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Kwon Mee-yoo

Korea Times Politics & City Reporter

Often found at theaters and museums, Kwon Mee-yoo has covered a wide range of cultural fields from K-pop and dramas to theater and fine art for over a decade. Now as K-Culture Desk editor, she tries to connect Korean culture with global readers through fresh perspectives.

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People & Events

Korean polar scientist receives Norwegian order of merit for Arctic cooperation

Kang Sung-ho, principal research scientist at the Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI) and its former president, was appointed Officer of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit by King Harald V, becoming the first Korean honored under the order. Norwegian Ambassador to Korea Anne Kari Hansen Ovind presented Kang with the diploma and insignia of the order at a ceremony at her residence in Seoul, Wednesday. The appointment recognizes Kang's role in advancing Norwegian polar research and building research ties between the two countries, according to the Norwegian Embassy. "Through his research and leadership, Dr. Kang has played a key role in deepening polar research cooperation between Norway and the Republic of Korea, advancing scientific knowledge of the Arctic, and inspiring a new generation of researchers," Ovind said. A polar oceanographer with more than three decades of Arctic and Antarctic fieldwork, Kang took part in 37 polar expeditions. He joined KOPRI in 1993 and went on to lead the institute as its seventh president, a tenure the embassy credited with strengthening international

Jul 30, 2026By Kwon Mee-yoo
Korean polar scientist receives Norwegian order of merit for Arctic cooperation
Opinion

Korea's long wait for equality law

June is Pride Month and in much of the developed world, the rainbow flag is hard to miss — draped across public buildings as well as corporate storefronts. In Korea, it is harder to find. Beyond the Seoul Queer Culture Festival and its parade, the rainbows symbolizing the LGBTQ+ community are largely absent. Even Korean companies that create Pride campaigns for their overseas markets tend to stay quiet at home, wary of the backlash that such public support can invite. That reticence reflects a deeper gap. Korea remains one of only two OECD members, alongside Japan, without a comprehensive anti-discrimination law. Rep. Son Sol of the Progressive Party introduced a bill in January, followed by Rep. Chung Choon-saeng of the Rebuilding Korea Party in February. Gender Equality Minister Won Min-kyong also pledged her support. Yet the law remains unrealized, deferred once again on the familiar grounds that society has not reached a consensus. The comparison with Korea's neighbors makes the lag sharper. Japan, the other OECD holdout, has no national equality statute either, but municipal par

Jun 24, 2026By Kwon Mee-yoo
Korea's long wait for equality law
People & Events

Lee Gi-woo named new Asia Journalist Association chairperson

The Asia Journalist Association (AJA) elected Lee Gi-woo, former vice education minister, as its seventh chairperson. Lee also previously served as president of JEI University in Incheon, chairman of the Korean Teachers' Credit Union and CEO of Gyeongin Broadcasting. The AJA elected Lee at a special board meeting on May 4 at the Korea Press Center in Seoul. The meeting was attended by former chairperson Koo Bon-hong, former lawmaker Bae Gi-seon, Heart-to-Heart Foundation Chairperson Oh Jee-chul, Anglican Bishop Paul Kim Geun-sang and Yeongwol Media Journalist Museum Director Koh Myung-jin, among others. The board also discussed plans to establish an Asia Press Center, measures to strengthen the association's Asia-wide network and efforts to restore its status as a designated donation recipient organization. The AJA was founded in 2004 by journalists across Asia.

May 13, 2026By Kwon Mee-yoo
Lee Gi-woo named new Asia Journalist Association chairperson
Opinion

Korea is open for visitors, but is it ready for residents?

Korea welcomed 18.7 million foreign visitors in 2025, the highest number in the country's history, surpassing the previous record of 17.5 million set in 2019. The government had reason to celebrate. Years of investment in Korean soft power, from music and film to food, had delivered the kind of global interest it set out to build. But beyond the arrivals hall at Incheon International Airport, in the neighborhoods where foreign residents navigate health insurance forms and housing registration, in the clinics where staff and patients sometimes cannot understand each other, the infrastructure tells a different story. Korea has become extraordinarily good at welcoming visitors. Whether it is equally good at accommodating the people who stay is a harder question. The answer matters. The number of foreigners residing in the country crossed 2.8 million for the first time in October 2025, driven by increases in long-term stays for work, study and seasonal employment. More than half of all registered foreign residents live in Seoul and the surrounding metropolitan area — a concentration that

Apr 1, 2026By Kwon Mee-yoo
Korea is open for visitors, but is it ready for residents?
People & Events

PHOTO Korea Times Global Supporters completion ceremony

Members of The Korea Times Global Supporters program for the second half of 2025 pose at a completion ceremony at the newspaper’s headquarters in Seoul, Friday. The group, made up of Korean and international students, supported the newspaper’s outreach efforts and took part in various Korea Times events. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

Feb 27, 2026By Kwon Mee-yoo
[PHOTO] Korea Times Global Supporters completion ceremony
People & Events

