KBS News

By Gim Minjeong

As the new coronavirus continues to spread in China, the [Korean] government has upgraded its travel alerts throughout China’s Hubei province, including Wuhan, to a three-stage recommendation for withdrawal. Two days ago a two-stage “Restrict Travel” alert was issued regarding Wuhan City, where the virus occurred on the 23^rd. A “Travel Caution” warning was also issued regarding the rest of Hubei Province.

The [Korean] Ministry of Foreign Affairs says the new coronavirus is spreading throughout Hubei Province – and confirmed also that there are verified coronavirus patients in Korea. In addition, the World Health Organization (WHO) also issued advice that it is necessary to thoroughly prepare in order to prevent the spread of the virus infection to the Korean populace. The Foreign Ministry [further] said that Korean citizens staying in China’s Hubei province will withdraw from the province if they are not there for emergency reasons. It was also requested that those who are planning to travel to Hubei cancel or postpone the trip.

KBS News

By Ee Sumin

Many people want to buy a gift set before the New Year holidays. [When doing so] pay particular attention to oversized packaging. [Some gift sets] are packaged to look bulky compared to the contents, which deceives consumers’ eyes, has too high a price, causes pollution and wastes resources.

In a large discount store in Seoul for the Lunar New Year holiday, a [local authority] joint inspection team has cracked down on overpacking. It’s one of the mainstream gift sets you’ll find as part of a lot of New Year’s gifts.

Enforcement criteria are the space taken up by the product and the number of packages [inside]. If more than one item is included, the space (excluding the product) should be 25% or less and the item should be packaged no more than two times. This product contains liquor, cups and coasters, but there is plenty of space left on the sides of the coasters. [The effect is] that the consumer “sees” 25% more product as part of the gift set than is actually there.

In another large department store, two bottles of nutrients were packed in a set, and the space in the box is noticeable. A member of the inspection team said: “The ratio of other space occupied by the product to the inside of the packaging must be 25% or less.”

Even if there is a suspicion of overpacking with the naked eye, [shoppers] can’t open it directly because it is on sale. If a manufacturer is instructed to inspect by a packaging inspection agency, the manufacturer must request an inspection and submit the results within 20 days. If the product turns out to be overpacked, a fine of ₩1 million is imposed. For second offences it’s ₩2 million and the third infraction attracts a fine of ₩3 million. Last year, 63 cases were caught in Seoul alone, with fines of ₩32 million won being imposed. Ee Soyeon, Seoul City Resource Recycling and Recycling Team Manager, said: “[We are] reducing any burden on producers or consumers due to overpacking. And now we want to prevent the environmental pollution and waste of overpacking.”

Consumers also need to spend wisely on stalls rather than paying attention to the colorful packaging of gift sets.

Analysis: Seollal – “Chinese New Year” – is one of the two biggest festivals in Korea, alongside the autumn harvest festival, Chuseok. Koreans will make journeys to relatives’ houses (causing massive disruption on travel networks and the roads) and many women find the period extremely tiring as they are expected to undertake the lion’s share of the cooking and cleaning for the celebration. Elaborately-wrapped and packaged food gift hampers are very popular at this time of year – but as the articles states, they may not represent the best value.

KBS News

By Gim Jisuk

The National Prosecutor’s Office attempted to seize the Blue House autonomous development secretary’s office yesterday (January the 10th) as part of its investigation into suspicions of election intervention by the Ulsan Mayor’s office.

The Blue House (the Korean President’s official residence) criticised the action as a “show” in a statement released to KBS News. An official said in a telephone conversation with a KBS reporter today that “the prosecution reported to the media that the office was seized, but that’s not the statement we’re making.” In particular, the official said, the NPO was claiming that they made a request several times for the Blue House to submit necessary data, but “that is not true.”

“The search warrant for the confiscation stated that everything [seized] was related to a crime,” the official continued. “[But] if we were provided with a list [of items/data] made by the prosecution, the data should be provided according to the public inquiry process, not seizure,” he explained.

The prosecution criticized the Blue House for its statement, saying, “The Blue House is failing to respond to seizure search warrants, without any legal ground [for its failure to respond]… we haven’t confirmed that there are any military secrets or grounds for serious national harm [held within the requested/confiscated date] in the Office of Self-Development, based on Article 110 of the Criminal Procedure Act – which are the only grounds under which the request can be refused. The court has already issued a warrant – if the recepients want to refuse it, they must submit a letter of intent to reject it.”

Article 110 of the Criminal Procedure Act states that ① places that require military secrets cannot be seized or searched without the consent of the person in charge of the lawsuit. ② The person in charge shall not refuse the consent except in case of serious harm to the State.

Analysis: The conflict between Mun Jaein’s administration and the National Prosecutor’s Office (NPO) is showing no signs of abating. Mun and his allies have been dogged by the story for a year, which exploded when the NPO began investigating his former Justice Minister, Jo Guk, on charges of corruption. Mun’s move to reassign prosecutors who were investigating the case will do little to convince his detractors of his commitment to rooting out graft, but similarly many of Mun’s supporters feel that the NPO’s behaviour is itself politically-motivated. The scandal has been incredibly damaging for Mun, though, and as Korea gears up for parliamentary elections in April his opponents are increasingly attempting to press their advantage. The allegations against Jo – claims that he fabricated transcripts to smooth the path of his young adult children – are particularly piquant given most ordinary Koreans’ feeling that elites shamelessly break the rules to give family members advantages.

 KBS News

By Ee Seungjae

Pastor Jeon Gwanghun appeared at a downtown rally, two days after a warrant against him for leading a disruptive previous [conservative] rally was dismissed. He addressed the crowd.

Parents of a school for blind children objected to another conservative previous march, citing the noise of conservative groups, stopped the march. A petition to the President’s residence calling for the dissolution of exceeded 200,000 signatures within a week.

Jeonreappeared at a rally calling for the resignation of President Mun Jaein and waved the Korean Taegeuk flag. He said: “The Korean Constitution did not redeem me. The leaders of the Republic of Korea, who have moved leftwards, are returning to the Constitution! What should we do with that guy Mun? He’s gone out of his mind.”

At the same time, a conservative group calling for the release of former President Bak Geunhye marched toward the Blue House, confronting parents of the Seoul Blind School, a school for the blind. Parents appealed for [protesters] to refrain from meetings around the Blue House, because students were unable to attend classes due to the noise. Bak Jaehan, Chairman of the Jongnogu district branch of the Federation for the Visually Impaired, said: “Now there is noise all the time – [we’re forced] to go and use the back streets all the time.”

Representative Pastor Kwang-Hoon Jeon, the Korean Christian Federation, and Cheong Wa Dae’s petition for dissolution of the Han Ki-gun received more than 200,000 signatures inside a week – meeting the threshold for an official response from the government.