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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

KoreaToday 120 Dasan Call Center reaches out to foreigners

By Kwon Mee-yoo Staff reporter On the first floor of the 120 Dasan Call Center building in Dongdaemun, central Seoul, 10 counselors are busy providing advice on various problems experienced by expatriates from travel directions to overdue wages. They provide the service in five foreign languages - English, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese and Mongolian. Since it opened in February, the foreign language department of the call center receives some 150 to 200 calls a day, which is relatively small compared to the general 120 service which receives an average of 40,000 calls a day. The most popular languages are English and Vietnamese followed by Mongolian and Chinese. Japanese counselors received the fewest number of calls. Currently, a total of 20 foreign language speaking counselors work at the center, four for each language and they work one-day on, one-day off. Ten of them are Korean, while the rest were born in China, Mongolia and Vietnam. The Chinese and Vietnamese counselors are naturalized Koreans. Dasan operates from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. and the calls are directed to the

Jun 29, 2010By Kwon Mee-yoo
South Korea

Cats Eye to monitor unlawful crackdown on migrant workers

By Kwon Mee-yoo Staff reporter Several migrant workers’ rights groups said Tuesday that they have decided to form a federation to jointly monitor and cope with “unlawful” crackdowns on unregistered immigrant laborers. Their move comes as the government has stepped up efforts to deport those staying here illegally ahead of the G-20 summit scheduled in November. Civic organizations including the Migrants’ Trade Union, Joint Committee with Migrants in Korea and Korean Confederation of Trade Unions will establish a watchdog named “Cats Eye” today at the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK). The groups will educate citizens interested in joining the monitoring team for human rights abuses and station them as observers. “Migrant workers are often harmed during crackdowns, but there is no concrete evidence except for the person’s statement to prove the violation of human rights. We will keep a lookout for raids on illegal foreigners to protect their human rights,” an official of the Migrants’ Trade Union said. The federation distributed a guidebook on h

Jun 29, 2010By Kwon Mee-yoo
South Korea

HS Seoul bolsters medical service for foreigners

By Kwon Mee-yoo Staff reporter The Seoul Metropolitan Government is reinforcing medical support for foreigners as part of steps to accommodate the needs of the increasing number of international residents. The city government said Monday that three more medical centers will provide a 24-hour interpretation service through the Seoul Emergency Medical Information Center at 1339. As of 2009, a total of 256,000 international residents are living in Seoul. More than half or 57 percent of them are migrant workers, 12 percent are married to Koreans and 11 percent are studying in the capital. The three new hospitals with foreign language services are Chung-Ang University Hospital in Dongjak, Chung-Ang University Yongsan Hospital in Yongsan, both of which started the service in late 2009, and KonKuk University Medical Center in Gwangjin-gu which added the service in March. In addition to general hospitals, there are a total of 669 international clinics in Seoul that provide medical services in 14 languages including English, Japanese, Chinese, Mongolian and Spanish. More than

Jun 28, 2010By Kwon Mee-yoo
South Korea

Child rapist-murderer Kim sentenced to death

By Kwon Mee-yoo Staff reporter A court sentenced Kim Kil-tae, a previously convicted sex offender who raped and killed a 13-year old girl earlier this year, to death, Friday. The Busan District Court imposed capital punishment on the 33-year-old for brutally raping and killing the teenager in the southeastern port city in February. The court said the criminal showed no signs of remorse for the crime, repeatedly denying his involvement despite overwhelming evidence. "Kim has denied the charges. But evidence such as his footprints at the victim's house and DNA samples found on the body of the victim are sufficient to prove his guilt," the court said in its ruling. The court also said that Kim's previous criminal record showed he repeatedly committed crimes against humanity and society. Kim was first convicted of assault in 1995 and his crimes became more brutal including attempting to rape a minor and abducting a married woman. The repeat sex offender had served a total of 11 years behind bars after being convicted in two rape cases, but was released unsupervised la

Jun 25, 2010By Kwon Mee-yoo
South Korea

Theaters, hotels boom ahead of big match

By Kwon Mee-yoo Staff reporter After Korea's footballers reached the round of 16 at the 2010 World Cup, their supporters' fervor is getting hotter this weekend as the Korean team takes on Uruguay. Movie theaters have become a new hot spot for watching the 2010 World Cup games, either in 2D or 3D. Three multiplex chains in Korea - CGV, Megabox and Lotte Cinema - screened the Korean first round games and more than 90 percents of the seats were filled and 3D theaters were all sold out through advance ticketing. People were especially excited with the new experience of watching games in 3D, which is a new feature of this World Cup. "It was very realistic to see players shooting in 3D," said Kim Sung-hyun, 30, who watched the Korea-Argentina game at Yeongdeungpo CGV. Lee Hee-young, 25, a graduate student, made reservations at several cinemas screening the Korea-Nigeria game in 3D to find the best seat. "I reserved eights seats and chose the best one. The other six were taken by my friends who could not get tickets," Lee said. "I liked the big screen and 3D display, but

