The Korea Times

Hiker finds 83 wild ginseng on Mt. Jiri

By Lee Hyo-sik A 46-year-old man, surnamed Jung, hit the jackpot on April 29 when he went hiking on Mt. Jiri — he and his wife came across dozens of wild ginseng on their way down. They found 83 wild ginseng plants. Of the 83, they gave 28 to acquaintances, while asking the Korea Wild Ginseng Research Institute to appraise the value of the remaining 55. They were between 15 to 30 years old, and valued at 50 million won ($45,000) in total, according to the institute. It said it is quite rare for wild ginseng to be found in such a large group, adding the place they were discovered has perfect conditions for the plant to grow. Jung said his wife woke up a night earlier after having a dream that his parents passed away. He said he will sell wild ginseng and help senior citizens living alone in rural areas with the money.

May 4, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik

South Korea

Korean students least happy in OECD

By Lee Hyo-sik Korean students were found to be the least happy among those in OECD countries, according to a recent survey. After polling 6,410 elementary, middle and high school students across the country, the Korea Bang Jeong-hwan Foundation and the Social Development Institute at Yonsei University said Korea’s “subject” happiness index came to 65.98 points in 2011, the lowest among 23 OECD member countries for the third year in a row. Korea scored 65.1 points in 2010 and 64.3 in 2009. Youths in Spain topped the list with 113.6 points, with the OECD average standing at 100. The foundation said the subject happiness index is calculated by taking six aspects into account — subjective health, degree of satisfaction with school life, degree of satisfaction with quality of life, sense of belonging, adaptability to environment and degree of loneliness. A researcher of the foundation said Korean students’ relative happiness is low because they are under greater pressure to study, having little time to spend time with their friends and family. To raise the level

May 4, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik

South Korea

Asiana to sue Heathrow for delayed departure

Airplane stopped by British police in manhunt for suspected thief By Lee Hyo-sik Asiana Airlines said it will sue the operator of London’s Heathrow Airport and the British police stationed there after one of its passenger airplanes was raided and searched shortly before departure in a failed manhunt for a suspected thief. The sudden, unprecedented stop and search forced the aircraft to depart over an hour later than scheduled, causing a great deal of inconvenience to passengers. According to Asiana officials, the British police halted and searched its aircraft on April 30 after a Brazilian man had filed a complaint that one of the passengers onboard Asiana Airlines’ flight OZ522 might have stolen his wallet. But no one was identified as a thief among the passengers, the company said, stressing that such an incident had never happened before and unthinkable that it did. “It doesn’t make sense that they stop a passenger airplane for more than one hour because of a theft that took place at a duty-free shop,” said Cho Won-yong, senior vice president of Asiana. “We will ta

May 4, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik

South Korea

Asiana Airlines pilot caught boarding airplane intoxicated

By Lee Hyo-sik An Asiana Airlines pilot under the influence of alcohol was stopped by aviation inspectors in Busan, Tuesday, as he was about to board an airplane carrying 112 passengers. The drunken pilot’s blood-alcohol concentration exceeded the legally-allowed limit - high enough to suspend his aviator license and impose fines on the airline firm, the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs said. Due to the incident, the flight was delayed by more than an hour, with Korea’s second-largest flagship carrier scrambling to find a substitute pilot. The captain of Asiana Airlines’ flight OZ8532, identified only by his surname Oh, failed a random onsite alcohol test as he was boarding the aircraft at Gimhae International Airport. Oh was immediately taken into custody by ministry inspectors and the flight, which was scheduled to take off for Incheon International Airport at 7:10 a.m., departed instead at 8:16 a.m. Aviation inspectors carry out random alcohol tests on pilots once every two months mostly at Incheon, Gimpo, Jeju and Gimhae airports. The ministr

May 3, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik

South Korea

S. Koreas press freedom ranking falls

By Lee Hyo-sik Press freedom in South Korea deteriorated in 2010 compared to a year earlier due to increased state censorship, an international media freedom advocacy group said Tuesday. Tied with Burma, North Korea came in last as it exerts an outright ban on independent news reporting. In its ``Freedom of the Press 2011 Survey,’’ Freedom House, a non-profit organization based in Washington D.C., ranked South Korea 70th among 196 countries and territories with 32 points in a press freedom index last year, down from 67th the previous year. The nation’s press freedom was classified as ``partly free’’ in 2010, downgraded from ``free’’ a year earlier. Countries are given a total score from 0 (best) to 100 (worst) on the basis of 23 methodology questions divided into three subcategories ― legal, political and economic environment. ``South Korea, which had long hovered at the low end of the `free’ range, slipped by two points, from 30 to 32, earning it a `partly free’ designation. Contributing factors included an increase in official censorship as well as government att

