The Korea Times

Man kills ex-girlfriend's parents, drinks beside bodies

By Ko Dong-hwanPolice take Jang into custdy from his residence in Gyeongsan, North Gyeongsang Province. /Yonhap Police in Daegu have arrested a 24-year-old man who murdered the parents of his estranged girlfriend.After fatally stabbing the couple, the culprit, identified only as Jang, drank liquor beside the bodies for hours waiting for his ex-girlfriend to come home.The ex-girlfriend, Kwon, 20, who had been living with her parents, arrived at the house at midnight, about six hours after the killings.Kim locked her in a room, but she jumped from the window of the fourth-floor apartment two hours later and managed to call the police.Kwon was severely injured from the jump, but is not in a life-threatening condition, police said. Jang fled the scene after Kwon escaped but was caught at his home in Gyeongsan, North Gyeongsang Province, hours later.It appears Jang had held a grudge against Kwon’s parents, who didn’t approve of Jang and talked their daughter into breaking up with him, police said. 

May 21, 2014By Ko Dong-hwan

Man kills ex-girlfriend's parents, drinks beside bodies

World

'A Girl At My Door' rocks Cannes 2014

By Ko Dong-hwan  “A Girl at My Door,’’ a coming-of-age film by July Jung, has garnered rapturous applause at the Cannes Film Festival in France.Slotted in the festival’s Un Certain Regard program, the film was screened on Monday, and 120 minutes later, Jung and the film’s stars Bae Doo-na, Kim Sae-ron and Song Sae-byuk were soaking in a lengthy standing ovation from the audience.Bae starts as Yeongnam, a woman who tries to rescue Dohee (Kim) from her abusive father Yongha (Song). Yeongnam eventually discovers that she needs the school girl more than the school girl needs her.Clarence Tsui from Hollywood Reporter gave high marks to director Jung’s screenplay. Mark Adams from Screen Daily thought it was the actors that carried the bleak but poignant drama.Director of Film Department and Deputy General Delegate Christian Jeune said he was impressed by the film’s casts, especially Kim, whom he said he hoped to see in the next festival.The film will open in Korean theaters on Thursday. 

May 20, 2014By Ko Dong-hwan

Others

Anyang officials toured on luxury cruise days after ferry disaster

By Ko Dong-hwan               Municipal authorities at Anyang are taking heat for taking off on a cruise trip while the local community struggled to deal with the recent ferry disaster.The Sewol ferry sank off the waters of the southwestern island on April 16 with 476 people aboard, including hundreds of students from Anyang’s Danwon High School who had been traveling to Jeju on a field trip. Only 172 of the passengers were rescued with the remainder confirmed as dead or missing.Three days later, eight senior civil servants of Anyang’s municipal government boarded a luxury cruise ship to travel along the coasts of Hong Kong, China and Vietnam.The six-day travel came to light only after a former Anyang City employee brought it up through a one-person rally in front of the Anyang City Hall.Through her protest, the woman, a former director of the municipal government’s community relations department, criticized city officials for taking the trip at a distressing time for the community and also accused the city government of tryin

May 20, 2014By Ko Dong-hwan

Others

Doctor leaves surgical apparatus inside woman's womb

By Ko Dong-hwan A woman in Ulsan is suing a doctor who left a surgical tool inside her after surgery.According to Ulsan police, the woman, 55, identified only as Kim, went under surgery in September 2007 to remove a tumor in her uterus.Once locating the tumor, the gynecologist concluded that it was too close to her intestines and stitched the area back up without removing the tumor.For the six years since then, Kim said she suffered from intense pain in the womb area and regularly consumed pain killers and antibiotics.It was in December last year when Kim decided to go to a different hospital to examine her conditions. There, doctors found a “colpotomy cup,’’ a tube-shaped surgery device, sewn insider her.The doctor who did the previous surgery on Kim offered to settle, but Kim says she plans to pursue criminal charges. 

May 20, 2014By Ko Dong-hwan

Others

Sewol families unimpressed by Park's created tears

By Ko Dong-hwanPresident Park Geun-hye, usually as emotional as a rock, showed her tears on live television on Monday as she announced the disbanding of the coast guard over its botched rescue of passengers on the sunken Sewol ferry.Families of the victims, however, weren’t too impressed about Park, who was criticized in the accident’s early aftermath for refusing to hold herself accountable for her government’s supposed ineptitude.The Sewol ferry sank off the waters of the southwestern island on April 16 with 476 people aboard, including hundreds of high school students. Only 172 of them were rescued with the remainder confirmed as dead or missing.Critics have been accusing the government of bungling its emergency response and failing to properly enforce regulations that would have stopped the ship’s operators from putting profit before safety.Speaking to a MBC radio show on Tuesday, Yoo Kyung-eun, a spokesman for the “Emergency Family Committee for the Sewol Ferry Disaster,’’ gave Park’s speech 50 points on a scale of 100.“The p

