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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

Sogang Univ. in court battle with whistle blowing professors

By Lee Hyo-sik Sogang University in Seoul is embroiled in a court battle with a group of its professors over the disciplinary action it took against them for exposing a colleague’s misappropriation of state research funds. The university said Tuesday that it has filed a lawsuit with the Seoul Administrative Court to protest a decision by the Appeal Commission for Teachers which is affiliated with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, concerning its action. In February, the commission recommended that the school withdraw its decision to dismiss four professors of the department of business administration for disclosing a fellow professor’s embezzlement of government funds. Instead, it suggested that two professors be suspended from their positions for three months and the other two have their wages cut for the same period. In July last year, Sogang moved to expel the four professors who exposed the corruption, arguing that they damaged the school’s reputation and verbally abused other professors and students in the process. Immediately after the school’

Jun 14, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik
South Korea

Arrest warrants sought for medical students for sexual assault

By Lee Hyo-sik Police said Tuesday that they asked the court to issue arrest warrants for three male students enrolled at Korea University’s medical school on charges of sexually assaulting a drunken fellow female student during a school trip last month. An officer at the Seongbuk Police Station in northern Seoul said police decided to seek arrest warrants, given the seriousness of the charge against them. “We would like to take them into custody because they could collaborate on their stories and make it more difficult for us to find out exactly what happened,” the officer said. According to information made public, the students went on a field trip to Gapyeong, Gyeonggi Province, on May 21 along with other classmates. At their accommodation the female student drank too much and fell asleep in a separate room. The three students allegedly followed her into the room, undressed her and touched her body. They shot the episode with a camera and their cell phones. The victim later filed reports of sexual harassment to the university’s center for gender equality and t

Jun 14, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik
South Korea

Super Junior most-favored hallyu group as travel companion

By Lee Hyo-sik Foreign fans of hallyu, or the Korean Wave, picked K-pop group Super Junior as the hallyu star they would most like to travel with in Korea, the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) said Monday. KTO conducted an online survey through a VisitKorea website (www.visitkorea.or.kr) set up to promote Korean tourism among non-Koreans from May 11 through May 31. A total of 12,085 people from 102 different countries took the survey and gave answers in seven categories. When asked about which hallyu star they would like to travel with in Korea, K-pop group Super Junior was first among 30 hallyu stars, followed by Big Bang and JYJ. The boy band received votes not only from fans in China and other Asian countries, but also from those in Europe, KTO said. ``Reflecting a growing popularity of K-pop in France and other European countries in recent days, 2,158 people from 35 European nations took part in the survey,” a KTO official said. Still, Asia is the largest fan base for Korean singers and other hallyu stars as Asians accounted for 77 percent of the survey resp

Jun 13, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik
South Korea

All military draftees to be inoculated against meningitis

By Lee Hyo-sik The Ministry of National Defense said Monday it is considering inoculating all military recruits against meningitis as early as next year. Its move follows a series of deaths from the disease at military camps — most prominently a 23-year-old conscript died of the illness in April due to inadequate medical care at an Army training center. A newly-developed meningitis vaccine is currently under review by the Korea Food and Drug Administration and will likely get approval next year, according to the ministry. “Once the vaccine is approved, we will seriously consider inoculating all newly-drafted soldiers. We think vaccination is the best way to prevent soldiers from contracting the fatal disease,” said Kim Hyung-ki, an official from the ministry, at a news briefing. The official admitted the Korean Army Training Center in Nonsan, South Chungcheong Province, and other camps across the country have largely failed to properly care for recruits. Four out of eight soldiers who were infected with the disease died over the last five years. The ministry

Jun 13, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik
South Korea

Former farm minister Im commits suicide

By Lee Hyo-sik A former agriculture minister, suspected of receiving bribes from a jailed businessman and illegally withdrawing deposits from a failed savings bank, was found dead in an apparent suicide, Monday. According to the police, Im Sang-gyu, president of Sunchon National University, was found dead in his car in the southwestern city of Suncheon, South Jeolla Province, early Monday morning. Police said Im took his own life by inhaling toxic fumes from burning coal briquettes inside the vehicle. “We will decide whether to perform an autopsy for the exact cause of death after consulting with the bereaved family. But it appears that he took his own life, considering the car doors were locked from the inside and there were no external wounds,” police officer Yang Seong-woo said, announcing interim results of the investigation into the death. The officer said a suicide note was found in Im’s car. It read, “My situation is regretful and unfortunate. It is like I am being trapped by an evil force. This tragedy all began from a wrong encounter with the wrong people. B