Jun 25, 2010By Kwon Mee-yoo
Travel & Food

Harry Potter’s Wizarding World brought to life

By Kwon Mee-yoo Staff reporter ORLANDO, Fla. _ Orlando is possibly the best destination for theme park lovers. There is the Walt Disney World Resort, one of the largest theme parks in the world with four amusement parks, three water parks and a number of hotels; Universal Orlando Resort, consisting of Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure _ now filled with Harry Potter magic; and SeaWorld Orlando, a marine life theme park. However, the biggest news this summer is Harry Potter’s magical world brought to life on the Islands of Adventure. Universal Orlando officially opened "The Wizarding World of Harry Potter," its new theme park based on mega-hit books and movie series on June 18. It has obviously raised the bar for people's expectations of theme parks by bringing the imaginary, magical world of Harry Potter, featured in the seven-volume fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling, to life. The books have sold more than 400 million copies worldwide, while the films have grossed more than $5.3 billion, excluding two more movies of volume seven y

Jun 24, 2010By Kwon Mee-yoo
South Korea

Entertainment agency raided for embezzlement

The office of an entertainment agency which represents top entertainers, including TV show hosts Yoo Jae-suk and Kang Ho-dong, was raided on suspicion of embezzlement last week. The Seoul Seobu District Public Prosecutors’ Office seized and searched the headquarters of De Chocolate E&TF, a company specializing in the entertainment business and sports marketing, in Nonhyeon-dong, southern Seoul on June 14. The agency also manages actress Ko Hyun-jung who starred in “The Great Queen Seondeok.” De Chocolate expanded its business to outsourcing television program production, but suffered financial problems due to high performance fees.

Jun 22, 2010By Kwon Mee-yoo
South Korea

Multicultural families need stronger networking

By Kwon Mee-yoo Staff reporter The mere thinking of hardship married immigrants here encounter in their daily lives leaves Hideko Yamaguchi's eyes welling with tears. Yamaguchi, the president of Seoul Marriage Immigrants Network (SMIN), a group of married immigrants organized by the Seoul Immigration Office, has devoted herself to bolstering cultural understanding among multicultural families and cultivate friendship among married immigrants here. "Every woman comes to Korea with a dream," Yamaguchi said in an interview with The Korea Times. "Some of them have conflicts with their new family in Korea due to the difference in culture. Korea still has somewhat conservative, male-dominated culture especially toward women from other countries." As a means to help them overcome such difficulties, Yamaguchi says community service centers build a stronger network. "There are many married immigrants just staying at home because they don't know what's going on," she said. "So the community center can give information on living in Korea and invite married immigrants to the ce

Jun 21, 2010By Kwon Mee-yoo
South Korea

Yi Sun-shin statue will undergo major surgery

By Kwon Mee-yoo Staff reporter The statue of Admiral Yi Sun-shin standing guard at Gwanghwamun Plaza in downtown Seoul will receive a major restoration, 42 years after it was erected. Seoul City announced Monday that it will put reinforcement struts inside the cast statue to strengthen it. The statue was originally erected in 1968 by well-known sculptor Kim Se-Jung. Admiral Yi is one of the representative heroes in Korean history. A naval commander during the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910), he was famous for his victories against the Japanese in the 16th century. The city took a close look at the interior of the hollow statue and collected information from people who worked on it in 1968 to come up with the overhaul plan. After an endoscopic check, experts suggested setting up a vertical strut as a backbone and installing horizontal supports in a zigzag shape. The city will also repair the foundation and other adornments such as the turtle ship devised by the admiral. It has yet to decide whether to restore the statue on site or to transfer it to a factory. The

Jun 21, 2010By Kwon Mee-yoo
South Korea

Seoul wins UN Public Service Awards

By Kwon Mee-yoo Staff reporter Seoul City's "Women Friendly City Project" and "Hope-Plus Account" won the U.N. Public Service Awards (UNPSA), winning first place for two consecutive years. The UNPSA acknowledges excellent public service in professionalism and visibility. The winning policies will be promoted in developing countries for benchmarking. Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon will attend the ceremony to receive the awards in Barcelona, Spain on Wednesday, which is the U.N. Public Service Day. The Women Friendly City Project won the first place in the category of "improving transparency, accountability and responsiveness in public service," while the Hope-Plus Account was ranked second in the category of "improving the delivery of public services." The Women Friendly City Project takes into account the perspective of women in city administration to enhance the convenience and security of females, from transportation and housing to job creation and childcare. The Hope-Plus Account project is to help low-income brackets to accumulate assets and become financially independ

Jun 21, 2010By Kwon Mee-yoo
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