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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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North Korea

'North Korea likely to ditch inter-Korean military agreement'

Barricades set up in front of a bridge in the border town of Paju, Gyeonggi Province, which leads to the truce village of Panmunjeom inside the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas, are seen in this photo taken Aug. 11 shows. Yonhap Pyongyang may opt for military action without US concessions By Kang Seung-wooA series of threats by North Korea regarding combined military exercises run by South Korea and the United States could lead to Pyongyang scrapping an inter-Korean military pact and demolishing South Korean facilities at the Mount Geumgang tourist resort, as a means to extract more concessions from Washington, according to diplomatic observers here. On Wednesday, Kim Yong-chol, head of the United Front Department handling inter-Korean affairs, issued a statement warning that the North will make the South and the U.S. regret their decision to hold the joint drills and they will face a “serious security crisis” due to the “wrong choice.” Kim Yong-chol, head of North Korea's United Front Department / YonhapSouth Korea and the U.S. began a four-day pr

Aug 11, 2021By Kang Seung-woo
'North Korea likely to ditch inter-Korean military agreement'
Politics

Pardons for ex-presidents looking unlikely following parole of Samsung heir

Former presidents Lee Myung-bak, left, and Park Geun-hye / YonhapMoon remains adamant on not pardoning two predecessors By Kang Seung-wooThe government's decision to grant parole to Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong is reigniting a yearlong issue over whether President Moon Jae-in will pardon his two incarcerated predecessors. On Monday, the justice ministry announced its plan to release Lee, along with 809 other inmates, on parole, Friday, considering the country's economic situation and the conditions of the global economy amid the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.The Samsung heir was convicted of bribery, embezzlement and perjury charges in connection with conservative former President Park Geun-hye, and sentenced to five years in prison. Park was impeached in December 2016 and removed from office in March 2017. She was convicted on 16 charges related to the abuse of power, corruption, coercion and bribery and sentenced to 25 years behind bars. Conservative former President Lee Myung-bak, Park's predecessor, is also serving a 17-year prison term for embezzlement, bribery a

Aug 10, 2021By Kang Seung-woo
Pardons for ex-presidents looking unlikely following parole of Samsung heir
  • Samsung chief to be released on parole Friday
Companies

Restaurant delivery customer's 'bland' water complaint causes ire

gettyimagesbankBy Kang Seung-wooPublic anger has grown over the malicious review of a picky consumer who ordered mineral water from a restaurant and rated the place as poor because the water was “bland.” According to a recent Facebook post by a restaurant owner in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, a delivery app user ordered 24 500-milliliter bottles of spring water, without ordering food, and then left an absurd one-star review for the restaurant.“After much consideration (about delivering only the water without any food), I accepted the order, but now, seeing the rating… that is really unreasonable,” the owner wrote.The owner added that he felt sorry for the delivery workers who had to carry the heavy bottles up to the fifth floor of the customer's building, which didn't have an elevator. “Despite it being a hard situation, we delivered the bottles, but I was angered by the review. If there is a problem with the food, I can humbly accept a complaint and make an apology. But it does not make sense to see a customer criticize mineral water for being

Aug 9, 2021By Kang Seung-woo
Restaurant delivery customer's 'bland' water complaint causes ire
Sports

Team Korea leaves Tokyo with some goals unfulfilled, but high hopes for Paris

Korean archers Oh Jin-hyek, from left, Kim Woo-jin, Kim Je-deok, Kang Chae-young, Jang Min-hee and An San pose after arriving at Incheon International Airport, Aug. 1. YonhapKorean athletes bring back 6 gold medalsBy Kang Seung-wooTeam Korea is leaving the Tokyo Olympics at 16th place in the medal tally, falling short of its goal of making a top-10 finish at the Summer Games.In the 17-day run of the world's biggest sporting event, which drew to a close on Sunday, Korean athletes claimed six gold, four silver and 10 bronze, which was the lowest number of gold medals earned since the 1984 Games, where it also won six gold medals along with six silver and seven bronze. The United States clinched the top spot on the Olympic medal table for the third straight time after winning 39 gold, 41 silver and 33 bronze to edge out China with 38 gold, 32 silver and 18 bronze. Olympic host Japan came in third place with 27 gold, 14 silver and 17 bronze. However, regardless of the number of gold medals won, the numbers themselves show how Korean athletes performed during the Games, as some of them di

Aug 8, 2021By Kang Seung-woo
Team Korea leaves Tokyo with some goals unfulfilled, but high hopes for Paris
  • Winners and losers from Tokyo Olympics
  • Tokyo Olympics from the sidelines
  • Korean women's volleyball misses out on bronze against Serbia
  • Sayonara Tokyo, bonjour Paris: Olympic focus switches to 2024
Sports