Jun 13, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik
South Korea

Sexually-abusive professor tries to get back to school

By Lee Hyo-sik The government’s recommendation to reinstate a Korea University professor who had been suspended by the school for sexually harassing a female student is drawing strong protests from students. According to Korea University Friday, the Appeal Commission for Teachers, affiliated with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, recently suggested that the school withdraw its decision to dismiss the professor at the College of Political Science and Economics from his post, citing procedural inappropriateness. In July last year, the university suspended the professor for three months after discovering that he sexually abused a female graduate school student he supervised in May. In December, the school’s personnel evaluation committee decided not to re-appoint the professor to his position, citing a past record of sexual harassment and his heavy-handed teaching style. To protest the university’s decision, the professor filed a petition with the Appeal Commission for Teachers, which was established to protect teachers’ rights by hearing complaints abou

Jun 10, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik
South Korea

85 ex-US bases to be checked for environment pollution

By Lee Hyo-sik The government has decided to conduct a ground check of 85 former U.S. military bases across the country from October to check whether soil and underground water there were contaminated with Agent Orange or other harmful chemicals. The decision comes amid allegations that American soldiers buried hazardous materials inside the bases over the years. The Ministry of National Defense said Friday that it will check all the bases that were returned to Korea between January 1990 and May 2003. “We will secure a facility chart of all 85 former U.S. military camps by the end of this month and ask a professional organization to launch an environmental survey in October on behalf of the government,” Vice Defense Minister Lee Young-geol said. Lee said the Korean government took the camps back without conducting any environmental studies on them, adding that one of them is Camp Mercer in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, which has been inspected by the provincial government for potential Agent Orange and other toxic chemical contamination. The vice minister said that o

Jun 10, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik
South Korea

Rainy season forecast to begins today

By Lee Hyo-sik This year’s rainy season begins today across the nation, which is about 10 days earlier than in previous years, as the high pressure system developing in the North Pacific Ocean moves northward ahead of usual. A seasonal rain front normally affects the peninsula between the middle of June and the middle of July, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA), Thursday. On Friday, heavy rain is forecast for Jeju Island and the southern part of the country, with some areas receiving up to 20 millimeters of rain per hour. The rain will likely continue through Saturday. The seasonal rain front will then move south of Jeju Island. But it will advance northward again in the middle of next week, affecting the entire Korean Peninsula. ``The rainy season will start sooner than in the past. Since it starts sooner, it may also come to an end earlier. But during this year’s rainy season, heavy rain will fall often across the country. People should be extra cautious for their personal safety and property,’’ KMA spokesman Kim Seung-bae said. For more

Jun 9, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik
South Korea

Key figures indicted for game fixing

By Lee Hyo-sik Prosecutors said Thursday that they have indicted nine footballers, two brokers and two private backers implicated in a scam to manipulate outcomes while betting on matches. They said four other individuals were involved in the football match fixing; Kim Dong-hyun, a 27-year-old player for the Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corps, already arrested by military prosecutors, Jung Jong-kwan of Seoul United, who committed suicide on May 30, and two gang members betting on games on prior information. Investigators are also looking into three football matches held last year to check whether there were similar schemes by footballers and brokers to reap illegal gains. Web of game fixing The Changwon District Prosecutors’ Office said they indicted nine active footballers from the K-League’s first division and four other individuals on charges of violating the National Sports Promotion Act. One of the two arrested brokers, surnamed Kim, played a central role in carrying through the match-fixing scam by raising funds from gamblers and bribing footballers, the pr

Jun 9, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik
South Korea

Gong stripped of National Assembly seat

Rep. Gong Sung-jin of the governing Grand National Party (GNP) was stripped of his National Assembly seat Thursday as the nation’s highest court upheld the lower courts’ rulings against the lawmaker indicted on bribe-taking charges. The Supreme Court confirmed the lower courts’ verdict in which Gong was sentenced to eight months in prison but suspended for two years and 158 million won ($143,000) in fines for accepting hundreds of thousands of won in bribes from businessmen and government officials in return for providing various favors. If a lawmaker is handed a sentence of over 1 million won in fines or a heavier punishment for violating election or political fund laws, he or she loses their parliamentary seat. The latest ruling slashed the number of GNP seats to 171 in the 299-seat National Assembly. In December 2009, Gong was indicted on charges of taking 40 million won from Kong Kyung-sik, owner of the Statewilshire Golf Club in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province, in exchange for helping him obtain construction permits. Gong was also charged with accepting nearly 200 mil

Jun 9, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik
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