Foreign nationals vaccinated abroad now accepted, Korean firms dominate 2021 IPO success, and inspirational kids
K-NEWS BITES
Fri 2021-12-10 (KST)
Vaccine status registration opens to foreign nationals vaccinated abroad (1 min read)
“‘Foreigners who register their first and second shots received abroad can request for a foreign vaccination certificate which will work as a vaccine pass and allow them to receive a third shot (in Korea)...’ To register, foreign nationals need to visit a local health center with proof of vaccination and identification such as a passport or an Alien Registration Card. The move comes after weeks of complaints from foreign residents and pressure from several embassies here to revise the policy, labeled by many as discriminatory.”
Seoul's average apartment price jumps twofold under Moon govt.: civic group (1 min read)
“The average price of Seoul apartments has soared more than twofold in about five years under the current Moon Jae-in administration, according to a civic group analysis Wednesday… According to the group, the time it takes for the average Seoul worker to buy an apartment by income savings also increased from 20 years to 38 years… The Moon government has implemented a string of anti-speculation measures, including steep hikes in real estate taxes, to rein in house prices in Seoul and other major cities, but surging apartment prices have been a major source of detriment to Moon's approval ratings.”
Seoul City Hall to hold town meeting with foreign residents (1 min read)
“The Seoul city government will hold a town meeting with foreign residents later this week to listen to their suggestions to make the city a better place to live in, officials said Thursday. The event will be held at the Seoul Global Center in central Seoul at 2 p.m. Friday and be livestreamed through YouTube (youtu.be/03E15JUmGc8)... Seoul town hall meetings have been held once or twice every year since 2000 to gather foreign residents' opinions on how to improve the quality of their life in the capital.”
KDCA Strongly Recommends Vaccinations for Adolescents (1 min read)
“Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency(KDCA) Commissioner Jeong Eun-kyeong, stressed during a COVID-19 briefing on Thursday that vaccine efficacy has been confirmed to be high among 12 to 17 year olds with a lower risk of adverse side effects than adults… Of cases involving kids aged 12 to 17 confirmed in the last two weeks, 99-point-eight percent were unvaccinated or partially vaccinated. Additionally, eleven adolescents have developed severe symptoms since February this year, all of whom were unvaccinated.”
New infections in 7,000s for 2nd day (@ Thu morning) (2 min read)
“7,102 cases were reported in the 24 hours ending Wednesday at midnight, putting the country’s total number of cases to date at 496,584. It is the second-highest tally of daily cases since the pandemic began nearly two years ago. On Tuesday the country reported 7,174 cases. The number of patients in serious condition, 857, also reached its highest point yet. Some 83.4 percent of them are 60 or older…”
The total average fatality rate was 0.82 percent as of Thursday. “The fatality rate in the past week was 1.42 percent, 0.01 percent higher than the world average of 1.41 percent… ‘Elderly patients account for more than 30 percent of the total confirmed cases. Two or three months prior, they took up some 20 percent… As the rate of elderly confirmed cases has increased, the fatality rate has been going up.’”
“As strengthened social distancing measures took effect from Monday, their results will show from the end of this week.“
General COVID Information for residents in Korea:
Ministry of Health and Welfare, South Korea
Coronavirus Statistics for South Korea
Democracy summit, Olympics boycott test Seoul's balancing act (3 min read)
“South Korea's tricky balancing act between the United States and China is becoming ever more precarious, as the Washington-led democracy summit and Beijing Olympics boycotts have left the Moon Jae-in administration caught in the middle of the two superpowers. President Moon spoke at a U.S.-hosted summit aimed at countering China, Thursday (KST), just a day after Seoul took a step closer to Beijing's side regarding the Washington-led diplomatic boycott of the upcoming Winter Olympics.”
