my timesThe Korea Times
janee

Kim Ji-soo

Korea Times Editorial Reporter

Kim Ji-soo joined The Korea Times in 2006, and worked on such desks as culture and politics and is currently a member of the Editorial Board. Previous workplaces include The Korea Herald and the Korea JoongAng Daily.

Go to Email

Read more

Opinion

Elon, the Twitter bodhisattva

By Jason LimThe legend of Elon Musk has only gotten bigger in recent days with his purchase of Twitter for $44 billion. What's really interesting about this purchase is that Musk doesn't do things for the sake of doing the thing. He does things for the sake of doing the vision. What I mean is that he established Tesla not to make electric cars but to use electric cars as a means to “accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy.” It says so on Tesla's webpage: “Today, Tesla builds not only all-electric vehicles but also infinitely scalable clean energy generation and storage products. Tesla believes the faster the world stops relying on fossil fuels and moves towards a zero-emission future, the better.” Basically, he's built an electric car company to change the ingrained habit of how we use energy. Similarly, SpaceX is not about making reusable rockets to bring down the cost of rocket launches. As Musk is quoted on the webpage, it's about, “You want to wake up in the morning and think the future is going to be great ― and that's what being a s

May 1, 2022By Kim Ji-soo
Opinion

Longing for normalcy

By Kim Ji-sooAs the world enters a third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, most of us have had our run-ins, from mild to severe to even fatal with the rampant coronavirus. The shock when COVID-19 first surfaced and spread; the angst when you went for your first PCR test; the joy when the vaccines rolled out; the fatigue of the pandemic prolonging; and the agony of people dying for lack of access to proper treatment, have all weighed heavily on people around the world. In addition, there was the sense of resignation when the Omicron variant turned out not to be a “Christmas gift” of peaking early as it did in South Africa and then tapering off, but continued its inexorable spread.During the past two years, much of the coverage of the pandemic had been about the numbers, the daily infections, severe cases and death tolls. But when Korea eased COVID restrictions in November, and the numbers then quickly soared into the 7,000s and the number of critically-ill patients recorded in the 1,000s, photos of medical staff in ICUS appeared more frequently. Then for me, COVID-19 struck c

Jan 5, 2022By Kim Ji-soo
Longing for normalcy
Opinion

The taste of 'minari'

By Kim Ji-soo As the day of the 93rd Academy Awards Ceremony (April 26, 9 a.m. KST) approaches, there is heightened awareness of whether film “Minari” by the Korean American director, Lee Isaac Chung, will grab awards based on six nominations, including one for veteran Korean actress Youn Yuh-jung. Youn was nominated in the category of Best Supporting Actress, based on her heart-warming portrayal of the character of the grandmother in the film.In the movie, the plant known as “minari” in Korean, is planted by the grandmother, Soonja, as she adjusts to life in Arkansas, the United States. As many already know, the Korean American director has said that the movie is loosely based on his own family's story.In the film Youn shares a number of scenes with the character of her grandson at a creek bed she identifies as ideal for growing minari. The plant is one of the things through which they bond with one another and even sing together about it. She tells him that while he has been living in America, he hasn't had the chance to taste the vegetable. So she attempts

Apr 21, 2021By Kim Ji-soo
The taste of 'minari'
Politics

Hospital supplies and medicine for Laos

Figure 1 Korea Love Sharing Community Chairman Lee Eun-deok, left in front row, poses with Second Secretary Kham Ai Phoutthachit of the Laos Embassy in Seoul and others including corporate sponsors Choi Seong-ho of Kyungwoo System before sending $850,000 worth of medicine, and hospital beds to Laos, April 7. / Courtesy of Korea Love Sharing CommunityKorea Love Sharing Community Chairman Lee Eun-deok, left in front row, poses with Second Secretary Kham Ai Phoutthachit of the Laos Embassy in Seoul and others including corporate sponsors Choi Seong-ho of Kyungwoo System before sending $850,000 worth of medicine, and hospital beds to Laos, April 7. / Courtesy of Korea Love Sharing Community

Apr 13, 2021By Kim Ji-soo
Hospital supplies and medicine for Laos
Opinion

Deepening asymmetry between Korea, China

By Lee Seong-hyon I once received an apology from a Chinese woman who was enrolled in an MBA course at Tsinghua University, the alma mater of Chinese President Xi Jinping. After learning that she was from Guangdong Province, I mentioned that Wang Yang, then-Guangdong's party secretary, had recently visited Korea. I also said that there would be a Korea-China summit soon. It was a gesture to build rapport with her.The response from the Chinese woman was something unexpected. "Why would our leader go to a small country (xiao guo) like Korea? I think you heard it wrong.” What started as a casual conversation at a coffee shop in the College Boulevard in Beijing just ended there.Guangdong ranks first in GDP in China. In 2018, the province's GDP was already close to Korea's total GDP. The fact that the economic size of one Chinese province is similar to that of all of South Korea as a nation, warrants some soul-searching on the part of South Korea, given its symbolism in bilateral relations.At the time of establishing diplomatic relations in 1992, South Korea's economy was about equ

