The Korea Times

S. Korea repatriates 2 N. Korean fishermen

 South Korea repatriated two out of five rescued North Korean fishermen Tuesday, while the North has demanded Seoul send back all the sailors, including the three who want to defect to the South.South Korea completed its repatriation of the two fishermen, who have expressed their desire to go home, at the truce village of Panmunjom earlier in the day, according to the Unification Ministry.The North has threatened to take "stern" actions if Seoul refuses to send all five fishermen back home who were found drifting on a vessel due to engine failure and rescued by the South's Coast Guard off the east coast on July 4.North Korea's Red Cross said Monday it will send relevant officials, along with the family members of the five fishermen, to the truce village Tuesday to take them all into custody.The North urged the South to reveal the identities of those wishing to defect and to allow their families to meet with them, a move that Seoul has rejected on humanitarian grounds."It is not clear whether the family members of all five sailors appeared at Panmunjom," said a ministry official.

Jul 14, 2015By Kim Ji-soo

Shows & Dramas

Tom Cruise to visit Seoul for 'Mission Impossible' sequel

Tom CruiseHollywood star Tom Cruise will visit Korea to promote “Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation,” Lotte Entertainment said Monday.It will be Cruise’s seventh visit to Seoul. He will hold a press conference on July 30 (the day of the film’s release in Korea) and attend a red carpet showing at the second Lotte World Mall Atrium the same evening.Director Christopher McQuarrie and producer Don Granger will accompany Cruise..  

Jul 13, 2015By Kim Ji-soo

Tom Cruise to visit Seoul for 'Mission Impossible' sequel

Companies

Hana-Korea Exchange merger to be completed before Oct.

Major banking group Hana Financial Group Inc. said Monday that it plans to complete a merger between its two banking units -- Hana Bank and Korea Exchange Bank (KEB) -- before October as KEB's labor union has agreed on the proposed merger.Hana Financial has been pushing for the merger since its acquisition of KEB from U.S. buyout fund Loan Star in 2012 but faced strong opposition from the KEB union, which claims Hana had promised to allow an independent management for five years.In February, a Seoul court issued an injunction banning Hana Financial from engaging in any merger processes, citing its earlier promise with KEB's union.But an appellate court ruled in favor of Hana Financial last month, dismissing the earlier court's injunction, to pave the way for the company to resume the talks with the labor union."(We) reached an agreement on the principle of the integration, name of the united bank, the procedure and synergy sharing of the integration, and guarantee of job security," Hana Financial said in a filing."We also decided to implement the agreement with sincerity based on the

Jul 13, 2015By Kim Ji-soo

Opinion

Partnership with Heikendorf of Germany

By Young Hoy Kim KimaroMore than 30 years ago, a visiting lecturer from Germany at the Mwika Bible School so loved Mwika that she had her home community of Heikendorf enter into a partnership with the then parish of Mrimbo in Mwika. Since, that parish has grown into four independent parishes of Uuwo, Kondiki, Maring’a and Kirimeni. The partnership continues with these four parishes. The four often attach “Mrimbo” after their parish names as if to identify their common parentage, and they maintain their sibling like closeness to each other.A pattern of return visitations has evolved between Mrimbo and Heikendorf. One year a group from Heikendorf comes to Tanzania to revel in African safari adventures and/or to climb Mount Kilimanjaro and to visit Mrimbo in Mwika. The following year, a group from Mrimbo is invited to Heikendorf. Over the years, numerous family friendships have blossomed and deepened between these two communities. In September this year, a larger group from Mrimbo, including youth, will visit Heikendorf at its invitation to celebrate the 30th anniversa

Jun 23, 2015By Kim Ji-soo

Editorial

ed Bribery probe fizzles out

The prosecution’s investigation into the bribery scandal prompted by the so-called “Sung Woan-jong list” is about to wind down, more quietly than expected, as the nation is wrapped up in the fight against Middle East Respiratory Syndrome.Rep. Hong Moon-jong of the Saenuri Party was the third person summoned by the prosecution over allegations that he received 200 million won before the 2012 presidential election from the late Keangnam Enterprises Chairman Sung. The legislator has denied the allegations, and the word is that he is not expected to be indicted nor the five others named by Sung in his suicide memo in April.While the prosecution has decided to indict without physical detention former Prime Minister Lee Wan-koo and South Gyeongsang Province Governor Hong Joon-pyo in the scandal, the investigation into Rep. Hong was under enhanced scrutiny because Hong’s case revolved around President Park Geun-hye’s 2012 election campaign.The prosecution in Korea has largely been vulnerable to incumbent powers. But the prosecution had vowed to leave no stone u

Jun 11, 2015By Kim Ji-soo

Opinion

What is true expatriate?

