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Park Ji-won

Korea Times Politics & City Reporter

Park Ji-won is a writer for The Korea Times who has been covering a wide range of topics from Korea’s culture to its politics. An avid journalism enthusiast to the core, Ji-won brings a thoughtful and unique perspective to every topic she covers. On weekends, you'll often find her contemplating life’s purpose on a yoga mat — with a cup of quality tea in hand. A native Korean speaker by birth and fluent in English through her work, she went to college in Japan and is learning Chinese and French — hoping to add Polish, Russian and Thai to the mix.

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Foreign Affairs

Incheon locals oppose plan to move Overseas Koreans Agency to Sejong

Political parties, local officials and civic activists in Incheon are pushing back against the government’s plan to relocate the Overseas Koreans Agency (OKA) to Sejong, calling the decision unilateral and demanding it be scrapped. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced Oct. 13 that 44 ministries and agencies would relocate in phases beginning next year through 2031 as part of a national strategy to break up the capital area-centered administrative system. The agency, which oversees diaspora policy under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is among the first six agencies slated to move — scheduled to leave its Incheon headquarters for the administrative city of Sejong by the first half of 2027. The OKA was originally established in Incheon following fierce competition among local governments, with the city selected for its proximity to Incheon International Airport and its symbolic significance as a gateway for the Korean diaspora. The agency had more recently been weighing a move to a government building in Seoul after struggling to find suitable premises, with a plan to coo

Oct 21, 2026By Park Ji-won
Incheon locals oppose plan to move Overseas Koreans Agency to Sejong
North Korea

Trump's 'I don't know' clouds prospect of meeting Kim Jong-un at APEC

U.S. President Donald Trump cast doubt Monday on whether he would meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during next month’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in China, but experts say the possibility has not been ruled out and a surprise encounter remains within reach. Asked whether he expected to secure a meeting with Kim on the sidelines of the APEC summit, scheduled for Nov. 18-19 in Shenzhen, Trump gave an equivocal answer. “Oh, I don’t know. I don’t know,” he told reporters, before stressing his personal rapport with the North Korean leader. “I’m not sure that anybody’s asking for a meeting. But my relationship with Kim Jong-un is very good.” The remarks tempered expectations Trump himself had been building for months. On Oct. 12, he hinted that he might meet Kim during APEC, saying “That’ll be exciting, won’t it? But I get along with him.” In August, Trump said that he plans to meet the North Korean leader at some point this year. Trump met Kim three times between 2018 and 2019 — first in Singapore in June 2018, then in Hanoi in February 20

Oct 20, 2026By Park Ji-won
Trump's 'I don't know' clouds prospect of meeting Kim Jong-un at APEC
Defense

COVER STORY Should women serve? Korea's female conscription debate is back as troop pool shrinks

South Korea’s decade-old debate over female conscription resurfaced during a National Assembly audit this month, amid growing concerns that a shrinking draft-eligible population could undermine military readiness. During a National Assembly defense committee audit on Oct. 12, opposition lawmakers raised the issue, arguing that the time has come for a public discussion as the eligible male population continues to fall. Defense ministry data shows the pool of 20-year-old men eligible for service dropped from 332,000 in 2019 to 257,000 in 2022, and is projected to fall further to 228,000 by 2035 and 120,000 by 2043. Rep. Yoo Yeong-ha of the main opposition People Power Party said, "Now, we must officially put female conscription on the table. This will also require broad societal consensus." Rep. Chun Ha-ram of the Reform Party used the term “gender-equal conscription” — meaning mandatory service for both men and women — to call for a broader discussion on reforming the system. “If we continue wringing a dry towel without even considering gender-equal conscription as an option,

Oct 20, 2026By Park Ji-won
[COVER STORY] Should women serve? Korea's female conscription debate is back as troop pool shrinks
Foreign Affairs

Korea should approach Trump with business mindset, Sunny Park says

When Sunny K. Park arrived in the United States in 1974 with just $200 in his pocket, he had little idea that he would one day become a successful Korean American entrepreneur with extensive ties to Washington. Park, now 84 and president of the American Korean Friendship Society, was 32 when he moved to Indiana to study at Indiana University. Having grown up in poverty and survived the 1950-53 Korean War, he recalled seeing America as a “paradise” filled with opportunities. Two years later, however, he left school to support his family and began selling life insurance door to door. His involvement with the Korean immigrant community eventually led him into a different line of work. While helping newly arrived Koreans find jobs, Park noticed growing demand in the commercial cleaning industry. “Korean immigrants came into the U.S., but they had a tough time to get a job, so I helped them and that brought me to a new industry — commercial cleaning,” Park told The Korea Times. “That business became so popular and it doubled in just one year. I gave up the insurance sales and star

Oct 18, 2026By Park Ji-won
Korea should approach Trump with business mindset, Sunny Park says
Foreign Affairs

Korean American entrepreneur seeks memorial site for UN troops killed in Korean War

For Sunny K. Park, memories of the 1950-53 Korean War remain vivid more than seven decades later. Park, an 84-year-old Korean American entrepreneur who serves as president of the American Korean Friendship Society and the Korean War United Nations Veterans Memorial Foundation, was 8 when the war broke out in 1950. While fleeing from Seoul to Busan during the war, he witnessed scenes that would stay with him for the rest of his life — including the bodies of young foreign soldiers who had come to fight in Korea. “The bombs shattered all these people. Body parts were all over … I saw dead bodies at the rice paddy. They were about 17-18 years old,” Park said during an interview with The Korea Times, Monday. “(At the time) I didn’t quite understand why they were doing it." The war devastated the peninsula, killing millions of Koreans. Tens of thousands of international troops serving under the United Nations Command also lost their lives. Park moved to the United States in 1974 and went on to build a successful business career. As he grew older, he said he came to better understan

