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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

Korea lagging on vaccination plan

Health Minister Park Neung-hoo speaks during a press briefing on the government's plan to secure COVID-19 vaccines at the government complex in Seoul, Dec. 8. YonhapBy Bahk Eun-jiKorea seems to be lagging behind other nations not only in the development of a vaccine for COVID-19 but also in the procurement of a sufficient number of vaccine doses from abroad, experts said Wednesday. As the country faces the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and the spread of the virus is rapidly increasing, the experts stated that both the procurement and development of COVID-19 vaccines should be accelerated.Following the first COVID-19 vaccination in the United Kingdom on Dec, 8, the United States and Canada have also begun vaccinating people, but Korea has yet to map out a specific plan to provide the same protection for people living here.Early this month, the health ministry announced a plan to secure vaccines for a total of 44 million people ― 10 million through COVAX Facilities, an international project for the joint purchase and distribution of vaccines, and supplies for another 34 million p

Dec 16, 2020By Bahk Eun-ji
Korea lagging on vaccination plan
  • Year-end donations unfazed by pandemic
  • Calls growing for raising social distancing scheme to Level 3
Society

'Smart plug' helps detect elderly citizens in critical conditions

By Bahk Eun-jiNowon District Office has launched a “smart plug” installation project to detect health emergency situations in middle-aged and elderly residents living alone, and to possibly prevent death.In the face of growing concerns about the difficulty of providing welfare services due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, the district office is putting more efforts into preventing dangerous situations by installing smart plugs based on the Internet of Things (IoT) for elderly single-person households.A smart plug / Courtesy of Nowon District OfficeThe smart plug is a device that powers home appliances such as TVs and computers. The device measures and analyzes changes in power consumption and lighting at home: if there is no change for a certain period of time, a signal is sent to civil servants at a community service center in the neighborhood who are in charge of taking care of senior citizens living alone. When receiving the signal, the public servants check in on the elderly resident by phone first, and if no one answers, they visit the household to check for any e

Dec 16, 2020By Bahk Eun-ji
'Smart plug' helps detect elderly citizens in critical conditions
Health

Small group interactions most common COVID-19 infection route

A street in Seoul's Gangnam District is nearly empty, Wednesday, as COVID-19 continues to spread across the country. YonhapBy Bahk Eun-jiSmall gatherings and interactions between family members, acquaintances, and coworkers have been flagged as a worrisome source of COVID-19 infections since October, health authorities said Wednesday. In particular, interactions between small groups of two to five people at a time accounted for the most infection routes across all age groups.The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) released the results of its analysis of the characteristics of infection routes of 16,286 COVID-19 patients from Oct. 1 to Dec. 10.According to the results, 62.5 percent of people in their 20s and 50s contracted the virus when they were engaged in social activities during this period, while for people in their 60s or older, in the high-risk group, this was much lower, at 26.5 percent.Among the patients who were infected through small group interactions, 35 percent ― 325 people ― were aged under 19. The number of people aged between 40 and 59 was 23.8 percent

Dec 16, 2020By Bahk Eun-ji
Small group interactions most common COVID-19 infection route
  • Year-end donations unfazed by pandemic
  • Calls growing for raising social distancing scheme to Level 3
Health

People rush to take free virus test

People line up to receive COVID-19 tests at a makeshift testing booth in front of Seoul Station, Tuesday. YonhapBy Bahk Eun-jiLong lines have formed in front of makeshift COVID-19 testing centers around Seoul as citizens rush to undergo free testing.Health authorities have set up 150 makeshift testing booths in Seoul and surrounding areas since Monday to provide free diagnostic tests through Jan. 3 even to those who have not come into contact with virus patients.The preemptive measure to expand the number of people being tested has come as the nation is experiencing a third wave of the pandemic with a growing number of asymptomatic patients.As people can also receive tests without providing personal information other than their mobile numbers, many visited the clinics with an intention to relieve anxiety regardless of whether they have any symptoms.“I got a phone call from my workplace on Monday that a confirmed patient visited the cafeteria in my workplace on Friday,” said Park Soo-youl, 67, who lives in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province. “Although it was unlikely for m

Dec 15, 2020By Bahk Eun-ji
People rush to take free virus test
  • New virus cases bounce back to nearly 900
Society

Seoul finds new appreciation for urban art

People look at graffiti in an underpass in Seoul during a project to find social value in urban art pieces. Courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Government By Bahk Eun-jiThere is a lot of art at public spaces, such as sculptures at parks or graffiti, but some have been neglected or unappreciated, because they are located in remote places or busy people just pass them by.To reconsider the value of such pieces and introduce them to the public, the Seoul Metropolitan Government has been organizing “discovery teams for urban art” since 2016. The project was opened to the public giving participants the chance to discover urban art pieces thus introducing them to more people, as well as holding discussions with the city government on how to develop urban art.This year there were 44 participants from September to November together with curators. After finishing the activities, leaflets and information maps on 40 urban art pieces were published.Under the theme of “graffiti,” the

