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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

Mayor wants to build Lee Kun-hee museum in Busan

Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon speaks in a session of the city council, April 26. YonhapBy Bahk Eun-jiBusan Mayor Park Heong-joon has expressed his desire for Busan to host a museum for the donated art collection of late Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee. The wish came after President Moon Jae-in ordered his aides to review a plan to set up a separate place to exhibit the 23,000 pieces of art, rather than dividing them up among multiple museums and exhibition halls. On Sunday, Park posted a message on Facebook saying the tentatively named “Lee Kun-hee Museum” will become a superb tourist attraction.“It is said that an art museum to show Chairman Lee's donated collection will be built, and news reports say that museum will be in Seoul, although the bereaved family hasn't agreed,” he wrote.He said that most of the country's cultural infrastructure is concentrated in Seoul, saying Seoul and the surrounding area already have Samsung-related museums ― Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art and the Ho-Am Art Museum ― as well as many more public and private ones.“To meet the lat

May 3, 2021By Bahk Eun-ji
Mayor wants to build Lee Kun-hee museum in Busan
Politics

Song becomes new ruling party head

Song Young-gil, a five-term lawmaker of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, waves the party's flag at its headquarters in Seoul, Sunday, after being elected new leader. He won 35.6 percent of the votes from party members and the public. Yonhap

May 2, 2021By Bahk Eun-ji
Song becomes new ruling party head
Society

Pet grooming academies accused of animal abuse

Dogs for grooming training are held in cages at a pet grooming academy in South Gyeongsang Province in this April 10 photo. Korea Times fileBy Bahk Eun-jiSome private “academies” that train people to groom pets have been accused of animal abuse due to the poor treatment and hygiene of the animals used in training. Critics say that these problems come from a legal loophole in animal protection laws. Under the Animal Protection Act, animal groomers should manage facilities hygienically and safely, as well as prepare equipment to prevent dogs from suffering health problems, but such academies are not included in the animal beauty industry category because they are considered educational institutions, not workplacesThere are online posts uploaded by people who attended such academies, who say that most of the institutions do not have proper facilities, such as hot water, devices to prevent animals from falling from grooming desks and rest areas.Moreover, most put the dogs in narrow cages and do not provide good hygiene, they said.In a video clip and photos posted last month b

May 2, 2021By Bahk Eun-ji
Pet grooming academies accused of animal abuse
Health

Socially distanced test

Job applicants for Daegu Metropolitan Transit Corp. take a written exam while seated 2 meters apart from each other to maintain social distancing to prevent the spread of COVID-19, at the EXCO Hall in Daegu, Sunday. Yonhap

May 2, 2021By Bahk Eun-ji
Socially distanced test
Health

Korea moving to embrace diverse family types

Members of activist groups, including Political Mamas and the Korean Hanbumo Association, hold a press conference in front of KBS in Yeouido, Seoul, April 14, to protest discrimination against single parents. This issue came up after the broadcaster decided to have Japanese TV personality Sayuri Fujita, who became an unmarried mother by choice, appear on a childcare program. Korea Times photo by Lee Yu-jiBy Bahk Eun-jiEvery country has a legal definition of and boundaries around what constitutes a “family,” so that it can apply laws in regard to various family issues, such as childcare, household subsidies, inheritance and housing among others. Such laws, however, can have adverse effects on people who do not fall into the legal concept of family, causing discrimination against them for not forming a “normal” family. Korea has recently seen a debate on what kind of family is normal and what kind is not ― a debate sparked by, among other things, television personality Sayuri Fujita, who became an unmarried mother using artificial insemination and an anonymous s

May 2, 2021By Bahk Eun-ji
Korea moving to embrace diverse family types
Health

Vaccine jitters increase among younger Koreans

Soldiers wait to be inoculated with COVID-19 vaccine at a military vaccination center in Daegu, Wednesday. Yonhap Vaccinated people to be exempt from self-quarantine: gov'tBy Bahk Eun-jiA growing number of people in their 30s and 40s are becoming increasingly reluctant to receive the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine amid lingering concerns over safety, especially after some serious adverse side-effects such as blood clotting were reported. Such jitters are expected to grow following the government's recent announcement that it will bring in more doses of the Pfizer vaccine, which hasn't produced such adverse reactions so far, during the second half of the year.While Korea started vaccinations of around 176,000 civil servants aged over 30, such as police officers, firefighters and coast guard crew, Monday, only 58 percent agreed to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine.In contrast, 91.1 percent of patients and 95.8 percent of staff at long-term nursing homes aged under 65 rece