Winners and losers from Tokyo Olympics

By Kang Seung-woo The Tokyo Olympics came to an end, Sunday. Even though the Games had to be pushed back to this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it did not mean that the world's biggest sporting event was not full of storylines that will remain in viewers' memories. During the 17-day run, some athletes walked away from the Tokyo Games with a golden glow, while others left, wishing they had done things differently. With that in mind, let's take a short trip down memory lane for a quick review of some of the winners and losers from the 32nd Summer Games. Winners Kim Yeon-koung / Yonhap Kim Yeon-koung The female volleyball player may be the biggest winner of the Tokyo Olympics as she has garnered headlines with the women's team's Cinderella run through the Summer Games, one of which described her as “one in a billion.” Kim led the underdog Korean squad to victory over upper-ranked rivals, including archrival Japan and fourth-ranked Turkey, to advance to the semifinals. Although the 33-year-old failed to add an Olympic medal to her overstuffed trophy room after losing to

Aug 8, 2021By Kang Seung-woo
Winners and losers from Tokyo Olympics
  • Team Korea leaves Tokyo with some goals unfulfilled, but high hopes for Paris
Sports

Medal counting method issue revisited at Tokyo Games

China's gymnast, Guan Chenchen, reacts during the women's balance beam final of the Tokyo Olympic Games at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre, Tuesday. AFP-YonhapBy Kang Seung-wooWith the Tokyo Olympics nearing their end, viewers are paying keen attention to which country will become the “unofficial” leader of the medal standings. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) does not keep an official medal count, so as to prohibit compromising the Olympic spirit. So some people may have been confused after seeing Korea get ranked 12th on the chart of the official website of the Tokyo Games and other local websites, whereas some other sites, mainly from the United States, placed Korea at 11th, on Thursday.Such different medal tally rankings were also found for other countries, as China sat atop the medal tally on most sports sites, while U.S.-based sites showed that the U.S. was the leader in the medal standings.“I am a little bit bewildered to see the different counting methods,” said Yu Jin-hee, who described himself as a sports aficionado. “I was hoping that th

Aug 5, 2021By Kang Seung-woo
Medal counting method issue revisited at Tokyo Games
Sports

Gold medalists take home de facto silver medals

From left are the silver, gold and bronze medals used at the Tokyo Olympics. EPA-Yonhap By Kang Seung-wooEven though Olympic champions may win gold at the Tokyo Olympics, they actually appear to be bringing home silver medals, due to the hard-won hardware's composition. According to Compound Interest, a science communication website that examines chemical compounds, the gold medals awarded at the ongoing Tokyo Games are made from gold-plated pure silver, with only 1.2 percent gold ― or six grams ― in the 556-gram medals.The 550-gram silver medals are made from pure silver, while the bronze medals are made of an alloy of 95-percent cooper and five-percent zinc, which weighs 450 grams. Olympic gold medals are required to be made from at least 92.5 percent silver and must contain a minimum of 6 grams of gold, as in the Tokyo awards. According to CNN, the estimated price of the latest gold medal is some $800 (920,000 won), while the silver is worth $450 and the bronze $5. The price tag of this year's gold medal is $250 higher than that of a gold medal handed out at the 2018 PyeongChang W

Aug 4, 2021By Kang Seung-woo
Gold medalists take home de facto silver medals
Sports

Historic dive

Woo Ha-ram competes in the men's 3-meter springboard diving final in the Tokyo Olympics at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, Tuesday. Woo, the first Korean to reach the final of the diving competition at the Summer Games, finished fourth. Yonhap

Aug 3, 2021By Kang Seung-woo
Historic dive
Sports

Abliazin's poor luck with Korean gymnasts continues in Tokyo

Russian Olympian Denis Abliazin reacts after winning a silver medal in the men's vault at the Tokyo Olympics, Monday. AP-YonhapBy Kang Seung-wooDenis Abliazin's silver-winning vaults at the 2020 Summer Olympics are worthy of attention. The three-time Russian Olympian finished second behind Korea's Shin Jea-hwan in the men's vault, Monday.But the Russian gymnast, now with three Olympic silver medals under his belt, is becoming the unlikely focus of attention among local sports fans, as the ill-fated gymnast had to yield the top spot on the Olympic podium to Korean athletes ― including one from North Korea ― for the third-straight time. In the final, Abliazin and Shin averaged 14.783 in the two vaults, but Shin won gold because he had the single highest vault score, with 14.833 against Abliazin's 14.800.It was not the first time that the 28-year-old saw his hopes of claiming gold in the vault of the Summer Games dashed by Korean athletes.At the London Olympics in 2012, Abliazin made it to the final, but he came up short, as Yang Hak-seon posted an average of16.533 against his average o

Aug 3, 2021By Kang Seung-woo
Abliazin's poor luck with Korean gymnasts continues in Tokyo
Sports

All-Korean match

Kong Hee-yong, left, and Kim So-yeong play against fellow South Koreans Lee So-hee and Shin Seung-chan in the bronze medal contest of the women's doubles badminton competition at the Tokyo Olympics in the Musashino Forest Plaza, Monday. The Kong-Kim duo won the all-Korean match 21-10 and 21-17 to bring home the country's ninth bronze of the Games. Yonhap

Aug 2, 2021By Kang Seung-woo
All-Korean match
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