Category Archives: South Korea

Coronavirus: China prison reports 200 cases, as virus spreads in South Korea – live updates

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Justice chief sacked in Shandong province with prison guard reported to be source of outbreak, as South Korea adds 52 new cases. Follow latest news

China’s Global Television Network is reporting that 200 prisoners in a facility in the eastern province of Shandong are infected with Covid-19. The sources of the infection is reported to be an affected prison guard.

These prison cases may partly explain the spike in new cases today to 889, up from 394 reported on Thursday.

East China's Shandong Province reported 200 #COVID19 cases from the Rencheng Prison on Thu., bringing the total to 207 in the facility

- Virus brought in by affected prison guard
- Treatments underway
- Provincial justice chief among eight officials removed from office pic.twitter.com/yyMWa21a86

Car sales plummeted in China in February, state media is reporting.

Retail of domestic passenger #vehicles in China plummeted 92% y-o-y in the first half of Feb, a record decline, due to #COVID19: industrial report pic.twitter.com/SkLUjtOdqA

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North Korea’s most senior defector to run for parliament in the South

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Thae Yong-ho was deputy ambassador at the North Korean embassy in London when he defected in 2016

The most senior diplomat to have defected from North Korea will run for parliament in South Korea to “give hope” to tens of thousands of others who have fled the regime, media reports said on Tuesday.

Thae Yong-ho was deputy ambassador at the North Korean embassy in London when he defected with his wife and two sons in August 2016, and has since become one of the regime’s most vocal critics.

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Parasite: Bong Joon-ho’s historic Oscars win celebrated in South Korea – video

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South Korean film Parasite dominated the Academy Awards with its haul including best picture and director for Bong Joon-ho. The comedy-crime-drama also won the original screenplay and international feature film awards. 

The moment Parasite was awarded best picture – a first for any non-English language film in the Oscars’ 92-year-history – prompted outpourings of joy in Bong’s native country. Many were glad the film propelled South Korea - and reflection on its gaping wealth gap - into the global spotlight 

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Parasite makes Oscars history as first foreign language winner of best picture

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Bong Joon-ho’s South Korean satire wins top prize after taking best director, international film and original screenplay

After an awards season marked by its predictability, the Oscars delivered a spectacular final-reel twist on Sunday evening, naming capitalist satire Parasite best picture.

Bong Joon-ho’s comedy-drama about an impoverished family who infiltrate the household of a wealthier one is the first film not in the English language to take the top prize. It also took best director, best original screenplay and best international film.

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US ambassador’s moustache gets up South Korea’s nose

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Harry Harris has been criticised for his facial hair, which reminds many South Koreans of the days of Japanese colonial rule

Tensions may be running high on the Korean peninsula, but Harry Harris’s facial hair is vying with denuclearisation as the defining theme of his tenure as US ambassador to South Korea.

Harris, a former navy admiral who was born in Japan to a Japanese mother and an American navy officer, has been accused of insulting his hosts by growing a moustache that reminds many South Koreans of the days of Japanese colonial rule.

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Japanese officials helped procure wartime sex slaves, report claims

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News agency says diplomatic dispatches contradict claims that so-called ‘comfort women’ worked willingly

The Japanese imperial army asked the government to provide one wartime sex slave for every 70 soldiers serving in China in the late 1930s, according to dispatches that offer evidence of official involvement in the recruitment of women to work in military brothels.

The dispatches from Japanese diplomatic missions in China include requests to the foreign ministry in Tokyo to provide “comfort women”, Kyodo news agency reported. The term was a euphemism used to describe tens of thousands of women from Korea, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines and other countries who were forced into sexual servitude before and during the second world war.

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South Korean pop star and actor Cha In Ha found dead aged 27

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Cha becomes third young Korean star to die in space of two months

South Korean pop star and actor Cha In Ha has been found dead at the age of 27, the third young Korean star to die in the space of two months.

Cha, who was a member of the K-pop group Surprise U and also had a fledgling acting career, was found at his home. His South Korean talent agency Fantagio saying it was “filled with grief at this news that is still hard to believe”.

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K-pop stars jailed for gang-rape in South Korea

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Singer-songwriter Jung Joon-young also convicted of sharing footage without consent

A South Korean court has sentenced two K-pop stars to six and five years in prison for gang-rape and additionally convicted one of them for distributing videos of the assaults and other sexual encounters.

Jung Joon-young, a singer-songwriter, and Choi Jong-hoon, a former member of the boy band FT Island, were found guilty of gang-raping two different women in two incidents in 2016.

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Go game master quits saying machines ‘cannot be defeated’

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Lee Se-dol retires from Chinese strategy game after playing against Google algorithm

The only human ever to beat Google’s algorithm at the ancient Chinese strategy game Go has said he decided to retire because machines cannot be defeated.

Lee Se-dol’s five-match showdown with Google’s artificial intelligence program AlphaGo in 2016 raised both the game’s profile and fears of computer intelligence’s seemingly limitless learning capability.

