The Korea Times

Park calls for efforts to overcome economic crisis

By Jun Ji-hye Park Geun-hyePark Geun-hye, the ruling Saenuri Party’s presidential candidate, is touting her concerns about overcoming the current economic crisis in order to woo voters in the upcoming presidential election.Park met people from small- and medium-sized businesses who have been suffering from long-term economic recession Monday. She said “I feel more serious about the economic crisis when I see small markets being troubled.”The 60-year-old conservative is also planning to suggest solutions to family debt, an increasingly large burden on ordinary people.  “We will focus on suggesting measures to overcome the economic crisis and help vulnerable members of the society,” Saenuri Party insiders said Tuesday. “Park will pay attention to small- and medium-sized businesses, the local economy and youth unemployment,” they added.From this week, the party will project an image of Park as a prepared president who is able to overcome fallout from the European economic crisis which is expected to hit the Korean economy sooner or lat

Oct 30, 2012By Jun Ji-hye

Park calls for efforts to overcome economic crisis

South Korea

Korea PR expert puts up 'sex slavery' posters in Japan

Korea PR expert Seo Kyoung-duk, a professor at Sungshin Women’s University, poses in front of the comfort women posters he put up in Japanese universities, Monday. / YonhapBy Jun Ji-hyeKorea PR expert Seo Kyoung-duk, a professor at Sungshin Women’s University, has put up posters in Japanese universities calling for their apology for Korean “comfort women” who were forced into prostitution for the Japanese army during World War II.Seo and some 50 Korean students studying in Japan covered walls in nearly 40 major Japanese universities with 10,000 posters regarding wartime sex slavery issues.“We have stuck posters up for the last three weeks to press Japan to apologize for its wartime sex slavery,” the freelance Korean publicist said Monday. “There are two kinds of posters. One is titled ‘Do you remember?’ and the other is called ‘Do you hear?’”According to the professor, the posters were put up on notice boards and in cafeterias and dormitories at the University of Tokyo, Kyoto University, Osaka University, Okayama

Oct 29, 2012By Jun Ji-hye

South Korea

Park on charm offensive for centrist voters

Ruling Saenuri Party presidential candidate Rep. Park Geun-hye smiles at a child in a stroller during her participation in the “With Baby Walkathon” event Olympic Park in Songpa-gu, Seoul, Sunday. / YonhapBy Jun Ji-hyeSaenuri Party presidential candidate Park Geun-hye has targeted wooing middle-of-the-road voters regarding political tendency, those living in the central districts of the nation and people in their 30s and 40s for victory on Dec. 19.These groups are seen as Park’s vulnerability and her election camp believes that effectively targeting them will be crucial.The daughter of late President Park Chung-hee has attempted to attract moderate voters in pursuit of national unity since her primary victory.Her visits to the grave of late President Roh Moo-hyun and to Lee Hee-ho, the widow of former liberal President Kim Dae-jung are part of her trying embrace voters who steer a middle course. However, the benefits from these moves in opinion polls were only temporary as Park has become embroiled in controversy over her father’s deeds.  Park’s cam

Oct 28, 2012By Jun Ji-hye

South Korea

UN chief Ban arrives here to receive Seoul Peace Prize

Ban Ki-moonUN Secretary-GeneralBy Jun Ji-hyeUnited Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon arrived here Sunday for a four-day visit during which he will receive this year’s Seoul Peace Prize.According to a Seoul official, Ban will receive the biennial award today for his work around the world, including his contributions to securing women’s and children’s rights, eliminating poverty in developing countries and democratizing nations in the Middle East.He will be the first South Korean recipient of the award since its establishment in 1990 to commemorate the success of the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Previously, former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the founder of Grameen Bank Muhammad Yunus were awarded in 1998 and in 2006 respectively.The ceremony will be held at the Hotel Shilla and the award comes with 200,000 dollars in prize money.During the four-day visit, Ban is scheduled to give a speech at a National Assembly plenary session, Tuesday. According to a parliamentary official, this will mark his first address to the National Assembly since he became U.N. chief. Hi

Oct 28, 2012By Jun Ji-hye

UN chief Ban arrives here to receive Seoul Peace Prize

People & Events

SNS to play big role in election

By Jun Ji-hye Pop sensation Psy may not be the only Korean to massively benefit from social networking services (SNS) this year. The three presidential candidates are also betting that sites such as YouTube and Facebook will catapult them into Cheong Wa Dae come December. So says Lee Hag-man, a social media expert who was appointed Tuesday to head the SNS campaign for ruling Saenuri Party candidate Park Geun-hye. “Psy’s Gangnam Style couldn’t have become a huge international hit if not for YouTube,” Lee said in an interview with The Korea Times. “Likewise, SNS will play a significant role in spreading information on the candidates to the public here.” Lee, 48, noted that social media has become increasingly important in U.S. elections, citing how citizens use networking sites during candidate debates as a space for public dialogue. He expects a similar effect here. “When candidates finish televised debates, attention immediately moves to Twitter and Facebook. The judgment on the candidates begins there. The opinions will impact voters, especially those in their 20s