The word “expatriate” has many meanings and interpretations. One literal interpretation of the word and concept is from the Latin. “Ex” could mean former, as in “ex-con”; it can also mean outside of or deriving from. What it does not mean is “anti” or anything negative, though many interpret that as the meaning. This leads to great misunderstandings, at home and abroad.What further complicates understanding this concept are the many different reasons for being an expatriate in today’s world. What motivates someone to leave home and live in another country? Let’s look at some of the classic reasons, good and bad.There are many who marry a person from another country. From personal experience, it changes one’s perspectives. For one, we tend to idealize the country of our loved one. Love the person; it follows to love their country and culture.Many come as students and love the experience and want to stay and become employed. Many are teachers of English. They could go anywhere, China, Taiwan, developing countries. They c

Jun 10, 2015By Kim Ji-soo

Opinion

Standing up to Russian aggression

By Gwynne DyerJust before he sat down to a traditional Bavarian meal of sausages and beer with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the start of the G7 summit Sunday, U.S. President Barack Obama told the media that one of the meeting’s priorities would be discussing ways of “standing up to Russian aggression in Ukraine.” Which begs the question: What kind of aggression are we talking about here?There are unquestionably Russian troops in the rebel provinces of eastern Ukraine, and that is certainly an act of aggression under international law. (The Russian troops there are definitely not just volunteers lending the rebels a hand while they are on leave, as Moscow maintains. How can we be sure? Soldiers on leave do not take their tanks and artillery with them.)But is this a prelude to a Russian invasion that would take over all of Ukraine, as Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko recently alleged? If it is, it would require a whole different level of response, and the result could easily be a new Cold War.Is it also the first step in a Russian campaign to take back every

Jun 9, 2015By Kim Ji-soo

Opinion

Global projects for Korean exporters

By Semoon ChangThe Korean economy heavily depends on exports to other countries. Successful exports, in turn, depend significantly on how well the importing countries are doing, which is measured by the growth rate of their real gross domestic product. High growth rates of a country mean that the country’s consumers are doing well and buy more foreign goods. Low growth rates of a country will slow down imports. Growth rates of other countries clearly are an important consideration to many Korean exporters. Today, I will let you know the projected economic trends of selected countries,The CESifo Group consists of the Center for Economic Studies (CES), the Ifo Institute and the Munich Society for the Promotion of Economic Research. The Ifo Institute at the University of Munich is one of the leading economic research institutes in Europe, and at the same time is the one most often quoted in the German media. The Ifo Institute conducts a quarterly survey of the world economy. I am lucky enough to have served on the Ifo survey panel for more than 10 years. Let me first introduc

Jun 7, 2015By Kim Ji-soo

Opinion

Should looks matter?

By Park Moo-jongThere is an old saying that beauty and luck seldom go hand in hand. In short, the beautiful die young.No one can deny that women want to be beautiful, despite the old saying.Naturally, beauty is a gift.That is not necessarily the case today, however.Today, beauty can be created artificially through medical procedures.It is not too much to say that we are living in an era of surgical beauty.A craze is sweeping not only women, but men who aspire to look better through plastic surgery in a society where appearance appears to be a major factor in surviving in the face of ever-intensifying competition.The Washington Post recently carried a special report about the plastic surgery boom in South Korea.The U.S. daily report said: “After the Korean War, the country’s GDP per capita ($64) was less than that of Somalia, and its citizens lived under an oppressive regime. Today, South Korea has the 14th-highest GDP in the world. Is it really surprising, then, that a country that had the resilience to make itself over so thoroughly is also the capital of cosmetic about-

Jun 4, 2015By Kim Ji-soo

Editorial

ed CCTV for children

To the dismay of parents, the bill that would have mandated CCTV cameras at daycare centers did not pass muster at the National Assembly.Both the ruling and opposition parties apologized and said that they would work toward passing such a measure next month.After the shocking image of child abuse at a daycare center in Songdo, Incheon, in January, the bill governing daycare centers gained extra momentum for passage.But of the 171 legislators that showed up for the vote, only 83 voted in favor of the bill that was toned down so much that closed-circuit television was not mandatory if all parents unanimously opposed it, and the viewing of its images was limited only to the parents and the investigating authorities. Legislators from both sides of the aisle cannot eschew criticism that they did not do enough effectively to persuade legislators, and possibly succumbed to pressure from interest groups ahead of the general elections in April.The concern was that the mandatory installation of cameras could infringe upon the rights of daycare workers. To be sure, there is relevance in that lo

Mar 6, 2015By Kim Ji-soo

Kim Ji-soo

Read more

S. Korea repatriates 2 N. Korean fishermen

Tom Cruise to visit Seoul for 'Mission Impossible' sequel

Hana-Korea Exchange merger to be completed before Oct.

Partnership with Heikendorf of Germany

ed Bribery probe fizzles out

What is true expatriate?

Standing up to Russian aggression

Global projects for Korean exporters

Should looks matter?

ed CCTV for children

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