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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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Society

Non-viable colleges face shutdowns

By Park Si-soo The government will launch a committee with a mandate to assess universities and make a live-or-die judgment on ill-managed ones in July. The committee will force low-ranked universities in management to present restructuring plans and, based on them, will discuss with the education ministry about how to deal with them. The government is also considering making public a list of schools on the brink of closure for financial reasons. “The committee will be launched in early July to play a key role in restructuring universities,” said Lee Ju-ho, minister of education, science and technologies, Tuesday. “We will work with those versed in school accounting and finance from finance ministry and private sectors.” This aggressive push to shut financially-troubled schools comes at a time when a string of protests against what people call “deadly high” tuition are unfolding nationwide. Korea’s annual tuition ranked second highest at 7.69 million won ($7,000), after the United States in the 2009 report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (O

Jun 29, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik
South Korea

Tickets on sale for Yeosu Expo

By Lee Hyo-sik The Yeosu Expo 2012 Organizing Committee began selling tickets online for next year’s fair from Tuesday, while unveiling their designs for the first time. A ticket for adults is priced at 33,000 won ($30), while those for teenagers, and senior citizens and children are set at 25,000 won and 19,000 won, respectively. The organizing committee said if people buy tickets in advance by the end of August, they will receive a 15-percent discount. If tickets are purchased by the year’s end, a 10-percent discount will be provided. For those who purchase them next year before the event’s opening, tickets will be 5 percent cheaper. The committee said this year it will only market tickets online and make them available both online and offline in 2012. Tickets can be purchased either through the committee’s website, www.expo2012.or.kr, or online shopping mall Interpark at www.interpark.com. The expo will be held between May 12 and Aug. 12, 2012, in the coastal city of Yeosu, South Jeolla Province, under the theme ``The Living Ocean and Coast.’’

Jun 28, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik
South Korea

University reform drive gaining momentum

President Lee calls for steps to reduce disadvantage for students By Lee Hyo-sik The government has launched a campaign to restructure universities by weeding out financially-week private schools and merging state-run ones, a move seen as a precondition for reducing tuition costs. Its push comes amid growing calls from students, parents, civic groups and lawmakers of both ruling and opposition parties for university tuition fees to be halved from the current level. The government has asked universities to reduce the costs of college education with their own financial resources. But universities have dismissed government requests, arguing that they need taxpayers’ money to do so. Against such a backdrop, the government has decided to put pressure on schools by initiating the restructuring of the nation’s highest learning institutions. The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said Tuesday that it will set up a ``University Restructuring Reform Committee’’ next month. The ministry said the committee, made up of its officials and private experts, will d

Jun 28, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik
South Korea

Education rights of migrants children will be advocated

By Lee Hyo-sik The government will make it easier for the children of migrant workers to make the best use of the nation’s public school system by providing information on lectures and other school-related matters in multiple mother tongues. Even if migrant workers are caught by immigration officials for overstaying their visas and other irregularities, their children will still be allowed to finish the school term, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said Monday. “We are glad to announce that the government has decided to introduce these and other measures we recommended in December last year to better protect the educational rights of children of migrant workers. We will continue to keep an eye on how such steps are implemented,” the commission said. The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology will set up a Korean language program for students of migrant workers at public schools, as well as provide information on a range of school activities in their first language, it said. The ministry will also expand an educational program on multiculturalism for K

Jun 27, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik
South Korea

Police officers balk at compromise

By Lee Hyo-sik Nearly 4,000 former and incumbent police officers and their family members filed a petition with the National Assembly Monday to protest a recent compromise between the National Police Agency (NPA) and the prosecution on the rights to open criminal investigations. The petition, delivered to members of the parliamentary Legislation and Judiciary Committee, was drawn up based on discussions during a workshop last week attended by police officers across the country. “The revision of the Criminal Procedure Code goes against the Constitution and includes clauses deemed to be anti-human rights and anti-democratic. It also has serious procedural flaws. We demand the National Assembly take up these issues,” the petition said. It also said the revised code will further strengthen prosecutorial supervision over police, stressing many clauses should be changed to give police greater authority over criminal investigations. A total of 3,899 police officers, professors and students of a police academy and family members signed the petition. On June 20, Prosecutor

Jun 27, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik
South Korea

Mosquitoes carrying encephalitis found in Yeongi

Mosquitoes carrying a virus causing Japanese encephalitis have been found for the first time this year in Yeongi County, South Chungcheong Province, the Chungnam Health and Environment Research Institute said Friday, advising residents to take precautions against the disease. After analyzing 3,450 mosquitoes collected throughout the county from June 19 to 20, the institute found three encephalitis-carrying mosquitoes, called Culex tritaeniorhynchus. Japanese encephalitis is a virus spread by mosquitoes. It causes high fever, headaches and vomiting. The symptoms may appear between five to 15 days after being bitten although 95 percent of those infected with the virus do not show any symptoms. But the mortality rate is estimated to reach 60 percent for infected persons who become ill. The institute advised people to refrain from outdoor activities at dawn or after sunset when mosquitoes are most active, stressing parents should check the inoculation history of children under 15 and take them for shots if they have not received them.