Oct 16, 2026By Park Ji-won
Korean American entrepreneur seeks memorial site for UN troops killed in Korean War
Foreign Affairs

Harris predicts Democrats will win midterm, slams Trump for weakening Korea alliance

Former U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris predicted Wednesday that the Democrats will win both the House of Representatives and Senate in November’s midterm elections, while using a Seoul appearance to deliver a pointed critique of U.S. President Donald Trump’s handling of the South Korea-U.S. alliance and his overtures toward North Korea. Speaking at the 2026 Asan Memorial Lecture, Harris said the electoral map is shifting in Democrats’ favor. “We are facing a lot of obstacles, but the Democrats are going to win. I believe certainly the House and ... each day presents a new reason to think that of winning the Senate as well,” she said, noting that the number of competitive House seats that could flip from Republican to Democrat had grown from 40 to 46 in recent days. When asked about a potential 2028 presidential run, she sidestepped the question. “(The year) 2028, from my perspective, doesn’t matter if we don’t win 2026,” she said. The remarks came as Trump faces declining approval ratings following the outbreak of the U.S.-Iran war in late February, with congressional

Oct 14, 2026By Park Ji-won
Harris predicts Democrats will win midterm, slams Trump for weakening Korea alliance
Foreign Affairs

Records prove secrecy premise in POW row despite no signed deal, Seoul says

South Korea and Ukraine remain at odds over the scope of a "binding" nondisclosure agreement regarding the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war (POWs), with the dispute now centering on a fine but crucial distinction: Seoul says a consensus on confidentiality existed from the start of negotiations, while Kyiv says no official document of any agreement exists. South Korean officials acknowledged that no formal nondisclosure agreement was signed, but maintained that both sides had operated from the beginning under a shared understanding that the entire negotiation would remain confidential. "There is no official document signed by the two sides on nondisclosure," a senior foreign ministry official told The Korea Times. "We have internal documents on the meetings, which we cannot disclose. But Seoul and Kyiv have been communicating based on the consensus that the entire negotiation should remain subject to a binding nondisclosure agreement." The official added that President Lee Jae Myung’s remarks on the matter “have some grounds” and that Cheong Wa Dae and the foreign mini

Oct 13, 2026By Park Ji-won
Records prove secrecy premise in POW row despite no signed deal, Seoul says
Health

Seoul temperature breaks all-time October record

Daytime temperatures in Seoul posted 30.1 degrees Celsius, Monday, breaking all-time-high records for October since the country recorded the temperature on Oct. 1, 1907. Seoul's data for Monday replaced its October record set on Oct. 3, 1913. Under standard meteorological guidelines, the latest temperature replaces the previous record when the numbers are the same. In Daejeon, midday temperatures soared to 31.5 degrees, also setting a new October high since the data recorded in 1969, surpassing the previous record of 31.2 degrees Celsius set on Oct. 3, 2021. October temperature records were also broken in Jeongeup, North Jeolla Province (31.1 degrees); Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province (30.6 degrees); Gumi (30 degrees), Sangju (29.5 degrees) and Andong (29 degrees) in North Gyeongsang Province; Yeongwol (29.8 degrees), Wonju (29.3 degrees), Chuncheon (28.8 degrees) and Jeongseon (28.8 degrees) in Gangwon Province; and Icheon, Gyeonggi Province (29.1 degrees). The unseasonable late heat wave will end following nationwide rain through Tuesday, accompanied by an influx of cold air from t

Oct 12, 2026By Park Ji-won
Seoul temperature breaks all-time October record
North Korea

Unification minister rejects blame for US alliance tensions

Unification Minister Chung Dong-young rejected claims Monday that his remarks on a suspected North Korean uranium enrichment site prompted the U.S. to restrict intelligence sharing with Seoul, as the opposition stepped up calls for him to resign. Chung told reporters that Washington misread the situation, arguing that his reference to the North's Kusong region was first made at his July 2025 confirmation hearing, not in March this year, when he raised it as a minister at a parliamentary session. "The U.S.' misunderstanding was that intelligence had been shared, passed on to the unification minister and then somehow leaked by the minister. What I want to point out is that I made those remarks in July last year as a lawmaker, not as unification minister. The U.S. may have overlooked that. Had they known, they would not have raised the issue. They saw it as a leak because they thought I was speaking as minister. Even the U.S. can get the facts wrong," he said. “The U.S. should have taken action against the National Assembly or the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), because I was a DPK lawm

Oct 12, 2026By Park Ji-won
Unification minister rejects blame for US alliance tensions
South Korea

Experts see no quick fix for Korea-US intelligence rift

Although the South Korean government insists its alliance with the United States remains strong despite six months of restrictions on North Korea-related intelligence sharing, experts see little prospect of a quick resolution, warning that Washington’s mistrust runs deep and the dispute reflects broader structural strains in the alliance. Nam Sung-wook, a chair professor at Sookmyung Women’s University, said the restrictions reflect strong U.S. mistrust of specific figures in the current administration and warned the situation was unlikely to improve soon. “The U.S. is showing a deep-seated distrust toward key figures such as Unification Minister Chung Dong-young and National Intelligence Service (NIS) chief Lee Jong-seok in the Lee Jae Myung administration and claiming that they cannot have high-level intelligence sharing meetings. It is worrisome, as it is also fundamentally hurting the allies,” he said. He said Seoul has strong reasons to resolve the restrictions quickly but warned that Washington’s concerns may be difficult to overcome in the short term. “It will not be b

Oct 11, 2026By Park Ji-won
Experts see no quick fix for Korea-US intelligence rift
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