Dec 15, 2020By Bahk Eun-ji
Seoul finds new appreciation for urban art
Society

Seoul installs diagonal crosswalks at 25 intersections

Diagonal crosswalks are installed in front of Star Valley in Geumcheon District, Seoul. Courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Government By Bahk Eun-jiThe Seoul Metropolitan Government said it has been setting up diagonal crosswalks at 25 intersections across the city in cooperation with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency. Diagonal crosswalks, in addition to reducing accidents, have the advantage of added pedestrian convenience as those on foot can cross in both diagonal and straight directions.Earlier in April, the city government set up diagonal crosswalks in front of Yonsei University's main gate as a pilot project.From July to Dec. 10, it installed more diagonal crosswalks at 21 intersections, including the roads near Jogye Temple and Jongno-gu Office. It will have completed three more by the end of the month.Diagonal crosswalks allow pedestrians to cross the intersection in any direction with a single green walk signal. They shorten the time for pedestrians to cross

Dec 15, 2020By Bahk Eun-ji
Seoul installs diagonal crosswalks at 25 intersections
Health

Gov't considering last resort amid uncurbed virus spread

People line up to undergo COVID-19 testing at a makeshift testing site in a local healthcare center in Gangseo District, Seoul, Sunday. YonhapBy Bahk Eun-jiHealth authorities said they are open to adopting Level 3 social distancing measures, the highest among its five-tier scheme, as the number of new COVID-19 cases has broken through the 1,000 mark.President Moon Jae-in also called for strong action to curb the spread, saying the country needs to consider elevating to the highest social distancing level. As the daily virus cases hit an all-time high, the President presided over an emergency anti-coronavirus meeting instead of Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun, showing the government is taking the recent spike in virus cases seriously. It was the first time in about 10 months for Moon to chair an anti-virus meeting since he did so on Feb. 23.“Raising social distancing measures to Level 3 is our last resort. There is nowhere to step back in the country's fight for the virus. I ask the quarantine authorities to put all-out efforts to curb the current COVID-19 spread across the countr

Dec 13, 2020By Bahk Eun-ji
Gov't considering last resort amid uncurbed virus spread
  • Gov't to offer free tests at 150 new testing sites amid virus spike
Society

Heavy snow

Children play in the snow at a park in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, Sunday, when a heavy snow advisory was issued for central parts of the country. The weather agency issued cold wave advisories and alerts for Seoul, Gyeonggi, Gangwon and North Chungcheong provinces, with Seoul's morning low forecast to dip to -12C on Monday. / Yonhap

Dec 13, 2020By Bahk Eun-ji
Heavy snow
Health

Gov't to focus on 'speedy' virus testing to find asymptomatic patients

Medical workers prepare to conduct COVID-19 tests at a testing station in a local healthcare center in Songpa District, Seoul, Thursday. YonhapBy Bahk Eun-jiThe health authorities will engage in more preemptive efforts to search for asymptomatic COVID-19 carriers by adopting speedier testing methods and expanding the number of people being tested.By doing so, the government is trying to break transmission chains that are cropping up during people's daily lives and among local communities without any specific cases of mass infection.According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), Thursday, there were 682 coronavirus infections for Wednesday, including 646 local cases, raising the total caseload to 40,098. Among the locally transmitted cases, 251 were reported in Seoul, 201 in Gyeonggi Province and 37 in Incheon, west of Seoul. Eight additional deaths were reported, raising the toll to 564.The recent increase resulted from the seasonal factor that the coronavirus becomes more active in the winter, as well as its fast spread which is outpacing the speed of contact t

Dec 10, 2020By Bahk Eun-ji
Gov't to focus on 'speedy' virus testing to find asymptomatic patients
  • USFK service members may be first in Korea vaccinated for COVID-19
  • New cases near 700 for 3rd day
Politics

Historic painting donation

President Moon Jae-in poses for a photo at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul with Sohn Chang-keun, who has donated the historic Joseon-era painting “Sehando” to the National Museum of Korea, Wednesday. Sohn was bestowed with the Geumgwan Order of Cultural Merit the previous day. “Sehando” was painted by Chusa Kim Jeong-hui, a scholar, painter and calligrapher during the 1390-1910 Joseon Kingdom. Yonhap

Dec 9, 2020By Bahk Eun-ji
Historic painting donation
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