The Korea Times

Prime minister focuses on climate change in promoting Busan's Expo bid

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo holds the "Squid Game invitation card" during his presentation on Busan's bid to host 2030 World Expo at the BIE General Assembly in Paris, Tuesday (local time). Courtesy of Courtesy of Office for Government Policy CoordinationHan ― with BTS ― makes case against rival city Riyadh, Saudi Arabia's capitalBy Jung Min-hoIn a video played to promote Busan's bid to host the World Expo 2030 at Tuesday's General Assembly of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), the international body that supervises the exhibitions, RM, the leader of K-pop boy band BTS, put forward climate change as one of the pressing issues for humanity. Comparing the current situation with the one described in “Squid Game,” the hit Korean series in which only one participant survives, BTS members made the case that the 2030 festival should be a platform for all participants to share ideas to find solutions for many challenges, so that “everyone can survive on this beautiful planet.”This video was part of the presentation delivered in Paris by Prime Minister Han

Nov 30, 2022By Jung Min-ho

Prime minister focuses on climate change in promoting Busan's Expo bid

Law & Crime

Murder suspect extradited to New Zealand

A woman suspected of killing her children covers her face as she is taken to a police vehicle at Ulsan Jungbu Police Station in Ulsan, South Gyeongsang Province, in this Sept. 15 file photo. The suspect has been extradited to New Zealand, the Ministry of Justice said Tuesday. NewsisBy Jung Min-hoA 42-year-old woman, who is suspected of killing her two children, has been extradited to New Zealand. According to the Ministry of Justice, Tuesday, the woman, surnamed Lee, is a New Zealand citizen of Korean descent and was handed over along with evidence to the New Zealand authorities the previous day at Incheon International Airport.The woman came into the spotlight in August after a family in Auckland found the bodies of a 10-year-old girl and a seven-year-old boy in two suitcases they purchased with other “abandoned goods” at an online auction. Police believe that the bodies had been kept there for several years.It was the first extradition request Korea received from New Zealand, the ministry noted.“We hope that the truth of this case will be revealed through a fair a

Nov 29, 2022By Jung Min-ho

Murder suspect extradited to New Zealand

Environment & Animals

Winter cold to bite starting Wednesday

People watch snow cannons covering ski slopes with artificial snow at a ski resort in PyeongChang, Gangwon Province, Sunday. YonhapBy Jung Min-hoAfter a milder-than-normal November in Korea, a strong cold front is arriving this Wednesday. According to the Korea Meteorological Administration Monday, temperatures are forecast to drop below freezing in most parts of the country after rainfall on Monday and Tuesday.Temperatures in Seoul are expected to plummet to as low as minus 8 degrees Celsius before falling slightly further the next day. Morning temperatures across the country, including southern regions, are forecast to be close to freezing for the coming week.In areas such as Paju in northern Gyeonggi Province, temperatures are expected to reach as low as minus 13 degrees Celsius early Thursday morning.The weather agency said it may issue cold wave warnings in many regions for Wednesday as its morning lows are expected to fall more than 15 degrees compared with Tuesday.The first snow will likely fall in southern parts of the west coast and on Jeju Island off the south coast, it add

Nov 28, 2022By Jung Min-ho

North Korea

ANALYSIS North Korean leader's daughter makes second public appearance

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un listens to his daughter Ju-ae during a photo session with military officers and other contributors to the development of the Hwasong-17, the biggest and longest-range North Korean ICBM, at an unidentified location in North Korea, in this photo released Sunday by the North's official Korean Central News Agency. YonhapKim Ju-ae may eventually be announced as heir apparent: expertBy Jung Min-hoNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-un's daughter, Ju-ae, made her second public appearance during an event where her father praised military officers for their progress in developing intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).The daughter, whom South Korean intelligence officials believe to be his second child, was revealed to the public for the first time a week ago in the Nov. 18 photos, showing her with Kim inspecting the launch of the Hwasong-17 missile ― North Korea's biggest, longest-range ICBM designed to carry multiple nuclear warheads. In photos released Sunday by the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Ju-ae, who is wearing a long black coat, ca

Nov 27, 2022By Jung Min-ho

North Korea

North Korean leader's sister calls Yoon 'idiot,' says Seoul now 'target'

Kim Yo-jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, speaks at a meeting in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this Aug. 10 file photo. She denounced President Yoon Suk-yeol on Thursday for considering additional sanctions on North Korea, calling him an "idiot.”Kim Yo-jong's insulting rhetoric signals more weapons tests and aggression to come: expertBy Jung Min-hoNorth Korean leader's powerful sister denounced President Yoon Suk-yeol and his diplomats, Thursday, for planning more sanctions on Pyongyang, calling them “idiots” and “loyal dogs” to Washington.Kim Yo-jong, 35, whom experts say is in charge of North Korea's messages to South Korea and the U.S., blamed the administration for rising tensions and made a thinly veiled threat that Seoul has become a new “target” of attack.“South Korea is parroting what the U.S. said about 'independent sanctions' on North Korea, so it is becoming more clear that the South Koreans are loyal dogs and henchmen of the U.S.,” Kim was cited as saying by state-run media Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Nov 24, 2022By Jung Min-ho