May 3, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik

South Korea

3rd labor umbrella group in making

By Lee Hyo-sik Unionized subway workers’ decision to break away from a radical labor umbrella group and establish an alternative organization is expected to shake up the landscape of the nation’s labor movement. Seoul Metro Workers’ Union said last Friday that 95 percent of its 8,900 unionized workers participated in a ballot on whether to withdraw from the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) with 53 percent of them voting for the proposal. The labor union of Seoul Metro, the operator of subway lines 1-4, made it clear that it will distance itself from a politically-motivated and often violent labor campaign. Instead, it will likely opt to focus more on improving workers’ welfare and providing community services. The unionized workers decided to set up an alternative labor umbrella group in cooperation with other unions in July. If established, it will become a third major labor group on top of the nation’s two major umbrella groups, KCTU and the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU). “The current labor movement has turned into a tool for leaders of

May 1, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik

South Korea

Footage showing teacher beating student causes stir

By Kim Rahn A video clip showing a female teacher at a middle school striking a pupil on the head and cheek has drawn criticism from Internet users. The footage was posted on YouTube, Saturday, under the title, “A teacher’s violence against a middle school senior in Incheon.” In the clip, the teacher hit the boy on the head and slapped him on the cheek dozens of times, while holding his ear, in a parking lot at the Everland theme park in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province. Students of the school said they were on a field trip Friday and she beat the student for being more than 20 minutes late. They said they also saw her kicking the boy’s private parts. The pupils shot the clip and posted it on the Internet. A school official said the teacher visited the student’s home and apologized to his parents on Saturday. The school and the district educational office said they are investigating the incident. They said they will decide whether to punish the teacher depending on the outcome of the inquiry. Many bloggers posted comments criticizing the teacher, saying th

May 1, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik

South Korea

Businesses hiring foreign workers to be inspected

By Lee Hyo-sik Businesses employing nonprofessional foreign workers will come under state inspection of their hiring practices, beginning May 2. It is part of government efforts to better protect the rights of non-Korean employees and prevent the employment of illegal aliens, the Ministry of Employment and Labor said Sunday. The ministry said its inspectors will look into some 1,800 factories and other employers of foreign laborers across the country, through June 30, to check whether their hiring systems abide by laws concerning the working conditions of non-Korean workers. In particular, restaurants, construction sites and other labor-intensive businesses which employ large numbers of ethnic Koreans from overseas will be closely scrutinized for irregularities. “We will thoroughly examine if businesses are violating the rights of foreign workers and employing illegal aliens. To those breaking the law, we will issue an administrative warning, impose fines, or refer them to the prosecution in accordance with the degrees of the offense,” a ministry official said. He

May 1, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik

South Korea

Fresh conflict brewing at Guryong Village

Residents vow to protest Seoul city’s redevelopment project By Kim Rahn Tension is mounting at Guryong Village, a poor neighborhood in affluent Gangnam, southern Seoul, as the city government’s latest redevelopment plan is reigniting two-decades-old conflicts between residents and authorities. On Thursday, the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced a plan by a public builder to redevelop the area. But residents have vowed to stage an all-out protest to the scheme. More than 300 staged a sit-in rally at the Gangnam District Office for about two hours Thursday, and some of them visited City Hall to express their opposition. “The ward office and the city government have neglected the Guryong Village redevelopment issue for about 20 years. Now they have suddenly come up with this public redevelopment plan, ignoring our own long-term vision involving private builders,” said Yu Kwi-beom, head of the residents’ self-governing body. The village is an unauthorized cluster of shacks, which was established around 1988 when the government barred illegal housing ahead of the Seou

May 1, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik

South Korea

Adoptee ad causes controversy

By Lee Hyo-sik The government’s plan to air a TV advertisement featuring dozens of orphans to promote adoption is causing controversy over its possible violation of the human rights of the children shown. The Ministry of Health and Welfare said Thursday that it will create an ad introducing the profiles of 30 orphans waiting to be adopted and air it on state-run KTV in May, as part of efforts to find abandoned children new homes. Critics say the advertisement infringes upon the human rights of orphans whose private information will be made available to the public without their consent, adding the move will not help promote domestic adoption. “The government has been trying to shed Korea’s image as an orphan exporter. Over the past few years, it has made it more difficult for foreigners to adopt Korean children, while encouraging Koreans to become foster parents by providing financial subsidies and other incentives. But I think such efforts have largely failed in achieving the intended goals,” said Lee Eun-mi, coordinator at People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy.

Apr 29, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik

Lee Hyo-sik

Read more

Hiker finds 83 wild ginseng on Mt. Jiri

Korean students least happy in OECD

Asiana to sue Heathrow for delayed departure

Asiana Airlines pilot caught boarding airplane intoxicated

S. Koreas press freedom ranking falls

3rd labor umbrella group in making

Footage showing teacher beating student causes stir

Businesses hiring foreign workers to be inspected

Fresh conflict brewing at Guryong Village

Adoptee ad causes controversy

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