my timesThe Korea Times
jhkim

Kim Jae-heun

Korea Times Print Reporter

Go to Email

Read more

Companies

Woowa Brothers-Delivery Hero deal to get conditional OK

Founder and former CEO of Woowa Brothers Kim Bong-jin, left, answers staff questions at the company's headquarters in Songpa-gu, Seoul, last month. / Courtesy of Woowa BrothersBy Kim Jae-heunThe top antitrust regulator plans to grant “conditional approval” to Delivery Hero's $4 billion acquisition of Woowa Brothers ― the firm behind Seoul's most popular food delivery app.A condition is that the merged unit presents various “follow-up” measures to guarantee innovative activities.“The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) plans to grant a conditional approval of Delivery Hero's proposal to take over Woowa Brothers on the basis that the merged entity should help the relevant business segment create additional ecosystems utilizing its dominant position in the market,” a government official told The Korea Times, Friday. The official, who wished to remain anonymous, said the regulator plans to ask for specifics of the management of the merged unit in terms of “innovation” because the deal, if finalized, would put the entity in an indisputable position

Jan 10, 2020By Kim Jae-heun
Woowa Brothers-Delivery Hero deal to get conditional OK
Politics

New Justice Minister Choo vows to reform prosecution

New Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae, right, shakes hand with Bae Seong-beom, the head of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, during her inaugural ceremony at the government complex in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, Friday. / YonhapBy Kim Jae-heunNew Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae has vowed to reform the prosecution in what she called “the demand of the times.”“Prosecution reform is what we call the most difficult and challenging task and it has become the demand of the times that nobody can go against,” Choo said in her inaugural speech at the government complex building in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, on Friday.“As far as the ministry is concerned, we will have to take on the task with a particular attitude in completing the historic reformation.”The nation's demand and support for reform of the prosecution had reached its highest level in history according to various polls, Choo said. “President Moon Jae-in's administration has been working continuously to revamp power apparatuses like the National Intelligence Service (NIS) and th

Jan 3, 2020By Kim Jae-heun
New Justice Minister Choo vows to reform prosecution
Society

'Korea should take leading role in stopping Japan from discharging radioactive water'

Chang Mari, a Climate and Energy Campaigner at the Greenpeace East Asia Seoul Office, poses for a picture during the inspection in Fukushima, Japan, in October 2019. / Courtesy of Greenpeace KoreaBy Kim Jae-heun“Korea should take a leading role in stopping Japan from discharging radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean,” said Chang Mari, a Climate and Energy Campaigner at the Greenpeace East Asia Seoul Office, Tuesday.The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry revealed last Monday its draft reviewing three ways to dispose of 1.15 million tons of radioactive contaminated water stored in some 980 tanks at power plants in Fukushima. It said Japan can discharge the radioactive water into the ocean, evaporate it into the air or a combination of the two methods. Chang warned that if Japan really chooses to dump contaminated water into the ocean, it can cause serious damage to marine life and the ecosystems of not only the neighboring countries but the whole world. “Korea, obviously will be affected the most by the discharge, as Japan's closest neighbor. However,

Jan 3, 2020By Kim Jae-heun
'Korea should take leading role in stopping Japan from discharging radioactive water'
Law & Crime

Controversy rises over Cho Kuk's help in son's exam

Former Dongyang University professor Chin Joong-kwon, left, and the head of the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation Rhyu Si-min / YonhapBy Kim Jae-heunCriticism is rising over former Justice Minister Cho Kuk's alleged helping of his son in the online school exams of a U.S. university.The row has intensified after Rhyu Si-min, head of the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation and a liberal pundit, defended Cho by saying it was pathetic for the prosecution to indict Cho for “just letting the son know what he didn't know” in the “open-book test.”When indicting Cho on multiple corruption charges last week, the prosecution said Cho, a Seoul National University professor, and his wife Chung Kyung-sim, a Dongyang University professor, interfered with the school affairs of George Washington University which their son attended.In 2016, the son allegedly sent the questions from the online tests for a course called “Global Perspective on Democracy” to his parents via an online messenger app in November and December so they could solve them for him and send the answers back, resulting

Jan 2, 2020By Kim Jae-heun
Controversy rises over Cho Kuk's help in son's exam
Law & Crime

Online sex crimes still thriving despite gov't efforts

By Kim Jae-heunGovernment efforts to fight sex crimes on the internet last year have fallen way short of expectations. Voyeur videos are rampant, and the perpetrators are often close acquaintances of the victims, such as boyfriends or girlfriends.One massive scandal involving a number of male celebrities showed just how such crimes were committed in a casual offhand manner.Singers Jung Joon-young and Choi Jong-hoon, along with several others, opened a group chat in 2015 to share pictures and videos of them having sex with women, which had been taken without the women's consent.This scandal among others aroused awareness of online sex crimes and put the issue on the forefront of the government's agenda.The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family launched a taskforce and support center in 2018 to deal with online sex crimes and help the victims.The government also ordered all related organizations, including the Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC), the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) and the National Police Agency (NPA), to cooperate in fighting the crimes.On Nov. 12,

