The Korea Times

Lee Charm bets on attracting 10 mil. visitors

By Lee Hyo-sik The head of Korea’s state-run tourism promoter has pledged to mobilize all possible means to achieve the goal of attracting 10 million foreign visitors this year. Lee Charm, CEO of Korea Tourism Organization (KTO), said Tuesday that attracting 10 million non-Korean visitors is a must for the country to emerge as one of the world’s tourism powerhouses. ``We estimate that at least 9.6 million foreigners will come here in 2011, up from 8.8 million a year earlier. To host an additional 400,000 visitors, we have and will implement a range of aggressive marketing activities overseas, particularly in China and Japan,’’ Lee said. In the first eight months of the year, a total of 6.18 million foreigners came here, up 7.7 percent from the same period last year, despite an array of external and internal negatives. The number of Chinese visitors jumped 14.1 percent to 1.44 million. The CEO said he has not given up on the target even after North Korea’s shelling of Yeonpyeong Island late last year, the nationwide epidemic of foot-and-mouth disease early this year, an

Sep 20, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik

South Korea

Website membership won’t require resident numbers

By Lee Hyo-sik Internet users will be able to become members of web portals and other websites without having to register their resident registration numbers from October. The move is part of government efforts to better protect individuals’ private information online, following a recent series of hackings. Instead of asking users to provide resident numbers, perhaps the most sensitive personal data that can be misused for various criminal activities, websites will be required to come up with alternative ways of verifying an individual identity for membership. The Ministry of Public Administration and Security said Tuesday that Cabinet has passed an ordinance concerning the protection of personal information. The ordinance mandates Internet sites with over 10,000 daily users on average not to collect resident numbers from users for membership. It also requires businesses in both public and private sectors to make public how they handle the personal information of their clients. The companies will be obliged to tell the public of measures they take to protect sensitive

Sep 20, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik

South Korea

Women scanned more often at airport

By Lee Hyo-sik Watch out for full body scanners, female air travelers! You are 10 times more likely to be scanned at airports than your male counterparts. According to data submitted by the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs to Rep. Cho Won-jin of the Grand National Party Monday, 1,963 women had to go through a full body scanner at Gimpo International Airport from October 2010 through July this year. Only 205 male air travelers were subject to the scanning over the same period. At Jeju International Airport, 952 female air travelers underwent the screening, compared to 573 male passengers. The government installed three full body scanners at Incheon International Airport, and one each at Jeju, Gimpo and Gimhae airports in October last year, ahead of the G20 Seoul summit a month later. Despite concerns over possible invasions of privacy, the scanner was introduced as part of government efforts to beef up air travel security. Airport authorities said they have been scanning passengers suspected of posing a threat to other travelers and airplanes, and t

Sep 19, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik

South Korea

50% of toll collectors experienced harassment

By Lee Hyo-sik Nearly half of highway toll collectors, who are mostly middle-aged women, were found to have been sexually harassed by motorists. Citing a survey of 1,700 toll collectors nationwide, Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon of the Grand National Party said Monday that 49.8 percent, or 846, suffered sexual harassment at least once. The survey found 49 percent of the sexually harassed had unwanted physical contact with motorists, while 27 percent saw drivers expose their body parts. About 15 percent complained about motorists soliciting contact numbers from them, with 9 percent hearing disparaging remarks about their appearance. Around 63 percent said they were sexually harassed more than twice, with 17 percent being subject to various sexual bullying on over five occasions. ``Toll collectors play an important role in operating expressways. To discourage motorists from sexually harassing collectors, Korea Express Corp. needs to install surveillance cameras and penalize those engaging in harassment,’’ Rep. Kim said. He also said drivers should undergo educational training aimed a

Sep 19, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik

South Korea

President Lee’s cousin suspected of fraud

By Lee Hyo-sik The prosecution said Friday it was investigating a cousin of President Lee Myung-bak over allegations that he swindled hundreds of millions of won from two building contractors by using his family ties to the President. The Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office said a 35-year-old man and his associate sued a 75-year-old man surnamed Lee and his two sons for falsely promising them handsome returns if they invested in a four-river refurbishment project and other construction schemes. Early this month, the two individuals filed a complaint with the Supreme Prosecutors Office, which later handed the case to the Suwon Office. In the petition filed, they argued President Lee’s cousin and his two sons promised them in August 2009 that they would earn huge profits if they took part in the river project. Lee even said the President and Rep. Lee Sang-deuk pledged to give financially struggling relatives business rights over the river scheme, according to the petition. In hopes of winning orders for the multi-billion dollar project, the two individuals gave 300 m

Sep 16, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik

South Korea

Citizens mull class action against KEPCO over blackout

By Lee Hyo-sik Residents and businesses that suffered from the unprecedented nationwide rolling power outage Thursday are moving to file a class-action suit against the state-run electricity monopoly, seeking compensation. Among the biggest victims were owners of restaurants and other retail businesses. They are expected to take the lead in the lawsuit against the Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO), which cut off electricity to them without prior notice, to recoup financial losses as a result of the blackouts. However, KEPCO officials say the electricity outage was unavoidable because it was caused by unseasonably high power demand, adding they, along with the Korea Power Exchange (KPX), cannot be held responsible for what happened. KPX coordinates power supply across the country. According to the Seoul Metropolitan Fire and Disaster Headquarters and other emergency service centers across the country Friday, nearly 3,000 citizens nationwide were trapped in elevators for hours due to the outages, as dozens of motorists were involved in accidents as traffic lights failed.

