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.
Boryeong Coast Guard officials load ballot boxes and papers for voters living on islands onto a patrol boat at Daecheon Port in Boryeong, South Chungcheong Province, Monday, ahead of the April 15 general election. The coastguards wore protective suits to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Yonhap
An airport official clad in protective gear disinfects her desk at an immigration stand exclusively for inbound passengers with COVID-19 symptoms at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, Sunday. /YonhapBy Bahk Eun-jiAll travelers from the United States to Korea will be tested for COVID-19 within three days of self-quarantine beginning Monday as confirmed cases coming from the U.S. have been increasing steadily, the health authorities said Sunday. According to data from the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), out of 459 cases from overseas, 228, or 49.7 percent, came from the U.S. In the last two weeks alone.All passengers from the U.S. have been under stricter quarantine measures since March 27 ― passengers who do not show symptoms are required to self-quarantine at home for 14 days, and those who show symptoms are required to take tests at the airport. However, new coronavirus cases in Korea stayed at around 30 for the second straight day on Saturday. According to the KCDC, 32 new cases were detected Saturday, bringing the total number of infections to 1
A second grader in Guri, Gyeonggi Province, watches a math lecture on EBS at home. /YonhapBy Bahk Eun-jiAttention is on to whether schools can be opened amid the coronavirus pandemic, while the country started the new school year with remote learning last week. As the number of new daily confirmed cases of COVID-19 has stayed around 50 or less for five consecutive days, many educators, teachers and students expect to see schools resuming onsite classes after having been closed since March 2, when the new school semester was originally scheduled to commence.The rapid spread of the virus has raised fears of group infections at schools, prompting students and parents to ask for an additional postponement to schools opening their doors again. However, the recent slowdown of new cases gave students and parents a glimmer of hope. “If the number of new cases of the virus reported was less than 50 (per day) for more than a week, students will be able to attend schools with the online classes happening at the same time,” Education Minister Yoo Eun-hae said during her visit to Goej
Kwon Deok-cheol, director of the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI), speaks during an interview with The Korea Times at the KHIDI's office in Seoul, Feb. 4. /Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk“Big data, global expansion will gear up health industry”By Bahk Eun-ji, Kim Eil-chulKwon Deok-cheol, director of the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI), who led the government's Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Virus (MERS) response headquarters in 2015, has been the most sought-after expert as Korea battles the coronavirus pandemic. He is one of the key officials who established the medical protocol for infectious diseases. After dealing with the MERS outbreak at that time, he strengthened the infection control system significantly, which is believed to have played a key role in the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak. The government made missteps that cost them precious time and many lives in the fight against MERS because hospitals and officials were unprepared. But the lesson the administration learned from MERS helped them to strike while the iron was hot
A teacher gives a class online from an empty classroom of Seoul Girls' High School in Seoul, Thursday, as the country finally started the new school year for seniors in middle and high schools after delays due to the COVID-19 outbreak. /Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul Schools start new semester with online classes By Bahk Eun-jiSeniors at middle and high schools began the new school year with online classes, Thursday, while buildings remained physically closed as concerns persist over the spread of COVID-19. The students were able to interact with their teachers remotely, after starting their studies 38 days after schools were originally scheduled to open, March 2.Kim Woo-young, a homeroom teacher at Seoul Girls' High School, began her first class by checking students' attendance, calling out their names at 8:10 a.m. Through her desktop monitor, Kim also checked the students' faces. Most students answered “yes” when their names were called, in front of their web
