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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

List of Progressive Teachers Disclosed

By Kwon Mee-yoo Staff Reporter A lawmaker disclosed Monday a list of unionized teachers on his homepage, defying a district court ban and causing a huge stir as to the appropriateness of the move. Rep. Cho Jeon-hyeok of the governing Grand National Party went ahead with unveiling the names and schools of the progressive teachers on www.educho.com. Cho disclosed the names of 61,273 members of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (KTU) and 160,280 members of the pro-government Korean Federation of Teachers' Associations. At a press conference, he said there was no legal problem in releasing the list after he consulted with legal experts. ``Parents need to take part in education to reform it and all information should be clearly available to that extent,'' Cho said. ``Parents have a right to know about teacher's union activities.'' A Seoul district court granted an injunction last week banning making the list public since it might violate the rights of the unionized teachers. Cho said the court has no basis for prohibiting him from releasing the list. ``

Apr 19, 2010By Kwon Mee-yoo
South Korea

Student Hit by BrickThrown to Draw Attention

By Kwon Mee-yoo Staff Reporter A middle school student in Busan was seriously injured when she was hit by a brick thrown by another student seeking attention from his parents. Busanjin Police Station said Sunday it had apprehended a 13-year-old boy identified as Kim for throwing the brick. Police said the middle school second grader threw a brick from the external corridor of his residence, the 13th floor of an apartment complex in Busanjin, Saturday. The projectile hit a girl identified as Lee, 13, who was chatting with her friends in the flower garden on the first floor of the apartment building. She was taken to hospital immediately, but was listed as in critical condition. According to the police, Kim is an only child of a double-income family and threw the brick to attract attention. He was filmed by a closed-circuit television in the elevator with a confused look, allowing the police to track him down. "I thought it would provide an opportunity for my parents to take interest in me even if I would get caught," Kim was quoted as saying. "I did not expect s

Apr 19, 2010By Kwon Mee-yoo
South Korea

Seoul City Invites Foreign Job Trainees

By Kwon Mee-yoo Staff Reporter Tran Ha-my, 26, now works at a branch of a Korean cosmetic company in Vietnam. In 2006, she completed a beauty course at a vocational school in Seoul at the invitation of the Seoul City government. Currently, she actively introduces the marketing strategies of Korea to increase sales in Vietnam. "The Korean language course I took along with the job training has been very helpful," Ha-my said. She was invited to participate in a Seoul City program offering vocational education to young people of sister cities, which started in 2001. A total of 436 students from 12 cities have finished or are undergoing education as of 2010. Seoul invited 21 graduates from Vietnam, Mongolia, Indonesia, Sudan and Kazakhstan who received training from 2005 to 2006 to return for more education. The participants will receive refresher courses at the municipal Elim Vocational Training School, where they were educated four years ago, starting Monday through April 23. They will learn the newest technologies and trends of their specialties - furniture design, beau

Apr 19, 2010By Kwon Mee-yoo
South Korea

Administration of SAT to Be Reinforced in Korea

By Kwon Mee-yoo Staff Reporter Korean students will have to deal with tougher administration of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) starting in May, after a series of irregularities involving the leaking of questions occurred here earlier this year. The Educational Testing Service (ETS), the United States-based organizer of the test, said Sunday that applicants from Korea, Thailand and Vietnam will be barred from using any kind of electronic devices, including mobile phones at examination sites from next month. Also they will not be able to change the type of test or their exam site on the day of the test. The test organizer also decided to separate applicants who are over 22 years old, regarding them as adult applicants; and only passports will be accepted as identification for those who take tests outside their homeland. The reinforcement of test management came after Korean SAT lecturers were apprehended for leaking test questions. According to police, the lecturers saved the questions using scientific calculators with storage functions, or by cutting out test sh

Apr 18, 2010By Kwon Mee-yoo
South Korea

Korea Needs to Ease Rules on Citizenship

By Kwon Mee-yoo Staff Reporter The government should ease restrictions on granting citizenship to foreign residents in Korea as well as Koreans living abroad to counter the low birthrate and an aging society, a professor said in a thesis published Thursday. In the paper which will be cited in National Assembly hearings on the revision of the Korean Nationality Act scheduled for April 23, Lee Chul-woo, a professor of law at Yonsei University, said allowing foreigners permanent residency could help Korea use their talents as its assets. "The Act is erroneously based on the idea that Koreans are a homogeneous people. It's about time to change this," Lee said. There are some 1 million registered expatriates in Korea and 6.8 million Koreans living overseas. "The scope of living goes beyond borders and restricting the chance of acquiring citizenship by foreigners in Korea might obstruct social integration," professor Lee said. As an alternative, he suggested the idea of a "supplementary" territorial principle. "Since it is difficult to introduce the territorial princip

