The Korea Times

INTERVIEW Korea advised not to follow US model in war on drugs

Jesus, a drug producer, shows an image of fentanyl on his phone in this March 2022 file photo. Reuters-YonhapUS expert warns of negative consequences of regulating prescription opioids amid drug overdose concerns in Korea This is the first in a two-part series about controlled substance abuse to highlight its fatal consequences on public health ― ED. By Kang Hyun-kyung Controlled substance abuse and its fatal consequences have become a common headache for policymakers in Korea and the United States, since doctor shopping or visiting multiple physicians to obtain multiple prescriptions recently emerged as a major public health problem in Korea. The United States has been grappling with the opioid epidemic for decades. Since 2000, more than 500,000 people have died in the U.S. due to opioid overdose. And the situation became worse during the coronavirus pandemic. Opioid overdose deaths have increased dramatically since 2019. In 2021 alone, over 100,000 people died in the U.S. due to opioid overdose. Among others, heroin and synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl, have become the leading c

May 17, 2023By Kang Hyun-kyung

[INTERVIEW] Korea advised not to follow US model in war on drugs

Travel & Food

Digital chefs to present gourmet food at Jeju's food festival

Chefs prepare food in this undated photo. Courtesy of Jeju Food & Wine Festival organizing committeeBy Kang Hyun-kyung Some 30 Korean and international chefs will arrive on the southern resort island of Jeju next week for the Jeju Food & Wine Festival (JFWF).During the 10-day event, they will team up with local gourmet restaurants and culinary school students to create new recipes with local ingredients. This year's JFWF will feature artificial intelligence-based technology to attract attention from tourists to the island's food and wine. Michelin star chefs Kim Hee-eun and Yoon Dae-hyun will be recreated in AI-based high-fidelity Metahuman to present their recipes in front of visitors. While the virtual characters present their food, the two real chefs will cook in the kitchen. Another Michelin star chef Joseph Lidgerwood and other renowned chefs will also join the festival. Chung Moon-sun, president of the JFWF organizing committee, called for support from tourists to make the JFWF become a flagship gourmet food and wine festival in East Asia. “Many international tour

May 4, 2023By Kang Hyun-kyung

Digital chefs to present gourmet food at Jeju's food festival

Society

INTERVIEW College admission is not prize to be won

Becky Munsterer Sabky, a former director of international admissions at Dartmouth College and the author of the 2021 book, “Valedictorians at the Gate: Standing Out, Getting In, and Staying Sane While Applying to College” / Courtesy of Becky Munsterer Sabky Former IVY League admissions officer regrets students have no time to wander, think amid the rat race for top-ranked universities By Kang Hyun-kyungBecky Munsterer Sabky's 2021 book, titled “Valedictorians at The Gate: Standing Out, Getting In, and Staying Sane While Applying to College,” gives answers to the most sought-after question from some Korean parents about how prestigious U.S. universities select their students. Delving into what kinds of students top-tier universities like Dartmouth are looking for and how they are chosen, the author sheds light on who got in and why. The book is her account of what happens behind closed doors when the selection committee members sit down to review each applicant's es

May 4, 2023By Kang Hyun-kyung

[INTERVIEW] College admission is not prize to be won

Politics

INTERVIEW It's now or never to combat illegal drugs

Kim Hee-jun, a partner at the Seoul-based law firm LKB & Partners, poses on the rooftop of the law firm, Tuesday. The building behind him in the background is the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office where he worked previously before joining LKB & Partners in 2017. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-sukRenowned lawyer, who prosecuted felony drug crimes, calls for a paradigm shift from crackdown on drug offenders to therapeutic jurisprudence on substance abuseBy Kang Hyun-kyung“Buying illegal drugs online has become as easy as ordering a pizza over the phone.”With those comments, Kim Hee-jun, a partner at the Seoul-based law firm, LKB & Partners, highlighted the fact that easy access to prohibited drugs has played a critical part in the rapid increase of drug crimes involving teenagers. “Once teens experience illicit drugs, driven by curiosity or whatever, they are prone to addiction as most of the drugs distributed in Korea are highly addictive and their reliance on substances becomes unstoppable,” he said during an interview with The Korea Times

