The Moon Jae-in administration unveiled South Korea’s largest-ever supplemental budget, a KRW 35.3tn (USD 29bn) package that is more than its first two emergency budgets combined. Although the total spending is less than meets the eye, since it includes the budget includes KRW 10tn (USD 8.2bn) in savings due to “revenue adjustments,” the new budget provides significant new outlays for emergency measures, including subsidies to help employers retain workers, strengthen the safety net for unemployed workers, help ailing exporters, and boost household consumption.… Read the rest
Below is the latest edition of our weekly Asia coronavirus update. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you want to discuss any of the countries mentioned in more detail.… Read the rest
After months of denying that it had any cases of Covid-19 in the country, the North Korean government convened an emergency meeting on Saturday, 28 July to announce that it would introduce an elevated state of emergency, claiming that a former defector to South Korea had returned and was infected.… Read the rest
South Korean President Moon Jae-in marked the seventieth anniversary of the start of the Korean War on Thursday, 25 June, by calling for peace with North Korea but warning that the South Korean military would respond firmly to threats from the North.… Read the rest
The South Korean government is scrambling to contain a new cluster of Covid-19 cases less than a week after it lifted its social distancing guidelines. The government has identified 94 new cases – including 35 new cases Monday, 11 May, the most in a single day since early April – linked to a single infected individual who visited several nightclubs in Itaewon, a popular nightlife district in Seoul on the evening of 1 May.… Read the rest
Below is the latest edition of our weekly Asia coronavirus update. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you want to discuss any of the countries mentioned in more detail.… Read the rest
● North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s health remains the subject of rumor and speculation after not being seen in public since 11 April.
● North Korea’s neighbors claim that they have not seen anything unusual, but this is no guarantee of Kim’s health.… Read the rest
● Rumors of Kim Jong Un’s incapacitation are unlikely to be true, but a succession crisis would be a major security risk in Northeast Asia.
● The risk is heightened by ongoing tensions between the US and South Korea, which have been unable to agree on hostnation support for US forces, and broader concerns about US military readiness.… Read the rest
