came the fully-formed thought a few hours later. And now, while I need desperately to go to bed, I've confirmed that yes, indeed - that is happening. Reah Keem, the digital character LG unveiled as a 'virtual influencer' at CES 2021, is indeed going to be unveiling her first album in 2022…”
Public struggles to adjust to recycling clear plastic bottles separately from labels (2 min read)
“A new environmental law came into effect Dec. 25, 2021: Enforcing the recycling of clear plastic bottles separately from their labels. This law has been expanded from apartment buildings to now also include single-detached houses. Yet despite the new law which was designed as a way to better recycle a larger amount of clear plastics, it appears that citizens are not faithfully abiding by it… Recyclable waste collecting companies that repeatedly fail to separately collect clear plastic bottles will now be forced to forfeit their contract with the local authorities and replaced with other firms.”
Dental clinic offers free service to refugees, migrants in welfare blind spot (4 min read)
“Just 30 meters from exit 10 of Dongdaemun Station on Seoul Metro lines 1 and 4 is a dental clinic named ‘With Asia.’... The patients who come to the clinic are mainly refugees, migrant workers and their family members residing in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province. Many of them do not get proper and prompt dental treatment here, due to various obstacles including the high cost of dental treatment, lack of health insurance and time and language barriers… Yang Hyun-bong, a dentist who is leading the free clinic, started offering volunteer medical services for migrant workers in 2010 at Hwagye Temple in northern Seoul. ‘There was no grand mission or calling ― I just thought I needed to do what I can,’ Yang said.”
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