Korea Times Finance Reporter
Lee Hyo-jin covers the Bank of Korea, the banking industry and broader financial news. Her previous beats include foreign affairs, North Korea and general reporting on Korean society.
Kim Mi-sook, the mother of deceased power plant worker Kim Yong-gyun, hugs a statue of her son ahead of a memorial ceremony at the Taean Thermal Power Plant in South Chungcheong Province, Tuesday, to mark the third anniversary of his death. The 24-year-old contract worker died while working in the plant Dec. 10, 2018, due to a lack of proper safety regulations. Yonhap
A public petition posted on the Cheong Wa Dae website, Thursday, calling for harsh punishment for students accused of assaulting a Mongolian teenager, has garnered over 170,000 signatures as of 2 p.m., Sunday. Captured from Cheong Wa Dae websiteBy Lee Hyo-jin Calls are mounting for strong punishment for four middle school students who have been accused of assaulting a classmate from Mongolia. The four students living in Yangsan, South Gyeongsang Province, whose identities were withheld, have been accused of beating the 14-year-old girl for about six hours starting at midnight, July 3. The victim was a middle school student who moved to Korea from Mongolia about 10 years ago.They tied the victim's hands and legs and punched her in the head and face multiple times, and wrote racial slurs on her forehead, according to Yangsan Police Station. The students filmed the act and later distributed the video among fellow students, offering to sell the footage for 5,000 won ($4), according to police. A public petition was posted on the Cheong Wa Dae website, Thursday, calling for harsh punishmen
Medical workers collect samples for a coronavirus test at a testing center in Songpa District of Seoul, Saturday. Yonhap3 international students may have Omicron variantBy Lee Hyo-jin The government's decision to expand its “vaccine pass” system to more public facilities, which will take effect from Monday, has provoked a backlash from unvaccinated individuals and small business owners. The administration said Friday that it would reinstate some of its social distancing measures and widen the vaccine pass use in response to a record rise in COVID-19 cases, along with the emergence of the Omicron variant here.For the next four weeks, the vaccine pass, which requires a vaccination certificate or negative PCR results to enter multiuse facilities, will be expanded to places such as restaurants, cafes, movie theaters, concert halls, indoor sports events, PC rooms, libraries and museums. So far, the vaccine pass has been limitedly applied to high risk facilities including indoor gyms and public baths.In addition, private gatherings in Seoul and its surrounding area will be limi
By Lee Hyo-jin Nearly 70 foreign students at a local university have been accused of alleged statutory rape of a teenage girl, according to police, Tuesday. Gangwon Provincial Police Agency said it is questioning 69 foreign students and graduates of a university in the province for allegedly engaging in unlawful sexual intercourse with the middle school student on nearly 100 occasions since last December. Symbol of the Korean National Police Agency / Yonhap The students were all of foreign nationalities, including those from Nepal and Bangladesh.According to the police, they lured the victim into having sex through social media by offering snacks and asking her to hang out at their house. The law enforcement authorities viewed this as statutory rape as the students were aware of the fact that the victim was a minor. Under the Korean law, adults who engage in sexual activity with a child younger than 16, or the age of consent, may be charged with child sexual abuse or
Medical workers prepare to conduct coronavirus tests at a testing center in Songpa District, Seoul, Tuesday. YonhapCritically ill patients reach record high of 661By Lee Hyo-jin The government's latest “special quarantine measures” may be ineffective in responding to the current COVID-19 crisis here, according to medical experts, who warned of a harsh winter unless stronger measures are introduced. Amid an unrelenting surge in new infections and critical cases, the government announced Monday that it would not move on to the second phase of its “Living with COVID-19” strategy, but instead remain in the current first stage for the next four weeks, while implementing additional special quarantine measures.These measures include an expansion of the provision of booster shots to people aged under 50 if five months have passed since their “primary vaccination,” as well as setting a six-month limit on its “vaccine pass.”Also, in order to cope with a shortage of hospital beds, newly infected patients will be placed under home treatment, reserv
