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.
President Moon Jae-in speaks during a luncheon meeting with the leaders of the country's major religions, Protestantism, Catholicism and Buddhism, at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul, Wednesday, to ask for their support towards national unity. Yonhap
Yoo Byeong-gyu, front, chief of HDC Hyundai Development Company, and the company's other executives bow in apology, Wednesday, at the construction site of an apartment complex in Gwangju, for the partial collapse the previous day of an apartment building which the company has been building. YonhapBy Bahk Eun-jiThe Gwangju Metropolitan Government has ordered a halt on all construction ongoing by HDC Hyundai Development Company in the city, following the partial collapse of an apartment building, Tuesday, the second deadly building collapse attributed to the developer in the southwestern city in about seven months.Rescue authorities resumed search operations for six missing workers, Wednesday.The suspension of construction came a day after the exterior wall of the apartment building between the 28th and 34th floors crumbled at 3:46 p.m. Three workers trapped in a container below were rescued, and one of them was hospitalized for injuries.The city government said, Wednesday, it ordered suspension of all construction projects being carried out by the company. HDC is currently building ap
Gwanghwamun Square is under construction in central Seoul, in this April 27 photo. YonhapBy Bahk Eun-jiSeoul City has introduced some new policies and changes in its programs for 2022.Below are some of the changes to affect the capital.New Gwanghwamun Square The renovation of Gwanghwamun Square will be completed and will officially open in the first half of this year. The city government is currently proceeding with the facelift project, which includes expanding the size of the square by 3.7 times by reducing lanes and expanding pedestrian paths. The new square will have more green space with 7,000 trees and 33,400 flowers. A small water channel will be built on the site of an old drainage channel as part of the square, and a Hangeul-themed fountain will be installed around the King Sejong statue.The construction of another part of the square, themed with history, is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2023 by changing the road in front of Gwanghwamun.Free meals for kindergarteners A meal provided at a daycare center in Seoul / Korea Times fileA decade after the city government b
A visitor shows a vaccine certificate on a smartphone via a QR code at a discount store in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, Monday. YonhapBy Bahk Eun-jiThe government is encouraging the public to receive booster shots against COVID-19, but many people are postponing it until just before their vaccine pass is set to expire after six months, in an effort to widen the vaccination intervals as much as possible.This trend is because many people now think that they may have to receive a fourth and even fifth vaccination.Kim Hae-jun, a 28-year-old office worker living in Geumcheon District in Seoul, said she plans to wait until right before her vaccine pass expires and then receive the next booster shot. “Looking at the current virus situation, I thought that health authorities might recommend a fourth vaccine dose. But as concerns over possible side effects of the vaccine have not been allayed yet, I am trying to monitor the virus situation more at least for a couple of months to avoid receiving vaccines repeatedly,” Kim said. The vaccine pass, which is given when one fini
Space Walk stands in Hwanho Park in the southeastern port city of Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, in this provided photo. Courtesy of POSCOBy Bahk Eun-jiThe nation's largest walkable art installation, named, “Space Walk” in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, is emerging as a popular tourist attraction. According to Pohang City, Space Walk has rapidly gained attention from tourists and residents alike, as visitors can enjoy beautiful sunrises, sunsets and night views from the roller coaster track-like structure.More than 110,000 people have visited it since its opening on Nov.19 last year, the city said. It is the work of German artists Heike Mutter and Ulrich Genth. The 333-meter-long curved track was constructed by POSCO, using about 317 tons of steel, all produced by the steel maker, and took two years and seven months to complete.Visitors say it is like walking on a roller coaster. As it is installed on a mountain, they can also look down on Yeongildae Beach and POSCO's steel plant.A reservation is not required to visit the Space Walk and admission is free.For safet
