It is estimated that about 8.6 million people, or people born in the 1960s.In Korea, these generations usually start working in their 20s and work for about 30 years. This generation should take care of their parents and take responsibility for their children as they have learned from their responsibilities and obligations.So it’s not easy.Regardless, more than 10% of them have no problem supporting this life with the assets they have received from their parents leisurely or accumulated so far. However, the majority of the population, about 7-80 percent, are still on a daily allowance, looking for work or working daily. Instead of your health or leisure, you should eventually make money.Currently, the Korean economy does not look very smooth.Therefore, both business and work conditions make quality of life difficult. “The last generation to support parents, the first generation to not be supported by children.” Current cultural programs dealing with the life of those born in the 60s who cannot retire with the burden of “double support” on their shoulders are touching generations. Those born in the 60s felt homogeneous in their lives, and the generation of their children expressed gratitude and sorry for their parents’ generation.

A video titled “The old age of a person born in the 60s who has to continue working for his family even after retiring from a large company” has been uploaded and has recorded 890,000 views so far on the 30th. The video was considered a surge in YouTube popularity, especially among middle-aged people, and seems to have been watched by many people through Kakao Talk.The video focused on the reality that people born in their 60s, who account for the highest percentage of Korea’s total population, are still unable to give up their economic activities through both the boom and bust periods of Korea. The production team explained that they entered the labor market when the Korean economy took off in the mid- to late 1980s, contributed to economic development and worked hard for democratization, and in the 1990s, they also experienced the IMF financial crisis. He introduced that he suffered from double hardships in middle age by taking care of parents and children’s education, but he has just lived silently with the strength of enduring hunger. “Born in the 60s is a generation that has to support the previous generation privately and take care of their old age,” he said. He said, “The responsibility for double support lies with those born in the 60s, but society is not paying attention to that part.”Netizens who watched the video showed various reactions by generation. Those born in their 60s said, “The children are all grown up, but they cannot retire because there are 80 adults in the countryside.” “I am an ordinary head of the family who takes care of an old mother in her 90s and raises a son in her 20s. I don’t know how to do it, so I just live hard. “Life is not easy,” he said. The generation of children said, “Even if I say not to give it to my child like that, I am always sorry to my parents who help my child whenever he or she is having a hard time.” “I should call my parents who work hard not to harm my child.” “It breaks my heart. “I want you to buy it for yourself now,” he said.Statistics show the hard lives of the elderly, including those born in the 60s. As the number of elderly people who have to earn their own living expenses for economic reasons increased, the number of elderly people aged 60 or older who work doubled in 10 years. According to the National Statistics Portal of the National Statistical Office in March, the number of employed people aged 60 or older recorded 5.772 million in February. The number increased by 413,000 from a year ago. This is the largest ever since 1999, when related statistics began to be compiled as of February.

The number of employed people aged 60 or older was only 1,856,000 in February 2003, 20 years ago, but increased to 2,734,000 in February 2013, and rose to 5.7 million in February this year, 2.1 times higher than 10 years ago. As the baby boomers born between 1955 and 1963 entered their 60s, the elderly population itself increased rapidly.It is also characterized by an increase in the number of elderly people who have found jobs to earn living expenses. The employment rate, which shows the number of employed people compared to the actual population, has also increased. In February, the employment rate for those aged 60 or older was 42.8%, the highest as of February since statistics were compiled. The employment rate for those aged 60 or older has increased by 0.8 percentage points in 10 years from February 2003 (32.0 percent) to February 2013 (32.8 percent), but has risen sharply by 10 percentage points to 42.8 percent in the past decade.It is sad that one generation has once played the central role of Korea, but now he is in a position to take responsibility for his children and parents, giving up his life and even his old age, and just remain an icon of sacrifice

EJ SONG

US ASIA JOURNAL

Immunity is the production of antibodies against pathogenic microorganisms that enter the body outside, neutralizing toxins or killing pathogenic microorganisms to prevent the disease next The system that responds to various factors that invade the body and damage the body in various ways is called the immune system. Defends the body against bacteria, viruses, parasites, and other invaders in various ways described below. The study involved in this is called immunology.

