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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

Seoul revs up efforts to improve inter-Korean ties

Unification Minister Lee In-young, right, fist bumps with Chinese Ambassador to Korea Xing Haiming during the latter's courtesy visit to the ministry in Seoul, Wednesday. / YonhapTop Chinese diplomat to come to Korea Friday By Kang Seung-wooUnification Minister Lee In-young has doubled down on his plan to engage with North Korea, seeking to create a favorable environment for inter-Korean projects through meetings with a series of envoys from neighboring countries, according to diplomatic experts, Wednesday. Lee met with U.S. Ambassador to Seoul Harry Harris, Tuesday, followed by his talks with Chinese Ambassador Xing Haiming, Wednesday. Lee is also expected to sit down with Japanese Ambassador Koji Tomita next week. According to the ministry, these meetings are courtesy visits to the new minister, who took office last month. “Lee is seeking to break through the deadlock in inter-Korean relations by any means, but with the North remaining unresponsive, he intends to build an environment, which is conducive to improving bilateral ties between Seoul and Pyongyang,” said Park

Aug 19, 2020By Kang Seung-woo
Seoul revs up efforts to improve inter-Korean ties
Defense

Army sergeant recognized for extra commitment to flood victims

Army Sgt. Kim Tae-young / Courtesy of ROK ArmyBy Kang Seung-wooArmy Sgt. Kim Tae-young has earned his stripes by postponing his final military leave to help those who are reeling from the aftermath of torrential rains. According to the Army, Wednesday, Kim, who belongs to the Okcheon Battalion of the Army 37th Infantry Division, was supposed to go on leave on Aug. 13 for 11 days, but when villages in Okcheon County, North Chungcheong Province, where his battalion is based, were hit hard by weeks of heavy rains, he voluntarily put it off. He is scheduled for discharge from the Army, Sept. 3.Kim, 24, joined the battalion's emergency rescue operation, in which he removed earth and sand and helped victims salvage household goods there. Houses, roads and farmlands in Okcheon were flooded due to water discharged from Yongdam Dam. The heavy rain-triggered floods in the county have caused property damage estimated at 19.2 billion won ($16.2 million).It was not the first time that Kim participated in military assistance to those who were affected by natural disasters. Last September, Kim help

Aug 19, 2020By Kang Seung-woo
Army sergeant recognized for extra commitment to flood victims
North Korea

Unification minister suggests upgrading S. Korea-US working group

Unification Minister Lee In-young elbow-bumps with U.S. Ambassador to Korea Harry Harris during Harris' courtesy visit to the ministry in Seoul, Tuesday. / YonhapBy Kang Seung-wooIn talks with U.S. Ambassador to Korea Harry Harris, Tuesday, Unification Minister Lee In-young proposed that a South Korea-U.S. working group be revamped to facilitate improvements in inter-Korean relations and the establishment of peace on the Korean Peninsula.Ambassador Harris responded that the U.S. strongly supports inter-Korean cooperation and would find ways to continue this through the working group that he believes has played “an important role in creating a more secure and stable environment.”Lee's proposal came as the entity coordinating North Korea-related issues has been under fire from South Korean liberal politicians and activists for allegedly “hindering progress” in inter-Korean ties due to its “excessively harsh” standards adopted on the North. They have called for restructuring its operation or even dismantling it.“By readjusting or reorganizing th

Aug 18, 2020By Kang Seung-woo
Unification minister suggests upgrading S. Korea-US working group
Politics

Remembering ex-president

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun lays a flower during a ceremony to mark the 11th anniversary of the death of former President Kim Dae-jung at the National Cemetery in Seoul, Tuesday. Kim was the first South Korean president to hold an inter-Korean summit, meeting with North Korea in 2000, for which he won the Nobel Peace Prize later that year. / Yonhap

Aug 18, 2020By Kang Seung-woo
Remembering ex-president
Politics

Kim Chong-in: savior for opposition party?

Kim Chong-in, interim leader of the main opposition United Future Party, speaks in an interview with Hankook Ilbo, the sister paper of The Korea Times, at the National Assembly, Friday. Korea Times photo by Bae Woo-hanBy Kang Seung-wooWhen Kim Chong-in took the helm of the moribund United Future Party (UFP) in June when it was reeling from a crushing defeat in April's general election, few believed the veteran politician could resuscitate the conservative party.However, it has only taken less than three months for Kim to prove them wrong, as evidenced by the UFP's recent approval ratings overtaking that of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), which has 176 National Assembly seats, compared to the UFP's 103.And the credit is going to the long-term-focused leadership of Kim, who is the interim leader of the UFP, although some critics still underestimate the achievement, claiming the UFP's current winning position is mainly thanks to public disappointment toward the government and the ruling side.According to local pollster Realmeter, Monday, the UFP's approval rating logged 36.3

Aug 17, 2020By Kang Seung-woo
Kim Chong-in: savior for opposition party?
  • Opposition overtakes governing party. What is to blame for reversal?
Foreign Affairs

What will bring Chinese top diplomat to Korea?

