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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.

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China's Confucius Institutes facing calls to leave Korea

Members of the Citizens for Unveiling Confucius Institutes (CUCI) hold an open press conference in front of the Chinese Embassy in Seoul on June 2. They accused Confucius Institutes of brainwashing young Koreans with Chinese Communist Party's ideology, urging all CIs in Korea to close. Courtesy of CUCICivic group leader says CIs are China's propaganda arm in the guise of language and culture program By Kang Hyun-kyungA group of nine middle-aged activists gathered in front of the Chinese Embassy in Seoul on June 2, accusing the Chinese government of its alleged use of the state-funded Confucius Institutes (CIs) to infiltrate Korean universities and high schools to disseminate the Chinese Communist Party's propaganda. Calling the institute China's global network established for espionage and brainwashing locals to support China's policies, the activists urged China to close the institutes on their own, before they are forced to leave. “Despite its title, there are no Confucian ideas whatsoever in the institute,” Han Min-ho, founder and president of the Citizens for Unveilin

Jun 8, 2021By Kang Hyun-kyung
China's Confucius Institutes facing calls to leave Korea
Politics

'Dear Mr. President': Presidential petition site becoming career launch pad

Since it was introduced in July 2017 to mark the 100th day since Moon's swearing in as president, the petition site has given ordinary citizens a chance to speak up on policy issues. gettyimagesbankStar petitioner featured as columnist at influential Korean daily By Kang Hyun-kyung“A man, who was once politically powerful enough to influence others but disturbed many of us (with his flawed ethics and double standard on justice), is said to have released a memoir. We've been told that over 100,000 copies have been sold so far… Sorry but I should say that his memoir doesn't deserve to be called a book. Rather, it's a collection of meaningless pieces written only to curry favor with a handful of die-hard supporters of President Moon Jae-in.” This is what a man who identifies himself by his pen name Jo Eun-san, wrote in his regular column published Friday on the website of the Chosun Ilbo, one of the nation's most influential dailies.Under the title of “Memoir of a Once-powerful Man,” he criticized former Justice Minister Cho Kuk for disturbing the Korean p

Jun 4, 2021By Kang Hyun-kyung
'Dear Mr. President': Presidential petition site becoming career launch pad
Entertainment

Actor Jun Ji-hyun denies divorce rumor, warns of legal action against rumormongers

By Kang Hyun-kyungJun Gianna in a 2016 file photo/ Korea Times fileActor Jun Ji-hyun, also known as Gianna Jun in English, has denied a rumor that she and her husband have been living apart for six months and that a divorce is imminent. In a press release, her agency, Culture Depot, said “We have found that groundless rumors about the actress have been indiscriminately spreading online. The sources of these malicious rumors about her are YouTube channel Hover Lab, as well as stock traders.”It went on to say that none of the rumors ― concerning the couple's alleged separation or imminent divorce ― were true, warning of legal action against the rumor-mongers.“We are going to take legal action against the rumormongers who have spread baseless stories about her and her marriage either through news articles or comments,” her agency said. Jun's agency issued the statement a day after a YouTuber claimed that she and her husband have been separated for six months. The actor married Choi Joon-hyuk, the grandson of renowned hanbok designer Lee Young-hee, in 2012, and th

Jun 3, 2021By Kang Hyun-kyung
Actor Jun Ji-hyun denies divorce rumor, warns of legal action against rumormongers
Books

Korean fashion designer recounts Elon Musk's 'inspiring' mother

Designer Yuna Yang, right, and Maye Musk in this 2016 file photo / Courtesy of Suo Books 'Fearless' explores adventures of Yuna Yang in New York's fashion industry, experiences with US celebrities By Kang Hyun-kyungKorean fashion designer Yuna Yang praised business tycoon Elon Musk's mother, Maye, portraying her as an inspiring woman and highly-successful model. In her recently published autobiography, “Fearless: World-Class Korean Fashion Designer's Way to Succeed,” Yang described Maye Musk as “a strong woman who chose to migrate all the way to Canada from South Africa for her three children's education.”Mentioning her brief work experience with Maye Musk during the 2016 Met Gala, the Korean fashion designer lauded the model for her work ethic. Yang said Musk chose to live a life as a model, instead of as a mother of the billionaire son, saying she was amazed by her way life and professionalism.In “Fearless,” Yang shares her impression of some of her models and cel

Jun 1, 2021By Kang Hyun-kyung
Korean fashion designer recounts Elon Musk's 'inspiring' mother
Trends

Husband and wife share mixed emotions about scenic farm they built from scratch

Wife Kim Gui-yim (left) and husband Jung Tae-jin (right) smile under a “maesil” or plum tree in their orchard in Asan City, South Chungcheong Province, on May 25. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chulOlder couple's orchard becomes one of Korea's best plum blossom attractions, but plunging price of fruit casts dark clouds over farm.By Kang Hyun-kyungASAN, South Chungcheong Province ― Using her teeth, Kim Gui-yim, 68, bites into a fresh green plum that she picked from a tree in her orchard.Grimacing at its sour, pungent taste, she places in her palm the seed from inside the fruit, which had broken into pieces, as a way to teach the reporter about the right timing for picking the fruit.“It's not good enough to harvest yet. As you can see here, the seed is not hard enough,” she said. “When the seed becomes as hard as a rock, so that it becomes unbreakable with our teeth, then it's time to harvest. This is how we, as farmers, figure out when to pick the fruit.”She and her husband, Jung Tae-jin, are set to harvest their first batch this year of plums, call

