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Jung Min-ho

Korea Times Politics & City Reporter

Jung Min-ho has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2012, mostly covering social and political issues. He currently belongs to the Politics & City Desk where he covers topics such as health, labor and human rights. Prior to joining the team, he was responsible for covering North Korea and sports. His article about a biosecurity breach of Middle East respiratory syndrome won him an award from the Korea Science Journalists Association in 2016. He is also the co-author of the book, "Medical Pioneers of Korea" (2019). He served as the head of the international relations committee at the Journalists Association of Korea from 2021 to 2023.

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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 Korean leader's sister calls Yoon 'idiot,' says Seoul now 'target'
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
[INTERVIEW] 'Seoul needs own nuclear weapons for denuclearization of Korean Peninsula'
North Korea

Pompeo underlines China's role behind North Korea's nuclear program

Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo listens to Ahn Ho-young, former South Korean ambassador to Washington, in a recorded video during the KOR-ASIA Forum 2022 at the Shilla Seoul, a hotel in central Seoul, Thursday. Korea Times photo by Lee Han-hoFormer US secretary of state open to Seoul's development of nuclear arsenalBy Jung Min-hoThe Chinese government under President Xi Jinping deserves to be blamed for “permitting” North Korea to develop nuclear weapons in the first place and undermining international efforts to resolve the issue with sanctions, former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday. Pompeo, who served in the post between April 2018 and January 2021, visited Pyongyang at least four times when the Trump administration was seeking to find a diplomatic solution to the regime's nuclear weapons program.In an online debate at the KOR-ASIA Forum 2022, hosted by Hankook Ilbo in collaboration with its sister newspaper, The Korea Times, Pompeo said he thinks the North has been able to build its nuclear and missile system mainly because China “pe

Nov 17, 2022By Jung Min-ho
Pompeo underlines China's role behind North Korea's nuclear program
People & Events

Korean adoptee on journey into lost memories in birth country

Linn G. Assersen poses in front of the building of Holt Children's Services in Seoul, Nov. 8. Courtesy of AssersenNorwegian filmmaker in search of family and herself after 45 yearsBy Jung Min-hoThese photos taken in 1976 show Assersen during her adoption process. She was seven months old when she was adopted by a Norwegian couple. Courtesy of AssersenIt took more than 45 years for Linn G. Assersen to return to the land of her birth.For her whole life, whenever she was asked whether she wanted to visit Korea, she said no. Assersen always knew she was Norwegian and never felt a need to find her birth parents ― or so she thought.“But when I landed at Incheon International Airport, I was crying. I don't know where all the emotions came from,” Assersen, now 46, said in an interview in Seoul, Tuesday. “When you don't want to face something uncomfortable, you try to ignore it. Before I came here, I was thinking, 'Maybe I should not. Maybe two weeks are too long.' Now I wish I had more time.”Just days before her arrival, Assersen learned that her biological father and

Nov 16, 2022By Jung Min-ho
Korean adoptee on journey into lost memories in birth country
Defense

Experts say additional THAAD deployment unlikely - for now

President Yoon Suk-yeol, left, shakes hands with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, on the sidelines of the G-20 leaders' summit in Bali, Indonesia, Tuesday. UPI-YonhapYoon can't handle fallout due to low approval rating, but North Korea's nuclear test could change moodBy Jung Min-hoDespite North Korea's intensifying nuclear and missile threats, South Korea is unlikely to take steps for the installment of additional U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) batteries in its territory unless North Korea conducts another nuclear weapons test, experts said Wednesday. Their assessment comes after China's President Xi Jinping showed little interest in resolving security issues regarding North Korea during Monday's summit with U.S. President Joe Biden in Bali. Speaking to reporters afterward, Biden said his administration would do what is necessary to protect itself and its allies even if that means being “more up in the face” of China.Two former White House security officials ― Dennis Wilder and Gary Samore ― said during an interview with Radio Free Asia that one of th

Nov 16, 2022By Jung Min-ho
Experts say additional THAAD deployment unlikely - for now
North Korea

US midterm results to sideline North Korea issue: experts

U.S. President Joe Biden looks on as he holds a trilateral meeting with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Nov. 13. Experts say the U.S. midterm election results will push Biden to focus on domestic affairs for the next two years. Reuters-Yonhap War in Ukraine, China's growing clout will likely dominate Biden's foreign policy agendaBy Jung Min-hoThe midterm election results will increase pressure on U.S. politicians, particularly President Joe Biden, to focus on issues that matter to voters. This means even less attention from Washington to North Korea's growing threats, let alone any serious diplomatic efforts to resolve the situation, according to experts. The final outcome is still unclear as votes continue to be counted. As of Monday (local time), the Democrats will retain their Senate majority, while Republicans (GOP) are on track to take back control of the House.“To be frank, anything Korea-

Nov 14, 2022By Jung Min-ho
US midterm results to sideline North Korea issue: experts
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