What Happened South Korea plans to resume in-person classes for all students in the fall. Ahead of this full reopening, the government expanded the maximum in-person attendance for middle school students in the Seoul metropolitan area in mid-June. This decision comes on the heels of a new study that showed declining academic achievement levels among some middle school students. Implications: The…
July 1, 2021
What Happened In 2020, the ROK military allowed soldiers to more liberally use their cell phones in their barracks to increase the mental health of conscripts. A recent survey by the newspaper Hankook Ilbo revealed that the new policy was overwhelmingly popular, and may have improved soldiers’ mental health. This comes amid recent reports of sexual assault, harassment, and suicide in…
June 28, 2021
What Happened President Moon’s Green New Deal calls for a USD 43 billion plan to build the world’s largest wind power plant by 2030. Over the past few months, there have been strong protests against installing renewable energy generators, especially massive wind turbines in places such as Busan and Mokpo due to environmental concerns. Resistance to offshore wind farms by…
June 24, 2021
What Happened On June 7, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission announced it discovered 16 cases of suspicious land transactions involving 12 lawmakers from the ruling Democratic Party (DP) – potentially suggesting their involvement in a speculation scheme. Although the commission said it was unable to release the DP lawmakers’ names, the DP leadership decided to release their names…