Moon congratulates Germany's new chancellor on inauguration (1 min read)
“President Moon Jae-in on Thursday congratulated Germany's new Chancellor Olaf Scholz on his official inauguration, saying he hopes to work closely with the new German leader to move relations between the two countries forward. Moon and Scholz met in late October in Rome, where Moon held a bilateral summit with then German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who stepped down after 16 years in office, on the sidelines of the G-20 meeting.“
N.Korea continues operating main nuclear reactor at Yongbyon: CSIS (2 min read)
“North Korea is operating its main plutonium-producing nuclear reactor at the Yongbyon complex, a Washington-based think tank revealed Wednesday, citing thermal infrared imagery. The CSIS Korea Chair said in a report it found the “clear and conclusive evidence” that the 5-megawatt reactor was operating based on thermal image analysis. The 5-megawatt nuclear reactor at the Yongbyon Nuclear Complex is the core of Pyongyang’s proliferation efforts given that the reactor has been estimated to be able to produce around six kilograms of plutonium a year.”
The overlooked spelling error that underscores North Korea’s culture of fear (3 min read)
This story dates back to the early days of the DPRK, in 1950, when the state introduced a new honorary title, ‘Hero of the People’s Republic of Korea.’ “In the North, it was acceptable to shorten DPRK to “‘the Republic’ or ‘Korea,’ but no one would consciously omit the word ‘Democratic… [But it] took three years, 11 months and 17 days from the introduction of the title for the SPA [Supreme People’s Assembly] to finally rectify the glaring mistake. During that time, the legislature misnamed the country every time it awarded the title… [For] almost four years, not a single deputy of the SPA, not a single writer for the Rodong Sinmun, nor apparently anyone else in the country or government, dared to raise a question about this conspicuous mutilation of the name.”
World’s best-performing IPO in 2021 is a Korean bioscience firm (1 min read)
“South Korean biopharmaceutical firm SK Bioscience Co. is the top gainer among initial public offerings that raised more than $1 billion this year, leading a ranking dominated by listings from that country. SK Bioscience’s shares are up about 262% since they started trading in Seoul in the first quarter, the most among the 94 major offerings since January… The IPO raised $1.3 billion for the firm, which is a local Covid-19 vaccine-production partner with AstraZeneca Plc.”” The article contains a graph showing the world’s 10 best-performing IPOs in 2021 (of which four of them are Korean firms).
South Korea sets site engineering standards for big tech firms (2 min read)
“The South Korean Ministry of Science and ICT have set guidelines for tech firms operating in the country. The guidelines address the resilience issues in their services. The ministry also instructed them to inform users of any such change in the service. The offered advice applies to big tech organizations such as Google, Kakao, Meta, Naver, Netflix and Wavve. The companies have been asked to make their error detection and verification system strong enough to prevent any faults in the flow of services. Additionally, the companies will have to ensure faster content recovery through backup storage systems.”
Book addresses Koreans' underused 'gene' for success (3 min read)
“According to the co-authors, Koreans have a ‘gene’ for success, which was proven several times in the past, particularly when the nation achieved remarkable economic growth in the 1970s that enabled the country to be associated with the phrase ‘Miracle on the Han River’ a mere two decades after the nation was torn apart following the Korean War. Koreans were united and overcame the Asian Financial Crisis in the late 1990s and their gene for success was also partly evidenced during the COVID-19 pandemic, they went on to say.”
Multi-talented student from biracial background inspires others (4 min read)
“Born to a Vietnamese mother and a Korean father, Yang is one of the top students in the vocational training school, praised by teachers for his hard-working attitude and kindheartedness in offering help to those in need. Yang scored the highest in the midterm and final examinations in his year. Other than his academic performance, he has obtained two technician certifications in welding, as well as four certifications in computer programming…. But things have not always been bright for Yang. His mother left home when Yang was in elementary school, leaving him and his younger brother behind to be raised by their father. His father, however, has not been able to take good care of them as he has been suffering from alcoholism.”
Read more about these inspirational kids - [Winners of 10th Korea Multicultural Youth Awards]: Outstanding elementary school students, Outstanding middle school students, Outstanding high school students, Special awards, Outstanding volunteer.
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