my timesThe Korea Times
hkang

Kang Hyun-kyung

Korea Times Editorial Reporter

I am an editorial writer at The Korea Times, focusing on foreign policy, North Korea and domestic politics. My key areas of interest include North Korea, foreign interference in elections, election integrity, cyberattacks and human rights. Prior to joining the Editorial Board, I served as both Politics Desk editor and Culture Desk editor. During my career, I have reported on the Presidential Office under the Lee Myung-bak administration, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Assembly.

Go to Email

Read more

North Korea

Seoul proposes inter-Korean talks for family reunions

Unification Minister Kwon Young-se speaks during an impromptu press conference held at the Government Complex Seoul, Thursday. He proposed talks with North Korea on resuming meetings to reunite separated families. YonhapSecond time for Yoon Suk-yeol government to propose talks on humanitarian issuesBy Kang Hyun-kyungUnification Minister Kwon Young-se proposed inter-Korean talks on resuming meetings to reunite separated families on Thursday, a day before the start of the Chuseok holiday. The proposal was unveiled during an unscheduled press conference held at the Government Complex Seoul. The unification minister suggested that officials of the two Koreas sit down as soon as possible so they can find “fundamental solutions” ― rather than a one-off event for political purposes ― for families that have been tragically separated since the 1950-53 Korean War.“The one-off sort of reunion among the relatively small group of separated families is not sufficient to solve the problem fundamentally,” he said, while explaining what he had in mind regarding the idea of reu

Sep 8, 2022By Kang Hyun-kyung
Seoul proposes inter-Korean talks for family reunions
  • US supports inter-Korean dialogue, remains ready for talks with N. Korea
Politics

Photos Nation wary of monster typhoon

By Kang Hyun-kyungNervous tension fills the air as the monster Typhoon Hinnamnor approaches the nation. Traumatic memories of Typhoon Maemi are still fresh in the minds of those who were hit hard by the storm back in 2003. Some were displaced, losing their homes to the typhoon, and some were killed or missing. For elderly people who experienced the nation's deadliest Typhoon Sarah in 1959, the coming typhoon is also frightening. Awed by Mother Nature, the survivors hold their breaths and try to gauge how disastrous this one will be. The clock is ticking before the typhoon's arrival. People may be calm on the outside but they're anxious on the inside. A ferry is moored at a port in Korea's eastern city of Gangneung on Sept. 5. Yonhap Holidaymakers stand in front of huge waves at Busan's scenic Haeundae Beach on Sunday. Yonhap

Sep 4, 2022By Kang Hyun-kyung
[Photos] Nation wary of monster typhoon
  • Korea braces for powerful Typhoon Hinnamnor
Politics

Ousted party leader criticizes President Yoon, his aides again

A crowd is watching as Lee Jun-seok, the former chairman of the ruling People Power Party (PPP), criticizes President Yoon Suk-yeol and the PPP during a press conference in Daegu, Sunday. Yonhap Lee Jun-seok calls ruling party's new interim committee 'unconstitutional'By Kang Hyun-kyungLee Jun-seok, the ousted chairman of the ruling People Power Party (PPP), urged residents of the southeastern city of Daegu to stand up to the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, insisting that the party is heading in the wrong direction.“I'm standing here now to urge you, citizens of Daegu City, to once again pick up the bamboo stick of rebuke. Show them that you can actually judge them. I urge you to say to them that you won't keep silent just because of their silence, and that Daegu will not tacitly endorse their tacit accord,” he said. “I'm standing here today to criticize Daegu's political culture and demand change and an awakening.” Daegu has been a stronghold city for the conservativ

Sep 4, 2022By Kang Hyun-kyung
Ousted party leader criticizes President Yoon, his aides again
Politics