Jan 1, 2020By Kim Jae-heun
Online sex crimes still thriving despite gov't efforts
Society

Insincere New Year texts on phone cause stress

New Year greeting messages via smartphones are not always welcome. / GettyimagesbankBy Kim Jae-heunPeople are becoming stressed out over the influx of “insincere” New Year greeting messages delivered via their smartphones ― with some even referring to them as spam.“I've been receiving the same New Year greetings for five years from my colleagues and friends and surprisingly, they always say exactly the same thing,” said Park Ji-ho, a 32-year-old office worker. “Sometimes people send me a message without my name in it. I don't think they even know who they are sending the greeting to.”Lee Jung-soo, a 29-year-old graduate student, said when he receives New Year greeting texts from his friends they obviously have been copied and pasted with only the names being changed. Lee doesn't understand why people send these messages. “I don't feel like answering them. I know people do it good naturedly but when I receive such messages without any sincerity in them, I question why they waste their time doing it. I have to waste my time replying with the sa

Jan 1, 2020By Kim Jae-heun
Insincere New Year texts on phone cause stress
Law & Crime

Woman arrested over death of abused daughter

By Kim Jae-heunA woman was arrested, Sunday, following the death of her five-year-old daughter who had been trapped in a travel bag for hours. However, police said, Monday, they are investigating a new suspicion that the child may have in fact drowned.The mother, 42, visited a hospital emergency room on Thursday, carrying the daughter who was unconscious. She claimed that she had locked the girl in a travel bag for two hours as a punishment for lying, and the girl was not breathing when she opened the case.Doctors there reported the woman to police for suspected child abuse after finding bruises over about two thirds of the girl's body. Police apprehended the mother on the spot and requested an arrest warrant for her on a charge of child abuse resulting in death.Police are further investigating the possibility the girl may not have died from suffocation in the bag but rather by drowning, following a doctor's testimony and the hospital's record that when she arrived at the hospital at 6:27 p.m., the victim's hands showed signs of having been submersed in water with her hands being wet

Dec 30, 2019By Kim Jae-heun
Woman arrested over death of abused daughter
Society

'School #MeToo' battle against sexual violence losing out

By Kim Jae-heunThe government's fight against sexual violence committed at schools is raising questions over its efficacy, as nearly 100 teachers across the country have been disciplined for the crimes this year.Following a series of “school #MeToo” incidents last year, the Ministry of Education came up with measures to root out sex crimes at schools including sexual harassment and sexual assault, with few of them taking effect.One of the first-rate measures driven by the ministry was to establish a reporting center within the government body. However, the ministry did not have any counselors at the center until July this year and it only hired one in a temporary position.The counselor alone had to manage 116 cases reported to the center between January and November, which was a 15 percent increase from 101 cases reported in the same period the year before. People became concerned that a personnel shortage there led to poor handling of the job. The number of professional counselors at public schools has increased by 21.7 percent this year to 2,715 from 2,231 in 2018. Howe

Dec 29, 2019By Kim Jae-heun
'School #MeToo' battle against sexual violence losing out
Society

Local governments to host training camps for Tokyo Olympians

By Kim Jae-heunLocal governments are stepping up efforts to host training camps and basecamps for foreign athletes who will participate in next year's Summer Olympic Games in Japan amid still lingering concerns over radioactive contamination.Despite the Japanese government's repeated assurances of a radiation-free Olympics, the consequences of the Fukushima nuclear crisis still linger, as evidenced by the recent detection of high-level radiation hot spots at the J Village in Fukushima, where the 2020 Tokyo Olympic torch relay will kick off next year.As a result, many countries are looking elsewhere for their athletes to prepare for the Olympics, which are scheduled to take place July 24 to Aug. 8, and Korean cities are emerging as the best training venues, given the two countries' shared time zone and geographical proximity. Yangsan, South Gyeongsang Province, is leading the field by becoming the training venue for Olympic wrestling qualifiers from 67 countries from July 9 to 24. According to the local government, over 1,000 athletes, coaching staff and representatives will visit the

Dec 26, 2019By Kim Jae-heun
Local governments to host training camps for Tokyo Olympians
Society

Korean gov't inactive over Japan's plan to discharge radioactive water into Pacific

Storage tanks for radioactive water are seen at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, Nov. 13. A body of experts, Monday, proposed discharging the water into the Pacific Ocean or evaporating it, and the Japanese government is likely to accept one of the options. / YonhapBy Kim Jae-heunKorea's government remains idle while Japan makes plans to release radioactive water from Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean.Multiple government organizations here related to the issue are passing the buck to one another, with each saying it is not in charge of the matter.On Monday, the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry revealed a draft of an experts' report on possible ways for it to deal with more than 1 million tons of contaminated water stored at the nuclear plant following the massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011 ― to discharge it into the ocean, evaporate it into the air or a combination of the two methods. The trade ministry will soon make a final decision after reviewing the draft.These three ways are the most hazardous ― and at the same time cheapest

Dec 24, 2019By Kim Jae-heun
Korean gov't inactive over Japan's plan to discharge radioactive water into Pacific
previous page
136137138139140
next page

Top 5 stories