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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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Health

VANK launches multilingual anti-IOC campaign on occasion of G7 Summit

By Kang Seung-wooOn the occasion of the upcoming G7 Summit to be held in the U.K., the Voluntary Agency Network of Korea (VANK), a civic organization promoting Korea and its history online, has produced multilingual posters criticizing the International Olympic Committee (IOC) of hypocrisy in its handling of Japan's disputed Olympic torch route map.The Voluntary Agency Network of Korea's poster criticizing the International Olympic Committee's failure to take action against Japan's inclusion of Dokdo in its Tokyo Olympic map / Courtesy of VANKSeoul has strongly urged the IOC to order Tokyo to remove the islets of Dokdo from the map of its Summer Olympics, scheduled to kick off on July 23. The easternmost islets belong to Korea, but Japan claims sovereignty over them. Despite the Korean side's repeated protests, the IOC as well as the Japanese organizer have yet to take any action.As a result, VANK produced posters in Korean and English criticizing the IOC last week, with the title “Is the IOC a puppet of Japanese government?” and the non-governmental organization has expa

Jun 9, 2021By Kang Seung-woo
VANK launches multilingual anti-IOC campaign on occasion of G7 Summit
Foreign Affairs

Korea given diplomatic room to improve ties with Japan

Members of a civic group stage a protest in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, Tuesday, urging the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee to revise its map describing Dokdo as its territory. Yonhap Experts don't expect Seoul-Tokyo ties to make progress overnight By Kang Seung-wooThe latest Korean court ruling dismissing a damage suit against Japanese firms by victims of wartime forced labor is leaving more room for the Moon Jae-in administration to step up efforts to improve strained ties with Japan, according to diplomatic observers, Tuesday. However, they remained skeptical that the ruling would bring about an immediate reconciliation between the two sides, as they have been locking horns with each other over historical and territorial issues for decades. On Monday, the Seoul Central District Court said that the compensation lawsuit launched by 85 Korean victims and their families against 16 Japanese companies, including Nippon Steel Sumitomo Metal, Nissan Chemical and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, was not sufficient to proceed with a hearing, which is tantamount to a ruling agains

Jun 8, 2021By Kang Seung-woo
Korea given diplomatic room to improve ties with Japan
  • Korea not considering boycott of Tokyo Olympics amid Dokdo spat: ministry
North Korea

Seoul pushes for reviving inter-Korean tour programs

Unification Minister Lee In-young, right, bumps fists with Hyundai Group Chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun during their meeting at the ministry in Seoul, June 1. YonhapExperts pessimistic over unification ministry's drive By Kang Seung-wooThe government is re-igniting its drive for inter-Korean tourism projects as part of efforts to improve ties with North Korea, but is not expected to achieve its desired result, according to Pyongyang watchers, Monday. Unification Minister Lee In-young met with Hyundai Group Chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun, June 1, and reiterated his commitment to resuming a long-suspended tourism project at North Korea's Mount Geumgang. Hyundai began the tour program to the scenic mountain in 1998, but it was halted in 2008 when a South Korean tourist was killed by a North Korean border guard.In addition, the minister also held a meeting, Friday, with Lee Joong-myung, chairman of Ananti, which used to run a golf course at the mountain resort, and discussed the two Koreas co-hosting a world golf championship in the North in 2025. The minister is scheduled to meet with Ahn Young-b

Jun 7, 2021By Kang Seung-woo
Seoul pushes for reviving inter-Korean tour programs
Defense

US Marine Corps F-35Bs to visit South Korea

An F-35B flies over the British Royal Navy's aircraft carrier, the HMS Queen Elizabeth. Courtesy of Lockheed MartinBy Kang Seung-wooTen U.S. Marine Corps F-35Bs, embarked on a U.K. aircraft carrier, will visit Korea for the first time in four years, according to media reports, as part of a larger deployment to the Indo Pacific region. Currently, Britain's newest carrier, the HMS Queen Elizabeth, and its strike group are on a seven-month deployment to the region that includes a port call at Busan before it sails for Japan. The 10 Marine Corps F-35Bs make up part of the carrier's air wing, alongside eight F-35Bs from a joint U.K. Royal Air Force/Fleet Air Arm squadron, and are taking part in an extensive interoperability exercise as part of bolstering the historic U.S.-U.K. defense partnershipAlthough an arrival date has yet to be fixed, it is likely to be in August. The F-35B is a short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) variant of the F-35 program, and a Marine squadron with the stealth jets participated in a combined exercise with Korea in April 2018.In April, the Ministry of Nati

Jun 6, 2021By Kang Seung-woo
US Marine Corps F-35Bs to visit South Korea
North Korea

New party rules show North Korean leader breaking away from predecessors

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un speaks during the sixth Conference of Cell Secretaries of the Workers' Party in Pyongyang, April 6, in this photo released by the North's official Korean Central News Agency. YonhapBy Kang Seung-wooThe latest revisions to North Korea's ruling Workers' Party regulations indicate that its leader Kim Jong-un is cementing his own leadership style in the reclusive state, according to Pyongyang watchers here.The changes discarded the past ideologies of the North's founder Kim Il-sung and his son Kim Jong-il ― the current leader's father ― but the creation of a new No. 2 position in the party under Kim Jong-un has little to do with a succession plan to the “Supreme Leader,” they added. According to sources, the North Korean regime ratified the amendments at its eighth congress ― the first in five years ― held in January, indicating that Kim is trying to step out of his predecessors' shadows and craft his own image among the people“At the seventh party congress in 2016, Kim Jong-un designed his own leadership system and at the eighth congress

