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Bahk Eun-ji

Korea Times Politics & City Reporter

Bahk Eun-ji has been with The Korea Times since 2012, building a career across multiple desks. She began at the Business Desk, where she conducted in-depth interviews with key figures in Korea's corporate world. Later, she moved to the Politics & City Desk, focusing on education policy and social affairs. She later served as team leader of the digital content team, leading curation efforts on the newspaper’s homepage and reshaping print stories for social media audiences to enhance digital reach. Now back on the Politics Desk, she covers the National Assembly and the Ministry of National Defense, with a renewed focus on political developments.

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Society

Universities pressed to stop onsite classes

A notice banning students who recently visited clubs in Itaewon, Seoul, from attending classes is posted on the entrance of a building at Sogang University, Tuesday. YonhapBy Bahk Eun-jiAn increasing number of university students are calling on their schools to stop offering onsite classes for the spring semester amid growing fears of a possible second wave of COVID-19 cases as the result of a superspreader's visit to nightclubs in Itaewon, according to education officials Tuesday.Korea University began onsite classes on the condition that both online and onsite classes are combined from Monday. Small classes with fewer than 30 students have been given approval to resume face-to-face lectures if students agree to abide by social distancing measures. An official of Korea University said the school is closely monitoring the virus situation at the moment. “Currently, face-to-face lectures are only carried out for classes requiring experimental projects and practical training. The decision to change the current policy will be under discussion depending on the situation with the vir

May 12, 2020By Bahk Eun-ji
Universities pressed to stop onsite classes
Society

Gov't delays school reopening by one week

A quarantine official disinfects a classroom at Yeongdongil High School in Songpa-gu, Seoul, Monday. The country will reopen schools in stages, starting with high school seniors, Wednesday. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-sukBy Bahk Eun-jiThe Ministry of Education (MOE) ordered all kindergartens, and elementary, middle and high schools Monday to delay reopening by a week as an infection cluster stemming from a superspreader visitor to a number of nightclubs in the Itaewon area has been spreading rapidly across the country.Under the plan, high school seniors will return to school on May 20, while other grades will return to school gradually over the following weeks.“After thorough consultation with health authorities, the education ministry decided to postpone school reopening for high school seniors to ensure their safety from possible spreading in classrooms” said Vice Education Minister Park Baeg-beom during a press briefing The ministry's decision came just two days before high school seniors, who are currently taking online classes, were supposed to return to classrooms

May 11, 2020By Bahk Eun-ji
Gov't delays school reopening by one week
  • Gov't struggles to trace Itaewon clubbers
Politics

'Comfort women' advocacy group denies misuse of funds

Lee Na-young, third from left, head of the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, speaks during a press conference in Mapo, Seoul, Monday. YonhapBy Bahk Eun-jiLeaders of a civic group which supports women who were coerced into wartime sexual slavery by Japan denied allegations that they all misappropriated donated funds and exploited the victims.But they apologized for causing the controversy about the transparency of donations, and causing pain for Lee Yong-soo, a 92-year-old victim of Japanese military sexual slavery during Japan's 1910-45 colonization of the Korean Peninsula.“We humbly accept the sorrow, anxiety, and anger of Lee, who has been like a family member for the past 30 years. We sincerely apologize for causing her pain by making inappropriate remarks,” said Lee Na-young, head of the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan (Korean Council), during the press conference. On Thursday, Lee Yong-soo said that she will no longer participate in the weekly r

May 11, 2020By Bahk Eun-ji
'Comfort women' advocacy group denies misuse of funds
  • Civic group for 'comfort women' denies allegations of opaque use of donations
  • 'Yoon uses comfort women for own interest'
Society

Parents concerned about schools reopening

People wait for COVID-19 testing at a screening center in a public health center in Yongsan, Sunday, amid growing fears of a cluster infection after a man in his 20s who went to clubs in Itaewon was confirmed to be infected last week. /YonhapBy Bahk Eun-jiMany parents are expressing concerns over the government's move to reopen schools starting this week, as a hike in the number of COVID-19 patients linked to an Itaewon club-goer has put health authorities on edge again.Education authorities announced plans to reopen schools this week as the spread of the highly contagious virus had been showing signs of abating. More than two months after schools were physically closed, high school seniors will return to school on May 13 under the plan, while younger students will resume school in stages between May 20 and June 1.However, many parents became concerned about the government's plan and wonder if the education ministry is sufficiently prepared for possible mass infections in classrooms. A 33-year-old homemaker living in Anyang, Gyeonggi Province, surnamed Kang, said her priority is her

