Korea lags in women employment, govt cashbacks to residents, and flying taxis are coming
K-NEWS BITES
Wed 2021-09-29
[News Focus] Korea, 27th of 33 OECD members in women’s employment (3 min read)
“According to the OECD, the women’s employment rate in Korea posted 57.5 percent in the second quarter of this year,” while “71.3 percent was reported for women in Japan (12th), 71.7 percent in Australia (ninth) and 73.5 percent in New Zealand (sixth).” The top 10 nations in female employment included the Netherlands (No.1 at 77.7 percent), Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, Germany, the UK and Finland. “Men’s employment rate in the OECD analysis, Korea ranked 18th at 75.1 percent”
Gov't to Provide Cashback Incentive on Credit Card Spending from Fri. (1 min read)
“The government will implement from Friday a cashback incentive on credit card spending for the next two months… When monthly card spending is over three percent higher than the monthly average from the second quarter, it will give a ten-percent cashback for the excess.” For example, if you normally spent 1,000,000 KRW a month during the second quarter, and you then spend 1,530,000 KRW in October, you would receive 50,000 KRW back (3%*1,000,000 = 30,000 KRW. So the excess = 500,000 KRW. 10% of this is 50,000 KRW).
Despite record case counts, Korea committed to getting ‘normal’ back (3 min read)
“The president said the country could ‘no longer put off returning to normal in stages’ as economic consequences from the pandemic pile up, and wider vaccinations are ‘what will bring us closer to normal’… with further announcements from the Health Ministry slated for Friday.” Korea is also expanding it’s vaccine program, “to minors ages 12 to 17 years old and pregnant women starting Oct. 18… Around the same time, booster shots will become available to people in their 60s and older as well as health care providers working with COVID-19 patients, six months after their second dose.”
New cases in 2,000s for 3rd day; infections resurge in non-greater Seoul (2 min read)
“The country reported 2,289 new COVID-19 cases, including 2,270 local infections, bringing the total caseload to 305,842... The country added eight more deaths from COVID-19, raising the death toll to 2,464.”
General COVID Information for residents in Korea:
Ministry of Health and Welfare, South Korea
Coronavirus Statistics for South Korea
US Citizen Helped North Korea Evade Sanctions Through Blockchain (3 min read)
“U.S. citizen Virgil Griffith has pled guilty to providing technical advice to North Korea on using cryptocurrency and blockchain technology to evade sanctions. Griffith is scheduled to be sentenced in January 2022,” and could serve up to 20 years in prison. “A former senior researcher and developer for Ethereum Foundation, Griffith… traveled to North Korea in April 2019 to attend and present at the Pyongyang Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Conference where he worked with “others” to provide cryptocurrency services aimed at assisting North Korea in evading sanctions.”
Why Provide Nuclear Submarines to Australia, But Not South Korea or Japan? (4 min read)
“Nuclear-powered attack submarines have the advantage... of being able to cover longer distances at much higher speeds… [and can] remain at sea longer without the need to refuel.” But bothSouth Korea and Japan, “are located near to the countries that challenge the perpetuation of Western-led order in the region, namely China, North Korea, and Russia… diesel-electric ships may be preferable when a high endurance [nuclear submarine] is not needed as they are not only much more cost-effective both to build and to operate, but are also generally considered quieter and harder to detect.”
NK fires missile as it slams US of hostility (3 min read)
“North Korea fired a short-range missile into the East Sea on Tuesday.. which took place just before North Korea’s Ambassador to the UN Kim Song gave a speech at the UN General Assembly in New York.” He defended the country’s right to test weapons and said, “If the US wants to see… peace and reconciliation on the Korean Peninsula, it should take the first step toward giving up its hostile policy against the DPRK, by stopping permanently the joint military exercises and deployment of all kinds of strategic weapons.’”
North Korea slams Japanese PM Suga over UN Assembly speech (1 min read)
“A North Korean researcher berated Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Sunday for his recent remarks at the U.N. General Assembly, stressing Pyongyang would not associate with whoever his successor will be if Tokyo's ‘hostile policy’ toward it continues.”
Flying Taxi Service to Open in Seoul by 2025 (1 min read)
“A sky road will open for commercial use from 2025 exclusively for a flying cab service in Seoul,” which will use low-altitude airspace between 300 and 600 meters. “The plan consists of a three-stage program that aims to go autonomous from 2035. A human pilot will operate the taxis during the initial stage from 2025, which will then be followed by remote-controlled operation from 2030 before going fully autonomous.”
Korea urged to confront US calls for key chip info (2 min read)
“The [Korean] government is facing growing calls to stand up to the U.S.'s ‘undue’ demand for Korean semiconductor manufacturers to reveal key business information, so as to protect local companies involved in the sector.” The calls come, as the U.S. Commerce Department may invoke, “the Defense Production Act (DPA) as a means to deal with the yearslong shortage of automotive chips in the United States.” Major semiconductor companies such as Samsung, SK Hynix and Taiwan's TSMC could be asked to reveal confidential information regarding their supply chains.
Squid Game may become Netflix's most popular show ever, Netflix co-CEO says (2 min read)
Co-CEO and head of content at Netflix, Ted Sarandos said Monday, at the Code conference in Los Angeles, "There's a show on Netflix right now that is the No. 1 in the world, like everywhere in the world. It's called Squid Game. Squid Game will definitely be our biggest non-English language show in the world, for sure." He continued to speak about the dystopian Korean thriller and added that there’s "a very good chance it's going to be our biggest show ever."
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