The Korea Times

Aspiring lawmakers with law-breaking history

By Ko Dong-hwan Whenever there is a public vote, the National Election Committee (NEC) reveals the number of candidates with history of legal run-ins at a certain point before voting day.The figures for the June 4 local elections, however, seem to jump off the page; about 40 percent of the aspiring lawmakers who will be on ballot next month have law-breaking records, the NEC announced on Sunday.This represented a dramatic jump from the 12.6 percent in the previous local elections in 2010.While it does feel that Korean politics seem to be run by cons, parking violations and other traffic-related behavior accounted for much of the increase rather than violent crimes.Previously, the NEC only counted crimes that resulted in imprisonment plus political funding and campaigning violations where the person was subject to over 1 million won in fines.But the changes of the Election Law in January now requires the NEC to unveil all types of law violations that led to more than 1 million won in fines. 

May 18, 2014By Ko Dong-hwan

Others

Man fatally stabs neighbor over loud noises

By Ko Dong-hwan Police in Seoul on Sunday arrested a man for fatally stabbing a neighbor after the two quarreled over loud noises.According to the Dobong district police station, the culprit, a 54-year-old identified only as Cho, heard loud noises coming from the apartment upstairs Saturday evening and went up.There he fought with the victim, Jin, the 48-year-old son of the house’s owner, before stabbing him.Jin was visiting his mother’s home to comfort her following his father’s recent death. Jin had lived together at the apartment for two years but moved to a different lodging last year after he and Cho fought over loud noises several times. 

May 18, 2014By Ko Dong-hwan

Others

Hi-def video game championship on Seoul streets

By Ko Dong-hwan Operators of the globally popular football video game, Pro Evolution Soccer 2014, locally-titled Winning Eleven 2014, has kicked off its first “street championship’’ in Seoul’s popular hotspots.Sponsored by LG Electronics, the “Ultra HD Football Game League’’ began Saturday in Sinchon, Wangsimni and Sindorim, with gaming enthusiasts and pedestrians showcasing their skills.Preliminary matches will run for a month before the 32 top rankers will compete for the winner’s title at Times Square in Yeongdeungpo, Seoul on June 21. The winner will be awarded an LG ultra HD television set, and runner-up an LG ultra PC Gram.The Pro Evolution Soccer series, published by Japanese game developer Konami, was first released in 2001 and has been dubbed the best football videogame since. The latest 2014 edition is available on Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and on computer servers. 

May 18, 2014By Ko Dong-hwan

Hi-def video game championship on Seoul streets

Others

Most Koreans forced to work on after-hours, weekends

By Ko Dong-hwan Seven out of 10 Korean employees are being forced to work on after-hours or on weekends, according to a survey that further confirmed Koreans as overworked corporate drones.Job information site Saramin quizzed more than 1,000 workers for the survey and 75.6 percent of the respondents said they regularly receive job-related calls and orders after work or during the weekends. About 65 percent of the respondents said they are often asked to come back to the office to do their extra tasks.About 80 percent of the employees of big companies, referring to firms with more than 300 in staff, said they are asked to work extra hours, and 73.5 percent of employees from small-and-medium-sized firms responded the same. 

May 17, 2014By Ko Dong-hwan

Most Koreans forced to work on after-hours, weekends

World

It's rewarding to be bald at Japanese bar

By Ko Dong-hwan A Tokyo bar is generating a buzz for comforting customers with receding hairlines with discounts and extra drinks.Akasaka offers 500 yen (about 5,000 won) discount coupons to customers the bar staff determine as “bald enough.’’Balding customers who manage to bring four or more companions who share the problem of losing hair receive a free pint as well.Yoshiko Toyota, the bar’s owner, came up with the bizarre marketing plan because she felt that balding men seemed more tired and depressed than others. Creating a welcoming environment for the mostly hairless has so far proven to be a good business. 

May 17, 2014By Ko Dong-hwan

It's rewarding to be bald at Japanese bar

Others

Jobseekers find entry into big firms impossible

By Ko Dong-hwan These are distressing times for jobseekers as finding employment at good companies is becoming as difficult as a camel getting through the eye of the needle.A survey of more than 900 people by employment website Incruit showed that the average respondent sent his or her resume to 10.5 of the country’s large firms (300-plus employees) since the start of the year.Only 1.8 percent of them said the companies found their resumes good enough and just 0.7 percent of them were hired after passing the final interviews.Most of the respondents said they submit resumes to companies whenever there is a job opening. Over 85 percent of them said they were waiting for decisions from companies at the moment.In explaining their continued failure to land jobs at big companies, more than 60 percent of the respondents believed their resumes weren’t impressive enough. About 26 percent said they needed to do a better job in essay writing.

