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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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Health

Fear grows over new variant stronger than Delta

Arrivals from overseas undergo quarantine procedures at Incheon International Airport, Sunday, amid concerns over the inflow of the Omicron variant into the nation. Korea Times photo by Hong In-kiGov't bans entry from 8 African nationsBy Bahk Eun-jiConcerns are growing over the possible spread of a new COVID-19 variant here, following rapid overseas transmission of the Omicron mutation which is believed to be stronger than the currently dominant Delta strain.Although its potential threat is yet to be known compared with other strains, experts are urging the government to take as strong measures as possible to prevent the inflow of the new variant, designated as a “variant of concern” by the World Health Organization, given that the country's antivirus response is already facing challenges amid a surge of infections in recent weeks.As the first step of its preventive measures, the government started to ban entry to Korea of foreign nationals from eight African countries from Sunday. Those nations are South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique

Nov 28, 2021By Bahk Eun-ji
Fear grows over new variant stronger than Delta
Health

Concerns over COVID infection growing among pregnant women

Citizens wait in line to get tested for COVID-19 at a temporary test site in front of Seoul City Hall, Thursday. YonhapBy Bahk Eun-jiConcerns are growing among pregnant woman nationwide over whether to receive COVID-19 vaccine or not following the death of a fetus which is presumed to be due to possible infection from the coronavirus transmitted by the mother. According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), the mother, who had not been vaccinated, tested positive Nov. 18, and delivered a stillborn baby four days later, which also tested positive for the virus.“It is unclear whether it was through vertical transmission or contamination by body fluids,” said Park Young-joon, head of the epidemiological investigation team at the Central Disease Control Headquarters. “It is not easy to figure out how much influence coronavirus had in the stillbirth. Relevant data and experts' opinion are required (to decide on the influence), but it is a very rare case and we wonder there are sufficient data to make a conclusion.” The news has made many pregna

Nov 25, 2021By Bahk Eun-ji
Concerns over COVID infection growing among pregnant women
  • Korea confirms 1st fetal COVID-19 death
Society

Namseoul University introduces nation's first IBEC course

Park Hee-suk, dean of the International Graduate School of Namseoul University / Courtesy of Namseoul UniversityBy Bahk Eun-jiNamseoul University has been operating a broad range of programs to achieve the goal of cultivating talented global citizens equipped with skills that transcend national borders. A global dual degree program, which allows students to acquire a degree jointly from Namseoul and one of seven foreign universities in six countries ― the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, China, and Japan ― is the representative program of the university, and the International Baccalaureate educator certificate (IBEC) program is the driving force for the growth of the school as a global university.Namseoul University International Graduate School became the first school in Korea to adopt the IBEC program last year, and among four categories, Namseoul is currently operating the IB Diploma Program (IBDP) which nurtures teachers to teach the high school-level IB curriculum.Those with secondary teaching qualification here or abroad can get the IBDP teaching certifica

Nov 25, 2021By Bahk Eun-ji
Namseoul University introduces nation's first IBEC course
Society

Gov't urged to initiate emergency brake on 'Living with COVID-19' scheme

Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum readjusts his mask during a COVID-19 response meeting at the Government Complex Sejong, Wednesday.  YonhapDaily caseload tops 4,000 for 1st timeBy Bahk Eun-jiExperts are calling on the government to revert to its contingency plan, which it had said it would initiate if the risk level from the COVID-19 pandemic became higher, saying the situation will only get worse if the current eased social distancing regulations for the “Living with COVID-19” plan continue. The administration, however, is just repeating it is reviewing the necessity of applying the “emergency brake” to its envisioned return to normalcyThe Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported 4,115 new daily infections for Tuesday, an all-time high since the pandemic started here in January last year.Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said Wednesday that the situation in Seoul and the surrounding metropolitan area was serious enough to consider employing the contingency plan soon, as about 80 percent of total infections are taking place in the greater capital

Nov 24, 2021By Bahk Eun-ji
Gov't urged to initiate emergency brake on 'Living with COVID-19' scheme
Environment & Animals

