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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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South Korea

Korea Times celebrates 60th anniversary

By Kwon Mee-yoo The Korea Times hosted a reception at the Seoul Museum of Art, Monday, to celebrate its 60th anniversary. Some 300 distinguished guests and leaders from government, politics, business and culture attended the ceremony. Chang Jae-ku, chairman of The Korea Times-Hankook Ilbo Media Group, said in his welcoming speech, “The paper has grown thanks to support from its readers both at home and abroad.” Korea Times President Park Moo-jong gave a brief explanation of the paper’s history. The Korea Times published its first issue on Nov. 1, 1950, during the Korean War and it has expanded with the country’s economy. As the first independent English daily here, The Korea Times reaches some 500,000 people around the globe everyday through its website and lets the world know about the country’s economy and culture. “We will further grow as a daily newspaper and a window opening Korea to the world,” Park said. Seoul Mayor Oh thanked The Korea Times for publicizing the city’s development from the “Miracle on the Han River” to current efforts to make the capital a

Dec 13, 2010By Kwon Mee-yoo
South Korea

Women badmouthing others on instant messenger

By Kwon Mee-yoo Lee Ji-hee, a 32-year-old office worker, gets rid of work stress by communicating through an Internet messenger service. “The best part of it is talking behind my boss’s back,” Lee said. However, she is also careful about doing so. “Once I was nearly caught speaking ill of him with my colleague through messenger. After that we called him by the nickname Jin-ho,” she said. “We just made up a common name so he would not realize who we were talking about.” Saramin, an online recruitment site, surveyed 1,913 office workers about talking behind someone’s back and 83 percent said they have done so. The most popular place for backbiting differed by gender. Out of 834 male office workers, they mostly spoke ill of someone while drinking. Other places included smoking rooms and employee lounges. Women employees preferred online messenger, with 40 percent, followed by offices, bars and employee lounges. Regardless of gender, most said they talked behind their boss’s back and executives were also targets. The reasons for talking behind someone’s back in t

Dec 10, 2010By Kwon Mee-yoo
South Korea

More boycott human rights awards

By Kwon Mee-yoo Designated honorees of the Republic of Korea Human Rights Awards given by the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) said Friday they would refuse the awards, claiming that “the NHRCK was not qualified to give them.” The awards are intended to commemorate the 62nd anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on Dec. 10. The human rights watchdog has become the object of controversy after current chief Hyun Byung-chul took office in July 2009. Civic organizations opposed Hyun’s designation as he lacked experience in human rights affairs. He was a law professor at Hanyang University before being appointed chairman. Kim Eun-chong, a high school senior who won the human rights essay contest with a piece titled “A School with a Press But No Public Opinion,” also emphasized her intent not to receive the award from Hyun through another essay “Hyun Byung-chul’s NHRCK Is Not Qualified to Give Awards.” Lee Sang-yun, winner of the human rights dissertation competition, said he would refuse the award as well. He won the student’s

Dec 10, 2010By Kwon Mee-yoo
South Korea

Two Koreans infected with super bacteria

By Kwon Mee-yoo The government confirmed Thursday that two patients have been infected with a bacterium resistant to most antibiotics, also called a super bacterium. This is the first time that the New Delhi Metallo beta lactamase (NDM-1) CRE bacterium has been detected in the country, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said. The authorities said they found the NDM-1 strain in two patients in a general hospital in Seoul. Two other patients in the same hospital, also suspected of being infected, are awaiting test results. The two confirmed cases involved people who had have not traveled overseas, but had been hospitalized in the intensive care unit (ICU) for a long time. A male patient in his 50s has interstitial lung disease, which was being treated with steroids that had lowered his immunity response. The other patient ― a woman in her 70s ― has diabetes and purulent spondylitis. They had been in ICU for their preexisting conditions. The health ministry said NDM-1 infects those who have hospitalized in ICUs or have compromises immune systems. "There is no need

Dec 9, 2010By Kwon Mee-yoo
South Korea

Extradition will be sought for Tablo basher

By Kwon Mee-yoo The prosecution plans to seek extradition of a man in the United States who led the online campaign to raise doubt about the educational background of hip-hop singer Tablo. The Seoul Central Prosecutors' Office said Thursday the manager of the anti-Tablo online community "We Request the Truth from Tablo" identified as Kim, 57, also known as his nickname "whatbecomes," must be extradited from the United States for investigation as he did not comply with the prosecution’s summons. If the prosecution decides to pursue extradition, the Ministry of Justice will submit a request to the U.S. Embassy in Korea through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade so the Department of State will be alerted. “The nature of Kim’s crime is serious as it caused enormous mental anguish to the victim by continuously circulating false information about the singer,” a prosecutor said. Tablo, whose Korean name is Lee Sun-woong, graduated from Stanford University in California. To contest this fact, Kim opened an Internet community on the largest portal site Naver, with a

