The Korea Times

Virus outbreak sparks concerns over 18-year-old voters' apathy toward April elections

A woman wearing a face mask passes by a poster about precautions against the new coronavirus in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday. For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death. /AP-YonhapBy Kim Soo-yeonSEOUL (Yonhap) ― The coronavirus outbreak and the repeated postponement of the new school year have made it difficult for 18-year-old voters to receive election education at schools, spawning concerns about their apathy toward the April 15 polls.In South Korea, 18-year-old voters, or those born before April 16, 2002, will be able to cast their ballots in the upcoming parliamentary elections for the first time.In December 2019, the National Assembly passed an electoral reform bill that calls for lowering the voting age to 18 from 19 and adopting a new proportional representation system.Of 36 member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development

Mar 26, 2020By Kim Ji-soo

Virus outbreak sparks concerns over 18-year-old voters' apathy toward April elections

Politics

N. Korean defectors eye politics as weapon to make voice heard

Ji Seong-ho, a North Korean defector-turned-human rights activist, in his office in southwest Seoul. YonhapBy Koh Byung-joonSEOUL (Yonhap) ― Back in North Korea, Ji Seong-ho saw elections as nothing more than a formality, because even a vote against the ruling Workers' Party-picked candidates, let alone criticism of the government, could land voters in prison.Running for office was an unthinkable privilege reserved for elites and well-connected people.That's why, after coming to South Korea, Ji, known for his surprise appearance at U.S. President Donald Trump's State of the Union address in 2018, was stunned to see candidates feverishly campaigning and people passionately debating policy and freely criticizing their president.After more than 10 years of living in South Korea, Ji is now planning to run in the April 15 general elections for a National Assembly seat, with the goal of helping North Korean defectors and people still suffering in the country he escaped from."If elected, I hope to contribute to enacting laws that help improve human rights situations in North Korea and to dr

Mar 20, 2020By Kim Ji-soo

Opinion

Keeping connected amid COVID-19

By Kim Ji-sooIn the streets of Seoul, the eyes behind the mask, on the bus, over the counter, or when the delivery man hands over the parcel or pizza, are furtive. It may not be much different in other regions in South Korea.The question lurks in those eyes about the possible relationship between you and the novel coronavirus known as COVID-19. No one is quite sure how to interact socially, anymore. Since the massive outbreak was a given after the nation's first patient was reported in mid-January, the health authorities have been strongly advising people to keep a “social distance.” This is 2 meters or roughly 6 feet distance, especially from those who seem to be exhibiting signs of a fever or are coughing.Keeping a social distance would not be an easy feat for anyone, and especially Koreans who like to huddle when they socialize, sharing drinks, soup and side dishes. But here and there, furtively, hesitantly and anxiously, some distance-maintenance is seen to be under way.People are split into separate teams or asked to work from home, so as to leave contingency plans a

Mar 11, 2020By Kim Ji-soo

Global Community

'Passion Island' or 'Yeoljeongdo' amid Yongsan highrises

A restaurant that sells yeoljeong galbi (that could be translated as “passion ribs”) in Namyeong-dong, Seoul. / Korea Times photo by Kim Ji-sooBy Kim Ji-sooLarge-scale apartment redevelopment projects are fast changing Seoul's landscape. Towering concrete blocks stand in spaces once occupied by small businesses in two-story buildings. In that sense, visiting the neighborhood known as “Yeoljeongdo,” or Passion Island, near the former USO building and Namyeong Station in northern Seoul, is like walking into another time zone.Surrounded by 21st century high-rises, Yeoljeongdo has only small buildings that look like they might date back to the late 1970s or 1980s and fill a few of the Namyeong-dong streets. The stores' exteriors mostly exhibit a gritty version of Korea and seem to hark back to a time that only those over 50 may recall. Hearty Korean dishes are to be found on many of the menus here, like roast pork belly and kimchi stew. The area has pork rib restaurants, bakeries with a building structure reminiscent of Korean snack shops frequently seen in the la

Mar 10, 2020By Kim Ji-soo

'Passion Island' or 'Yeoljeongdo' amid Yongsan highrises

Society

Will Bong Joon-ho prompt generation of cinema kids?

South Korean director Bong Joon-ho, who directed the film "Parasite", speaks during a press conference at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo on Feb. 23. /AFP-YonhapBy Kim Ji-sooAfter South Korean legend Pak Se-ri won her first U.S. Open in 1998 ― a dramatic and historic win that drew global golfers' attention ― Korea saw a rise in up-and-coming professional golfers. One after another ― Shin Ji-yai, Park In-bee, Park Sung-hyun ― top young golfers inspired by Pak's win began to emerge.Pak's U.S. Open victory came during an unprecedented financial crisis in Korea, when many citizens were fearing the nation could return to poverty. The triumph also inspired both young children and their parents ― whose fierce zeal for education often encouraged the golf aspirations of their offspring. There are six Korean female golfers in the world top 15 according to Women's World Golf Ranking this week. Upon the global success of K-pop, many Korean young people began to aspire ― and some, become ― top pop stars, such as BTS. Thus, director Bong Joon-ho's four-Oscar feat has the nation's soft-power

Mar 3, 2020By Kim Ji-soo

Will Bong Joon-ho prompt generation of cinema kids?

