Day: May 14, 2024

Krabi, Nopparat Thara Beach National Park – Phi Phi Islands Announcement of closure of some diving spots Until the coral bleaching situation is resolved.

Hat Nopparat Thara-Phi Phi Islands National Park Krabi Province Announcement of closure of tourist attractions for snorkeling activities. Kai Island area on the north, east and west sides North Poda Island, Daeng Island, Railay Bay, Yawasum Island and surrounding reefs are temporarily closed. For deep diving activities Yawasum Island area and surrounding coral reefs temporarily From May 16 onwards until the coral bleaching situation is resolved. To reduce the impact of tourism or other activities from humans that may accelerate coral bleaching in the area even more than before. Behind the park officials Dive to explore the area at Ko Daeng, Ko Kai, Bat Bay, Poda Island, near the Separated Sea, Ao Nang Subdistrict, Mueang Krabi District. Found 50-70% of bleached coral with 5-20% pale color. Coral types found to be bleached. Other tourist attractions are sti
ll open as usual, such as the Separated Sea, Phi Phi Islands, Maya Bay, and Lagoon. N Ao Pile.

Source: Thai News Agency

SEOUL, CJ Cheiljedang Corp. on Tuesday reported its first-quarter net profit of 154.6 billion won (US$113 million), up 213.5 percent from a year earlier.

The company said in a regulatory filing that operating income for the January-March period rose 48.7 percent on-year to 375.9 billion won. Revenue increased 2 percent to 7.21 trillion won.

The earnings exceeded market expectations. The average estimate of net profit by analysts stood at 97.2 billion won, according to a survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data firm of Yonhap News Agency.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

SEOUL, Universities across South Korea will review measures to exempt medical students participating in an ongoing collective class boycott from failing the semester due to insufficient class hours, the education ministry said Tuesday.

Since the beginning of the current semester, many medical students nationwide have been boycotting classes in protest of the government’s plan to hike the medical school quota, raising concerns that students might be held back en masse due to excessive class absences.

In a recent survey conducted by the education ministry, some medical schools have proposed postponing the annual doctor license test for senior students, typically scheduled for September, along with the test application period, which normally takes place between July and August.

In the survey, universities also submitted plans to the ministry to allow greater flexibility in academic requirements for medical students and adopt a special rule exempting students from having to repeat a semester after failing it
due to insufficient class attendance.

Under the plans, universities will seek to increase the availability of online classes for medical students during the current semester so that boycotting students can meet their class hour requirements without having to attend in-person classes.

Also among the planned measures is temporarily withholding the standard for failing a semester during the current first academic term, allowing students who have not met their academic requirements to fulfill them in the next semester.

Some universities also plan to consider integrating the two semesters per year into a single term to permit students to meet academic requirements within a longer one-year period.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

Lawmaker-elect Choo Mi-ae will mostly likely be the speaker of the first half of the four-year 22nd National Assembly, which will open on May 30, after her two rivals in the majority Democratic Party (DP) gave up their candidacy for the top post in the legislature. Despite her remaining contest with former DP floor leader Woo Won-shik, she will surely be elected speaker of the legislature thanks to fervent support from legislators loyal to DP leader Lee Jae-myung. If she wins the nominal race, Choo, a six-term lawmaker, will be the first female politician to take up the position.

But if Choo is elected speaker even without a heated internal competition – and only backed by pro-Lee lawmakers and his hardcore supporters – the election process represents a serious crisis of democracy, as it critically damages the neutrality of the speaker of the parliament.

Rep. Choo has the undisputed record of denying the independence of the speaker. She even ridiculed past DP speakers pretending to be neutral with no loyal
ty to the party. Pro-Lee lawmakers will welcome the insults she hurled at former speakers from the DP whenever they delayed putting controversial bills to a vote, citing their obligation to maintain neutrality.

If such a politician is elected speaker, the majority party can easily pass any contested bills, which will be vetoed by the president later. Political pundits attribute Choo’s rise to the DP leader’s need to dilute the burden from his own judicial risks by nominating the hardline politician as the speaker.

The DP also chose Rep. Park Chan-dae – a three-term lawmaker close to Lee Jae-myung – as its floor leader over other candidates even without staging a race. Such a biased selection of floor leader is the first time in 19 years. The DP cannot avoid criticism for returning to the authoritarian days, when the party head appointed the floor leader.

That’s not all. DP leader Lee Jae-myung will likely extend his two-year term in the party’s election in July. Senior lawmaker Jung Chung-rae is on a crusa
de to place Lee on the top party post again without holding an election. The developments in the DP show all party affairs are being decided by Lee’s loyalists after he led the party’s landslide victory in the April 10 parliamentary elections. We cannot but ask if the principle of democracy really works in the Democratic Party.

The 30 percent approval rating of the DP is nearly on par with that of the governing People Power Party (PPP). In other words, the DP won the last election thanks to voters’ disappointment with the PPP, not due to the DP’s popularity. If the DP does not abandon its arrogance, voters will turn their backs on the party.

Source: Yonhap News Agency