May 16, 2014By Ko Dong-hwan

Jobseekers find entry into big firms impossible

World

video Knife-wielding robber confronts brave pedestrians

When pedestrians in Finland recently saw a robbery in progress at a convenience store, they blocked the door to prevent the robber from escaping.The chaotic scene was captured in video by one of the pedestrians outside the store.   Wielding a huge knife, the masked robber violently pounds against the entrance door.While the video cuts off, reports say that the pedestrians let the robber escape when he began threatening people inside. 

May 16, 2014By Ko Dong-hwan

[video] Knife-wielding robber confronts brave pedestrians

Others

Seoul Mayor sheds tears over Sewol victim

By Ko Dong-hwan Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon on Wednesday night made a surprise visit to the facility in Jindo, South Jeolla Province, where family members are waiting for divers to recover the bodies from the Sewol ferry that sunk in April.Park, who arrived at the gymnasium near 9 p.m., met and offered his condolences to the people there. He got particularly emotionally when visiting the family of one victim _ a Danwon High School student who had been an enthusiastic fan of the Seoul-based baseball club Doosan Bears, whose body divers have yet to recover.Park sobbed as he talked with the student’s parents, who explained to Park their son’s unique love for baseball. The parents had hung their favorite Bears jersey, signed by the players, on a pole in the gymnasium.Park stayed in the gym for about an hour and then went to Paengmok Port to observe the search operations before returning to Seoul.Park is seeking to be reelected as mayor with Chung Mong-joon of President Park Geun-hye’s Saenuri Party pitted as his main rival. 

May 15, 2014By Ko Dong-hwan

Seoul Mayor sheds tears over Sewol victim

Others

New film blasts `Big Three' conservative dailies

By Ko Dong-hwanA new documentary offers scathing commentary on Korea’s three-largest newspapers ― Chosun Ilbo, JoongAng Ilbo and Dong-A Ilbo ― which are notable for right-wing viewpoints and dramatic headlines.Tae Jun-seek’s ``Wise Solution,’’ which opened in theaters on Thursday, argue that the three dailies _ combining to control 70 percent of the country’s newspaper market in circulation _ negatively influence shaping of public opinion by deliberately manipulating facts and writing to serve the power elite.Analyzing the newspapers’ coverage of corruption in politics and business, elections and other major events, Tae portrays the newspapers as politicized interest groups rather than journalistic outlets.The film breaks down newspapers’ sensational coverage of the political scandal surrounding Park Yeon-cha, a businessman who peddled influence during the government of late liberal President Roh Moo-hyun, and their lack of interest in covering illegal business activities and factory deaths at industry giant Samsung.Tae also laments how the c

May 15, 2014By Ko Dong-hwan

New film blasts `Big Three' conservative dailies

Others

Entertainers resent being called NK sympathizers

Singers Lee Seung-hwan, left, and Lee Eun-miBy Ko Dong-hwan Korean entertainers who are opinionated about social issues are often feeling the downside of living in a country that doubles as Cold War’s last frontier.Singer Lee Seung-hwan and Lee Eun-mi recently found themselves fighting Internet users accusing them as North Korea sympathizers.Lee Seung-hwan had invested in the 2012 film ``26 Years,’’ which imagines a plot to kill former South Korean military strongman Chun Doo-hwan whose brutal suppression of democratization protests in Gwangju in 1981 left 166 people dead.Lee Eun-mi, who has always been a supporter of liberal politics, was scrutinized for her vocal support of Seoul mayoral candidate Park Won-soon.The 2012 presidential election revealed a sharply divided electorate and Park Geun-hye, who won, appeared to benefit from the template of ideological division left by her father, Park Chung-hee, the dictator who was assassinated in 1979. Public figures who are vocal in their anti-government criticism are often accused as by the Web mob as pro-Nort

May 15, 2014By Ko Dong-hwan

Ko Dong-hwan

Read more

Aspiring lawmakers with law-breaking history

Man fatally stabs neighbor over loud noises

Hi-def video game championship on Seoul streets

Most Koreans forced to work on after-hours, weekends

It's rewarding to be bald at Japanese bar

Jobseekers find entry into big firms impossible

video Knife-wielding robber confronts brave pedestrians

Seoul Mayor sheds tears over Sewol victim

New film blasts `Big Three' conservative dailies

Entertainers resent being called NK sympathizers

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