By Kang Seung-wooWith Yang Jiechi, China's leading diplomat, likely to visit South Korea as early as next week, discussions about Chinese President Xi Jinping coming to Seoul could be high on the agenda, according to diplomatic pundits.Yang Jiechi / Korea Times fileHowever, they added that the coordination on the visit, postponed from the first half of the year due to COVID-19, would not be the lone issue amid China's intensifying power struggle with the United States, while the U.S. is rallying its regional allies, including South Korea, against Beijing.According to diplomatic sources, South Korea and China are in the final phase of arranging the visit of Yang, a member of the Communist Party Politburo.“If indeed Yang visits South Korea, it's likely he will be talking about an upcoming trip to Seoul by President Xi Jinping, postponed due to COVID-19,” said Joseph DeTrani, a former U.S. special envoy to the six-party talks.Xi last visited South Korea in July 2014, and Moon visited China in December 2017. Korea had sought Xi's reciprocal visit to Seoul during the first hal

Aug 14, 2020By Kang Seung-woo
What will bring Chinese top diplomat to Korea?
Politics

Over 430,000 sign for removal of justice minister

By Kang Seung-wooA total of 430,000 people have signed petitions calling for Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae's removal from office over alleged power abuse in the appointment of prosecution officials.Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae / Korea Times fileThe public petition, posted on the Cheong Wa Dae website on July 14, closed with 219,068 signatories, Thursday, while another ongoing petition has garnered more than 217,000 signatures as of 3 p.m., Friday. Any petition that gets more than 200,000 signatures within a month requires an official response from the presidential office.The first petitioner said, “Choo acts as if she is the king, while ignoring the public as well as President Moon Jae-in. We have never seen such a justice minister, so I am petitioning for her impeachment.”The other petition said, “Although Choo must remain politically neutral, general public opinion is that her acts disqualify her as the justice minister. In that respect, I want President Moon to express publicly his own opinion on Choo and dismiss her.”The second petitioner also claimed that si

Aug 14, 2020By Kang Seung-woo
Over 430,000 sign for removal of justice minister
  • Top prosecutor rejects justice minister's reform proposal
Defense

North Korea remains silent on joint exercise

Helicopters are parked at U.S. Army Garrison Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday. / YonhapBy Kang Seung-wooNorth Korea has been unusually mute about the ongoing joint military exercise between South Korea and the United States. Pyongyang watchers believe recent floods there as well as the rescaled drill have made the country shift away from warlike rhetoric against the exercise that it denounces as a rehearsal for an invasion of the North.The allies began a four-day crisis management staff training exercise, Tuesday, which serves as a warm-up to their annual joint exercise that will be carried out from Sunday to Aug. 28. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the two sides have decided to scale it down and it will be based on a computer-simulated command post exercise, rather than outdoor drills.Whenever the joint exercise was staged in the past, the North raised tensions on the Korean Peninsula with military threats and fiery rhetoric. Last year, it fired a newly developed tactical guided weapon and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sent U.S. President Donald Trump a letter of

Aug 13, 2020By Kang Seung-woo
North Korea remains silent on joint exercise
  • North Korea leader warns against accepting outside flood aid due to virus risk
Foreign Affairs

KOICA helps developing countries' distance learning

Tanzanian students use the Kitkit School app via tablet PCs. / Courtesy of KOICABy Kang Seung-wooAmid the COVID-19 pandemic that has hit the education sector hard, Korea's overseas aid agency has stepped up efforts to minimize the fallout on developing countries, by building infrastructure and offering various programs for distance learning.According to the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), the organization, teaming up with ed-tech company Enuma, has made its game-based learning app Kitkit School free for download until the end of 2021 as the coronavirus crisis has made it even more challenging for children in need to access quality education.Through its Creative Technology Solution program, KOICA helped Enuma develop and launch the app to support organizations and schools that are working to improve educational equality and access for learners in low-resource, hard-to-reach and developing contexts. In addition, the app won the Global Learning XPRIZE in 2019, awarded by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who donated to the prize. Mobile apps are not all the agency offers. In Zanzibar

Aug 13, 2020By Kang Seung-woo
KOICA helps developing countries' distance learning
Politics

Calls for special pardon of ex-president revisited

Former President Park Geun-hye leaves the Seoul Central District Court after a hearing for her corruption allegations in this October 2017 photo. She has been in prison since March 31, 2017. / YonhapBy Kang Seung-wooOpposition lawmakers close to jailed former President Park Geun-hye are calling for a special pardon for the jailed head of state on the occasion of Liberation Day that falls on Saturday.However, the ruling party is rejecting the idea, saying it would be unconstitutional given that charges against her are still pending. Plus, President Moon Jae-in is reluctant to pardon imprisoned politicians.Park was removed from the presidency in March 2017 due to her involvement in a massive power abuse and corruption scandal. The official charges against her include conspiring with her longtime confidante Choi Soon-sil to force conglomerates to donate 77.4 billion won ($65.2 million) to two foundations under Choi's control. She was also indicted on charges of accepting off-the-book funds worth 3.5 billion won from three former heads of the National Intelligence Service from May 2013 t

Aug 12, 2020By Kang Seung-woo
Calls for special pardon of ex-president revisited
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