Politicians’ not so private lives, social gathering limits tightened, and friends for hire
K-NEWS BITES
Mon 2021-12-06 (KST)
South Korea passes record defense budget, floats funds for new aircraft carrier (1 min read)
“South Korea’s National Assembly passed its largest-ever defense budget on Friday, greenlighting $46.3 billion (54.6 trillion won) for fiscal year 2022 to defend against nuclear weapons and other threats, including those from North Korea. The final $515 billion (608 trillion won) budget passed by the National Assembly is 3.4% higher than last year’s budget and includes $6.1 million (7.2 billion won) for what would be South Korea’s first light aircraft carrier.”
Resignation of ruling candidate's new aide sparks debate over politicians' private lives (4 min read)
Prof. Cho Dong-youn resigned just three days after she was appointed as the standing co-chairwoman of the ruling party's election committee, after she suffered political attacks over her private life, including having a child out of marriage. She stated the main reason for resigning was “ to protect her children from inhumane attacks.” She was accused by the opposition party of having a “‘morality issue,’ adding that she was unlikely to have the ability to shoulder the hefty responsibility of serving the public.” Debates have re-ignited over whether it is appropriate to make public, the private concerns of a political adviser and to mount an attack on that person based on those.
Cyberattacks targeting S.Korea’s security strategies will increase during elections: NIS (2 min read)
“Hackers with the backing of foreign governments will aggressively target information on Seoul’s national security strategies in the runup to the presidential election next March, the South Korean spy agency warned in its recent annual report… [It] explained there would be growing interest by hackers, in the South Korean government policy toward North Korea and the US before and after the presidential election. But… did not elaborate on which countries would likely spearhead the cyberattacks.”
[Newsmaker] Vaccine Pass: What foreign residents vaccinated abroad have to go through in Korea (4 min read)
“Currently, the country’s vaccination verification system, the Health Ministry-run mobile app COOV, does not recognize foreigners who have been fully vaccinated overseas and entered Korea without a quarantine exemption. South Koreans in a similar situation, however, easily get the exemption and are able to use the COOV app. There is no data available on the number of foreign residents who are considered ‘unvaccinated’ here despite having been fully inoculated overseas. The Korea Herald talked to four among them.”
Korea puts reopening plans into reverse as cases soar, omicron spreads (2 min read)
“From Monday, the maximum number of people at private gatherings will be cut to six people (from eight) in Seoul and the surrounding regions, and to eight (from twelve) in other parts of the country. The limit on private gatherings will be enforced regardless of vaccination status, and only one unvaccinated person will be allowed in such gatherings. Unvaccinated people will only be allowed to use restaurants and cafes alone, or with fully vaccinated individuals within the limited numbers. Vaccine passes will also be required at a wider range of facilities, including cafes and restaurants, private academies, cinemas and theaters, cybercafes, indoor sports venues, museums and galleries”.
“The country added 5,128 new COVID-19 infections... raising the total caseload to 473,034… As of 12:00 a.m. Sunday, 12 omicron cases [were confirmed], up three from a day earlier. The number of critically ill patients fell to 744 on Sunday from 752 a day earlier, while the death toll rose 43 to 3,852. The fatality rate stood at 0.81 percent.”
General COVID Information for residents in Korea:
Ministry of Health and Welfare, South Korea
Coronavirus Statistics for South Korea
What Would an End-of-War Declaration for the Korean Peninsula Actually Mean? (9 min read)
“The fact is that several countries will be impacted by an end-of-war declaration, and the extent of the impact is poorly understood but likely to be quite limited… and whoever becomes the next president will face the same challenges, with or without such a declaration. North Korea will reject it; the U.S. will attempt to take advantage of it, at South Korea’s expense; China will respond in moderate terms, to encourage South Korean voters to be pro-China. Both the U.S. and China would prefer South Korea’s next president to be untrammeled by any hangovers from Moon’s term, and we may expect the end-of-war declaration to be quietly marginalized.”
US, South Korea Plan for Broader, More Ambitious Alliance (2 min read)
“U.S. defense officials in Seoul for annual talks with their South Korean counterparts have been talking up a bigger role for South Korean forces in the Indo-Pacific.” But are yet to establish what exactly Seoul’s role will be. “A joint communique issued after the meeting further said the U.S. commitment [to combined defense and deterrence] included using the ‘full range of U.S. defense capabilities, including nuclear, conventional, and missile defense capabilities…’ Washington and Seoul also made progress on plans to eventually transfer command of U.S. and South Korean forces on the Korean Peninsula to South Korea.”
UN says North Korea faces ‘acute food insecurity’ but excludes it from aid plans (2 min read)
“The U.N. has dropped North Korea from a key humanitarian response plan for the second straight year, as the country’s severe COVID-19 restrictions continue to hamper international efforts to provide much-needed food aid and other assistance…. [North Korea] has limited nearly all cross-border movement of people and goods since the pandemic began, as well as most movement within the country, making it nearly impossible for the U.N. and nongovernmental organizations to operate. NK News reported in March that there were no international humanitarian workers left in North Korea.”
North Koreans are starving, but they're forced to pay for candies for Kim Jong-Un's birthday (1 min read)
“North Korean local governments are hurrying to create candies in advance of a statewide celebration of leader Kim Jong-Un's birthday in January, but the government is forcing hungry residents to pay the bill… ‘Since yesterday, the price of one kilogram of flour has jumped from 12,000 won (U.S. $2.40) to 30,000 won ($6). The price of sugar has also jumped from 13,000 won to 25,000 won… It’s all because the central government has ordered that each province must produce and supply confections as gifts for children from Kim Jong-Un for his birthday on January 8…’”
Singapore Suspends Crypto Exchange in Dispute With BTS, FT Says (1 min read)
“Singapore’s regulator has suspended Bitget, a crypto exchange that got into a dispute after promoting the digital currency Army Coin, named after the South Korean boy band BTS’s followers, the Financial Times reported. Bitget, a sponsor of Italian football team Juventus, advertised Army Coin as a way to provide lifetime financial support to BTS members. But BTS’s agency Hybe said late October the coin has no connection with BTS and threatened to take legal action.”
Korea to increase number of highway EV chargers to over 1,000 (1 min read)
“South Korea will increase the number of electric vehicle chargers at highway service areas nationwide to over 1,000 by the end of 2022, the transport ministry said Sunday. Currently, there are 435 EV chargers at the country's highway rest stops. The government plans to increase the number to 730 by the end of this month and then add more than 300 chargers next year, it said in a press statement… In the January-October period, the number of highway EV charger users came to 872,000, already exceeding the 700,000 users for all of 2020…”
Friend for hire (4 min read)
“The business of hiring guests to fill seats at weddings has been around in Korea since the early 2000s. It has since been extended to various other family occasions, ranging from first birthday parties to funerals. Search ‘wedding guest rental’ on Naver, Korea’s largest portal site, and you get a long list of service providers across the nation.” What keeps this role playing business going? According to one sociology professor,
“In Confucian cultures like Korea and Japan, chemyeon (social face) translates into a high emphasis on a positive reputation, honor or dignity in terms of interpersonal relationships.”
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