Seoul City cuts budget for fight against climate crisis

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon / YonhapBy Bahk Eun-jiSeoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon has vowed to make the capital become a carbon-neutral city that achieves net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, and said the city government will exert all efforts to achieve the goal.However, the Seoul Metropolitan Government has slashed a large portion of its 2022 budget for environmental protection and its fight against climate change.According to the city's budget plan for 2022, submitted to the Seoul Metropolitan Council earlier this month, the relevant budget has been reduced by 450 billion won ($379.3 million) compared to 2021.Next year's budget allocated to the city government's Climate Environment Headquarters is 463 billion won, down by 117 billion won from this year.About half of the reduced amount at the headquarters, or 55.7 billion won, was from projects that have been carried out by the Climate Change Response Division, including the “Green Remodeling” project aimed at improving the energy efficiency of buildings by remodeling them with eco-friendly facilities.The budget allocated to th

Nov 23, 2021By Bahk Eun-ji
Seoul City cuts budget for fight against climate crisis
Society

Decision on teen vaccine pass to be made next week

By Bahk Eun-jiThe Ministry of Education plans to discuss whether to implement a “vaccine pass” system for teenagers aged under 18.The vaccine pass system requires people visiting multi-use facilities such as PC rooms, movie theaters and karaoke rooms to be fully vaccinated or have a negative COVID-19 test result. Education Minister Yoo Eun-hae “Various ways to ease the virus restrictions for people under the age of 18 are under discussion. A detailed plan will be decided after talks with the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters next week,” Education Minister Yoo Eun-hae said on a local radio show, Friday. Schools in the Seoul metropolitan area will fully resume in-person classes Nov. 22. But the vaccination rate for 12 to 17-year-olds, and especially for 12 to 15-year-olds who are in the sixth grade of elementary school and first to third grades of middle school, is still low as parents are still reluctant to get them vaccinated. Yoo said that if t

Nov 20, 2021By Bahk Eun-ji
Decision on teen vaccine pass to be made next week
Health

Gov't criticized over lack of planning on critical cases

Medical worker guides people to receive COVID-19 tests at a screening center in Seoul Station, Friday. YonhapBy Bahk Eun-jiThe government's lack of measures to deal with the fallout from its eased antivirus restrictions under the “Living with COVID-19” plan has prompted confusion in the medical field. In particular, critics point out that indicators for evaluating the risk of COVID-19 do not properly reflect how bad the coronavirus situation is.According to data from local governments, the rapid increase in infections is leading to a shortage of hospital beds, especially in intensive care units (ICUs).In the metropolitan area of Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province, 81.5 percent of ICU beds were occupied as of Saturday. The rate in Seoul alone was 82.9 percent, showing a more serious bed shortage problem. Of the total 345 ICU beds in Seoul, 286 are in use, leaving 59 available.Experts point out that the government's lack of preparation before easing the antivirus restrictions has led to the deficiency of ICU beds in the metropolitan area.“Compared to the current inc

Nov 19, 2021By Bahk Eun-ji
Gov't criticized over lack of planning on critical cases
Politics

Justice Party's candidate meets young women

Sim Sang-jeung, center, the presidential candidate of the progressive minor opposition Justice Party, speaks during a talk show with young women in their 20s at U-Plex in Seoul, Thursday. Sim and other participants talked about various factors that make young women's lives difficult. Yonhap

Nov 18, 2021By Bahk Eun-ji
Justice Party's candidate meets young women
Society

National college entrance exam

Test-takers of the College Scholastic Ability Test take a selfie at Ewha Girls' Foreign Language High School in Jung-gu, Seoul, before entering the test venue, Thursday, when approximately 510,000 people took the state-administered college entrance test. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

Nov 18, 2021By Bahk Eun-ji
National college entrance exam
Society

Young Koreans choose 'sharing' over 'winner-takes-all'

A scene from Netflix's smash hit series, "Squid Game" / Courtesy of NetflixBy Bahk Eun-jiYoung Youth Foundation members would prefer a game that shares a large sum of money equally between participants over a game where one winner takes the pot, as seen in Netflix's original Korean drama “Squid Game,” a survey of members showed, Thursday. The 6,036 foundation members, aged from 19 to 35, were asked which option they would prefer if faced with a “Squid Game”-like situation ― a game in which 456 people participate but only one winner takes all the prize money, while the remainder lose their lives.When asked to choose between “all 456 participants surviving and sharing 100 million won each” and “only one participant surviving and winning 45.6 billion won,” 75 percent of the respondents said they would pick the former.Some 71 percent also said they would prefer a “sustainable minimum social safety net” rather than a “one-time support through a large sum of money.”“The results of the survey showed that responden

Nov 18, 2021By Bahk Eun-ji
Young Koreans choose 'sharing' over 'winner-takes-all'
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