The immune system is in line with the evolution of life, and in a way, it can be said to be a living witness of evolution. As you move from simple animals to complex animals, various types of immune systems develop. Insects, for example, have innate immune systems like us. One of them is a gene called Toll, and through these things, they fight against fungi that infect insects. In vertebrate genitals , they have both innate/adaptive immune systems, and there are various types of white blood cells in the eugenic language, the lower body, the lower body, and the lower body. Now new facts are being revealed in this story. From primitive multicellular organisms to other single-celled organisms, the immune system was developed to control the symbiotic bacteria when they reproduce too much, enter the body, or harmful bacteria settled down. Normal bacteria and immune systems have evolved and developed more and more bacteria, such as teaching immature T cells what’s good and bad, suppressing immune responses, breaking down nutrients that our bodies can’t break down, releasing antibacterial substances, and activating immune cells Bacteria were thought to have no adaptive immunity to the virus, but in the 2000s, a mechanism for cutting and eating a specific sequence of viral genomes called CRISPR/CAS9 was discovered. Once CRISPR remembers the virus, or bacteriophage’s genome, in its DNA, and when the same virus invades, CAS9 contrasts it with the previous viral genome, and if it is the same, it creates a viral RNA decomposition enzyme and cuts off the viral genome immediately. This is an excellent example of adaptive immunity. The mechanism itself is surprising, but the biology community welcomes that there is a way to easily manipulate genes using this system. Currently, there are attempts to solve the virus’ antiviral resistance problem with this technology, and some achievements are being made. Viruses are relatively well coped with germs, but as viruses also evolve, viruses that penetrate the host’s immune response continue to emerge.

Germs are the most encountered in our lifetime, and the immune response is well prepared accordingly. Of course, germs that avoid or block immune responses are everywhere. In the cell walls of pneumococcus and anthrax, there are stenosis that prevents cells from attacking, and Cougarase that prevents attacks by solidifying plasma by Staphylococcus aureus  In the case of in vitro parasites, there was no fluid or cellular immune response, and behavioral and physical immunity developed. There was behavior on the back, such as monkeys catching each other’s in vitro parasites. The modified prions detect and attack mononuclear cells that are not themselves, and the lymphocytes inhibit the immune response because the modified prions were originally normal prions. Recently, due to various pathogens and viruses, people are making efforts to improve their immunity.Usually, the bigger the immune system, the more it is. That’s why people want to gain immunity if they can get it with effort or supplements.However, people are looking for various efforts and ways to gain immunity more effectively than expected, and especially food and supplements are simply looking for things that can be tried around them, but the nutritional status has improved a lot compared to the past, but the number of allergic patients is increasing.  Allergies are a disease of the immune system and are often referred to as atopy. Allergic diseases are caused by the combination of genetic and environmental factors. The characteristic of allergies is the excessive activation of white blood cells called mast cells and basophils by antibodies such as IgE, resulting in severe inflammatory reactions.  However, compared to the past, food-related diseases increased by 277% in the United States alone for 10 years from 2007 to 2016, but immune-related diseases are steadily increasing due to complex effects on the environment or the environment they are exposed to. In this way, people want to relieve the increased stress on immune-related diseases that reduce human quality.In addition, people are not properly managing their health and immunity, as opposed to increasing interest in their health as they get busy. So people are trying to boost their immunity simply by buying nutrients that are on the market to boost their immunity, but they haven’t been very effective in boosting their immunity.

Imubarrier Corporation (CEO: Ryohei Nishikubo), a company created to secure such points and address such needs.Poly I:C is a company that develops as a drug additive, IMU is an immunoactive (antibody), CBD is an autonomous nervous system-controlled VCO that can be used in various forms and for various purposes, such as outdoor sprays, to address the needs of various users.In particular, Poly I:C is an immune stimulant manufactured by synthesizing citidilic acid and inocinic acid (a seafood flavor component) and heat-treating with double-stranded RNA, and is used as a vaccine aid and an immunoactive aid for use. The advantage of Imubarrier is that the traditional Poly I:C disadvantage must be kept at minus 20 degrees Celsius when distributing, but the only company in the world that has succeeded in pulverizing is able to distribute at room temperature. The main role and efficacy are used to prevent virus invasion from outside and to kill and reduce the role of virus and bacterial antibodies that have penetrated the body, and Imubarrier powder can even help produce antibodies, The company also aims to release products for humidifiers in the future, so that consumers will be able to use them more conveniently in the future.Imubarrier is sold not only in powder form but also to so that In addition, This company is also trying to make products in the form of spray. We think that coming in the form of spray products and humidifiers as preventive drugs is also very valuable in the futur