Oct 24, 2012By Jun Ji-hye

South Korea

President-elect to set new records

By Jun Ji-hye The president-elect will set new records, regardless of whether it is the Saenuri Party’s Park Geun-hye, the Democratic United Party’s (DUP) Moon Jae-in or independent Ahn Cheol-soo. If Park wins in the December poll, she will be the nation’s first female president. America has still to elect a female president ― Hillary Rodham Clinton, currently serving as secretary of state, ran in the Democratic Party’s 2008 primary but was beaten by Barack Obama. The daughter of the late President Park Chung-hee would also be the first generational change as head of state ― father and daughter ― and the first to hold the role of both first lady and president after acting as the former following her mother, Yook Young-soo, being assassinated by a pro North Korea infiltrator on Aug. 15, 1974. She would also be the first unmarried president and the first who studied engineering at university ― she majored in electronic engineering at Sogang University, graduating in 1974. If Moon moves into Cheong Wa Dae, he will be the first president after serving as a chief presiden

Oct 22, 2012By Jun Ji-hye

South Korea

Pro-Roh figures quit Moon’s campaign

By Jun Ji-hye Nine figures associated with the late President Roh Moo-hyun on Sunday resigned from the camp of Moon Jae–in, the Democratic United Party’s (DUP) presidential candidate, in a bid to stem factionalism within the party. Sources inside the camp said the decision was prompted by calls from the party for the candidate to focus on political reform without being distracted by factionalism between pro-Roh figures and their critics. “We resign from our positions in the election camp and will help Moon’s efforts for victory behind the scenes,” the politicians said in a joint statement. As Moon served as Roh’s chief of staff, watchers say it is vital for him to distinguish himself from his former boss. Calls had been growing for the resignations amid concerns that they wielded too much influence despite Moon’s call for a fair process to select his staff when he gave his acceptance speech following his triumph at the party’s primary elections. Initially, only three key pro-Roh figures were expected to resign: Jeon Hae-chul and Lee Ho-chul, who both se

Oct 21, 2012By Jun Ji-hye

South Korea

Moon demands Lee to stay away from elections

By Jun Ji-hye The Moon Jae-in camp urged President Lee Myung-bak to stop interfering in the election, calling Lee’s recent trip to the maritime boundary in the West Sea as a politically-motivated act. “It is a clear intervention in the presidential election under the guise of national security,” Rep. Jin Sung-joon of the main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) said in a briefing, Friday. Jin said President Lee tried to side with the Saenuri Party to help its presidential candidate Park Geun-hye. “If he was worried about national security, he should have visited the military demarcation line between the two Koreas where the border crossing incident of a North Korean solider occurred,” he said. The DUP was suspicious of Lee’s motives for visiting the Northern Limit Line (NLL) at a time when the ruling party strove to politicize the issue. On Thursday, President Lee made an unannounced visit to the Yeonpyeong Island near the NLL amid a controversy on the late former President Roh Moo-hyun’s remarks on the maritime border. Roh was quoted by the ruling pa

Oct 19, 2012By Jun Ji-hye

South Korea

Seoul launches int’l body for green growth

By Jun Ji-hye Seoul officially launched an international body for “green growth," Thursday, to simultaneously target economic performance and environmental sustainability, according to its secretariat. “An agreement to change the Seoul think tank into an international body became effective today,” the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), the first international organization led by Korea, said in a press conference held at the Korea Press Foundation in Seoul. Under international law, at least three countries’ are needed to ratify such a change of status and the agreement takes effect 30 days after the third ratification is confirmed. GGGI became eligible for an international body on Sep. 18, when Kiribati became the third country to approve the treaty following Demark and Guyana. It now has ratification from four countries, including the Philippines. The institute said, “It is an open and global laboratory with aims to spread green growth models as alternative development strategies to support emerging countries' eco-friendly growth.” “It is currently working on

Oct 18, 2012By Jun Ji-hye

South Korea

Military hit for politicized lectures on pro-NK groups

By Jun Ji-hye A lawmaker criticized the military Wednesday for allowing “biased” lecturers to teach soldiers about “Pro-North Korean forces in the South,” claiming they made inappropriate remarks about liberal presidential candidates. Rep. Ahn Gyu-baek of the main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) claimed that the military had increased such training sessions ahead of presidential polls in December. Some guest lecturers, he said, were using the opportunity to influence soldiers against the DUP’s presidential candidate, Moon Jae-in, as well as independent Ahn Cheol-soo. Rep. Ahn single out Kim Seong-wook, head of a conservative activist group, as an example. According to Ahn, Kim said in a 2007 book, “Roh Moo-hyun’s Rebellion” that the late liberal President was “the main enemy of Korea.” Kim, through social media, has issued allegations such as “Moon sets himself up as pro-North Korean president,” and “pro-North Korean groups eulogize (candidate) Ahn,” the lawmaker said. Kim delivered 30 of the total 155 lectures on the topic held between January and Ju

Oct 17, 2012By Jun Ji-hye

Jun Ji-hye

Read more

Park calls for efforts to overcome economic crisis

Korea PR expert puts up 'sex slavery' posters in Japan

Park on charm offensive for centrist voters

UN chief Ban arrives here to receive Seoul Peace Prize

SNS to play big role in election

President-elect to set new records

Pro-Roh figures quit Moon’s campaign

Moon demands Lee to stay away from elections

Seoul launches int’l body for green growth

Military hit for politicized lectures on pro-NK groups

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