DPK's new leader vows to end partisan politics

Rep. Lee Jae-myung, third from left, the newly elected chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), and former President Moon Jae-in, fourth from left, wave as DPK supporters (not seen in this photo) welcome Lee's courtesy visit to Moon's residence in Yangsan City, South Gyeongsang Province, Monday. Joint Press CorpsFormer President Moon voices worry about factional strife within party, calls for unityBy Kang Hyun-kyungRep. Lee Jae-myung of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) vowed to become a genuine successor of the liberal party by inheriting the legacy of the three liberal presidents, namely Kim Dae-jung, Roh Moo-hyun and Moon Jae-in.“The new leadership will transform the DPK into a whole new party that is able and competent,” Lee said on Monday. “Under my leadership, the DPK will bid goodbye to old, partisan politics.” Later in the day, Lee paid a courtesy visit to the home of former President Moon Jae-in in South Gyeongsang Province. During their meeting, Moon expressed worries about the factional strife inside the DPK

Aug 30, 2022By Kang Hyun-kyung
DPK's new leader vows to end partisan politics
Politics

Ousted ruling party leader likens President Yoon to dictator

Lee Jun-seok, former chairman of the ruling People Power Party / Korea Times filePresidential office declines to comment on LeeBy Kang Hyun-kyungLee Jun-seok, the former chairman of the ruling People Power Party (PPP), has fired off again at President Yoon Suk-yeol, alleging the president flexed his muscle behind the ruling party's decision to oust him from the party's leadership.He likened the president's behavior to the military junta led by Chun Doo-hwan who rose to power through the Dec. 12 military coup in 1979, weeks after then President Park Chung-hee was assassinated by the then-chief of Korea's spy agency, and then declared emergency martial law nationwide to silence opposing voices. Calling Yoon sarcastically, “the supreme one,” Lee claimed in a personal statement to a judge that the president had been the one to take the initiative to oust him from the party's leadership. The former PPP chairman had filed for an injunction regarding the ruling party's decision earlier to oust him from the post. The court is expected to rule on the case as early as next week. &l

Aug 23, 2022By Kang Hyun-kyung
Ousted ruling party leader likens President Yoon to dictator
North Korea

INTERVIEW 'North Korean leader's younger sister is ambitious, bossy'

Kim Yo-Jong, the younger sister of North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un, attends a wreath-laying ceremony at Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi, Vietnam, in this March 2019 file photo. Reuters-YonhapAuthor of 'The Sister' says Kim Yo-jong will succeed Kim Jong-un to become the supreme leader of North Korea, in case her brother is incapacitated By Kang Hyun-kyungNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-un's younger sister, Kim Yo-jong, is back in the media spotlight following her explosively critical speech rejecting President Yoon Suk-yeol's new initiative ― largely referred to as his “audacious initiative” ― a proposal calling for the denuclearization of North Korea in exchange for large-scale food, energy, infrastructural, technological and financial assistance. Calling it “the height of stupidity,” Kim said in a statement released on Aug. 19 that Yoon's offer delivered in his Aug. 15 Liberation Day speech is as absurd as “trying to dry the dark blue ocean and turn it into a mulberry field.” She then revealed her visceral dislike of South Korea's Yoon “as a hu

Aug 21, 2022By Kang Hyun-kyung
[INTERVIEW] 'North Korean leader's younger sister is ambitious, bossy'
Opinion

What polls don't say about Yoon

By Kang Hyun-kyungPresident Yoon Suk-yeol's low approval rating in the early phase of his presidency is puzzling pundits. Most newly-elected leaders benefit from the so-called “honeymoon period” of their first six months in office and enjoy relatively high support rates, regardless of their performance. Their minor blunders are tolerated during this time. Yoon is not the first Korean president to see his approval rating take a nosedive during the honeymoon period. Former President Lee Myung-bak grappled with relatively low approval ratings for months after he was inaugurated in February 2008. Despite this shared experience, there is a clear difference between the two leaders. Lee's poor rating came shortly after his administration decided to resume the import of American beef. As always, trade policy pits certain groups against others because it generates winners and losers. Korean farmers were the losers and they teamed up with other vulnerable groups of people and activists to launch rallies against the government. Hundreds of thousands of people occupied Gwanghwamun Sq