▲Imu Barrier Corporation

▲ +81-6-4980-9464

▲Ryohei Nishikubo

▲https://immubarrier.co.jp/

▲ Info@immubarrier.co.jp

SOPHIA KIM

US ASIA JOURNAL

However, the steel and chemical sectors, which are highly dependent on exports, are unlikely to avoid the impact of falling demand from China. The Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) reported that 80% of companies are expected to outperform their existing targets after comparing their own net profit forecasts for fiscal 2023 (April 2023-March 2024) with those of three or more securities firms.Automobile manufacturers are expected to perform well beyond their targets. Nikkei explained, “The weak yen is a factor that boosts automakers’ profits.”Toyota is expected to earn 850 billion yen more than this year’s target. Toyota’s net profit this year is expected to be 3.43 trillion yen.Toyota has already filled 51% of its annual performance planned between April and June this year. Operating profit surged 94% year-on-year to 1.1209 trillion yen during the period, and net profit also rose 78%. Toyota is the first Japanese company to post an operating profit of 1 trillion yen on a quarterly basis. In addition to the yen’s low, production recovered due to the resolution of the shortage of automotive semiconductors, and Lexus’ strong sales in North America led the performance.Mizuho Securities analyst Yoshitaka Ishiyama said, “We expect many automakers to raise their earnings forecasts for this year in their next quarterly results.”

Nintendo, a Japanese video game company, is also benefiting from the yen. Nintendo originally expected its net profit to fall 20% year-on-year this year, but the market is expected to fall only 2%. This is because Nintendo’s new work has been very successful, and the yen’s weakness has increased the foreign currency’s foreign exchange gains. In addition, the media said that the performance outlook for the travel industry is bright as the number of inbound travelers increases rapidly. In fact, according to an announcement by the Japanese Government Tourism Bureau (JNTO) on the 16th of last month, the number of tourists visiting Japan in May exceeded 2 million, recovering to 80% before the COVID-19 pandemic.On the other hand, 20% of companies are expected to perform below their original target this year. The aftermath of sluggish demand in China is affecting the Japanese industry. “There are no companies in the chemical and steel sectors that are not affected by the Chinese economy,” the media said. In particular, chemical companies such as Sumimoto Chemical and Asahi Kasei are expected to be directly hit by the slowdown in China’s economy and falling demand for petrochemical products.Kenji Abe, chief strategist at Daiwa Securities, said, “The benefits of the increase in yen and inbound tourists will further strengthen our performance,” adding, “The future U.S. benchmark interest rate outlook and China’s economic trend hit by the real estate crisis will be variables.”

SOPHIA KIM

US ASIA JOURNAL

The press conference held on September 7 at Johnny & Associates, a Japanese entertainment company, shocked the industry and the public. In this interview JOHNNY & ASSOCIATES PRESIDENT JULIE K. For the first time, FUJISHIMA has admitted to sexual harassment charges, acknowledging its responsibility and announcing that it will step down from all positions. This was a formal acknowledgment of the sexual harassment issue by the former president in the history of Johnny & Associates.Previously, he was not aware of Johnny H. Kitagawa’s alleged annoyance and was not aware of it at all, but admitted at the press conference that he was aware of it for the first time, saying, “I want to take responsibility as a nephew because it’s a problem caused by my uncle.”Noriyuki Higashiyama, who was newly appointed as the new president of Johnny & Associates at the press conference, was also an entertainer of a group that gained popularity not only in Japan but also in Asia in the past as a group called Shonen-tai, whose founder Johnny H. Kitagawa debuted as an entertainer. As such a celebrity entertainment company, the former president’s recognition shocked not only Japan but also the people and media who liked and were interested in J-Pop.