Sep 16, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik

People & Events

Rah to promote Korean Red Cross

By Kim Tae-jong Theresa Rah, communications director of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Games Bid Committee, has been designated as a goodwill ambassador of the Korean Red Cross (KRC). “I’m really pleased to take this position,” she said Thursday during a ceremony at the headquarters of the state charity organization in Seoul. “From now on, I’ll join the 90,000 other volunteers of the organization and share what I have as a goodwill ambassador.” She rose to stardom following her impressive final presentation to the IOC delegates in Durban last July, which contributed to PyeongChang winning the bidding to host the 2018 Winter Olympics. Rah is fluent in both English and French as she spent her teens in Canada, Malaysia and other countries along with her father who was a career diplomat. After graduating from Ehwa Woman’s University with a bachelor’s degree in French, she started her career at the Bank of Korea. In 1996, she became an anchorwoman at Arirang TV. In April 2010, she began working as a spokeswoman for the PyeongChang bidding committee. KRC officials expr

Sep 15, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik

South Korea

Top Seoul educator on duty behind bars

By Lee Hyo-sik Seoul’s top educator Kwak No-hyun has begun performing his duties behind bars at the Seoul Detention Center, south of the capital, showing his determination not to resign from his post. The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education said Thursday that its three senior officials paid a visit to Kwak for the first time to brief him on a range of pending business issues. Kwak, superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, has been detained since last Friday when the court issued an arrest warrant on charges of bribing a rival candidate in last year’s election to pick Seoul’s top educator. ``Three officials briefed Kwak on a number of issues, including a free school meal program and an ordinance on student rights. He will again receive a report from officials at 5 p.m. Friday,’’ said Cho Shin, a spokesman for the education office. Kwak is allowed to meet with up to three people on official matters for 30 minutes twice a week. The spokesman said the education office will continue to report to Kwak twice a week until he is indicted, adding that

Sep 15, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik

South Korea

Incheon air traffic controller paralyzed for an hour

By Lee Hyo-sik The air traffic control tower at Incheon International Airport was paralyzed for nearly an hour Wednesday morning, putting commercial airplanes flying in the country’s airspace at the risk of potential mid-air collisions. While no accidents were reported, nearly 20 aircraft were forced to take off behind schedule, causing inconvenience to air travelers, airport officials said. Dozens more planes in Japan and China had to depart later than originally scheduled. According to the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs Thursday, a flight-data processing computer server of the Air Traffic Center (ATC) began malfunctioning at 10:31 a.m. Wednesday, making it impossible for controllers to identify aircraft in their controlled airspace, as well as their flight altitudes and courses. However, what caused the glitch has yet to be determined. The center controls about 1,400 commercial airplanes departing from and landing at local airports every day. It also guides planes passing through the country’s airspace. Following the computer glitch, the ministry

Sep 15, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik

South Korea

Chinese tourists flock to Jeju

By Lee Hyo-sik A record number of Chinese tourists are coming to Korea’s southern resort island of Jeju, providing a boost to the tourism industry there. Experts say that besides Jeju’s picturesque scenery, a visa-waiver program for Chinese nationals visiting the island and more air routes linking the island with Shanghai and other Chinese cities combine to attract more tourists from the mainland. According to the Jeju Special Self-Governing Provincial Tourism Association Wednesday, the number of Chinese tourists visiting Jeju Island stood at 325,393 in the first eight months of the year, up 17.1 percent from 277,924 the same period last year. In August alone, 93,835 tourists from the mainland came to the nation’s largest island, up 44 percent from 65,226 a year ago. A range of incentives targeting group tourists support the trend. “Jeju Island has long been a popular travel destination for Chinese tourists, particularly for those from inland areas. The island is geographically close to the mainland. It is also relatively cheaper for them to come here than other t

Sep 14, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik

Lee Hyo-sik

Read more

Lee Charm bets on attracting 10 mil. visitors

Website membership won’t require resident numbers

Women scanned more often at airport

50% of toll collectors experienced harassment

President Lee’s cousin suspected of fraud

Citizens mull class action against KEPCO over blackout

Rah to promote Korean Red Cross

Top Seoul educator on duty behind bars

Incheon air traffic controller paralyzed for an hour

Chinese tourists flock to Jeju

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