May 20, 2014By Ko Dong-hwan

Sewol families unimpressed by Park's created tears

Others

Brief history of presidential tears

From left, President Park Geun-hye and former presidents Lee Myung-bak and Roh Moo-hyunBy Ko Dong-hwan As she announced her decision to disband Korea’s coastguard over its lamentable job in rescuing passengers from the doomed Sewol ferry, President Park Geun-hye shed tears while reading the names of the students who died.It was a rare expression of emotion for Park, who is usually reserved and icy, and the moment was destined to dominate the front pages of newspapers.However, it wasn’t the first time Park shed tears in public. As the leader of the Grand National Party, which preceded the Saenuri Party, Park got emotional during a televised speech ahead of the 2004 local elections.  Park also cried while visiting the memorial of South Korean soldiers who died during North Korea’s sinking of the Cheonan warship in 2010 and at a funeral of her bodyguard who died during the presidential elections in 2012.Former President Lee Myung-bak, who preceded Park, cried while delivering a speech over the Cheonan attacks in 2010 and also when he appeared on television la

May 19, 2014By Ko Dong-hwan

Others

Young K-pop stars come of age

SuzyCrystal Kim Nam-jooSeolhyunIlhoon By Ko Dong-hwan After rocking the K-pop world as a teenage idol, Suzy is now an adult.Suzy, a member of the popular girl band Miss-A, joins other singers such as A Pink member Kim Nam-joo, AOA’s Seolhyun, f(X)’s Crystal and B2B’s Ilhoon who have or will become 19 this year, making them legally adults by Korean standards.“I feel kind of weird and good at the same time,’’ Suzy said in a statement issued through her management agency JYP.“I used to always think that, when I turn 19, I will definitely earn a driver’s license and drive a car by myself after my schedule. And I managed to do just that recently.’’Korea has lowered its official adult age from the previous 20 to 19 starting this year. 

May 19, 2014By Ko Dong-hwan

Others

Search intensifies for ferry operator owners

By Ko Dong-hwanYoo Dae-kyunProsecutors are intensifying their search for members of the family that owns the operator of the Sewol ferry, which sank last month killing hundreds of people including school children. With the search becoming a national spectacle, investigators say they are receiving a large number of calls from civilians claiming to have spotted Yoo Dae-kyun.Yoo, 44, is one of the major shareholders of Cheonghaejin Marine, founded by his reclusive father Yoo Boo-eun, 73, who investigators are also seeking to arrest.Prosecutors are guarding against the possibility that Yoo finds a way to leave the country and are strengthening border controls at ports such as Incheon and Paengmok in Jindo, South Jeolla Province, which is near where the ferry sank.With Yoo remaining elusive, investigators are eagerly awaiting for civilian tip offs and have been moving with urgency on even weak information. A team of prosecutors and police officers raided a farm in Cheongsnog, North Gyeongsang Province, after being contacted by an area resident who believed he saw Yoo, but he wasn’t

May 19, 2014By Ko Dong-hwan

Search intensifies for ferry operator owners

Others

Unemployed and over 30: not a good combo

By Ko Dong-hwan If you are over 30 and without a job, you might be in even a more difficult situation than you imagine.Job information websites Saramin HR quizzed employment officials at 525 local companies and about 63 percent of them admitted they are reluctant to employ people in their 30s as new employees.They feel that male jobseekers are too old once they hit 32 while their average answer for women was 30.Some 70 percent of the respondents said that the age of job applicants has been increasing visibly in recent years, reflecting a stagnant job market. Nearly 64 percent of them admitted that they will pass on qualified applicants if he or she were too old.So why are firms discriminating against older job applicants? About 55 percent of the respondents claimed that staff members would be discomforted if new employees are older than them, considering the deep-rooted seniority-based culture at the Korean workplace.  About 40 percent of the employment officials feared that old new employees were more likely to challenge the company’s office hierarchy.There were also

May 19, 2014By Ko Dong-hwan

Unemployed and over 30: not a good combo

Others

Fuming actress compares tabloids to thugs

By Ko Dong-hwanKim Gyu-riIn vehemently denying rumors about her dating baseball star Oh Seung-hwan, actress Kim Gyu-ri, 34, compared tabloids and online showbiz sites to thugs beating up a helpless woman.“Is this really different than thugs following a woman to a dark alley and beating her up? So, are you satisfied now,?’ Kim tweeted.Kim went on to criticize the behavior of journalists, accusing them of being lax about confirming facts and just focusing on increasing the number of hits.Some outlets had reported that Kim was dating Oh, 32, a closer for Japanese club Hanshin Tigers. Kim’s management agency, Core Contents, denied that the two were in a relationship.Kim has appeared in several television shows and movies since debuting in 1994 with the horror film, “Horror at Girl’s School.’’

May 18, 2014By Ko Dong-hwan

Ko Dong-hwan

Read more

Man kills ex-girlfriend's parents, drinks beside bodies

'A Girl At My Door' rocks Cannes 2014

Anyang officials toured on luxury cruise days after ferry disaster

Doctor leaves surgical apparatus inside woman's womb

Sewol families unimpressed by Park's created tears

Brief history of presidential tears

Young K-pop stars come of age

Search intensifies for ferry operator owners

Unemployed and over 30: not a good combo

Fuming actress compares tabloids to thugs

Top 5 stories