Feb 16, 2021By Kim Ji-soo
Deepening asymmetry between Korea, China
Opinion

The West's disappointing double standards

By Sun XiMore than a decade ago, when I came from China to study in the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, two political terminologies were deeply laid the seeds in my mind. One was the fantastic “human rights,” and another was the disgraceful “double standards”.I still vividly remember my then-Dean Kishore Mahbubani, an internationally renowned thinker and the former president of the United Nations Security Council, repeatedly shared his dedicated collections of the West's double standards on human rights, including numerous cases from the Middle East, Asia, Latin America and Africa. In his opinion, the reason behind such double standards was that “the West will take a moral stand only when its fundamental interest is not involved.” That has unfortunately been the hard truth.Today, I would like to add some new cases involving my homeland China to Dean Mahbubani's long list. The latest one is about two cartoons.This November, China was asked by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison to apologize because of a digital illustration depicting

Dec 17, 2020By Kim Ji-soo
Politics

Won makes 'green' case for presidency

Governor Won Hee-ryong of Jeju Special Self-Governing Province holds a press conference near Mount Songak in Seogwipo in this Oct. 25 file photo, vowing to keep Jeju Island clean and green for the next generation. Courtesy of Jeju Special Self-Governing ProvinceTwo-term governor ‘s agenda centers around ‘reasonableness,’ defying Korea’s politics as usual By Kim Ji-sooJEJU ISLAND ― The seas off this southern island were tranquil Monday, as Seoul and the larger metropolitan area were dealing with a chilling rise in the number of coronavirus infections. It is exactly for that tranquility and the clean green environment that many pandemic-fatigued people still travel to the southern island to seek solace. If anything, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the island's natural environment. Rising on that platform is its governor Won Hee-ryong, the governor who has declared his intent to run in the 2022 presidential election. As is the tradition in Korean politics, presidential hopefuls come to the fore around the fourth year of the incumbent administration's s

Dec 16, 2020By Kim Ji-soo
  • INTERVIEW Jeju Governor has 2023 world climate conference in crosshairs
Today in History

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2020

On this day...1775-U.S. Marine Corps established by Congress1801-Kentucky outlaws dueling1891-First Woman's Christian Temperance Union meeting held (in Boston)1898-Race riot in Wilmington NC (8 blacks killed)1917-41 suffragists are arrested in front of the White House1918-Independence of Poland proclaimed by Jozef Pilsudski1919-First observance of National Book Week1969-"Sesame Street" premieres on PBS TV1975-PLO leader Yasser Arafat addresses UN in NYC1975-U.N. General Assembly approves resolution equating Zionism with racism1978-Israel's top negotiators broke away from Middle East peace talks1984-Miami Hurricanes blows 31-0 lead in 3rd quarter lose to MD 42-401988-China confirms earthquake death toll will rise above current 9381988-N.Y.'s MTA announces it may replace tokens with credit card type passes1989-Germans begin punching holes in the Berlin Wall1990-Lebanon releases 2 French hostages (Camille Sontag & Marcel Coudari)

Nov 9, 2020By Kim Ji-soo
Today in History

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2020

On this day...1799-Napoleon becomes dictator (firstconsul) of France1858-First performance of NY Symphony Orchestra1864-First export of goods from Burrard Inlet, BC to a foreign country1885-The opera "Ermine" is produced (London)1904-First airplane flight to last more than 5 minutes1924-Miriam (Ma) Ferguson becomes first elected woman governor (of Texas)1927-Giant Panda discovered, China1935-Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) labor union forms1953-Cambodia (now Kampuchea) gains independence within French Union1961-PGA eliminates Caucasians only rule1973-Fire at Taiyo department store, kills 101 & injures 84 (Kumamoto Japan)1976-U.N. General Assembly condemns apartheid in South Africa1984-Vietnam Veterans Memorial ("3 Servicemen") completed1985-Gary Kasparov (USSR) becomes World Chess Champion at age of 221989-East Berlin opens its borders

Nov 8, 2020By Kim Ji-soo
Politics

Andy Kimcongratulatory message

Hi everyone! I am Congressman Andy Kim. And I wanted to congratulate The Korea Times on its 70th anniversary. What an extraordinary accomplishment. And for 70 years, being an important voice for Koreans all over the globeRight here in America, it has been a pillar to my family and to so many other families in terms of getting the information and the analysis that helps us stay connected. And that is exactly what has happened. Since the founding, during the Korean War, all the way to the reporting, and the important analysis of the peace talks and the talks with North Korea, this has been such a huge part of all of our lives and I just can't thank The Korea Times enough for the important voice it plays.As the only Korean American in the United States Congress, l try to do everything that I can to be able to lift up all of our voices, and The Korea Times is an important way for us to stay connected. So just congratulations again. I look forward to just many, many years ahead. Today, we just celebrate the 70th anniversary.Andy Kim U.S. Congressman, New Jersey 3rd District

Oct 29, 2020By Kim Ji-soo
previous page
7891011
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.