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Lee Hyo-sik

Korea Times Finance Reporter

Lee Hyo-sik is Finance Desk editor at The Korea Times. He manages finance-related stories on macroeconomics, banks, stocks, bonds, crypto etc. He is passionate about covering what's happening in Korea's financial industry and explaining it to both Korean and non-Korean readers. You can reach him at leehs@koreatimes.co.kr. Your insights and feedbacks are always appreciated.

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South Korea

Myungshin Univ. sanctioned for corruption

By Lee Hyo-sik The education authorities have taken disciplinary action against Myungshin University, a four-year private university in Suncheon, South Jeolla Province, for embezzling tuition fees and falsifying student grades. The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said Sunday that it withdrew its previous approval of the board of directors at the Shinmyung Foundation, which runs the university, and asked the prosecution to investigate former and incumbent school presidents over allegations of embezzlement, misuse of their positions and other wrongdoings. The ministry also decided not to recognize the academic scores of Myungshin students as the school inflated the grades. “While conducting an inspection last year on 13 private universities, which had long been suspected of being poorly managed, we discovered a series of irregularities at Myungshin, such as improper accounting and management. We then launched a full-scale audit of the university,” an official said. The official said Myungshin will not be the last school to face such severe action, addin

Jul 17, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik
South Korea

Japan bans officials from using Korean Air

Seoul expresses regret over reaction to Dokdo flight By Lee Hyo-sik The Japanese foreign ministry has instructed its employees not to fly with Korean Air in protest of the national flag carrier’s test flight of its first A380 over Dokdo last month. In reaction, Seoul urged Tokyo to retract its move, calling the act “disappointing and regrettable.” The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan said Thursday that in protest of Korean Air’s flight path over Dokdo, which Japan calls Takeshima, it sent an email to all employees, including those stationed overseas, ordering them not to use the Korean airline for a month, beginning July 18. “It is true that the foreign ministry ordered its workers not to fly with Korean Air for a month to protest the carrier’s ‘illegitimate” flight over Takeshima,” an official at the Northeast Asia Division of the Japanese ministry told The Korea Times over the phone. “The ministry is considering taking further steps to make it clear that Japan has sovereignty over the islets. But we have not yet decided exactly what they would be.” The officia

Jul 14, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik
Travel & Food

Hotels offer one-more-night promotion

This is the eighth in a series featuring hotels that are offering a ``one-more-night promotion,’’ to guests who stay for three or four nights with a one-night complementary stay. A total of 36 hotels across the country will be presented over a six-month period. The series will introduce three hotels at a time biweekly and is in conjunction with the nationwide campaign to promote the ``2010-2012 Visit Korea Years.’’ ― ED. IP Boutique Hotel A long-term guest discount program will be available for foreign visitors during the campaign period so if guests book for five nights, they will get the fifth night for free. For further inquiries, please contact the reservation desk at 82-2-3702-8000, or email to rsvn@ipboutiquehotel.com. Kensington Stars Hotel A special promotion is taking place exclusively for foreigners visiting Korea in 2011. Conditions applied to this promotion are as follows: foreign guests who stay for three consecutive nights will be entitled to a complimentary one night stay. This is applicable one time only for the total duration of the st

Jul 14, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik
Travel & Food

Alpensia Resort set for takeoff

By Lee Hyo-sik Alpensia Resort, located in PyeongChang, Gangwon Province, is poised to become the new winter sports Mecca in Asia, following Korea’s winning the bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympics. Opening and closing ceremonies of the 2018 games will be held at a stadium built inside the resort, while a wide range of sports events, including the ski jump and biathlon, will take place throughout its facilities. Alpensia Resort, built on nearly 4.9 million square meters of land, opened its doors in July 2009 in preparation for Korea’s bidding to host a Winter Olympics. In 2018, it is expected to host the biathlon, ski jump and cross country at venues that have already been built. Additionally, the competition sites for bobsleigh, luge, skeleton and freestyle skiing and snowboard events will be newly constructed. ``It takes less than two hours to get to Alpensia Resort from Seoul. They can also reach the East Sea within 30 minutes from the resort and visit a number of tourist attractions nearby. On top of this, our state-of-the-art accommodation and leisure facilities

Jul 14, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik
South Korea

Protestant groups up in arms over new passport rule

By Lee Hyo-sik Protestant groups are decrying the government move to make it difficult for those who break the law overseas to get a passport, claiming the new rule would restrict their missionary activities in foreign countries. A revised “Passport Act,” announced by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade on July 4, is scheduled to go into effect as soon as the Cabinet approves it. Under the revision, individuals found to have been engaged in illegal activities abroad more than once will not be issued a passport for over a year, among other aspects. But the measure has sparked strong opposition from Protestant churches that send hundreds of missionaries overseas every year. They are concerned that the revision may negatively affect their work as missionaries deported from host countries for violating various local laws could face difficulties in renewing their passports. The Christian Council of Korea, which represents the largest number of Protestant churches here, filed a petition with the foreign ministry Tuesday, demanding that the controversial second clause o