A student receives a coronavirus vaccine at a clinic in Yangcheon District, Seoul, Oct. 18. Joint Press CorpsVaccine pass system may be expanded to childrenBy Lee Hyo-jin Mixed messages being sent by the government and medical experts on COVID-19 vaccination for children are creating confusion among parents, who are weighing the risks and benefits of inoculation following the full resumption of in-person classes at schools.Authorities are “strongly recommending” parents to vaccinate their children, following a recent surge in infections among people aged under 18, but some health experts are calling for a prudent approach considering potential side effects. The infection rate of minors outstripped that of adults for the first time in October, according to a study conducted by Choi Eun-hwa, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Seoul National University.During the four weeks from Sept. 26 to Oct. 23, 99.7 out of every 100,000 children aged under 18 were infected, compared to 76 out of 100,000 people aged 19 or older.Citing such data, the education ministry encourage
Runners participate in the Seoul International Marathon in 2018. YonhapBy Lee Hyo-jin The Seoul International Marathon will take place on Sunday, both online and offline, for the first time in two years, according to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, Friday.The offline marathon will be held around Olympic Park and Jamsil Stadium in southern Seoul.The annual event, co-organized by Seoul City and the Korean Association of Athletics Federation, along with local daily newspaper Dong-a Ilbo, was established in 1931. It is the only event of its kind to have received the Platinum Label by World Athletics in Korea.The last marathon was held in March 2019, but was suspended since then due to the coronavirus pandemic. The event will take place this year under eased social distancing regulations amid the “Living with COVID-19” policy, but with a limited number of runners for the offline marathon, according to its organizers.While some 35,000 runners take part usually, the downsized event this year has invited 38 professional marathoners along with 300 amateur runners, who can eithe
Members of the Korea Nurses Association stage a rally in front of the National Assembly, calling for the legislation of the Nursing Act, Nov. 23. Korea Times photo by Bae Woo-hanBy Lee Hyo-jin Controversy is deepening among different groups of medical staff over legislation of the Nursing Act, a law that stipulates the role and duties of licensed nurses. The Korean Nurses Association (KNA), a group representing 460,000 nurses nationwide, has been calling for the legislation, insisting that the enactment will lay the groundwork for the improvement of nurse-related policies, which will improve their working conditions and resolve a chronic manpower shortage in the field.However, other medical workers, such as doctors, care workers at nursing homes, assistant nurses and paramedics fiercely oppose the legislation, as they believe that the law will only benefit nurses and create confusion in the public healthcare system. The Nursing Act, proposed by Rep. Kim Min-seok of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, along with two other similar bills, proposed by Rep. Seo Jeong-suk and Rep. Choi Y
A funeral altar is set up for Chun Doo-hwan at Severance Hospital in Seoul, Tuesday. YonhapBy Lee Hyo-jin An aide to Chun Doo-hwan, the former president who died at the age of 90 on Tuesday, has claimed that Chun's death may have been caused by an abnormal reaction after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.Chun seized power in a military coup in 1979 and ruled the country until 1988. He was diagnosed in August with multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer that affects white blood cells. Min Jeong-ki, Chun's former presidential secretary, raised speculation that he may have developed the disease as a side effect of the coronavirus vaccine, which could have been the cause of his death. “When I visited him in June of this year, he didn't look very well. I asked his wife about his health condition, and she replied, 'He lost about 10 kilograms in 10 days, as he lost his appetite after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine,'” he said during an interview with a local broadcaster, Tuesday.He said that Chun was administered with the Pfizer vaccine, but the exact date of inoculation is unknown.
gettyimagesbankBy Lee Hyo-jin Last Saturday night, a Seoul resident surnamed Lee, 29, called for a taxi through a mobile app, to get home after an evening gathering with her friends in Itaewon. But no taxis were available. “My friends and I were on the street for over an hour trying to catch a taxi. It was a nightmare. We downloaded several apps to call at least one cab and share the ride, but we all failed,” she said.In the end, she had to call her father in the middle of the night to pick her up. Kim Seo-yeon, an office worker in her 20s in Gangnam District of Seoul, recently had to request a “Kakao Taxi Black,” a premium type of taxi offered by Kakao's ride-hailing app, on a Friday night. She was charged more than double the regular fare. “I spent about an hour trying to call a regular taxi, but I received no response from any drivers. I had no choice but to request a premium taxi. Now I'll make sure to get home within public transportation's operating hours.”Similar frustrations have been felt by many other residents in Seoul and its surroundin