Jun 3, 2021By Kang Seung-woo
New party rules show North Korean leader breaking away from predecessors
Health

Korean Rotary gains recognition for COVID fight

Yoo Jang-hee, the governor of Rotary District 3650, speaks during an interview with The Korea Times in his office in Seoul, Tuesday. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chulBy Kang Seung-wooOn the back of Korea's comparatively successful COVID-19 quarantine measures early last year, Yoo Jang-hee, the governor of Rotary District 3650 based in northern Seoul, launched efforts to fight the coronavirus right after taking office last July. Based on the nation's “K-Quarantine,” or infectious disease prevention and control, he made a manual to help his fellow Rotarians around the world protect themselves and their fellow members from the pandemic, in the process receiving rave reviews for its content. “Given that Rotary International (RI) has greatly contributed to eradicating polio, I suggested the 'End Corona Rotary Initiative' (ECRI) to local Rotary clubs and RI, which was lauded as a good idea,” Yoo said in an interview with The Korea Times, Tuesday.According to Rotary, the international service organization has been working to eradicate polio for more than 35 years,

Jun 2, 2021By Kang Seung-woo
Korean Rotary gains recognition for COVID fight
North Korea

North Korea keeps dialogue momentum alive in low-profile protest

Defense Minister Suh Wook, left, speaks during a plenary session of the National Assembly National Defense Committee, Monday. YonhapBy Kang Seung-wooNorth Korea issued a long-awaited response Monday to the South Korea-U.S. summit held May 21, slamming Washington's lifting of all restrictions on Seoul's missile development program. But diplomatic observers believe that despite the criticism, the “toned-down” delivery of its message left the door open for dialogue with the United States, while urging the Joe Biden administration to be more specific on its new policy toward the country.President Moon Jae-in held his first summit with President Joseph Biden, during which the two heads of state agreed to end all guidelines that banned South Korea from developing or possessing missiles with a maximum flight range greater than 800 kilometers.“The U.S., doggedly branding the measures taken by the DPRK for self-defense as violation of U.N. 'resolutions,' grants its allies unlimited right to missile development. It is engrossed in confrontation despite its lip-service to dial

May 31, 2021By Kang Seung-woo
North Korea keeps dialogue momentum alive in low-profile protest
North Korea

North Korea remains silent after Seoul-Washington summit

President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Joe Biden hold a press conference at the White House in Washington, D.C., Friday (local time), after their summit. YonhapBy Kang Seung-wooNorth Korea has kept quiet on the results of last week's summit between South Korea and the United States, despite Washington's publicized commitment to diplomatic engagement with Pyongyang. Diplomatic observers said, Thursday, the Kim Jong-un regime will decide on whether to accept a U.S. dialogue call in accordance with how China responds to the summit. Also, they suggested keeping close tabs on the South Korean spy agency chief's trip to the U.S.On May 21 (local time), President Moon Jae-in and his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden held their first in-person summit at the White House and agreed to engage diplomatically with the North to work toward denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. They also reaffirmed their commitment to previous inter-Korean and U.S.-North Korea agreements ― the Panmunjeom Declaration and Singapore Joint Statement, both signed in 2018.In addition, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken

May 27, 2021By Kang Seung-woo
North Korea remains silent after Seoul-Washington summit
  • South Korea to seek resumption of dialogue with North Korea based on achievement of Moon-Biden agreement
North Korea

Gov't moving to resume inter-Korean economic cooperation

President Moon Jae-in poses with his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden during their summit at the White House in Washington, D.C., Friday (local time). YonhapBy Kang Seung-wooFollowing President Moon Jae-in's summit with U.S. President Joe Biden that drew Washington's support for inter-Korean cooperation, the government here is providing glimpses of what it will do in its efforts to restore inter-Korean economic cooperation. However, it remains to be seen if any moves will proceed as planned, with the U.S. still standing firm against the easing or lifting of sanctions on North Korea, according to observers.According to the joint statement made after last week's summit, the two heads of state reaffirmed their commitment to previous inter-Korean and U.S.-North Korea agreements ― the Panmunjeom Declaration and Singapore Joint Statement, both signed in 2018. This is being seen among advocates for inter-Korean engagement as the Biden administration possibly offering sanctions relief to facilitate economic cooperation between the two Koreas, which has been banned in part by international and U.S.

May 26, 2021By Kang Seung-woo
Gov't moving to resume inter-Korean economic cooperation
  • Biden's pick of envoy to North Korea means request for dialogue: Moon
Foreign Affairs

South Korea seeks to appease China

From left, Industry and Trade Minister Moon Sung-wook, Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong and Health Minister Kwon Deok-cheol enter a briefing room of the foreign ministry in Seoul, Tuesday, for an online joint briefing on the results of last week's summit between President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Joe Biden. YonhapBy Kang Seung-wooThe government has stepped up efforts to prevent any fallout from President Moon Jae-in's summit with U.S. President Joe Biden adversely affecting South Korea's ties with China, with the foreign minister saying their post-summit statement touching on Taiwan was “theoretical and principled.” President Moon and his U.S. counterpart held their first in-person meeting at the White House last week and their joint statement referred to the importance of preserving peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. It also referred to freedom of navigation and overflights in the South China Sea and beyond.Despite not directly mentioning China, it was seen as a sign that South Korea agreed with the U.S.'s anti-China campaign, and this drew a strong response

May 25, 2021By Kang Seung-woo
South Korea seeks to appease China
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