Korea Foundation endows $2.7 mil. Korean digital media professorship at SOAS

The Korea Foundation (KF) is set to establish an endowed professorship at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) University of London, backed by a gift of 2 million British pounds ($2.7 million), to create a new chair in Korean studies. The first endowed professorship of its kind at the institution, the post marks a strategic expansion of Korean studies into digital culture and the creative industries. Formalized through an agreement signed in December 2025, the chair is a permanent position funded jointly by KF and SOAS on a 50-50 basis, with the university drawing on investment income from the endowment to sustain it. It will be based in the SOAS School of Arts under Korean art history professor Charlotte Horlyck, who leads the department. The School recently launched an undergraduate program in Korean digital media and the new chair will anchor its growing teaching and research in K-content, digital culture and creative industries at both undergraduate and doctoral level. SOAS Vice-Chancellor Professor Adam Habib welcomed the development, saying, “The Korea Foundation’

Feb 26, 2026By Kwon Mee-yoo
Korea Foundation endows $2.7 mil. Korean digital media professorship at SOAS
Arts & Theater

Why Olivier winner Jethro Compton chose Korean one-man apocalypse musical

A year after winning the Olivier Award for Best New Musical, Jethro Compton has big Hollywood studios calling to ask for meetings. He is not at them. Instead, the British writer and director is working as dramaturg on “The Last Man,” a Korean one-person zombie musical set in a tiny bunker — and the last project most people would expect from the hottest name in West End theater. “I'm saying, ‘No, no, I'm busy right now. I'm in Korea.’ I'll come back to them at some point, but right now, this feels very exciting to me,” Compton said during an interview at a cafe in Seoul, Monday. It is a surprising choice of priorities, though Compton himself doesn't see it that way. “I'm not very interested in my career. I'm interested in doing things that excite me and challenge me and having new experiences and working with interesting people on interesting shows … I often will turn down projects that are probably a good career choice. My heart needs to connect with something, otherwise I just can't find a way to feel passionate about it.” Compton joined “The Last Man” after bein

Feb 23, 2026By Kwon Mee-yoo
Why Olivier winner Jethro Compton chose Korean one-man apocalypse musical
People & Events

Culture ministry appoints Kang Jung-won as first tourism policy office chief

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism appointed Kang Jung-won, a former deputy minister-level official who oversaw culture and arts policy, as the inaugural head of its newly created Tourism Policy Office. The move marked the first deputy minister-level appointment since the ministry upgraded its Tourism Policy Bureau into an office-level unit, part of a restructuring intended to strengthen policy coordination and execution across the tourism sector. As the first chief of the Tourism Policy Office, Kang will lead key government priorities, including boosting inbound tourism and revitalizing regional destinations, the ministry said. Born in 1969, Kang graduated from the University of Seoul with a degree in public administration and entered government service in 1996. Within the ministry, he gained a reputation as a hands-on policy official, holding posts in both tourism and arts policy. He served in a range of senior roles, including sports bureau chief, spokesperson, deputy minister for culture and arts policy and most recently as director of the National Hangeul Museum, building

Feb 10, 2026By Kwon Mee-yoo
Culture ministry appoints Kang Jung-won as first tourism policy office chief
Arts & Theater

Rachel Chavkin directs new chapter for ‘Lempicka’ in Korea

Tamara de Lempicka (1894-1980) was a Polish artist whose work defined the daring spirit of the “new woman.” Her “Autoportrait (Tamara in a Green Bugatti)” (1929) shows the artist behind the wheel of a green sports car, her gloves and scarf matching the era’s fascination with speed, glamour and control. Nearly a century later, de Lempicka’s spirit forms the heart of the Broadway musical “Lempicka,” which arrives in Seoul this spring in a Korean-language production led by original director Rachel Chavkin. “No, she never owned a green Bugatti, but it’s her with her scarf flying in the wind,” Chavkin said at a studio in Gangdong Arts Center in Seoul on Friday, a day after arriving for rehearsals. “Tamara is probably best known as giving a face, an image, a style and an expression to this idea of the new liberated woman who works, goes after what she wants and has sex with who she wants.” New chapter in Seoul The musical tells the unapologetic story of de Lempicka, a bisexual painter who fled the Russian Revolution and reinvented herself in Paris, navigating political

Jan 23, 2026By Kwon Mee-yoo
Rachel Chavkin directs new chapter for ‘Lempicka’ in Korea
Korean Heritage

Heritage agency files complaint against Kim Keon Hee over private use of cultural sites

The Korea Heritage Service (KHS) filed a criminal complaint against Kim Keon Hee, the wife of former President Yoon Suk Yeol, with Seoul’s Jongno Police Station, Wednesday, following an internal audit that found state-managed cultural heritage sites and resources were allegedly used for private purposes. The complaint stems from a special audit launched by the agency last November to investigate matters related to state heritage involving the former president and his spouse. The KHS noted this internal investigation was separate from a special probe already transferred to police. According to the audit findings, Kim allegedly held a private tea gathering at Mangmyoru Pavilion inside Jongmyo Shrine, an area normally closed to the public, for reasons unrelated to official state events or diplomatic receptions. The report also states that Kim exceeded her authority regarding national heritage affairs by conducting advance inspections of an official commemorative event for the restoration of Gwanghwamun’s Woldae platform and signboard and by touring restricted areas of the National Pal

Jan 21, 2026By Kwon Mee-yoo
Heritage agency files complaint against Kim Keon Hee over private use of cultural sites
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