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.
A ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of the 1976 Panmunjeom Axe Murder Incident is held at Camp Bonifas in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday. U.S. Army Capt. Arthur Bonifas and 1st Lt. Mark Barrett were killed by North Korean soldiers on Aug. 18, 1976, while supervising a tree-trimming operation in the Joint Security Area. Joint Press Corps
![[PHOTO] 50th anniv. of Panmunjeom Axe Murder Incident](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
For President Lee Jae Myung, the election of Kim Min-seok as ruling party leader removes one potential source of political friction, even as it leaves the unity within the party unresolved. Kim, who served as the first prime minister of the Lee administration, is expected to maintain close coordination with the presidential office as he takes the helm of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK). Having worked alongside Lee on key policy issues, Kim enters the job with an established working relationship with the president. Kim made close coordination with the Lee administration a key campaign message, arguing that friction between the ruling party and the presidential office would hurt the government as well as the president. His message appears to have resonated particularly as approval ratings for both Lee and the ruling party have weakened in recent weeks. Kim campaigned as a leader who would work in step with the government rather than seek to differentiate the party from the president. Political commentator Eom Kyeong-young, director of the Zeitgeist Institute, said the leadership
U.S. President Donald Trump’s order to scale back joint military exercises with South Korea could be an attempt to bring North Korean leader Kim Jong-un back to the negotiating table, experts said Monday. Trump said Sunday that the exercises were costly and sent an "inappropriate and hostile signal" to North Korea, citing his "very good relationship" with Kim and claiming Pyongyang "has been unthreatening and respectful" during his time in office. Noting that it was too late to cancel Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) outright since it was already scheduled to begin Monday, he said he had instructed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to "substantially reduce" the annual exercise. The remarks came a day after Trump posted a photo of his 2019 meeting with Kim at Panmunjeom in the Joint Security Area within the Demilitarized Zone, writing that the two leaders "get along GREAT." Cheong Wa Dae responded by saying South Korea and the U.S. "have closely coordinated on maintaining a solid combined defense posture and on joint exercises and training." "We hope that the friendly relationship between the U
Having a cold beer by the water at Cheonggye Stream may soon come with an unexpected price tag. Foreign tourists as well as local visitors could face fines for drinking or smoking along Seoul’s Cheonggye Stream, as the city moves to crack down on unruly behavior following a series of incidents that drew public criticism. Drinking, smoking, entering the water, cooking, sleeping outdoors, urinating and bringing pets to the stream area are already prohibited. But there has been no legal basis for imposing fines, leaving safety officers from the Seoul Facilities Corp. with little option beyond warning violators. A team of 40 safety officers currently patrols the full length of the stream in shifts. The Seoul Metropolitan Government plans to formally designate the entire 8.12-kilometer stretch from Cheonggye Plaza to where the stream meets Jungnang Stream as a no-smoking and no-drinking zone under the National Health Promotion Act and revise related ordinances so district officials can directly enforce the rules and begin imposing fines by the end of the year. Fines for drinking and smoking
The ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) continues struggling to win over voters in their 20s and 30s, as a series of controversies over housing, investment and criminal justice reform feeds a broader feeling that the party is not addressing the concerns of young adults. While the liberal party used to enjoy larger support from young people compared with the conservative People Power Party, its members, especially lawmakers, are now perceived as presenting policies that make life harder for the younger generations. The latest case of frustration erupting among young people was in response to a suggestion from DPK Rep. Hwang Hee, who last week proposed converting retired buses for use as temporary housing for young people to help provide relief from high housing prices. “If they had seriously thought about what people in their 20s are actually worried about, I don’t think they could have come up with something like this,” said Kim, a 28-year-old office worker in Seoul. “Lawmakers should first ask themselves whether they would be willing to live there.” Hwang later apologized f