In addition, the founder of JOHNNY & ASSOCIATES held two Guinness world records, but this incident deleted all records other than the person who produced the most concerts.According to Reuters, JOHNNY & ASOCIATES has been introduced as an entertainment company with a significant presence in Japanese culture, producing popular J-POP artists from all over East Asia, such as SMAP and arasi. However, former President Johnny H. Kitagawa’s report of sexual harassment shocked Japan.Higashiyama, the new president, commented on the issue of changing the company’s name. “The name Johnny’s is of course the name of the founder, but I think the most important thing is the energy and pride that the actors have built up. “From now on, everyone should work hard as one to the extent that they can dispel such an image,” he said. However, the issue of changing the company’s name is still controversial among victims and talent, for example, Yuichi Nakamaru of KAT-TUN said on a television program on the 10th. “Objectively, I think changing the company name is definitely a valid decision. It was Johnny’s WEST’s Junta Nakama who made this comment. In the meantime, I’ve said that the name Johnny’s will bring back bad memories quickly, and the general public knows it’s strange to keep using the name Johnny’s name. So I also think we should change the name of the company, and I’m also determined to lose the name of Johnny’s WEST.” Large companies’ responses to JOHNNY & ASSOCIATES, the entertainment giant that has had a huge impact in the advertising industry over the past half century, are divided. Currently, NISSAN Motor Corporation has officially announced that it will not enter into a new advertising contract with JOHNNY & ASSOCIATES’ talent. In addition, it was announced that Takuya Kimura’s advertising contract will be judged again when the contract period expires. Suntory Holdings Limited has announced that it will expire its existing contract and not enter into a new contract if the victims’ explanations of remedies and preventive measures are not sufficient from JOHNNY & ASSOCIATES.

These measures can be seen as taking into account the current situation of JOHNNY & ASSOCIATES. McDonald’s Japan has announced that it will not renew its advertising contract using JOHNNY & ASSOCIATES’ talent after the contract expires. In this regard, Kao decided to quickly stop advertising using Johnny’s talent because the sexual harassment issue was judged to be contrary to Kao’s human rights policy, and announced that JOHNNY & ASSOCIATES would decide on additional measures after checking how to reform and prevent recurrence. However, we will not consider lifting the talent contract with JOHNNY & ASSOCIATES at the moment, and we will make further judgments after confirming how JOHNNY & ASSOCIATES progresses in its reform and recurrence prevention efforts in the future. In addition, the decision is drawing keen attention in Japan as kao currently maintains contracts with four teams, including Kento Nakajima of the “Sexy Zone.” If there are various opinions in Japan, fans who are currently responding positively to the press conference said that this recognition could change the dark side of the entertainment industry in the future, but on the negative side, JOHNNY & ASSOCIATES should be eliminated. The reason is that the image named Johnny’s has already been negatively recognized worldwide, so no change can occur. There are many positive aspects of the press conference in Japan, but a big part of the negative thoughts is that the name is not changed. On the victim’s side, it is unpleasant that the perpetrator’s name continues to be used, and the victim does not accept it and says he will continue to use it with other reasons, and secondly, critics are concerned about changing the label used by Johnny’s talents. Many fans and officials pointed out that there could be no damage, but they would have to make a big decision to reduce it.

SOPHIA KIM

US ASIA JOURNAL

 “It will bring huge profits to investors if it is successful,” he said, adding that it will take at least one to two years to sell vision funds after listing.”It is known that Son Jung-eui leaves advice to the outside and does not engage in deliberation.