Apr 28, 2021By Bahk Eun-ji
Vaccine jitters increase among younger Koreans
  • Fully vaccinated people can skip 14-day self-isolation: authorities
Society

Local governments actively seek to prevent COVID-led suicides

This Jan. 23, 2018 photo shows a special phone installed on the Mapo Bridge over Seoul's Han River, which connects a person considering suicide by jumping off the bridge directly to a counselor, as part of efforts to prevent suicide. Korea Times photo by Seo Jae-hoonBy Bahk Eun-jiSocial distancing, strict regulations on gatherings, and remote meetings have become the new normal since the COVID-19 outbreak, and the protracted pandemic has been taking a toll on people's mental health. Studies have indicated that the number of people thinking about suicide could increase, given that the pandemic has been continuing for over a year and there is no end in sight. According to a 2020 survey conducted by the Korean Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, the rate of people experiencing suicidal thoughts grew as the pandemic went on, from 9.7 percent in March, to 10.1 percent in May and 13.8 percent in September of last year. The September figure was nearly three times higher than 2018's 4.7 percent.Amid this situation, local governments across the country are working on suicide prevention meas

Apr 28, 2021By Bahk Eun-ji
Local governments actively seek to prevent COVID-led suicides
Society

Seoul education chief under fire for unfair hiring

Cho Hee-yeon, superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, speaks during a press briefing in this Jan. 5 photo. Courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Office of EducationBy Bahk Eun-jiSeoul's education chief is facing calls for resignation following accusations of abusing his power in hiring teachers.The calls come after the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) requested police to investigate Cho Hee-yeon, superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE), for violating the law on public servants.Through a special hiring process in 2018, Cho ordered the reinstatement of five former teachers who had retired after being convicted of violating the Public Official Election Act, according to the BAI.Four of them were former members of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers' Union (KTU), a liberal teachers' group, who were convicted of raising illegal funds during a 2008 election to choose a regional education chief. The other one was jailed for spreading false information about a candidate in the presidential election in 2002.The five people helped Cho's elect

Apr 27, 2021By Bahk Eun-ji
Seoul education chief under fire for unfair hiring
Law & Crime

Court upholds man's jail term for slaughter, eating of two Jindo dogs

Jindo dogs are shown at a festival on Jin Island, South Jeolla Province, in this Oct. 30, 2010 photo. Korea Times file.By Bahk Eun-jiAn appellate court has upheld an earlier ruling that gave a prison term to a man for having two Jindo dogs slaughtered so he could then eat them, just one hour after he bought them from a breeder. The appellate division of the Incheon District Court said Friday that it upheld the sentence imposed on the 75-year-old for fraud as well as instigating an act that violated the Animal Protection Law.The court said the man bought two indigenous Jindo breed dogs ― a three-year-old mother and her one-year-old pup ― May 17 last year in Incheon, after lying to the former owner that he would raise them himself. One hour later, however, he asked the owner of a slaughterhouse to kill them so that he and his friend could eat meat off them. He paid 120,000 won for the slaughtering of the dogs.The slaughterhouse owner and the friend were each sentenced to four months in prison, suspended for one year, for violating the Animal Protection Law.The former owner of the dogs

Apr 24, 2021By Bahk Eun-ji
Court upholds man's jail term for slaughter, eating of two Jindo dogs
Health

Public skeptical of November herd immunity goal

Elderly citizens aged 75 or older receive Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine at an inoculation center in Daegu, Friday. YonhapKorea approves self-testing kitsBy Bahk Eun-jiA majority of Koreans are skeptical of the government's plan to achieve COVID-19 herd immunity by November through vaccination, a survey showed, Friday. The negative prediction mainly stems from the fact that Korea is struggling to secure vaccines amid a worldwide supply shortage, coupled with growing concerns over the possible side effects of the vaccines, such as blood clots. In the survey of 1,009 citizens jointly conducted by four pollsters from Monday to Wednesday, 69 percent of the respondents said they don't think the government's plan to achieve herd immunity by November was feasible, while only 24 percent said they thought it would be possible. Although more than 2 million people have received COVID-19 vaccine shots at least once since inoculations began on Feb. 26, the inoculation rate still falls short of the government's initial plan.The country has signed contracts with foreign pharmaceutical firms for doses fo

Apr 23, 2021By Bahk Eun-ji
Public skeptical of November herd immunity goal
  • New virus cases on Saturday near 800 for 2nd day on increased cluster infections
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