The Korea Times

TODAY, AUG. 08, 2020

On this day...1609-Venetian senate examines Galileo Galilei's telescope1876-Thomas Edison patents mimeograph1919 Treaty of Rawalpindi, British recognize Afghanistan's independence1945-President Harry S. Truman signs UN Charter1945-USSR declares war against Japan in WWII1945-USSR establishes a communist government in North Korea1949-Bhutan, land of the Dragon, became an independent monarchy1953-U.S. and South Korea initial a mutual security pact1955-Geneva conference held to discuss peaceful uses of atomic energy1988-Renovated Central Park Zoo reopens after 4 years1988-Russian troops begin pull out of Afghanistan after 9 year war1989-U.S. space shuttle STS-28 launched1991-Shite Muslims release British hostage John McCarthy

Aug 7, 2020By Kim Ji-soo

Editorial

ED Time to share pain

Carry out labor agreement faithfully at workplaces The Economic, Social and Labor Council approved a key labor agreement drawn up by union, business and government representatives. This is the first agreement by the country's three key economic players in 22 years following the 1998 Asian financial crisis.Under the agreement intended to cope with the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, employers promised to maintain employment. The unions agreed to cooperate in helping companies cut work hours and conduct temporary business suspensions. The government, meanwhile, offered to map out a universal unemployment insurance plan by year's end. The deal means a lot in that social dialogue is urgent to save the anemic economy and households amid the looming unemployment crisis. In fact, the importance of employment stability cannot be overemphasized. Massive layoffs could cause households to fall into debt, which would in turn put a damper on consumer sentiment, thereby taking a toll on private investment. So efforts to minimize job losses are all the more important at a time when exports are

Jul 29, 2020By Kim Ji-soo

Today in History

SATURDAY, JULY 25, 2020

1814 ― Battle of Niagara Falls (Lundy's Lane); Americans defeat British1943 ― Benito Mussolini dismissed as premier of Italy during WWII1946 ― U.S. detonates underwater A-bomb at Bikini Atoll (5th atomic explosion)1947 ― U.S. Department of the Army created1956 ― Jordanians attack U.N. Palestine truce1963 ― U.S., Russia & England sign nuclear test ban treaty1965 ― Folk-rock begins, Dylan uses electric guitar at Newport Folk Festival1966 ― Supremes release "You Can't Hurry Love"1975 ― "A Chorus Line," longest-running Broadway show (6,137), premiers1983 ― First nonhuman primate (baboon) conceived in a lab dish, San Antonio1984 ― Cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya became 1st woman to walk in space1990 ― U.S Ambassador tells Iraq, US won't take sides in Iraq-Kuwait dispute

Jul 24, 2020By Kim Ji-soo

Opinion

'Everyday life quarantine'

By Kim Ji-sooThe health authorities were asking the public to refrain from unnecessary meetings, as small infection clusters have been reported in Seoul and the surrounding metropolitan area. They were happening in closed spaces such as underground ping pong clubs or offices, among people holding small religious studies groups or meetings. Places with no windows or ventilation were highly prone to these infection clusters.It was however a brilliant Saturday in early June. Deep summer verdant was visible everywhere. So a group of four women defied the authorities’ call, choosing instead to head to the Seongsu area, a hot place among the young and chic. Any stop at restaurants or cafes would be short, possibly just a pick-up of food or drinks.A sense of expectation, curiosity about a new neighborhood, and a human stubbornness to show resistance to the virus prevailed.We didn’t know what to expect in terms of crowd size. Would there be long lines like when Blue Bottle opened its first shop here? No such line was visible. But the neighborhood had a sufficient weekend cro

Jun 10, 2020By Kim Ji-soo

Opinion

Too comfortably numb

By Jason LimIt's pretty obvious that Lee Yong-soo “halmeoni” (grandmother) feels disrespected and disenfranchised from the very movement for which she has long been one of the most active and visible “comfort women” ambassadors. Sure, she didn't say that in so many words. Instead, she mentioned feeling betrayed, used and lied to, her bitterness apparent and aimed mostly at the person of Yoon Mee-hyang, the longtime leader of the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan (Korean Council; formerly known as “Jeongdaehyeop” and Justice for the Comfort Women). Right before she started her term as a first-time national assemblywoman, Yoon responded in a press conference, taking pains to avoid direct confrontation with grandmother Lee but nevertheless forceful in her defense of her leadership of Jeongdaehyeop. Stepping back from the current static, however, it's only fair to examine Yoon's Jeongdaehyeop for what it has done in the last 30 years as the most visible NGO driving the public narrative around the comfort women is