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K-pop singer Goo Hara found dead aged 28

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Police trying to establish cause of death of girl group Kara’s former member

The K-pop singer Goo Hara has been found dead at her home in Seoul, according to police.

The body of the 28-year-old, a former member of the girl group Kara, was found early on Sunday evening, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported. Police said they were trying to establish the cause of death.

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Outcry as conservative South Korean MPs seek to curtail LGBT rights

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Campaigners condemn attempt to remove protection for ‘sexual orientation’ from new legislation

Campaigners in South Korea have condemned an attempt by conservative MPs to remove homophobia and transphobia from a list of violations of a proposed anti-discrimination law.

An amendment submitted this month by Ahn Sang-soo, a member of the main opposition Liberty Korea party, seeks to remove sexual minorities from groups protected by the law, sparking protests by rights groups and members of the LGBT community.

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Japan’s rising sun flag is not a symbol of militarism | Letter

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Ohtaka Masato of Japan’s foreign affairs ministry says his country’s flag should not be banned at the 2020 Olympics

Alexis Dudden’s opinion piece presents an argument on the rising sun flag based on the misunderstanding of Japan’s sincere dealings with the past (Japan’s rising sun flag has a history of horror. It must be banned at the Tokyo Olympics, 1 November).

Looking at Prime Minister Abe’s statement on the 70th anniversary of the end of the second world war – issued by cabinet consensus – it is clear that Japan has squarely faced the facts of history and repeatedly expressed feelings of deep remorse and heartfelt apology for its actions during the war, which this opinion piece fails to recognise.

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North Korea hails test of ‘super-large multiple rocket launcher’

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Kim Jong-un ‘expressed satisfaction’ with the test and congratulated weapons scientists, state media said

North Korea conducted another test of super-large multiple rocket launchers on Thursday afternoon, calling it a success, the state news agency KCNA said on Friday.

The latest test of the “super-large multiple rocket launchers”, following two tests in August and September of the same weapon that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un oversaw, according to KCNA, indicates the progression of North Korea’s weapons development while talks with the US remain in limbo.

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Quarter of world’s pig population ‘to die of African swine fever’

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World Organisation for Animal Health warns spread of disease has inflamed worldwide crisis

About a quarter of the global pig population is expected to die as a result of the African swine fever (ASF) epidemic, according to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).

Global pork prices are rising spurred by growing demand from China, where as many as 100 million pigs have died since ASF broke out there last year. In recent months, China has been granting export approval to foreign meat plants and signing deals around the world at a dizzying rate. US pork sales to China have doubled, while European pork prices have now reached a six-year high.

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Kim Jong-un orders razing of South’s ‘unpleasant’ Mount Kumgang buildings

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North Korean ruler demands makeover of joint resort, saying South Korean facilities are like ‘temporary buildings at construction sites’

Kim Jong-un has ordered the demolition of “unpleasant-looking” South Korean facilities at the Mount Kumgang resort – a rare symbol of inter-Korean collaboration – and called for them to be replaced with “modern” buildings constructed by the North.

The North’s ruler said it was a “mistake” for the resort, on the east coast, to be regarded as the common property of two Koreas given its location on North Korean soil, according to the state news agency KCNA.

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K-pop under scrutiny over ‘toxic fandom’ after death of Sulli

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Anger grows at culture of exploitation and failure of agencies to protect performers

The death this week of the South Korean singer and actor Sulli has turned the spotlight on the darkest corners of the highly pressurised K-pop industry and sparked anger over the failure of management agencies to protect their stars from the menace of “toxic fandom”.

Sulli, a former member of the group f(x), had spoken publicly about her mental health problems and shock at her death has led to calls for greater support for performers. Authorities said she was suffering from severe depression and are investigating suicide as a possible cause of death.

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North Korean projectiles land in Japan’s exclusive economic zone

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Tokyo says there’s no damage from what appear to be ballistic missiles ahead of US-North Korea talks resuming this weekend

North Korea has launched two projectiles, one of which landed in waters inside Japan’s exclusive economic zone, the Japanese government said on Wednesday, after what appears to have been a show of strength by Pyongyang before it resumes nuclear talks with the US at the weekend.

Japan’s government said the projectiles appeared to be ballistic missiles, adding that there were no immediate reports of damage to shipping or aircraft.

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‘We have to get along’: Japan’s Korean residents at sharp end of diplomatic row

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Worsening relations between the two countries now affecting trade, security, tourism and day-to-day life

Long lunchtime queues form outside restaurants serving samgyeopsal (barbecued pork belly) and sundubu jjigae (a tofu stew). Groups of teenage girls brave the drizzle and eat Korean-style hotdogs on street corners after shopping for cosmetics and K-pop merchandise.

This is not Seoul, but Shin-Ōkubo, a little slice of Korea in central Tokyo. It is home to a large ethnic Korean community, some the descendants of people at the heart of a dispute between Japan and South Korea that local business owners fear is turning them into collateral victims.

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