Video footage shows workers at a dried squid factory stepping on piles of squid. Screenshot from TikTokBy Bahk Eun-jiA controversy over poor hygiene practices in food preparation has arisen following the release of video footage showing workers at a dried squid factory treading on squid while wearing rubber footwear. The 27-second video was posted to an online community on Saturday, along with the title, “Factory making dried squid products in an unhygienic way.”The clip, originally posted on TikTok by a foreign employee, shows workers in white rubber shoes moving back and forward stepping on dried squid, supposedly to flatten them out.In another video clip uploaded by the worker, the workers are sorting squid without wearing masks properly. As the video went viral, many online users expressed their shock at the unhygienic process of making dried squid.“I used to eat a lot of dried squid, but I'm worried that it may have been produced there,” one user wrote.Some users said they reported this to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.But another wrote that squid
An Osstem Implant employee, center, is escorted by police officers into the Gangseo Police Station in Seoul, Jan. 6, after being caught for allegedly embezzling 188 billion won from his company. YonhapBy Bahk Eun-jiThe investigation into the country's single largest embezzlement case involving an employee at Osstem Implant is widening to look into possible accomplices or involvement of higher-ranking company officials, following his testimony about “slush funds.”On Saturday, a local court issued an arrest warrant for the employee, surnamed Lee, 45, on charges of embezzlement, saying he was likely to flee or destroy evidence.Lee is accused of manipulating balance sheets so as to embezzle 188 billion won ($156 million) in company funds between March and October last year ― which allegedly accounted for 90.81 percent of the dental implant producer's equity.He allegedly transferred 5 billion won from the company account to his own and then again back to the company account, and repeated this as if testing the firm's accounting inspection system.As this act was not detected, h
Seen is the money saved in piggy banks that two elementary school brothers in Gongju, South Chungcheong Province, donated, Dec. 30, after saving it over a year. / YonhapBy Bahk Eun-jiTwo brothers attending elementary school decided secretly to leave the money they had saved up for buying a game console at a police station for those in need.The Gongju Police Station recently said that officers at Geumhak Precinct in Gongju, South Chungcheong Province, found a paper bag containing three piggy banks in front of the precinct door at around 4 p.m. on Dec. 30.A paper bag with piggy banks inside was left in front of the Geumhak Precinct in Gongju, South Chungcheong Province. YonhapIn the paper bag, there were three piggy banks containing 1.08 million won ($842) and two copies of handwritten letters. “We saved money to buy a game console, but please use it for people in need,” the letters read. “We know it's not a lot of money, but we want to help people in need instead of spending it to buy a games console. Hope you'll be careful not to catch a cold, police officers,&rdquo
A worker at a study cafe in Seoul removes a notice on the vaccine pass requirement, Tuesday, after the court suspended the government's enforcement of the vaccine pass system for private education facilities. YonhapBy Bahk Eun-jiA court decision to suspend the government's COVID-19 vaccine pass mandate for private academies and education facilities is expected to shake up the nation's entire vaccine pass scheme, as it ruled the system infringes on people's basic rights and the right to self-determination.It is likely to cause a series of similar suits by operators of other facilities where the vaccine certificate system is ― or will be ― applied, complicating the government's plan to expand its vaccine pass requirement.The Seoul Administrative Court, Tuesday, accepted the injunction request from groups of parents and private institutions to suspend the vaccine pass scheme for cram schools (“hagwon” in Korean), study rooms, study cafes, libraries and vocational training institutions. The suspension will continue until the court makes a separate ruling on their complaint to
By Bahk Eun-jiThe nation's top court has upheld lower court decisions that gave a 10-year jail sentence to a male teacher at a daycare center for sexually abusing four- to five-year-old girls. Korea Times fileThe Supreme Court announced Friday that it had confirmed the jail sentence for the 32-year-old teacher, who was the son of the center's head.He sexually abused a five-year-old and a four-year-old girl between December 2019 and January 2020 in a classroom of the daycare center, taking advantage of the fact that the young children were unable to resist what he told them to do, according to the court.The man denied the abuse, claiming he had just hugged the children. But the courts did not accept the claim based on CCTV footage and the victims' testimony.A local court said he committed the crime despite his role as a daycare center teacher who should have been protecting them. It also banned him from getting a job at children-related facilities for 10 years after finishing his jail term. An appellate court and the top court all upheld the decision.The man's mother, the head of the