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Kang Seung-woo

Korea Times Business Reporter

Kang Seung-woo is the Business Desk editor at The Korea Times. Prior to this position, he covered politics, national affairs, finance and sports.

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South Korea

KMA cadet sexually assaulted

By Kang Seung-wooThe Army has launched an investigation into an alleged sexual assault at the Korea Military Academy, the Army said, Wednesday.At a festival last Wednesday, a senior male cadet sexually assaulted a female junior in his room after some 20 students and 10 professors drank at lunch, according to the Army. At the time the incident took place, it is reported that the victim was heavily intoxicated and vomited repeatedly.This is the first reported allegation of sexual abuse involving cadets has taken place on campus since women were admitted to the elite military academy in Seoul in 1998. The military police have since arrested the suspect and authorities have set up a joint investigation team to look into the incident, officials said.“Judging from the circumstance, they had drunk excessive amounts of alcohol,” an Army official said. “We are also checking if professors and senior officers who accompanied the students were negligent in their duty of supervising students’ drinking.”Drinking is banned at the military academy, but student

May 29, 2013By Kang Seung-woo
South Korea

1st female commander to lead US Navy in Korea

By Kang Seung-woo Capt. Lisa FranchettiThe U.S. Naval Forces Korea (USNFK) will be led by a woman commander for the first time.The U.S. Department of Defense announced Tuesday that Capt. Lisa Franchetti, who has been selected for promotion to rear admiral (lower half, or first star), will be assigned as commander of the USNFK.The New York native will also serve as the naval component commander for United Nations Command and naval component commander for U.S. Forces Korea (USFK).Franchetti, who is currently serving as Navy military assistant to the secretary of the Navy in Washington, D.C., will replace Rear Admiral William McQuilkin, who came to Korea in September 2011. However, when she will arrive in Korea has yet to be decided, according to the Combined Forces Command (CFC).Assuming the position, Franchetti would go down as the first female commander in the history of the USFK as well as the USNFK, the CFC added.“Capt. Franchetti has a good reputation in the U.S. Navy and she is known for superb work,” a military source was quoted as saying by Yonhap News.“S

May 29, 2013By Kang Seung-woo
1st female commander to lead US Navy in Korea
South Korea

Why does top security official take furlough?

By Kang Seung-woo Kim Jang-sooHead of security officerKim Jang-soo, head of the national security office at Cheong Wa Dae, stayed home overnight Friday for the first time since taking the job three months ago, presidential officials said Tuesday.On Feb. 24, one day ahead of President Park Geun-hye’s inauguration, Kim, a former defense minister, entered the presidential office and spent about three months near his office, dealing with national security issues amid Pyongyang’s growing threats of war including nuclear strikes against Seoul and Washington.Since then, the 65-year-old has slept at lodgings near the presidential office and had most of his meals inside the presidential compound, only visiting his home to change clothes.His return to home may mean tensions on the peninsula are lessening.Incensed by stiffer U.N. sanctions for its third nuclear test in February and joint South Korean-U.S. military drills, North Korea ratcheted up tensions, moving mid-range Musudan missiles believed to be capable of reaching the U.S. territory of Guam in the Pacific Ocean. It al

May 28, 2013By Kang Seung-woo
Why does top security official take furlough?
South Korea

Korea to buy 20 anti-sub aircraft

By Kang Seung-wooThe Ministry of National Defense has decided to purchase 20 anti-submarine warfare patrol aircraft from 2018 to beef up the Navy’s surveillance capabilities of North Korea’s submarines.Currently, an aging squadron of 16 P-3C Orions, developed by Lockheed Martin, is operational in the Navy after being introduced to Korea in 1995.“The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) is currently working on a plan that is likely to be an overseas purchase program,” an unidentified source told Yonhap News, Sunday.The budget for the procurement of new surveillance aircraft is estimated at around 1 trillion won ($900 million), and Airbus Military’s C-295 MPA, Boeing’s P-8 Poseidon and the SC-130J Sea Hercules, Lockheed Martin’s other coastal surveillance and anti-submarine warfare plane, are seen as possible replacements.The U.S. Navy has recently received the seventh production of the P-8 Poseidon to replace the P-3Cs, while Japan has a fleet of 100 P-3Cs.The P-3C is capable of carrying out various operations in anti-submarine an

May 26, 2013By Kang Seung-woo
South Korea

Lee in hot seat for golfing during Roh memorial day

By Kang Seung-woo Former President Lee Myung-bakFormer President Lee Myung-bak is sitting in the hot seat again for another sports activity.On Saturday, the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) criticized the 71-year-old Lee for playing golf on Thursday, the day of the fourth anniversary of the death of Roh Moo-hyun, who preceded Lee.Lee allegedly had a two-day outing on Thursday and Friday in Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province with his entourage from his presidential term (2008 to 2013).“There was an across-the-nation memorial for Roh in Bongha Village, Gimhae, South Gyeongsang Province on May 23, but Lee played golf in nearby Geoje,” DP Spokeswoman Bae Jae-jeung said in a briefing at the National Assembly, Sunday.“It is doubtful if Lee can read public opinion.”Roh threw himself off a cliff to his death in Bongha amid a prosecution bribery investigation involving his family and aides during the Lee administration four years ago.Kim Hyun, another DP lawmaker, also said on her Twitter account “It is common courtesy to recognize the dos and don’t

