Martial law declared in South Korea for first time in 44 years
Yoon accused the political opposition of "anti-state" activities and said he sought to "eradicate pro-North Korean forces," but he did not cite any specific threats from the North. Instead, he charged that his liberal political opponents were paralyzing the government with an "unprecedented" number of impeachment motions.
The declaration marked the first time in 44 years that martial law has been declared in South Korea.
A decree issued at 11 p.m. Tuesday by army Gen. Park An-soo, the martial law commander, prohibited all political activities, rallies and demonstrations. It also banned acts that attempt to "overthrow the liberal democratic system" and subjected all media and publications to martial law control.
Update:
Update 2:
And it's over. The President backed down and lifted Martial Law.
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North Koreans struggling to defect since Covid 19 began
If you had asked me to guess how many people defected from North Korea to South Korea each year, I would have guessed maybe a hundred or two hundred. Which, as it turns out, is currently an overestimate - however, would be a gross underestimate for the period of 2001 to 2019 where the country tracked at least 1,000 defectors each year. In 2020, they got 227, 2021 was 62 and 2022 was 67.
I have to assume this ties to them being on close to lockdown for fighting Covid 19, but who knows.
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South Koreans about to get younger by 1-2 years
This is rather wild.
South Koreans are deemed to be a year old when they are born, and a year is added every 1 January.
So a kid born on Dec. 31 was two years old on the 2nd day of their birth. But, the story notes, South Korea is stopping this old tradition and moving to match the rest of the world.
The confusion should end in June – at least on official documents – when laws stipulating the use of only the international method of counting ages take effect.
"The revision is aimed at reducing unnecessary socioeconomic costs because legal and social disputes as well as confusion persist due to the different ways of calculating age," Yoo Sang-bum of the ruling People Power party told parliament.
Additionally, they don't seem to know why they started doing it the old way.
The system's origins are unclear. One theory is that turning one year old at birth takes into account time spent in the womb – with nine months rounded up to 12. Others link it to an ancient Asian numerical system that did not have the concept of zero.
Explanations for the extra year added on 1 January are more complicated. Some experts point to the theory that ancient Koreans placed their year of birth within the Chinese 60-year calendar cycle, but, at a time when there were no regular calendars, tended to ignore the day of their birth and simply added on a whole year on the first day of the lunar calendar. The extra year on 1 January became commonplace as more South Koreans began observing the western calendar.
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South Korea has a driverless bus route
Sounds like it is a fairly simple circle route, but still curious to see how this does.
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