Japan’s Softbank is negotiating with Vision Fund to acquire the remaining stake in British semiconductor designer Arm. Japan’s Softbank is said to be negotiating with Vision Fund to acquire the remaining stake in British semiconductor designer Arm. It is known that Samsung of Korea also expressed its intention to acquire Softbank several times. Softbank is in negotiations to acquire a 25% stake in ARM held by Vision Fund 1, a venture capital fund it operates. Currently, ARM’s stake is divided into 75% of Softbank and 25% of Vision Fund.The negotiations come as SoftBank is currently preparing to list ARM on the Nasdaq sometime next month. The market capitalization is expected to reach $60 billion to $70 billion. Once the negotiations are completed, Softbank expects to give huge profits to investors in Vision Fund 1, including Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIE) and Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala.Until now, Vision Fund 1 has suffered huge losses due to failed investments in companies such as WeWork, a shared office company, and Didi Chuxing, a vehicle-sharing company.The acquisition appears to have been made in consideration of the possibility that the plan to sell ARM shares in the market after the IPO will take at least one to two years considering the size of the stake and that the stock will fall after the listing. Softbank Chairman Son Jung-eui said he is currently consulting external investment bank Rain Group and is not participating in related deliberations.In addition, the acquisition price under discussion between the two sides is not known, and there is a possibility that the negotiations may fail.Another source said that if negotiations take place, Softbank could hold about 85 to 90% of its stake by reducing the size of the sale of its stake in ARM at the time of IPO. Softbank acquired ARM for $32 billion in 2016. ARM is a British company that designs application processors (APs) and graphics processing units (GPUs) for smartphones and holds related patents.

SOPHIA KIM

US ASIA JOURNAL

Koreans are becoming more interested in traveling to Japan. This time, statistics from the Japanese government confirmed that.
According to a recent report, the number of Korean tourists visiting Japan as of June 2023 is showing remarkable growth. According to figures released by the Japanese Government Tourism Bureau (JNTO), 545,100 Koreans visited Japan during the period. This is a further increase from the 500,000 mark in May, the previous month, and exceeded the 560,000 mark during the peak winter season between January and February. In addition, compared to June 2019, the recovery rate reached a remarkable 89.1%. In the first quarter of this year, the recovery rate was 70% compared to 2019, but now it is close to 90%. It’s an incredible speed. However, it is expected that Koreans’ interest in traveling to Japan will increase further. Koreans also topped the list of Japanese visitors by country. Among all foreign visitors to Japan, the proportion of Koreans stood at 26.3% in June, 1.4 times that of Taiwan, the second-largest. In particular, in the first half of the year, the proportion of Koreans was 29.2%, showing a faster recovery than in other countries.Strengthen screening of gold products when entering Japan! Precautions and reporting tips
Since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, many people have been traveling abroad to Japan. Recently, however, more and more customs are strictly examining the import of gold or gold products when entering Japan, causing inconvenience. This is because screening has been strengthened to prevent smuggling of precious metals as the number of Japanese immigrants increases. Let’s look into the Japanese customs’ regulations on bringing in gold products and how to report them. Regardless of the purity, weight, or use (worn) of the reporting criteria for gold or gold products by Japanese customs, it must be reported if gold or gold products are brought in. In addition, thanks to the current low yen, the number of travelers to Japan is expected to increase more significantly during the summer vacation season. This is because the cost-effectiveness of traveling to Japan stands out due to rising domestic prices. However, the pressure of inflation in Japan is also increasing, so we don’t know how the situation will change in the future. Still, travel agency officials also say, “The proportion of reservations for Japanese products from July to August is the largest,” and that it is likely to be close to the level before No Japan. In fact, it is no exaggeration to say that Korea is currently the most important market in Japan’s inbound. The Korean branch of the Japanese government’s tourism bureau expects to catch up to the level of 2018 when there was no aftermath of COVID-19 and No Japan this year. Until now, the Japanese inbound industry has been worried that Japan may have been forgotten as a travel destination for the past three years, but as soon as the border was opened, many Koreans were visiting Japan, which is causing joy.

So many Koreans are visiting Japan, but the air route has not yet reached its old level. During the 2019 summer season, 1,200 flights per week traveled between 27 Japanese airports and 8 Korean airports. However, as of May this year, 12 airports in Japan and 7 airports in Korea are connecting about 900 flights per week, and local routes have not recovered as much as before COVID-19. So now, many Koreans are mainly visiting big cities. More Koreans are expected to visit Japan when Japan’s regional airport connections are restored in the future.Then why do you visit Japan rather than a similar travel destination in Korea? 1) Reports continue to emerge that Jeju Island/Ulleungdo Island is due to high prices and inadequacy (for accommodation costs). 2) Factors to enjoy such as leisure and entertainment are expensive and insufficient.
For example, the cost of Korean golf and water leisure is now too high to be shunned by the public.