Members of the Association of Student Councils Network, a union of 26 university student councils, rally in front of the Government Complex building in Seoul, Monday. /YonhapBy Bahk Eun-jiUniversity students are calling on the government to come up with measures to protect their right to education and help them survive financially, as many are struggling due to disruptions caused by the prolonged coronavirus pandemic, according to the union of student councils, Tuesday.The Association of Student Councils Network, a union of 26 university student councils, said during a news conference in front of the government complex in Seoul that students are on the brink of disaster as schools are unprepared to handle this situation.Jun Da-hyun, co-chairman of the association, spoke during the news conference about the calls the association had already made for the government and the National Assembly to ensure that tuition fees were refunded, online lectures were improved and students were helped with housing issues. “They have not answered anything,” Jun said.“In addition, the
By Bahk Eun-jiPharmacists are warning the public against taking Ivermectin, an anti-parasitic drug which has been rumored to be effective in treating COVID-19, the Korean Pharmaceutical Association (KPA) said tuesday.The lobby group for pharmacists said further tests must be done to verify the efficacy of the drug in living organisms, despite initial media reports that the anti-parasitic drug was a breakthrough solution to the novel coronavirus pandemic. Ivermectin tablets / YonhapThe KPA said it has not been officially verified whether the drug is effective in killing the COVID-19 virus (SARS-CoV-2) in people.Various media have reported on Ivermectin's possible use as a COVID-19 treatment after reading a collaborative study on the drug led by the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute (BDI) with the Peter Doherty Institute of Infection and Immunity. The joint study, under the auspices of the University of Melbourne and Royal Melbourne Hospital in Australia, showed that the drug killed coronavirus cells within 48 hours in in-vitro experiments. The drug is readily available around the
By Bahk Eun-jiMore young people in their 20s and 30s are calling the “Han River SOS hotline” through telephones installed on bridges crossing the Han River in Seoul as an anti-suicide measure, while the overall number of calls has declined, a civic group said Monday.According to data from LifeLine Korea, a nonprofit organization providing a free, 24-hour telephone crisis support service, the number of calls for counseling through the hotline was 633 in 2019, down nearly 30 percent from 2017's 901. Despite the drop in the total, the number of young people visiting the bridge while contemplating suicide is increasing. An anti-suicide phone run by LifeLine Korea is installed on Mapo Bridge in Seoul. Korea Times fileAmong the total, 36 percent of callers in 2019 were in their 20s, while they accounted for 28.3 percent in 2017. During the same period, callers in their 30s also increased to 8.2 percent from 6.5 percent. Last year, nearly half of the calls were from young people in their 20s and 30s. The number of times rescue workers were dispatched to call sites is also increa
Medical staffers at Kyungpook Natonal University Hospital treat patient with COVID-19 infection, March 25. /YonhapBy Bahk Eun-jiThe government has decided to share anonymous COVID-19 patient data with domestic and international researchers as the highly contagious virus pandemic is straining health systems worldwide, according to the president of the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA).Kim Seung-taek, president of Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service of Korea “The novel coronavirus is threatening the livelihood and safety of global citizens, and social and economic activities have been hit hard in many countries. Yet there is little evidence of real-world clinical data available for physicians or policymakers,” said HIRA President Kim Seung-taek.The agency plans to jointly host #OpenData4Covid19 project, a global research collaboration on COVID-19 with the Ministry of Health and Welfare.As of April 1, nearly 861,000 people have been confirmed with COVID-19 from 200 countries, and the total death toll has reached 42,369 globally. The virus pande
A group of Korean evacuees arrive at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, Friday, from Morocco via a Moroccan carrier provided by the North African nation.. YonhapBy Bahk Eun-jiThe number of coronavirus infections in Korea surpassed 10,000, Thursday, the health authorities announced Friday. This was recorded 74 days after the first case was reported in January.According to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), 86 new infections were confirmed Thursday, bringing the nation's total to 10,062. The death toll rose by five to 174. Among the 86 new cases, 38 involve people who were infected overseas, bringing the total number of such cases to 647. The KCDC said 22 of them were detected at quarantine checkpoints. Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province, the nation's two worst-affected regions, reported nine and five new cases, respectively. The total number of cases reported in Daegu and the North Gyeongsang Province reached 6,734 and 1,309, respectively.The Seoul metropolitan region continues to see new cases daily, mainly due to infection clusters at major hosp