World

Documentary chronicles Florida veteran's story

This anniversary-gift pairing of photos of Wyley Wright Jr. and Ouida Wright is cherished by their family and is part of a daughter's documentary, “Love Separated in Life ... Love Reunited in Honor.” [Provided by Jackie Wright]/Tribune News]By Matt SoergelThe Daytona Beach News-JournalThe story goes that while the Army was shipping Wyley Wright Jr. home from Korea in the 1950s, a friend of his accidentally dropped a small picture from his wallet. Wright bent to pick it up.Whoah. It was a beautiful young woman in a dress, wearing a multi-strand necklace and a fetching smile.Hey, you've got to introduce me to her when we get back, Wright said. His friend did.That led to marriage and four children for Wyley and Ouida Wright, the woman in the photo. But by May 1963, the Army had sent the career soldier back to Asia, where he was among the thousands of so-called military advisers sent to Vietnam.Later that year, as the Wrights' 11th anniversary drew near, Wyley took that photo of his wife to a Vietnamese photographer. He enlarged it and paired it with one of the soldier, taken

Mar 3, 2020By Kim Ji-soo

Global Community

Volunteer and walk in Seoul's Lotus Lantern Parade

An image of the Lotus Lantern Parade in this 2012 file photo. Korea Times fileBy Hallie BradleyEach year, more than 300,000 people converge to celebrate in central Seoul with a gorgeous parade, cultural performances, activities and crafts over a three-day period. Buddha's birthday lands on April 30 this year and the festival runs from April 24 to 26. The highlight is a massive parade with more than 100,000 lanterns lit and carried from Dongdaemun to Jongak in central Seoul. Visitors can see beautiful lotus flower lanterns, a long dragon, elephants, fire-breathing peacocks and other amazing floats. The streets are blocked off to traffic and people from around the world come together to celebrate this cultural event.The parade is stunning to see, but imagine walking in it! Each year, a number of foreigners and Koreans are chosen to work together and learn more about this event which the government has designated as Important Intangible Culture Heritage No. 122. Participants, called Global Cultural Ambassadors, can apply via its Culture Us program to learn more about Korean Buddhism dur

Feb 25, 2020By Kim Ji-soo

Volunteer and walk in Seoul's Lotus Lantern Parade

Entertainment

"Parasite" to give much-needed boost to Korean cinema

In this file photo South Korean film director Bong Joon-ho poses with his engraved awards as he attends the 92nd Oscars Governors Ball at the Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood, California on Feb. 9. / AFP-YonhapIn 1988, a South Korean man let several snakes loose in two movie theaters in central Seoul to protest the growing influence of Hollywood on South Korean cinema.The incident was a desperate attempt by South Korean movie industry officials to try to scare moviegoers away from theaters screening "Fatal Attraction," the first American film distributed directly by an American company in South Korea.Disgruntled movie industry officials later also carried out an arson attack on a separate Seoul theater, though the attack did not cause a big fire.No one was hurt in either incident.The episodes underscored widespread concerns about the effect Hollywood's direct distribution of films would have on South Korea's fledging movie industry at a time when moviegoers favored Hollywood movies over South Korean ones.Fast forward to 2020.South Korean director Bong Joon-ho has won four

Feb 25, 2020By Kim Ji-soo

"Parasite" to give much-needed boost to Korean cinema

Global Community

Foreign community brief

'Farewell My Concubine' to be screened againAn extended version of the 1993 film “Farewell My Concubine,” which won the Palme d'Or at the 46th Cannes Film Festival will be released in theaters on April 1, according to Yonhap News Agency. The film, directed by the veteran Chinese filmmaker Chen Kaige, stars top Chinese stars as Fengyi Zhang, Gong Li and the late Leslie Cheung. Cheung was especially popular with Korean film fans when Chinese and Hong Kong films were all the rage in Korea in the early 1990s.Int'l female film festival open to submissionsAll participants regardless of age, gender and nationality are called upon to submit work for the Film Festival for Women's Rights 2020 or FIWOM 2020 through March 29. Everyone is welcome to apply with their films but submissions must have been created after January 2019. Work dealing with women's rights, violence against women, shedding focus on the social structure that enables the infringement of these rights and finding solutions to these problems are some of the topics filmmakers can tackle. This year's FIWOM will be held

Feb 25, 2020By Kim Ji-soo

Entertainment

Cross-border love story crashes South Korea TV ratings

This undated handout picture provided on Feb. 13 y South Korean cable television network, tvN, in Seoul shows a scene from television drama series "Crash Landing on You" starring actress Son Ye-jin and actor Hyun Bin. South Korea's biggest current television hit is a fantastical tale of a billionaire heiress who accidentally paraglides into the North and falls in love with a chivalrous army officer serving Kim Jong-un. AFP-YonhapSouth Korea's biggest current television hit is a surreally unlikely tale of a billionaire heiress who accidentally paraglides into the North and falls in love with a chivalrous army officer serving Kim Jong -un."Crash Landing on You" is unashamedly fantastical in its plotlines, but has drawn praise for its portrayal of everyday life in the North, even down to accents and words.The division of the peninsula is a regular theme in K-drama and K-movies, but it is unusual for so much of a show to be set in the North ― in both Pyongyang and the countryside ― and defectors have complimented its accuracy. Portraits of North Korean founder Kim Il-sung and his son and

Feb 20, 2020By Kim Ji-soo

Kim Ji-soo

Read more

Virus outbreak sparks concerns over 18-year-old voters' apathy toward April elections

N. Korean defectors eye politics as weapon to make voice heard

Keeping connected amid COVID-19

'Passion Island' or 'Yeoljeongdo' amid Yongsan highrises

Will Bong Joon-ho prompt generation of cinema kids?

Documentary chronicles Florida veteran's story

Volunteer and walk in Seoul's Lotus Lantern Parade

"Parasite" to give much-needed boost to Korean cinema

Foreign community brief

Cross-border love story crashes South Korea TV ratings

Top 5 stories