JENNIFER KIM

US ASIA JOURNAL

As a result, it is said that there are still obstacles to the sharing of information between the U.S. and Japan.Citing former and current U.S. officials, the Washington Post (WP) reported that a Chinese military hacker succeeded in penetrating Japan’s secret military network at the end of 2020. “The situation at the time was shockingly bad,” a former official told the newspaper.  Hackers reportedly broke into Japan’s most secure network and tried to secure as much information as possible on operational plans, assets, and military flaws.There was also a situation where we could guess how urgent the situation was at that time. Paul Nakasone, then director of the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), and Matthew Pottinger, then deputy assistant to the White House National Security Council, who first confirmed the hacking, immediately flew to Japan and delivered it to the Japanese defense secretary, which was later reported to the Japanese prime minister.

In response, Japan has set a policy to increase its cybersecurity budget by 10 times and nearly quadruple its military cybersecurity workforce to 4,000 over the next five years to strengthen network security. However, it is known that Japan’s confidential security network was not completely restored in 2021, after the Biden administration was launched. At that time, the hacking incident was detected during the Trump administration. As the situation turned like this, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin reportedly conveyed his position to the Japanese government that “if cybersecurity is not secured, information sharing between the U.S. and Japan could be slowed.” Japan, the United States’ strongest ally in the Indo-Pacific, has so far been provided with various U.S. military information in real time more closely than South Korea. The issue is also expected to be discussed at the Korea-U.S.-Japan summit, which is scheduled for the 18th. The “Washington Declaration” adopted during President Yoon Suk Yeol’s state visit to the U.S. in April strengthened the security alliance between South Korea and the U.S., and the U.S. has been working hard to build a security alliance between South Korea, the U.S. and Japan. “Despite the Japanese government’s tightening of security at the time, military information exchanges between the U.S. and Japan are still disrupted,” he said. This is why some observers say that if there are still problems in sharing information between the U.S. and Japan, the triangular cooperation envisioned by the U.S. may not go as planned.Meanwhile, Chinese military hackers accessed the Microsoft (MS) cloud network last month and hacked the e-mail accounts of high-ranking U.S. officials, including Commerce Secretary Lumondo. Microsoft announced on the 11th of last month (local time) that 25 organizations, including the U.S. State Department and the Department of Commerce, were attacked by a Chinese-based hacker organization called Storm-0558. However, the government did not specify China as the main agent of the hacking, as high-level conversations between the U.S. and China, including Minister Blinkon and Minister Yellen’s visit to China, began to open the door.

TED PARK

US ASIA JOURNAL

 It reported that the era of low-cost Asian production is threatened by rising wages in Asia. The surge in young people who are reluctant to work in factories is cited as a major factor in the surge in wages. The WSJ reported that young Asian people feel that their working conditions are poor compared to their wages and are avoiding listening to their bosses’ instructions. For this reason, more and more young people are moving to the service industry or self-employed even if their income decreases.  In the case of Vietnam, he worked as a mechanic at an automobile factory earlier this year and moved to a car-sharing company. “I get paid less hourly than when I work at a factory, but now I don’t work for my boss, so my stress has been reduced,” he said. An entrepreneur who runs a clothing factory in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, said, “All young people want to work in coffee shops or become Instagrammers, photographers, and stylists.” Wages continue to rise as it becomes more difficult to find manpower than before. According to the United Nations, the average wage of Vietnamese manufacturers more than doubled last year compared to 2011. China’s factory wages also jumped 122% for the first time in 10 years. China’s youth unemployment rate reached 21% in June this year as more and more young people do not want to work in factories even though there is a shortage of factory workers in China.  Rising wages naturally lead to an increase in manufacturing costs. As a result, multinational companies with factories in Asia are reflecting wage increases in commodity prices. According to the WSJ, Mattel, a Barbie doll maker, raised product prices due to rising labor costs at factories in China and Indonesia. Nike, which has a large plant in Asia, also raised product prices in June, citing rising labor costs. As it becomes difficult to find young workers, companies are turning to middle-aged people. In 2001, Nike’s average age for Asian workers was 22. However, the average age of Chinese workers is 40 years old, and the average age of Vietnamese workers has risen to 31. “The reluctance of Asian young people to work in factories is a wake-up call for Western companies that rely on cheap labor,” he said. “Americans who have become accustomed to cheap Asian clothing and TVs will have to pay higher prices in the future.”