The race for leadership of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) is heading into its decisive final week, with no clear favorite yet emerging. Former Prime Minister Kim Min-seok currently holds the lead, but his margin over ex-party leader Jung Chung-rae is just 1.48 percentage points, leaving the contest wide open ahead of crucial votes in Jeonnam-Gwangju Special Metropolitan City, North Jeolla Province and the Seoul metropolitan area. With regional voting completed everywhere else, Kim currently stands at 46.01 percent, or 95,821 votes, followed by Jung with 44.53 percent, or 92,735 votes. Song Young-gil is currently in third with 9.47 percent, or 19,715 votes. The gap between Kim and Jung is 3,086 votes. Kim has finished on top in three of the four regional rounds held so far. He won the Chungcheong region in the opening weekend, while Jung took Busan, Ulsan and South Gyeongsang Province. Kim then won Jeju and Incheon, followed by the combined Gangwon, Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province round last weekend. Those results reversed the order from the first week, when Jung held a 0.9
South Korea and the United States will conduct their annual Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) exercise from Aug. 17 to 27, with this year’s drills reflecting evolving threats including drones, GPS disruption and cyberattacks, the allies said Monday. The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) and the Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command announced the schedule during a joint briefing in Seoul. The allies described UFS 26 as an annual exercise that is defensive in nature. About 18,000 Korean troops will participate, roughly the same level as last year. The number of combined field training exercises at the battalion level or above, however, will be reduced to 14 from 17 in 2025. A JCS official said the allies have been conducting combined field training throughout the year in a balanced manner to maintain and improve their combined defense posture. The exercises were closely coordinated from the planning stage and will focus on essential training linked to the UFS scenario. This year’s exercise will also incorporate lessons from recent conflicts, including changes in warfare involving drones, GPS disruptio
Lessons from recent conflicts are shaping how the United Nations Command (UNC) prepares for its role in defending Korea, including through the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) exercise. Lt. Gen. Scott Winter, deputy commander of the UNC, said Thursday the command is using every opportunity to prepare for evolving threats seen in conflicts such as Ukraine and Iran. “The threat continues to evolve, therefore we cannot stand still,” Winter said during a roundtable with defense ministry reporters. He said the UNC uses exercises to prepare for emerging threats while seeking interoperability across all domains. Winter pointed to North Korea’s involvement in the war in Ukraine, saying its troops are likely to have brought home lessons from their experience in the conflict. He said one of the key lessons from the war in Ukraine is that “deterrence can fail.” Winter said the response should include greater investment in deterrent capabilities, including hard power and what he called “the willpower of the many.” He also repeated a phrase often used by Gen. Xavier Brunson, commander o
The Korean government rejected concerns raised by U.S. Republican lawmakers over the country’s revised Information and Communication Network Act, Friday, pushing back against accusations that the law threatens online speech and discriminates against American companies. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the legislation was introduced to address problems arising from changes in the digital environment and strengthen protections for users. “The legislation does not contain any provisions that discriminate against U.S. companies,” the ministry said. The government will work with relevant ministries to “actively explain the purpose and effects of the legislation” to the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, it added. The response came after four Republican members of the committee — Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio and Reps. Scot Fitzgerald of Wisconsin, Darrel Issa of California and Michael Baumgartner of Washington — sent a letter Thursday to Kim Jong-cheol, head of the Korea Media and Communications Commission (KMCC), raising concerns about the revised law and requesting a briefing o
The Pentagon’s push to give tactical nuclear weapons a greater role in defending U.S. allies in regional conflicts with China or Russia is raising questions in Seoul over whether U.S. nuclear weapons could return to South Korea more than three decades after their withdrawal. According to media reports, the Pentagon is drafting a new nuclear strategy that would place greater emphasis on shorter-range tactical nuclear weapons in such conflicts. South Korean experts, however, say the shift would not necessarily lead to the redeployment of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons here. They say a more likely consequence would be closer coordination between U.S. nuclear forces and South Korea’s conventional military capabilities, while warning that making nuclear weapons more usable could also increase the risk of escalation on the Korean Peninsula. The United States withdrew all of its tactical nuclear weapons from South Korea in 1991, when former President George H.W. Bush ordered a global pullback of U.S. ground- and sea-based tactical nuclear arms. Then-South Korean President Roh Tae-woo respon