Apr 30, 2023By Kang Hyun-kyung

[INTERVIEW] It's now or never to combat illegal drugs

Defense

Korean War hero's daughter recalls patriotic, yet strict father

An image of late Army Colonel Kim Dong-seok is displayed in a video played on an electronic billboard operated by LG Electronics in Times Square, New York, April 20. Kim was chosen as one of the Korean War heroes for this year's 70th anniversary of the Republic of Korea-U.S. alliance. Courtesy of LG ElectronicsLate Army Colonel Kim Dong-seok always put country before family, his daughter saysBy Kang Hyun-kyungSinger Kim Mi-ryeong, better known by her stage name Jin Mi-ryeong / Korea Times fileSinger Kim Mi-ryeong, better known to the Korean public by her stage name, Jin Mi-ryeong, has mixed feelings about her late father, Army Colonel Kim Dong-seok (1923-2009) who was chosen earlier this month as a Korean War hero, along with 11 other notable veterans.The late Kim was an indisputable patriot who always put his country ahead of his family. He received dozens of medals from both the Korean and U.S. governments for his service. The younger Kim said she was, and still is, proud of her patriotic father.At home, however, the older Kim was a strict father. His daughter said she was scared o

Apr 25, 2023By Kang Hyun-kyung

Korean War hero's daughter recalls patriotic, yet strict father

ROK-US alliance evolves from security treaty to comprehensive partnership

Politics

Numbers fail to show seriousness of drug-related crimes

Jung Jae-nam, head of the narcotics division of Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police, speaks about a crackdown on criminal groups involved in the smuggling of illicit drugs from the Philippines during a news conference held in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province on Wednesday. YonhapExperts say drug-related offenses are the dark figure of crime and data fails to reflect reality By Kang Hyun-kyungPresident Yoon Suk Yeol's remarks during a town hall meeting in December last year sparked a debate about the rationale of local politicians who repeatedly use the inaccurate description that South Korea is “a country free from drug-related crimes.” “About 10 years ago or so, South Korea used to be a country free of drug-related crimes,” he said during a meeting with 100 representatives from the public televised in real time. “But from a certain point of time, however, prosecutors were forced to pass on to the police investigations into the drug-related crimes. After that, the two law enforcement agencies stopped collaborating and their teamwork became ineffective.”He was

Apr 21, 2023By Kang Hyun-kyung

Numbers fail to show seriousness of drug-related crimes

Politics

INTERVIEW Bad deal is better than no deal to halt North Korea's nuclear ambitions

A video grab shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, right, showing his watch to then U.S. President Donald Trump during the second U.S.-North Korea summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Feb. 27, 2019. EPA-YonhapNuclear scientist Siegfried Hecker encourages Yoon, Biden to devise fresh approach at April 26 summit to dismantle North Korea's nuclear program By Kang Hyun-kyungSiegfried Hecker, professor emeritus at Stanford University and director emeritus at Los Alamos National Laboratory / Courtesy of Siegfried HeckerIn 2019, then U.S. President Donald Trump received bipartisan support, despite coming home empty-handed on the heels of a failed summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Vietnam's capital. The rationale of U.S. senators who backed Trump, regardless of their party affiliations, was that sometimes no deal is better than a bad deal to curb North Korea's nuclear ambitions. And this was also true at that time, because the U.S. would have made too many concessions otherwise to strike a deal with North Korea. But Siegfried Hecker, an internationally renowned expert in plutonium scien

Apr 20, 2023By Kang Hyun-kyung

[INTERVIEW] Bad deal is better than no deal to halt North Korea's nuclear ambitions