Jul 13, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik
South Korea

Minimum wage to rise 6% in 2012

By Lee Hyo-sik Government, labor and management representatives have agreed to set the country’s hourly minimum wage at 4,580 won ($4.3) in 2012, up 260 won, or 6 percent, from this year. The agreement came after many months of wrangling. However, major labor unions refuse to accept the council’s decision, saying they will take collective action to force it to retract its decision, and fight for a larger increase in the minimum wage. The Minimum Wage Council said Wednesday that salaried employees who work 40 hours a week will receive at least 957,220 won a month, while the monthly minimum wage for those working 44 hours a week will be about 1.04 million won. The trilateral council estimates that an increase in the minimum wage will benefit 2.34 million workers nationwide, who are mostly engaged in simple manual labor. A total of 19 council members participated in a vote held early Wednesday morning. Twelve members cast a ballot in favor of the 6-percent increase, while four voted against it with three abstaining. The deal came two weeks after the statutory dead

Jul 13, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik
South Korea

Referendum on free school meals to be held in August

By Lee Hyo-sik The Seoul Metropolitan Government said Tuesday that a residents’ referendum on free school meals in Seoul will go ahead as planned in late August, after confirming the number of valid signatures collected for the vote is more than legally required. The National Anti-Populism Union (NAPU), set up by a group of conservative civic groups, has asked the Seoul government to hold the referendum to stop the current school meal program designed to provide free lunches to all students at elementary schools regardless of their parents’ financial status. Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon also wants to stop the current free meal program, which was initiated by Kwak No-hyun, the liberal superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, through the referendum. The city government said that of the total 815,817 signatures collected from city residents who disapprove of the free school meal scheme, 548,342 signatures, or 67.2 percent, were valid. The remaining 267,475 were annulled, due to falsity and other irregularities. With the number of legitimate signatures exce

Jul 12, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik
South Korea

KBS faces rising eavesdropping suspicions

'KBS reporter changed PC, phone before police raid' By Lee Hyo-sik A KBS reporter suspected of eavesdropping on a closed-door meeting of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) last month was found to have replaced his laptop and cell phone before a police search and seizure raid. Yeongdeungpo Police Station said Tuesday that the phone and the computer confiscated by police officers on July 8 were not the ones used by the 33-year-old reporter, surnamed Jang, when he allegedly bugged the DP meeting on June 23. Police raised the possibility that the reporter might have disposed of his previous phone and laptop on purpose to destroy evidence. “After examining the confiscated goods, we found that Jang began using a new mobile phone on June 29 and a new laptop on June 30. What we have are not the ones he used when he was suspected of eavesdropping the closed-door meeting,” a police officer said. “We need to secure Jang’s old computer and phone to confirm the alleged bugging.” The scandal erupted on June 24 when Rep. Han Sun-kyo of the ruling Grand National Party (GNP)

Jul 12, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik
South Korea

13 under investigation for suspicion of treason

By Lee Hyo-sik The prosecution is investigating 13 individuals on suspicions that they established an anti-state organization here following an order from North Korea. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said Monday that investigators have been looking into businessmen, opposition party members, labor rights activists, scholars and other individuals, who are suspected of having set up an underground political party to promote the North’s propaganda. The prosecution suspects they formed the organization under instructions from a division of North Korea Workers’ Party, which sends operatives to the South, manages a group of resident spies and organizes espionage operations here. Investigators searched offices and homes of the 13 from July 4 to 6. Among the accused, a businessman, named Kim, was arrested Friday on charges of violating the National Security Law. Since April 1994, Kim, who runs a small firm in Seoul, has traveled back and forth between Korea, and Japan and China numerous times. While abroad, he met with North Korean officials and agents operati

Jul 11, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik
South Korea

Pension-type lottery off to good start

By Lee Hyo-sik The country’s new “pension-style” lottery, where the prize money will be paid monthly rather than in a lump sum, has become an instant hit among not only regular lottery ticket buyers, but also the general public. Its unexpected initial popularity underlines growing public awareness of the importance of post-retirement financial preparation, officials said. Winners of conventional lotteries receive prize money in a lump sum. But this payment method has created a range of unintended side-effects. Some winners quit their jobs, go on spending sprees and end up worse off than before. Some become addicted to gambling, while others grapple with family feuds over the money. But the newly-debuted lottery, named “Pension Lottery 520,” awards winners with prize money of 5 million won ($4,700) every month for 20 years, rather than a payout of a 1.2 billion won lump sum. It is expected to alleviate potential drawbacks of a lump sum payment lottery system, according to the Korea Lottery Commission. A recipient can designate a beneficiary for the payments in case

Jul 11, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik
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