May 10, 2020By Bahk Eun-ji
Parents concerned about schools reopening
Health

Infections in Itaewon clubs spread across nation

A nightclub in Itaewon displays a sign to inform visitors of its voluntary closure after the Seoul city government issued an administrative order suspending operation of clubs and bars, Saturday. /YonhapKorea reports 34 new virus cases Sunday, largest in a monthBy Bahk Eun-jiThe latest cluster infections in Itaewon, Seoul, have spread across the country over the past week, raising fears that the once-under-control coronavirus outbreak could spin out of control, according to health authorities, Sunday.The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) confirmed 34 more cases, bringing the country's total to 10,874. Among the daily new cases, 26 people were associated with a 29-year-old man who went to clubs and bars in the multicultural entertainment district of Itaewon on May 2, while two were detected in Daegu and eight came from overseas.The KCDC urged visitors of those clubs to self-isolate to contain the spread of the virus as the number of people assumed to have visited the clubs and bars would be inaccurate due to possible errors in the entry logs. Clubs and bars in It

May 10, 2020By Bahk Eun-ji
Infections in Itaewon clubs spread across nation
  • Gyeonggi Province issues 'no-assembly' order for bars, clubs
Society

Rural residents to be hit hard by closure of post offices

By Bahk Eun-jiLife will become much harder for residents in rural areas after Korea Post closes nearly seven hundred unprofitable post offices, mostly in farming and fishing villages, over the next four years to improve its worsening bottom line, according to the postal workers' union Wednesday.Currently, many people living in rural areas rely on postal offices not only for mail services, but also for financial and insurance services. When the offices in their towns close, it will be difficult for them, particularly senior citizens, to access remittances and other everyday financial services An elderly woman with an umbrella enters a post office in Incheon, west of Seoul, in this Feb. 25 file photo. /Korea Times fileKorea Post operates three types of branches ― general post offices, special post offices, and postal handling offices. They all handle postal services under the Postal Law, but only special post offices, 726 offices in total, are allowed to offer financial and insurance servicesIn the 1960s, the government introduced general post offices to all regions of the country as t

May 6, 2020By Bahk Eun-ji
Rural residents to be hit hard by closure of post offices
Health

Why it is difficult to develop COVID-19 vaccine

President Moon Jae-in, right, listens to a researcher after attending a meeting of officials from industrial, academic and medical circles to discuss ways to develop medicines and vaccines for COVID-19 at the Institut Pasteur Korea in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, in this April 9 photo. YonhapBy Bahk Eun-jiA number of pharmaceutical companies, scientists and research bodies all over the world are actively joining in the race to develop a vaccine for COVID-19, but experts cautiously predict that many obstacles still stand in the way of their goal. At the beginning of the month, President Moon Jae-in voiced hopes that the country could take the lead in developing vaccines and medicines for the highly contagious virus, calling for consistent efforts to do so during a joint meeting with related academics and industry and hospital officials. Moon also said 210 billion won ($172 million) will be allocated to support development of a vaccine, and he promised to support the private sector in its vaccine development efforts.As the country has been mapping out a government-wide support system,

May 3, 2020By Bahk Eun-ji
Why it is difficult to develop COVID-19 vaccine
  • Korean pharma, biotech in race for COVID-19 treatment
Health

Crackdowns on undocumented foreign workers postponed

Few people visit a makeshift clinic for COVID-19 tests at regional healthcare center in Songpa-gu, Seoul, Friday, as the country reported yet another single-digit increase in the number of coronavirus infections with just nine new cases. /YonhapBy Bahk Eun-jiCrackdowns against undocumented foreign migrant workers will be postponed in order to better protect vulnerable people amid a fall in the number of new COVID-19 infections, the country's top infectious disease official said Friday.“In order to stably manage the spread of COVID-19 and to prevent the possibility of massive infection clusters, it is important to take care of people in any blind spot. The highly contagious virus can be spread again if these people fail to visit clinics due to their status,” said Vice Health Minister Kim Gang-lip during a regular press briefing at the Government Complex in Sejong. The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters said it will conduct virus testing for all people in the vulnerable social group including the homeless and foreign workers for better containment. To

May 1, 2020By Bahk Eun-ji
Crackdowns on undocumented foreign workers postponed
Society

Labor day rally

Members of Korean Confederation of Trade Unions march toward Jogye Temple in Seoul during a rally to mark the 130th anniversary of Labor Day, Friday. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

May 1, 2020By Bahk Eun-ji
Labor day rally
Politics

'Late Kim Hak-soon was trailblazer of #MeToo movement'

By Bahk Eun-jiThe brutality of Japan's sex slavery came to light when late former sex slave Kim Hak-soon, then 67, publicly testified about her experience for the first time in 1991. Lee Na-young, a professor of sociology at Chung-Ang University and the new head of The Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan (Korean Council) said Kim Hak-soon was the trailblazer of the #MeToo movement in Korea. The group organizes the famous weekly vigil in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, and Lee has replaced former head Yoon Mee-hyung who is starting a new career as a lawmaker from June. “Kim's testimony was the beginning of the #MeToo Movement in Korea as it led people to recognize the responsibility of the perpetrators, and structural problems in society,” Lee said during a recent interview with Yonhap.Born in 1924, Kim was forced into sexual slavery, to be a so-called “comfort woman” for Japanese troops between 1941 and 1942. In 1991, she came forward to describe her harrowing experience and filed a suit against

May 1, 2020By Bahk Eun-ji
'Late Kim Hak-soon was trailblazer of #MeToo movement'
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