The onset of summer has sparked a rise in incidents of “mask rage” in South Korea as more hot and bothered commuters either refuse to wear face coverings or leave parts of their faces exposed.
In South Korea, Japan and other countries in East Asia, widespread mask wearing has been cited as one possible explanation for the region’s relative success in bringing the COVID-19 pandemic under control.
South Korea, one of the first countries outside China to be affected by the virus, flattened the coronavirus curve in April, although it is now struggling with dozens of daily cases, mainly in and around the capital, Seoul.
Photo: AFP
To avoid a second major outbreak, the government last month required masks to be worn on all buses and subways, and inside taxis, with drivers permitted to refuse passengers without face coverings.
However, the country’s typically hot summer is making mask wearing increasingly uncomfortable, with temperatures regularly exceeding 30°C last month.
As a result, more people are refusing to wear them, or are positioning them across their chins so they leave their mouth and nose exposed.
The practice, nicknamed tuk sk — tuk is Korean for “chin” — has sparked dozens of incidents of mask rage on public transport, according to South Korean media.
Police said that they had recorded 840 fights last month, many of them involving bus drivers who remonstrated with passengers who refused to mask up, according to the Yonhap news agency.
All but one of the 43 perpetrators facing legal action were men, Yonhap said, adding that most were in their 50s and 60s.
The incidents included a woman who was briefly detained after she argued with other subway passengers who demanded that she wear a mask, and a man who was held by police after assaulting a bus driver and a fellow passenger for insisting that he cover his face.
Fears of a heatstroke pandemic have prompted firms in Japan, where temperatures are expected to soar this month and next month, to develop “cool” masks made from high-tech materials.
The sportswear maker Mizuno is selling masks made from fabrics usually found in its range of swimsuits and athletics apparel, while the material used in Yonex’s Very Cool range includes xylitol, which, it said, allows the mask to dry quickly.
“As people spend more time wearing masks to protect them against the coronavirus, we hope our technology will enable users to keep cool during the hot weather, even if just a little,” a spokeswoman for Yonex, which makes equipment and apparel for badminton and tennis, told the Kyodo news agency.
Last month, long lines formed outside Uniqlo stores ahead of the release of masks made from the clothing firm’s lightweight summer fabric. Reports said the items sold out within hours.
Other retailers have taken the theme a step further, with one knitwear maker developing chilled cloth masks with pockets for ice packs that it says keep the wearer cool for up to two hours.
Experts have warned that wearing masks in extreme heat could cause breathing difficulties, raised heart rates and dehydration.
The Japanese Association for Acute Medicine has advised people to remove their masks when appropriate and to drink water at regular intervals.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in