The Korea Times

American soldier investigated for arson

By Lee Hyo-sik A U.S. soldier is under police investigation for setting fire to a bar in Itaewon early Tuesday morning. The Yongsan Police Station said Wednesday that it questioned the American military serviceman, identified as private ``P,’’ over allegations that he ran away from an Itaewon bar after setting the fire, following a dispute with the owner over the bill. The bar sustained severe damage worth about 25 million won, according to firefighters dispatched to the scene. The incident came a week after the U.S. Armed Forces ended a month-long late-night curfew on Nov. 7. The curfew, the first since July 2010, came after two recent sexual assaults on Korean women by U.S. soldiers. Police officers said after receiving a report of arson at 2:40 a.m. Tuesday, they rushed to the scene and secured the witness accounts of what happened and what the perpetrator looked like. They also checked surveillance cameras installed in the areas to better identify the suspect. ``Officers searched the entire neighborhood and were able to apprehend the U.S. soldier, who later co

Nov 16, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik

South Korea

Disposal of radioactive asphalt to cost W10 bil.

By Lee Hyo-sik It is estimated to cost at least 10 billion won ($9 million) to dispose of asphalt contaminated with radioactive material in northern Seoul, according to the Korea Radioactive Waste Management Corp. (KRMC) Wednesday. KRMC said up to 1,200 drums will be needed to contain about 330 tons of asphalt currently stored in a swimming pool in Sanggye-dong, Nowon District. “It normally costs 8 million won to purchase one drum and put radioactive materials into it,” a KRMC official said. “As a result, the disposal expense will amount to 9.6 billion won. On top of that, hundreds of millions of won will be needed to transport and store the drums at radioactive material storage facilities in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, or other places,” On Nov. 4, radioactive materials were detected in asphalt in Wolgye-dong, Nowon District. The Nuclear Safety and Security Commission said the radioactivity level was 1.82-35.4 Becquerels (Bq) in the pavement. Its inspection also found Cesium-137. After the discovery, the district office and Seoul city removed the pavement asp

Nov 16, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik

South Korea

Employment rate for 20-somethings plunges

By Lee Hyo-sik The employment rate for economically-active men in their 20s has declined steadily over the past 15 years, reflecting a harsh reality facing young male jobseekers. According to the Korea Labor Institute (KLI) Tuesday, 73.2 percent of 20-somethings willing to work had a job in 1995. But the ratio fell by 15 percentage points to 58.2 percent in 2010, meaning that fewer than six out of 10 men in their 20s with high-school and university diplomas were employed. ``Many Korean men used to begin their careers in their early 20s as soon as they graduated from high schools. But these days, most male 20-somethings are enrolled in universities, who are classified as an economically-inactive part of the population,’’ KLI research fellow Sung Jae-min said. He said if young men did not go to college and instead found jobs as in the past, the employment rate among 20-somethings would be much higher. ``Additionally, young men and women these days are looking for only `decent jobs’ at large companies and public organizations, which offer high salaries and good job sec

Nov 15, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik

South Korea

Gov’t urged to allocate more funds for tourism

The Korea Tourism Association and 30 other tourism-related organizations issued a joint statement Tuesday, calling on the government to spend more money to develop the country’s leisure infrastructures and attract more foreign visitors. They argued that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism had initially promised to secure 1.2 trillion won, or 0.37 percent of next year’s 326 trillion won budget, for the tourism sector. ``To boost the international competitiveness of the local tourism industry and encourage more Koreans to travel domestically, the ministry promised us to spend at least 1.2 trillion won. But according to the ministry’s budget proposal, the amount is only 970 billion won, or 0.29 percent of the 2012 budget,’’ they said in a statement. The organizations said the tourism industry creates positive synergy with healthcare, convention and other sectors. ``Tourism holds a key to generating jobs, improving quality of life and advancing the structure of the local economy. Through the parliamentary review of the 2012 budget in the coming days, we expect tourism-r

Nov 15, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik

South Korea

Vehicles, bicycles to share city roads

By Lee Hyo-sik The government plans to force motorists to share a lane with cyclists on cities’ major roads as part of its efforts to promote bicycling. The Ministry of Public Administration and Security said it is considering allowing bicycle riders to use a lane bordering pedestrian passages. Cyclists will be given priority over motorists who have to drive their vehicles at less than 30 kilometers per hour on the right-side lane in city centers and give way to those who ride bicycles. ``We are currently considering a system adopted by the U.S. city of Portland in Oregon. We will make a final decision on whether to introduce the `bicycle-prioritized-lane’ after a series of meetings with officials from the National Police Agency and other related bodies,’’ a ministry official said. The official said cyclists will be required to wear helmets at all times and ride at less than 20 kilometers per hour. ``Currently, there is no law regulating bicycle speeds. We will set a speed limit at 20 kilometers per hour to stop riders from speeding and prevent accidents. We plan