May 30, 2021By Kang Hyun-kyung
Husband and wife share mixed emotions about scenic farm they built from scratch
Trends

Some YouTubers cash in on hate speech

YouTube is flooded with hate speech. Since it became a popular platform for political “news” shows, YouTube has become a battleground between self-proclaimed right-wing and left-wing commentators on politics. gettyimagesbankSelf-proclaimed political commentators on YouTube cross line to attract more subscribers amid political news boomBy Kang Hyun-kyungComedian-turned-YouTuber Kang Seong-beom, 47, offered an apology for his discriminatory remarks about both Chinese nationals and the residents of the southeastern city of Daegu.“In my latest video, I made some inappropriate comments about Chinese nationals and Daegu residents,” he said in a statement uploaded Thursday about the May 19 video. “I deleted the controversial part. My apologies to Daegu residents, Chinese people in Korea, Mr. Lee Jun-seok and his parents and subscribers to my channel who could have felt offended by my careless comments. I know what I said cannot be justified under any circumstances. It was my fault and I am sorry for that.”His apology came a day after he made scathing comm

May 21, 2021By Kang Hyun-kyung
Some YouTubers cash in on hate speech
Books

Book chronicles legendary pop music artists

Seo Taiji and Boys perform during their debut on MBC's talent show in April 1992. Korea Times file 'The Dance' rebuffs popular discourse about K-pop's progenitors By Kang Hyun-kyungA brief conversation between U.S. actress Emma Stone and talk show host Conan O'Brien in July 2015, which aired on TBS, gives a sneak peek into Americans' perception about Korean pop music, suggesting that K-pop was barely known to the U.S. public until very recently.When Stone said that K-pop was her latest obsession, O'Brien reacted with the witty comment, “There're some people who think you're talking about a weird drug.” As their conversation suggests, back in 2015, merely six years ago, K-pop was an unfamiliar, strange thing that many Americans were not aware of. Since the meteoric rise of the South Korean boy band BTS, there has been a media frenzy to examine the making of the global K-pop sensation, along with the people who are credited with taking musical artists of the once obsc

May 19, 2021By Kang Hyun-kyung
Book chronicles legendary pop music artists
Trends

How fortune tellers became go-to people for business tycoons

Gettyimagesbank Seeking counseling from soothsayers is not a Korea-specific phenomenonBy Kang Hyun-kyungJoung Jin-gu, 69, the founder of a startup called Dream Air that produces respiratory equipment and face masks, has a go-to person he turns to for advice whenever he faces key decisions. The man Joung relies on for counseling is a geomancer who tells his clients about their fortunes and future, based on four pillars ― the hour, day, month and year of one's birth. For the past several decades, Joung has been reaching out to the geomancer for advice whenever he has to hire people to fill key positions in his company or come up with ideas about new business ventures in which he had no prior experience.“You never know which people are trustworthy. Resumes or job interviews rarely tell you who they really are,” he told The Korea Times.He recalled a bitter lesson he learned after hiring a mid-career worker, who later wreaked havoc on his previous garment business.“He wa

May 14, 2021By Kang Hyun-kyung
How fortune tellers became go-to people for business tycoons
Opinion

Single mom by choice and good parenting

By Kang Hyun-kyung“I wish I had one more eye on my back.”Japanese-born TV personality Fujita Sayuri, better known to the Korean public by only her first name of Sayuri, utters this bizarre wish for one more eye as she struggles to carry her four-month-old baby, Zen, on her back and tries to reach out at him with a teether toy. After several failed attempts from different positions, she eventually succeeds in getting it into her baby's mouth. The above scene came from KBS 2TV's hit show, “The Return of Superman,” a reality TV show featuring several celebrities and examining their ways of parenting. Calling herself “Mommy” in the third person, Sayuri talks to her baby. “Mommy has become an early morning person because of you. Mommy wakes up at 4 a.m., which I think is good for Mommy's health,” she says in Korean with a strong Japanese accent. She and her baby son joined the cast of the KBS2 TV show recently. They are like a fresh breath of air for an otherwise same-old show, amid several celebrity couples going through predictable parenti

May 12, 2021By Kang Hyun-kyung
Trends

Millennials, Gen Z stressed out over team chat

gettyimagesbankBy Kang Hyun-kyungMillennials (those born between 1981 and 1995) and Generation Z (born between 1996 and 2005) are more stressed out as a whole than baby boomers or other older generations by Korea's favorite smartphone chatting app, KakaoTalk, being used as a tool for communication in the workplace.According to a recent survey conducted by market research firm Opensurvey of 1,000 workers, over five out of every 10 millennials and Gen Zers, who together are called Gen MZ in Korea, said that they feel disturbed by the fact that KakaoTalk is being increasingly used for team chat in workplace.In contrast, only 25.7 percent of baby boomers, who are in their 50s, felt stressed out about KakaoTalk being used for team chat.Nearly 60 percent of the younger generation said that they find it difficult to keep their personal and professional lives separate because of the workplace chat app, while 18 percent mentioned privacy concerns as the main reason for their discomfort.The survey found that KakaoTalk is the most popular app used for group chatting at work.

May 5, 2021By Kang Hyun-kyung
Millennials, Gen Z stressed out over team chat
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