Jun 24, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik
South Korea

Dog meat festival causes controversy

By Lee Hyo-sik A group of “dog farmers” Friday dropped its plan to hold a “dog meat” festival due to strong opposition from animal rights groups. The Korea Dog Farmers’ Association had announced earlier it planned to hold the “2011 Dog Meat Festival” at Moran Traditional Market in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, on July 1. They argued that the festival aimed to help promote the fact that the animals are raised like cows, pigs and other livestock at sanitary facilities for human consumption. They also said that dogs should be classified as such to ensure they are bred in a safer and more sanitary manner. But their plan immediately reignited a decades-old controversy over Koreans’ consumption of the animal, considered man’s best friend in many countries, and drew severe criticism. It later led the market’s meat sellers, the co-hosts of the event, to withdraw the plan for fear that it could harm their reputation. “We first thought it was just an event to invite senior citizens and offer them free meals,” a meat seller at the market said. “But the dog farmers’ association

Jun 24, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik
  • INTERVIEW Is it wrong to eat dog meat?
South Korea

Labor, management clash at Yoosung

By Lee Hyo-sik Unionized workers’ illegal occupation of a key auto parts maker, which had disrupted the production of local automakers, came to an end a month ago. But the labor-management strife continues, making it difficult for the company to normalize its operations. About 11,000 unionized workers of Yoosung Enterprise attempted to enter its main plant in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, at 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, wielding iron pipes and other blunt objects at 18 companies of riot police guarding the factory’s main gate. The workers clashed with police but failed to make their way into the plant. During the violent clash, 108 riot police and about 10 unionists sustained injuries and were taken to nearby hospitals for treatment. A union official argued that riot police exerted excessive force against the workers, saying several workers sustained serious injuries and many others suffered cuts and bruises. But a police officer refuted the union’s claim, saying that riot police had to fight back as the unionized workers used force against them. He said a dozen riot

Jun 24, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik
South Korea

Speeding, drunk drivers to face tougher penalties

By Lee Hyo-sik The government plans to revoke the driving licenses of motorists who are found to exceed a speed limit by over 60 kilometers an hour from as early as next year as part of efforts to reduce the number of traffic deaths. Rules against drunk driving will also be strengthened as the legally-allowed blood-alcohol concentration will be lowered to 0.03 percent from the current 0.05 percent. The Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs held a public hearing Thursday, announcing tighter traffic regulations aimed at cutting the number of traffic accidents by 40 percent by 2016. Last year, there were about 5,500 human causalities here resulting from traffic accidents. The number of traffic deaths per 10,000 cars was 2.86, significantly higher than the OECD average of 1.25. “The government has set a goal to reduce the number of traffic deaths to as low as 3,000 by 2016. We held a public hearing for citizens and other interested parties to gather various opinions on our measures. We plan to finalize them by year’s end,” a ministry official said. First, dr

Jun 23, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik
South Korea

Ex-presidential aide questioned

By Lee Hyo-sik A former aide to President Lee Myung-bak appeared before the prosecution Wednesday for questioning over allegations that he accepted bribes from a troubled savings bank in return for providing favors. Kim Hae-soo, 53, now CEO of the state-run Korea Construction Management Corp. is suspected of receiving tens of millions of won from Busan Mutual Savings Bank on several occasions in return for favors regarding the lender’s construction projects. He served as presidential secretary for political affairs from 2008 to 2010. Kim has denied the bribery allegations. He arrived at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office in southern Seoul at 2 p.m. When asked about whether he took money from Yoon Yeou-sung, a jailed lobbyist for the savings bank, Kim said he would faithfully answer investigators’ questions. He said he has known Yoon for some time. Prosecutors said they secured testimony from the jailed lobbyist that he gave Kim tens of millions of won in a bid to seek favors over a soured construction project in Incheon. The savings banks invested 470 billion won in b

Jun 22, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik
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