Korean soft power grows, arrests for hidden cameras in motels, and coldest mid-Oct morning in 67 yrs
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K-NEWS BITES
Mon 2021-10-18 (KST)
Over half of businesses with migrant workers in Busan found violating labor laws (1 min read)
“More than half of the businesses employing foreign nationals in Busan and its surrounding South Gyeongsang Province were found to have been violating labor laws according to monitoring conducted by the government between 2018 and 2020... Of the violators, only three employers faced fines, while the others were merely given a warning by labor authorities.”
Moon, Kishida agree to accelerate diplomatic consultations to resolve forced labor row (2 min read)
“Relations between South Korea and Japan have been stuck in the force labor row for years since Japan imposed export curbs against the South in 2019 in retaliation against South Korean Supreme Court rulings that Japanese firms should pay compensation to forced labor victims.”
Over 8,600 People Report Vaccine Side Effects in 3 Days (1 min read)
“Over 86-hundred people reported side effects related to Covid-19 vaccines from Wednesday to Friday, raising the accumulated total to over 320-thousand since shots began. According to health authorities on Saturday, the latest tally includes 18 deaths, 22 suspected cases of anaphylaxis and over 200 serious abnormal reactions.“
New infections fall to 1,400s; eased virus curbs ahead (2 min read)
“The country added 1,420 more COVID-19 cases, including 1,403 local infections, raising the total caseload to 342,396… The country added 16 more deaths from COVID-19, raising the death toll to 2,660. The fatality rate was 0.78 percent.”
General COVID Information for residents in Korea:
Ministry of Health and Welfare, South Korea
Coronavirus Statistics for South Korea
Chinese viewers flock to stream Netflix's South Korean hit 'Squid Game'—illegally (3 min read)
“Netflix currently has no service available behind the Great Firewall of CCP internet censorship, and the distribution of new foreign movies and TV dramas is banned without prior approval by ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) censors… The pro-China South China Morning Post (SCMP) said Squid Game would never likely be approved by Chinese censors because of its themes of inequality and its scenes of graphic violence.”
K-Pop to 'Squid Game' Lift Korean Soft Power and the Economy - Bloomberg (2 min read)
“While Korean pop acts and TV dramas have been scoring hits overseas for years, only a handful -- boy band BTS, for example -- have managed to win many fans outside of Asia. ‘Squid Game,’ set to become the most-watched show worldwide on Netflix, is changing all that.” The article shows how this trend is positively impacting entertainment exports, tourism, and the creation of jobs.
N. Korea may be considering engaging with S. Korea, US: Biegun (4 min read)
"But I will say that there's a school of thought and I'm inclined to believe it that ... the fact that North Korea is beginning to send external messaging suggests to me that North Korea is at least contemplating the terms under which it will reengage with the rest of the world," said Stephen Biegun, former deputy secretary of state and special representative for North Korea.
Korean Police Arrest 4 for Hidden Cameras in Motels, Trying to Extort Filmed Guests (1 min read)
“South Korean police have arrested four people for allegedly installing hidden cameras in the rooms of an entire motel [in Yangpyeong, near Seoul] and attempting to extort money from the hundreds of guests who were filmed… South Korea has struggled in recent years to deal with perpetrators who install tiny cameras in motels, bathrooms and other spaces to film sexual footage or nudity and release the footage through illegal websites.”
Almost all ransomware targets Windows devices (2 min read)
“... 95% of ransomware files detected were Windows-based executables or dynamic link libraries (DLLs). Meanwhile, 2% were Android-based,” wrote VirtusTotal, the popular web-based malware scanner service. Israel, South Korea, Vietnam, China, Singapore, India, Kazakhstan, Philippines, Iran and the UK were the 10 most affected countries.
Seoul logs coldest mid-October morning in 67 years (1 min read)
“Temperatures in Seoul sharply dropped to nearly 1 degree Celsius on Sunday, marking the coldest morning for mid-October in 67 years.” Some areas in Seoul saw temperatures drop below zero,” and the season's first ice was seen in the city, 17 days earlier than average.” The unseasonable cold wave came as the Arctic chill from the North Pole descended to South Korea and subtropical high pressure went away.
Squid Game: The rise of Korean drama addiction (5 min read)
The article suggests six K-dramas which may interest new lovers of K-drama, including: Crash Landing on You (for fans of romance), Vincenzo (for fans of gangster shows), Oh My Ghost (for fans of weirdly sexy ghost stories), Inheritors (for KUWTK* fans), Strong Girl Bong-Soon (for superhero fans)
*Keeping Up with the Kardashians
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