Nov 15, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik

South Korea

Over 1,000 Korean women are prostitutes in Australia

By Lee Hyo-sik A growing number of Korean prostitutes are flying to Australia on a working holiday program, following harsh government crackdowns on brothels here over the past few years, foreign ministry officials said Monday. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, which administers the work-and-travel program for mostly university students, over 1,000 Korean nationals are estimated to work as prostitutes in Australia, accounting for about 17 percent of the some 6,000 foreign sex workers. The ministry suspects that the majority of Korean sex workers went to the Oceanic country on the working holiday program. The program, designed to give Korean students an opportunity to gain international experience, allows those aged 18-30 to stay in one of 11 partner countries to work and travel during a limited time period. The partners include Australia, Denmark, Canada, Germany, France, Ireland, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Taiwan and Sweden. Australia has been the most popular destination for the one-year work-and-travel permit, allowing participants to gai

Nov 14, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik

South Korea

Humidifier sterilizers recalled

By Lee Hyo-sik Health authorities have ordered manufacturers of six types of humidifier sterilizer to recall their products within a month, after concluding they caused a mysterious lung disease that resulted in the death of a number of pregnant women earlier this year. The authorities also plan to conduct animal tests on 10 more types of sterilizer to check whether they are as equally hazardous to human health. The Ministry of Health and Welfare said Friday that it had ordered five companies, including Hanvit Chemical and Cefu, to not only discontinue sales of their six products, but also recall them from wholesale and retail stores over the next 30 days. “During necropsy on mice from the tests in which they were exposed to humidifier sterilizers, we detected pathological respiratory problems, similar to those in patients with the lung disease. We concluded it was highly possible that the sterilizers were the cause of the unidentified disease,” said Jeon Byung-ryuel, director of the Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC). Researchers conducted experi

Nov 11, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik

South Korea

Student blamed for CSAT messages on Twitter

By Lee Hyo-sik A student who took the annual state-administered college entrance exam Thursday is facing punishment for posting a series of real-time messages on a Twitter account describing what it was like during the test. Police discovered that the controversial messages were posted through a program called “Bot,” which enables Twitter users to write and save messages in advance, and post them later at pre-designated times. The student in Gunpo, Gyeonggi Province actually didn’t bring a smartphone or other mobile devices into the exam venue and thus did not make the postings during the exam. Police decided not to charge the student, saying the incident was a simple prank. But the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology is poised to ban the student from taking the entrance exam in the future and nullify the test score. During the nine-hour-long College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), the applicant with Twitter user ID “spacei****” posted dozens of messages on the most popular social network service describing what it was like to take the test. The first mess

Nov 11, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik

South Korea

Podcast ‘Naggomsu’ challenges mainstream media

By Na Jeong-ju A podcast “dedicated to ridicule” President Lee Myung-bak, is emerging as a powerful alternative media outlet both politicians and mainstream media cannot ignore. The weekly Internet radio talk show “Naneun Ggomsuda,” meaning “I’m a petty trickster,” is being downloaded by millions each week. It is one of the most popular podcasts on Apple’s iTunes. Lampooning Lee’s governing style and raising speculations about him and his aides, the show has become almost a cult among young people who clearly expressed their frustration with the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) in the Seoul mayoral by-election last month. Kim Ou-joon, 43, the main host of the show, better known as “Naggomsu,” and founder of the Ddanzi Ilbo online newspaper, and three other co-hosts have risen to rock-star status. The three other members are Chung Bong-ju, a former lawmaker; Choo Chin-woo, a reporter of the progressive SisaIN magazine; and Kim Yong-min, a political commentator. In the show running for several hours, the four keep throwing sarcastic verbal jabs _ peppered with occas

Nov 11, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik

South Korea

Airlines asked to share costs to train Air Force pilots

By Lee Hyo-sik The Air Force is lobbying lawmakers to legislate a law requiring Korean Air, Asiana Airlines and other smaller carriers to share the training costs of military pilots. Its move comes as a growing number of pilots are retiring early from service to work in the private sector, lured by higher wages and more generous benefits. Under its envisioned plan, the Air Force will ask air carriers to pay 100 million won ($90,000) for each military pilot they hire. The Air Force says it costs over 10 billion won in taxpayers’ money to turn its cadets into well-trained aviators. It argues the airlines should share the bill because they benefit from hiring the experienced military pilots. Defiance Air carriers disagree by saying it makes no sense to “penalize” private companies for legitimately hiring retiring pilots. They say if the Air Force wants to retain its pilots, they should increase their salaries and offer more benefits. According to the data submitted to the National Assembly’s national defense subcommittee, Thursday, more than 100 military pilots r

Nov 10, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik

Lee Hyo-sik

Read more

American soldier investigated for arson

Disposal of radioactive asphalt to cost W10 bil.

Employment rate for 20-somethings plunges

Gov’t urged to allocate more funds for tourism

Vehicles, bicycles to share city roads

Over 1,000 Korean women are prostitutes in Australia

Humidifier sterilizers recalled

Student blamed for CSAT messages on Twitter

Podcast ‘Naggomsu’ challenges mainstream media

Airlines asked to share costs to train Air Force pilots

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