Aug 17, 2022By Kang Hyun-kyung
Politics

INTERVIEW Moon rallies int'l support for unification of two Koreas

Hyun Jin Preston Moon speaks during an interview with The Korea Times on Aug. 13 at Fairmont Ambassador hotel in Seoul. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chulRev. Moon Sun-myung's third son puts forth 'Korean Dream' peace framework, says progress will be made in unification movement only when it is driven by the people By Kang Hyun-kyungNorth Korea found itself at the center of international attention in March 1994, when one of its officials threatened South Korea with inflammatory remarks during working-level talks to dissuade the North from its then-planned withdrawal from the Non-Proliferation Treaty. “Seoul is near here and if there is war, it will become a sea of fire,” that official was quoted as saying by South Korean media outlets. Since then, numerous diplomatic efforts have been launched, both at the bilateral and multilateral levels, to stop North Korea from moving forward with its nuclear ambitions and get it back to the negotiating table to solve the problem peacefully.There have been some noteworthy agreements, which were initially seen as diplomatic milestones

Aug 17, 2022By Kang Hyun-kyung
[INTERVIEW] Moon rallies int'l support for unification of two Koreas
North Korea

Thinking the unthinkable on North Korea

Hyun Jin Preston Moon, left, founder and chairman of the Washington D.C.-based non-profit group Global Peace Foundation, and his wife Jun Sook Moon, clap during the International Forum on One Korea 2022 held at Fairmont Ambassador Hotel in Yeoido, Seoul, on Saturday. Courtesy of Global Peace Foundation'Change is bound to come. We just don't know when, or in what form it will happen,' says expertBy Kang Hyun-kyungThe unification of the two Koreas seems to be one of the least likely things to happen any time soon, particularly now when inter-Korean relations have become more confrontational and volatile than ever before. There have been few signs of improvement in South-North relations since conservative President Yoon Suk-yeol was inaugurated on May 10. Unlike his predecessor, Moon Jae-in, who sought peace and sustainable inter-Korean relations and tried to curry favor with the North when the reclusive nation relied on a brinkmanship diplomacy, Yoon is a hardliner showing no appetite for conciliatory gestures. Analysts say that North Korea could be preparing for another nuclear test,

Aug 15, 2022By Kang Hyun-kyung
Thinking the unthinkable on North Korea
Politics

Yoon details whereabouts during record downpour to curb conspiracy theory

President Yoon Suk-yeol, front, walks down a poor housing area of Silimdong, Seoul, Tuesday, a day after a family of three who lived in a semi-basement home in the neighborhood were found dead after heavy downpour. One of the dead was a 40-something woman with a developmental disability. Yonhap By Kang Hyun-kyungPresident Yoon Suk-yeol directed the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and other related ministries on Tuesday to keenly watch the developments of torrential downpours and to draw up measures to protect people's lives and their property while preparing to deal with the aftermath of the record rainfall in the central part of the country.“As we've learned, the rainfall per hour broke the record and the downpour is said to be the consequence of climate change,” he said while presiding over a meeting with the heads of related ministries at the Government Complex Building in Seoul on Tuesday. “The Cabinet ministries must conduct a zero-based review of the curre

Aug 9, 2022By Kang Hyun-kyung
Yoon details whereabouts during record downpour to curb conspiracy theory
previous page
1617181920
next page

Top 5 stories

Korea Times
About Us
Introduction
History
Contact Us
Products & Services
Subscribe
E-paper
RSS Service
Content Sales
Site Map
Policy
Code of Ethics
Ombudsman
Privacy Policy
Youth Protection Policy
Terms of Service
Copyright Policy
Family Site
Hankookilbo
Dongwha Group
FacebookXYoutubeInstagram
CEO & Publisher: Oh Young-jinDigital News Email: webmaster@koreatimes.co.krTel: 02-724-2114Online newspaper registration No: 서울,아52844Date of registration: 2020.02.05Masthead: The Korea TimesCopyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.