Jun 7, 2020By Kim Ji-soo

Opinion

Intellectual devolution

By Adam Borowski Adam BorowskiHumanity, we have a problem. Intellectual devolution threatens our future even more than the coronavirus. An increasing number of people unquestioningly believe that a group of Machiavellian types at the top of the social pyramid will depopulate the world, leaving only a tiny percentage of the population to serve the new masters.While it was easy to ignore such claims in the past, it is no longer possible for governments to dismiss millions of people as tinfoil hat wearers. Conspiracy theorizing has gone mainstream, with YouTube videos blaming the new world order for the coronavirus. The global lockdown only adds fuel to the conspiracy fire. 5G masts were damaged in the UK and the Netherlands. Is banning YouTube videos offering alternative views, or spreading conspiracy nonsense if you prefer, the answer?Banning is only going to make various individuals even more suspicious and paranoid, giving credence to all sorts of outlandish theories and claims. Surely, it would be better to address the problematic issues by presenting scientific data, rather than s

May 6, 2020By Kim Ji-soo

Opinion

Change of mainstream

By Kim Ji-sooVoter turnout has generally been high for Korea elections; as I have often said in previous columns, politics is something like a “national sport” in Korea. Even amid the current pandemic. A whopping 66.2 percent of voters showed up to exercise their rights, amid one of the nation's most contagious pandemics on record. Voters were spread across various age groups ― 18 year olds exercised their new right to vote picking National Assembly representative for the first time now with the lowering of the voting age ― which had been expected to show mixed results. The general logic is that a mid-term general election judges the incumbent administration, and therefore gives the opposition a glimmer of hope. But the ruling bloc ― the Democratic Party of Korea and its satellite Civil Together ― won by an outstanding margin, securing 180 elected and non-elected seats. The main opposition United Future Party (UFP) and its satellite Future Korea Party together won 103 seats. The drastic decline of the conservative opposition, which had been the mainstream in Korean politi

Apr 22, 2020By Kim Ji-soo

Global Community

Jeju Island's Haenyeo, A User's Manual

Author Joey Rositano talks with one of the female free divers on a boat. /Courtesy of Tanner Jones By Hallie Bradley“Since there are so many representations of the 'haenyeo' geared at ultimately drawing tourism to Jeju Island, I decided to interview three generations of women divers about how they felt about their new fame and what their lives are really like in this time of commercial development on Jeju and the pre-COVID- 19 tourism boom,” began author Joey Rositano. An American resident of Jeju Island since 2006, Rositano has been enthralled with the local culture and traditions for some time and has documented this fascination for others to read and learn from. His most recent work is titled “Jeju Island's Haenyeo, A User's Manual” which documents the past lifestyles of Jeju's female divers and compares them to the way the haenyeo live now. The book also looks at the gentrification of Jeju Island, environmental concerns, women's rights issues and religion throug

Apr 14, 2020By Kim Ji-soo

Politics

U2 leader asks S. Korean president to support Ireland in fight against coronavirus

U2 rock band frontman Bono Vox meets Pope Francis at the Vatican in this Sept. 19, 2018 file photo. /Vatican Media REUTERS-YonhapSEOUL ― Bono, the lead vocalist of Irish rock band U2, has sent a letter to South Korean President Moon Jae-in asking for support in his country's fight against the novel coronavirus, the presidential office here said Sunday.In the letter, Bono asked for South Korean protective equipment and diagnostic kits and said he would personally pay for it, according to Cheong Wa Dae.In a reply sent Friday, President Moon said he would have the health authorities discuss the issue and he hoped Ireland will overcome the crisis, the presidential office added.President Moon and Bono met in December last year, when U2 had its first solo concert in South Korea as part of its Joshua Tree Tour.The 59-year old Irish musician is one of the world's best-known philanthropic performers, spearheading human rights movements across the globe.Ireland had reported nearly 9,000 virus infections as of Sunday afternoon (Korean time), with 320 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns

Apr 13, 2020By Kim Ji-soo

U2 leader asks S. Korean president to support Ireland in fight against coronavirus

Politics

Self-isolators without coronavirus symptoms allowed to vote

YonhapSelf-isolators will be allowed to cast ballots in the upcoming parliamentary elections if they do not show symptoms of coronavirus infection, authorities said Sunday."People who were ordered to go into self-quarantine from April 1-14 and show no symptoms on the day of voting can cast ballots," Health Minister Park Neung-hoo said in a press briefing. "Wearing face masks, they should go to polling stations on foot or by car, while using mass transportation is strictly banned."South Korea has been seeking ways to permit those in self-isolation over the new COVID-19 to vote in the April 15 general elections while minimizing the risk of infecting others. They were not allowed to take part in early voting held Friday and Saturday. The polls will be held from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday.The minister said those in self-quarantine will be accompanied by health officials from their isolation facilities to polling stations at a separately designated time in a bid to keep them from meeting other voters. (Yonhap)

Apr 12, 2020By Kim Ji-soo

Self-isolators without coronavirus symptoms allowed to vote

S. Korea mulls easing social-distancing rules

Kim Ji-soo

Read more

TODAY, AUG. 08, 2020

ED Time to share pain

SATURDAY, JULY 25, 2020

'Everyday life quarantine'

Too comfortably numb

Intellectual devolution

Change of mainstream

Jeju Island's Haenyeo, A User's Manual

U2 leader asks S. Korean president to support Ireland in fight against coronavirus

Self-isolators without coronavirus symptoms allowed to vote

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