TED PARK

US ASIA JOURNAL

Recently, a series of “knife attacks” have been reported, raising concerns about online “as dangerous as the United States.”However, experts argue that “half of the OECD is safe.”Police are controlling the scene of the incident on the 3rd, when an indiscriminate vehicle shock and a knife disturbance occurred at Seohyeon Station in Bundang-gu, Seongnam. Thirteen people were injured in the incident. Recently, there have been a series of “don’t ask” crimes targeting an unspecified number of people in Korea, highlighting this. “Don’t ask me why. South Korea is suffering from a series of “Don’t Ask” stabbings, according to an article titled “Korea is suffering from a series of knife attacks” that occurred at Sillim Station in Seoul and Seohyeon Station in Seongnam. “Don’t Ask” is written as “Mudjima,” which translates the Korean pronunciation into Roman letters.In South Korea, where the rate of violent crimes is known to be low, citizens are anxious about a series of knife rampage crimes.The term “don’t ask” has long been used in Korean society, but the police officially defined it as a “abnormal motive crime” and set up a response TF only in 2022, BBC reported.He pointed out that Korea’s violent crime rate hit the lowest in 10 years last year, but this recent knife rampage has given people the perception that society is more dangerous.Some online say that Korea is now as dangerous as the United States, but experts told the BBC that Korea is still a very safe country. Korea’s murder rate is 1.3 per 100,000 people, half of the average of OECD member countries, and less than one-fifth of the U.S. murder rate. “The rate of murder and other violent crimes in Korea is not only very low compared to other countries, but has also decreased steadily over the past decade,” he said.Experts pointed to fundamental social pressures in Korean society, including unstable job prospects, continued stigma around housing and mental health, and a lack of support services. Professor Song said, “I think there is a need for a social support system or policy that can help people who are fundamentally disconnected from society and have no social ties.” It was also said that after the knife rampage, there were a series of murder notices online stating the specific time and place, making the public more anxious. As a result, a list of announced felonies and a site informing them of their arrest appeared, and the police arrested those who posted them, while strengthening public patrols, he added.

EJ SONG

US ASIA JOURNAL

Since the advent of the generative artificial intelligence (AI) service “Chat GPT,” AI craze has been blowing around the world. Governments and companies around the world, including the U.S. and China, are scrambling for generative AI. However, Japan, which has led the high-tech market in the past, is relatively quiet.CNBC, a U.S. economic media outlet, said, “Japan is lagging behind in the generative AI market,” citing a lack of software engineers to take charge of the LLM (Large Language Model), the core of AI development, and supercomputers to perform it.AI-related signs installed at the trade fair ‘Next Tech Week Tokyo 2023’ held in Tokyo, Japan on May 10. LLM development is actively taking place in the U.S. and China. China’s Alibaba and Tencent have introduced at least 79 LLMs in China over the past three years. In the U.S., Google and Microsoft (MS), as well as open AI that released Chat GPT, are leading LLM development.On the other hand, Japan lags behind the United States, China, and Europe in terms of the size and speed of LLM development. First of all, there is a lack of software developers to develop LLM. According to Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, 789,000 software developers are expected to be short in Japan by 2030.

Noriyuki Kojima, co-founder of Japanese AI startup “Kotoba Technology,” told CNBC, “Japan’s sluggishness in the generative AI field is mainly due to a relative lack of deep learning and software development.”Supercomputers such as IBM’s “Bella” are needed to develop LLM, but Japan is also lacking. Nikkei (Nihon Keizai Shimbun) pointed out in May that “high-performance supercomputers are needed to build LLM, but none of the Japanese companies have world-class supercomputers.” The Japanese government plans to invest 6.8 billion yen to install supercomputers in Hokkaido as early as next year.Of course, there are companies in Japan that are interested in generative AI. ARM, a British semiconductor designer owned by Japan’s Softbank, announced in June that it plans to develop its own generative AI platform. NTT, a Japanese telecommunications company, also announced that it will develop its own LLM to create light and efficient services. NTT plans to invest 8 trillion yen in the data center and AI sectors over the next five years.

KS CHOI

US ASIA JOURNAL