Dec 9, 2010By Kwon Mee-yoo
South Korea

Taxi black box raises privacy issue

By Kwon Mee-yoo More taxis are installing black boxes, small video recorders documenting the front and interior of the vehicles, to document details of possible traffic accidents or crimes. However, recording inside the cabs is seeing passengers complaining about their privacy issues. Lee Sun-kyu, 27, said he feels observed and his privacy is invaded by the taxi black box. “I really don’t like other people listening to my private conversations and try not to use my mobile phone while on public transportation. I thought cabs were more private, but I was surprised to find that some black boxes installed in taxis also record sound within the vehicle,” Lee said. Another office worker Kim, 33, said she checks the rearview mirror when she takes a taxi to see whether a black box is installed. “It feels uncomfortable to be recorded by the taxi black box. I take a taxi to move from one place to another conveniently, not to be recorded,” Kim said. As concerns regarding privacy in taxis rise, the Ministry of Public Administration and Security announced guidelines on privacy p

Dec 8, 2010By Kwon Mee-yoo
South Korea

Charity scandal freezes donation

By Kwon Mee-yoo For Kim Jin-sook, 56, who rings a bell wearing a Salvation Army uniform while standing next to the red kettle in Jongno in downtown Seoul, this winter is colder than ever before. That’s not because of the freezing temperatures but because of people’s indifference. Kim, who does the volunteer work for two hours on the street daily, said she has seen a sharp fall in donations following a corruption scandal involving other charity organizations. “I’ve worked for years with the Salvation Army but this year donations are drastically lower than previous years. That’s because of the corruption involving the Community Chest of Korea (CCK),” she said. “The Salvation Army is totally different from the Community Chest, but even so people are not donating as much as before. It’s really regrettable.” The CCK, the nation’s only state-backed charity agency, was found in November to have used the organization’s funds to pay for drinks, karaoke rooms and other entertainment. The CCK collected 2.4 billion won from Dec. 1 to 6, which is only 1.1 percent of their target f

Dec 7, 2010By Kwon Mee-yoo
South Korea

HS Mayor Oh suggests TV debate on school meal

By Kwon Mee-yoo Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon suggested holding a television discussion on the free school meal program proposed by the Seoul Metropolitan Council. Oh said he thinks the people concerned should have a TV debate on free school lunches and education policy to put an end to the exhausting and unproductive discussions. The mayor has said he will cease administrative cooperation with the city council after the latter passed an ordinance to provide free lunches for all elementary and middle school students in Seoul from next year. “We have to listen to citizens’ opinion on the priority of educational policies after open discussion,” Oh said. He also said Kwak No-hyun, Seoul’s educational superintendent who backs the free meal program refused his offer to hold a television debate the day before. Oh reconfirmed his stance against the free meal program. “The council insists on reducing other budget sectors to finance free school lunches, but it is like using the budget of the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs to fund school meals, which is impossibl

Dec 7, 2010By Kwon Mee-yoo
South Korea

Singer Crown J caught for smoking marijuana

By Kwon Mee-yoo Singer Crown J, 31, was apprehended for smoking marijuana while staying overseas, Sunday, another case of an entertainer’s drug use revealed over the weekend. The drug squad of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency (SMPA) booked the singer whose real name is Kim Kye-hoon without detention for smoking marijuana several times. According to the police, Crown J stayed in the United States from May 2009 to October 2010 to record his new album and smoked marijuana, which he obtained there, five times at his home in Atlanta, Ga. and other places. However, the rapper admitted only using the drug once or twice. The police are investigating further to find if any other entertainers or related people have smoked the drug with Crown J in the U.S. Crown J debuted in 2006 with his first album “One & Only” and his second, “Miss Me?” was released in 2007. He became more famous when he appeared on the reality show “We Got Married” with Seo In-young, a former member of the group Jewelry, in 2008. Later he released a digital single with Seo titled “Too Much.” The singe

Dec 6, 2010By Kwon Mee-yoo
South Korea

High school seniors sleep less than 6 hours

By Kwon Mee-yoo Third graders at high school are possibly the most hard-working students in Korea, sleeping 5 hours and 24 minutes per day and studying for 11 hours on average, a survey said. Statistics Korea announced the average characteristics of high school seniors based on a general time use survey, Sunday. The third graders, preparing for college admission, studied an average of 11 hours and three minutes per day, three hours longer than the average of all students Their leisure and personal time was about one hour less than that of all students. Around 30 percent of students did not have breakfast five days a week and 66 percent ate fast food such as hamburgers, pizza or fried chicken at least once a week. In education, more than half, or 57 percent, of students receive private tuition. Only 31 percent were pleased with educational methods, as opposed to 23 percent who were not. They also opposed corporal punishment, one of the hot potatoes in education. Half of the seniors said no to corporal punishment, while about two thirds of them said teachers sh

Dec 5, 2010By Kwon Mee-yoo
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