May 26, 2013By Kang Seung-woo
Lee in hot seat for golfing during Roh memorial day
South Korea

Eurofighter maker offers to invest $2 billion

EADS's EurofighterBy Kang Seung-wooThe European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS) offered Thursday to invest $2 billion (2.24 trillion won) in Korea’s indigenous fighter plane program, if its Eurofighter Tranche 3 is selected as a replacement for Air Force’s aging fleet of F-4s and F-5s.The multi-national defense firm is bidding against U.S. Lockheed Martin and Boeing to secure the 8.3 trillion-won contract for the FX III project.Lockheed Martin is hoping to sell its F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) and Boeing is touting its F-15 Silent Eagle.  An announcement is due in late June.In addition, EADS, which jointly worked with the Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) in the production of Korea’s first indigenous helicopter, Surion, said it will build a maintenance repair and overhaul (MRO) facility and an aerospace software center as well as provide marketing support for Korean-made combat aircraft.Last month, the four-nation consortium, led by Cassidian Spain, also came up with a proposal to manufacture 53 out of 60 planes in local factories if it wins the c

May 23, 2013By Kang Seung-woo
South Korea

South urges NK to come to talks

By Kang Seung-wooSouth Korea pushed North Korea Tuesday to accept a proposal to hold working-level talks in order to normalize the closed Gaeseong Industrial Complex.The North stopped all access to the North’s border city from the South on April 3, citing provocations from Seoul against its sovereign dignity, and subsequently withdrew all 53,000 North Korean workers employed by the 123 South Korean companies operating there on April 9.“To build trust related to the Gaeseong Industrial Complex, there needs to be an effort to allow the local companies to retrieve production materials and finished goods, which requires working-level talks,” Ministry of Unification Spokesman Kim Hyung-suk said in a briefing.“The North keeps mentioning the normalization of the joint industrial park without responding to the South’s calls for talks. We are not sure of its sincerity.”South Korea has made proposals for talks over the complex, the latest of which was rejected last week, when Pyongyang said Seoul’s proposal for talks on recovering raw materials and fin

May 21, 2013By Kang Seung-woo
South Korea

NK continues guessing game on missiles

By Kang Seung-wooWill North Korea further escalate tensions after it fired short-range missiles over the weekend? The answer, according to analysts, is “unlikely,” because it knows that any further provocations would entail additional sanctions.“North Korea fired the missiles in response to the joint South Korean-U.S. joint naval drill,” said Cheong Seong-chang, a senior fellow at the Sejong Institute.The two-day joint exercise involving the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz took place off the east coast on May 13 and 14.He said that the Kim Jong-un regime might launch short-range missiles a few times in the near future, but will not fire mid-and long-range ones to avoid further U.N. sanctions.“Recently, Kim Jong-un has been seen trying to boost the economy, but should the North launch longer range missiles, it will face tougher punishment that may threaten the regime’s existence,” he said.Shin Beom-Chul, a director of North Korea Military Studies at the Korea Institute of Defense Analyses, also said sticking with short-range missiles shows that th

May 20, 2013By Kang Seung-woo
South Korea

Seoul condemns NK's missile launch

By Kang Seung-wooSouth Korea condemned North Korea Sunday after the latter test-fired short-range missiles into the sea off its east coast.“South Korea defines North Korea’s provocative actions as deplorable and calls on the North to act responsibly in the international community,” Ministry of Unification spokesman Kim Hyung-suk said at a hurriedly-arranged press conference.The Ministry of National Defense announced Saturday that the North test-fired two missiles in the morning and one in the afternoon.“They appeared to have been short-range weapons rather than mid- to long-range ones such as the Musudan,” spokesman Kim Min-seok said in a briefing.The missiles launched may be a modified anti-ship missile or the KN-02 surface-to-surface missile derived from the Soviet era SS-21 that has a range of about 120 kilometers, ministry officials said.Seoul also holds Pyongyang responsible for the closure of the Gaeseong Industrial Complex and the lack of inter-Korean talks to resolve the issue.The North stopped all access to Gaesong from the South on April 3, and

May 19, 2013By Kang Seung-woo
South Korea

Park's spokesman fired over sexual misconduct

A photo of presidential spokesman Yoon Chang-jung is seen on the table during the main opposition Democratic Party’s emergency meeting Friday to deal with the allegation that Yoon made an unwarranted sexual advance on an intern hired for the Korea-U.S. summit in Washington. Korea Times photo by Oh Dae-geunYoon allegedly groped intern during Korea-US summitBy Kim Tae-gyu, Kang Seung-wooLOS ANGELES/Seoul _ Presidential spokesman Yoon Chang-jung was fired for a “disgraceful” act in the middle of President Park Geun-hye’s U.S. trip, Cheong Wa Dae announced Thursday.Yoon had allegedly sexually abused an intern hired by the Korean Embassy in Washington during President Park’s summit with President Barack Obama, according to sources and Cheong Wa Dae officials.U.S. police are investigating the allegations.Lee Nam-ki, Park’s senior secretary for public relations, held an emergency press conference in Los Angeles and confirmed Yoon’s dismissal, although he didn’t specify the nature of the incident.“President Park decided to fire Yoon becau

May 10, 2013By Kang Seung-woo
Park's spokesman fired over sexual misconduct
  • Will US seek extradition of Yoon?
  • Scandal to pose huge burden on Park
  • Who is Yoon Chang-jung?
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