Politics

INTERVIEW US urges China to play role to stop human rights abuses in North Korea

Sung Kim, the U.S. special representative for North Korea, speaks during a meeting with his counterparts from South Korea and Japan at the foreign ministry in Seoul, April 7. YonhapUS Special Representative for North Korea Sung Kim voices concerns about China's forced repatriation of North Korean refugees By Kang Hyun-kyungThe United States will continue its diplomatic efforts to build pressure on China to scrap its forced repatriation of North Korean refugees as the brutal policy has resulted in unspeakable human rights violations of those returned to the North, according to a U.S. nuclear envoy. “We are concerned by reports that potentially hundreds of North Koreans are detained in the PRC and will face forced repatriation when the border reopens,” Sung Kim, the U.S. special representative for North Korea, said in a written interview with The Korea Times on Friday. The PRC stands for the People's Republic of China.Kim, who concurrently serves as U.S. ambassador to Indonesia, said the U.S. government has raised North Korea-related issues at “almost every recent sen

Apr 15, 2023By Kang Hyun-kyung

[INTERVIEW] US urges China to play role to stop human rights abuses in North Korea

Politics

INTERVIEW 'When in South Korea, do as Southerners do'

Kim Hong-kyun, the founder of trucking company S.P. Transport / Courtesy of Korea Hana FoundationThis is a fifth in a series of interviews with North Korean defectors and their assimilation into South Korea―ED. Self-made businessman advises fellow North Korean defectors to hang in there, think like South Koreans, if they want to succeedBy Kang Hyun-kyungKim Hong-kyun seems to be the man who can literally “make a living by selling sand to desert people.” Koreans use the phrase “doing sand business in the desert” to refer to people with exceptional business and survival skills. In the desert, sand is everywhere, so common that few people believe one can make ends meet there by selling sand. As always, however, people with extraordinary business acumen discover opportunities in areas that others overlook. With persistent effort and a never-give-up attitude, they achieve things that initially looked to be impossible. Kim, 59, is such a person. He saw business opportunities in a trucking company when he arrived in South Korea in 2001, 11 years after he left North K

Apr 14, 2023By Kang Hyun-kyung

[INTERVIEW] 'When in South Korea, do as Southerners do'

Politics

Baseball helps North Korean defectors' children heal from trauma

Players and coaching staff of the baseball team, the Challengers, pose at a baseball park in Seoul's western district of Yangcheon on March 31. Korea Times photo by Kang Hyun-kyungThis is the fourth in a series of interviews with North Korean defectors and their assimilation into South Korea―ED. Teens develop social skills through team sport, learn how to adapt to South KoreaBy Kang Hyun-kyung“Catching a ball is like eating food. You need to get something in your mouth and then chew it until you swallow. Likewise, you need to know how to catch a ball in your glove first before you throw it.”Park Yoon-soo, the head coach of the baseball team, the Challengers, uses the food analogy as he teaches Choi Ha-eun, a 12th grader at Yeomyung School in Seoul, about ball catching at a baseball park off Anyangcheon River in Seoul's western district of Yangcheon on March 31.He tries to help his student understand what baseball is by teaching her patiently.After missing the ball several times, Choi finally mastered how to catch a ball in her glove. The head coach grins at her, revealing

Apr 10, 2023By Kang Hyun-kyung

Kang Hyun-kyung

Read more

INTERVIEW Korea advised not to follow US model in war on drugs

Digital chefs to present gourmet food at Jeju's food festival

INTERVIEW College admission is not prize to be won

INTERVIEW It's now or never to combat illegal drugs

Korean War hero's daughter recalls patriotic, yet strict father

Numbers fail to show seriousness of drug-related crimes

INTERVIEW Bad deal is better than no deal to halt North Korea's nuclear ambitions

INTERVIEW US urges China to play role to stop human rights abuses in North Korea

INTERVIEW 'When in South Korea, do as Southerners do'

Baseball helps North Korean defectors' children heal from trauma

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