Apr 15, 2010By Kwon Mee-yoo
South Korea

Business Leaders to Gather in Seoul for B4E Summit

By Kwon Mee-yoo Staff Reporter Movie director James Cameron, Richard Branson of Virgin Group and president of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed will come to Seoul to participate in the fourth Business for the Environment (B4E) Global Summit from April 21 to 23. Co-hosted by the Ministry of Environment and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), a variety of environment-related issues such as biological diversity, climate change, reusable energy and new green growth business models will be discussed. Achim Steiner, the executive director of UNEP, said, "The B4E 2010 will be a place where companies and related delegates share ideas on creative and innovative ways to change products and services to become low-carbon and fuel-efficient." The B4E Summit has invited many celebrated speakers to participate in the event. One of them is Cameron, known for films such as Terminator (1984) and Titanic (1997), and the environment-conscious film Avatar (2009). He will be on a panel for a discussion session hosted by CNN's Anna Coren, themed "Leading the World Towards a Low Ca

Apr 15, 2010By Kwon Mee-yoo
South Korea

Expats Single Out Tuition Costs as Biggest Problem

By Kwon Mee-yoo Staff Reporter Foreigners living in Seoul think the largest problem in education here is the high tuition fees, according to a survey by Seoul City, Wednesday. It surveyed 46,153 citizens who were over 15 years old at 20,000 households and 2,500 international residents in Seoul, in the seventh edition of the survey that began in 2003. As of 2009, 256,000 international residents were living in Seoul. The number of expatriates has jumped since 2003, but the pace has been slowing since 2008 due to the global economic crisis. There were more female foreigners (52 percent) than males (48 percent) and those in their 40s took up the largest share at 27 percent followed by 21 percent in their 50s and 30s, respectively. By nationality, Asians accounted for more than 90 percent, including Chinese who made up three-fourths of the total. "More than half, at 51 percent, of expatriates considered tuition costs as the biggest problem in educating their children in the capital city," the survey said. "The burden of educational expenses was seen as the heaviest am

Apr 14, 2010By Kwon Mee-yoo
South Korea

Strike at MBC Drags On

Prolonged Walkout Disrupting News and Other Main Programs By Kwon Mee-yoo Staff Reporter Anchors and hundreds of other unionized workers at MBC, the nation's second-largest broadcaster, staged a strike for the ninth day, Tuesday, disrupting main programming as they showed no signs of reaching an early settlement with management. They are demanding that MBC President Kim Jae-chul step down in order to preserve the neutrality of the public broadcasting network. The station's union claims that Cheong Wa Dae is influencing personnel management and appointments at MBC through Kim. From news to comedic reality shows, the majority of popular programs have been suspended by the strike. Some 300 union members held a meeting Monday morning in the main lobby of the broadcaster, vowing to continue their walkout until Kim, appointed in February, quits. According to the union, Kim promised to sack Hwang Hee-man, a former news chief appointed by the Foundation for Broadcast Culture (FBC), but instead, made him vice president of the station. The FBC is a state-controlled foun

Apr 13, 2010By Kwon Mee-yoo
South Korea

Seoul to Back Designers Advance Overseas

By Kwon Mee-yoo Staff Reporter Seoul City will launch a program to help about 300 promising fashion designers show off and market their designs in London, New York, Paris and other fashion cities by 2020. "We will nurture global fashion brands by supporting young Korean designers expand into overseas fashion markets," said Choi Hang-do, head of Seoul City's Urban Competitiveness Headquarters. "Seoul City will spare no efforts in marketing the selected brands." The local government chose 10 outstanding designers from among some 150 participants of Seoul Fashion Week, March 26-April 1. The top 10 designers, or "Seoul's 10 Soul," includes three men's brands ㅡ D.gnak by Kang Dong-jun; Jehee Sheen; and General Idea by Choi Bum-suk ㅡ and seven women's brands ㅡ Jardin de Chouette by Kim Jae-hyun; Jain by Jain Song; Kaal E.Suktae by Lee Suk-tae; Leyii by Lee Seung-hee; Paul & Alice by Joo Hyo-sun; Johnny Hates Jazz by Choi Ji-hyung; and Studio-K by Hong Hye-jin. In a first step, Seoul will send these promising 10 designers to Paris. The selected designers will market their

Apr 13, 2010By Kwon Mee-yoo
South Korea

HS Seoul-Incheon Express Train Planned

An express train route connecting Songdo, western Incheon, and Seoul Station in 30 minutes will be constructed in the future and subway line no. 1 from Seoul to Incheon will go underground. Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province created an integrated infrastructure task force to expand public transportation and roads in the capital area. The task force plans to build the Seoul-Incheon express train to reduce commuting time, which takes more than an hour now, and to deal with crowds during rush hour. The eight-lane Gyeongin Expressway, connecting Seoul and Incheon, will also be moved underground. The freeway is notorious for traffic congestion. Currently, the central government has proposed making the KTX lines in Seoul underground, while Gyeonggi Province suggested a fast track between Songdo and Seoul Station. "The three municipal governments will fine-tune the present plans to reduce overlapping parts," a city official said. In addition to joint transportation issues, the three agreed to cooperate on attracting foreign investment and balanced regional development.

Apr 12, 2010By Kwon Mee-yoo
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