North Korea

North Korea's markets expand amid layered sanctions, pandemic

A marketplace is crowded with people wearing masks at Hyesan in Ryanggang Province, North Korea, in this file photo taken Sept. 5, 2020. Kyodo-YonhapBy Jung Min-hoNorth Korea's marketplaces have expanded over the past several years in spite of international economic sanctions and the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report from a South Korean think tank.A team at the Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU) showed their research findings that the market forces in what is supposedly a communist state remain resilient: Compared with data from 2016, both the total size of marketplaces (visible by satellite) and the number of people who rely on them for their living have increased.In the report released at Wednesday's KINU forum, Cha Moon-seok, a professor at the National Institute for Unification Education, said the ruling Workers' Party has also tightened control of ― instead of trying to suppress ― the marketplaces over the past two years, suggesting that it may be learning to live with them.The number of marketplaces in North Korea was found to be 414 this year, slightly high

Nov 23, 2022By Jung Min-ho

North Korea's markets expand amid layered sanctions, pandemic

Defense

Seoul, Washington discuss anti-submarine drills for next year

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, second from right, inspects a new submarine building project in an unidentified location in North Korea, in this photo released July 23, 2019, by the state-controlled Korean Central News Agency. YonhapSilent Shark exercises may expand amid North Korea's growing SLBM threatBy Jung Min-hoSeoul and Washington have started talks over their anti-submarine drills for next year amid growing security threats from Pyongyang including its evolving submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) technology.A Navy official told The Korea Times Tuesday that Rear Admiral Lee Soo-yeol, commander of the Submarine Force Command, recently visited Guam (a U.S. island territory in Micronesia), where he met the top officers of the U.S. Seventh Fleet and Submarine Squadron 15 to discuss the details of the biennial exercise known as Silent Shark.“Issues including how to bolster interoperability were discussed. But details such as the size and the date of the exercise and which anti-submarine warfare assets will take part in it are still undecided,” the official said

Nov 22, 2022By Jung Min-ho

Seoul, Washington discuss anti-submarine drills for next year

North Korea

Seoul unveils details of 'Audacious Initiative'

This photo released on Nov. 19 by the North Korean government shows its launch of a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile at Pyongyang International Airport in Pyongyang, North Korea, Nov. 18. YonhapUnification minister says he still believes denuclearization of Korean Peninsula is possible By Jung Min-hoSeoul proposed that Pyongyang get an unconditional, partial lifting of sanctions if the reclusive state returns to nuclear disarmament talks “with sincerity.”The Ministry of Unification on Monday unveiled the detailed plans for the “Audacious Initiative,” a road map by the Yoon Suk-yeol administration to the denuclearization of ― and sustainable peace on ― the Korean Peninsula.The three-phase policy package promises the North Korean government an unprecedented level of economic support, most notably for modernizing its infrastructure, in exchange for ultimately giving up nuclear weapons.Yet in an effort to resume negotiations with the North, which have been stalled for more than two years, the ministry said that, as the first step, it will ask for noth

Nov 21, 2022By Jung Min-ho

Seoul unveils details of 'Audacious Initiative'

Politics

President says MBC's 'malicious' reports hurt national interest

President Yoon Suk-yeol turns his head away from media microphones after speaking to reporters in the lobby of the presidential office in central Seoul, Friday. NewsisBroadcaster's reporting has been far from impartial, but president's response is immature: expertsBy Jung Min-hoPresident Yoon Suk-yeol defended his decision to bar MBC's reporters from boarding the presidential plane to cover his latest overseas trip, saying that the broadcaster “maliciously” attempted to damage national interests while reporting about his gaffe in New York in September.Speaking to journalists Friday, Yoon said the reason for his “inevitable” measure to exclude MBC employees from joining other reporters on Air Force One during his visit to Southeast Asia earlier this week was because of their “fake news,” not because of their criticism aimed at him.“You are free to criticize me. I'm open to criticism from the press and the public. Yet MBC tried to harm diplomatic relations, the linchpin of our security, with fake news and showed malicious intent,” Yoon sa

Nov 18, 2022By Jung Min-ho

President says MBC's 'malicious' reports hurt national interest

Defense

INTERVIEW 'Seoul needs own nuclear weapons for denuclearization of Korean Peninsula'

A TV screen shows a file image of a North Korean missile launch during a news program at Seoul Station in Seoul, Nov. 9. AP-YonhapAdvocacy group launched for South Korea's long-term nuclear strategyBy Jung Min-hoCheong Seong-chang, an expert on North Korea at the Sejong InstituteA coordinated international effort over the last few decades to stop North Korea from going nuclear has all but failed. South Korea's next mission ― convincing the regime to give up the formidable weapons in a more divided world ― is even more daunting, if not impossible.Many South Koreans today believe the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is nothing more than just a political slogan that won't bring real changes. According to one expert, the only way to achieve that goal is, ironically, for South Korea to build its own nuclear weapons.Skeptics have always dismissed the idea of a nuclear South Korea as unrealistic. But Cheong Seong-chang, 57, a senior analyst at the Sejong Institute, a think tank, remains optimistic. In the long run, he said, it is far more achievable than many believe, given the rapi

Nov 18, 2022By Jung Min-ho

Jung Min-ho

Read more

Prime minister focuses on climate change in promoting Busan's Expo bid

Murder suspect extradited to New Zealand

Winter cold to bite starting Wednesday

ANALYSIS North Korean leader's daughter makes second public appearance

North Korean leader's sister calls Yoon 'idiot,' says Seoul now 'target'

North Korea's markets expand amid layered sanctions, pandemic

Seoul, Washington discuss anti-submarine drills for next year

Seoul unveils details of 'Audacious Initiative'

President says MBC's 'malicious' reports hurt national interest

INTERVIEW 'Seoul needs own nuclear weapons for denuclearization of Korean Peninsula'

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