my timesThe Korea Times
mj6c2

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.

Go to Email

Read more

Foreign Affairs

Korea forced to choose between US and China over Huawei

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo addresses a press conference in Budapest on Feb. 11. He cautioned U.S. allies against using equipment from Huawei on their soil. AFPBy Jung Min-hoKorea is increasingly feeling pressure to take the side of either the United States or China over Chinese telecoms equipment maker Huawei, which Washington sees as a security threat to its people and allies. Earlier this week, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned countries using equipment from Huawei during his visit to Hungary, saying their partnership with Huawei could damage their future relations with the U.S. government.“If that equipment is co-located where we have important American systems, it makes it more difficult for us to partner alongside them,” Pompeo told reporters in Budapest Monday. “We want to make sure we identify the opportunities and the risks of using that equipment. And then they will get to make their decisions.”Although the message was not aimed at particular countries or companies, Korea has a good reason to be worried after the country's No.3 mobil

Feb 14, 2019By Jung Min-ho
Korea forced to choose between US and China over Huawei
World

Activists to Trudeau: 'It's time for Canada to take its trash out of Philippines'

The fight for environmental justice isn't over yet. EPABy Jung Min-hoInternational environmental, health and human rights groups have urged Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to take back the trash illegally shipped to the Philippines several years ago.“The dumping of Canadian wastes in the Philippines is immoral and illegal,” organizations, including IPEN and Basel Action Network, said in a statement to Trudeau Monday. “It is a violation of Canada's obligations under the U.N. Basel Convention on the Control of Trans-boundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal. Yet, despite making promises, Canada has failed to take action.”This came after the EcoWaste Coalition, a network of more than 140 environmental groups in the Philippines, called on Trudeau and Canada's Environment Minister Catherine McKenna to take responsibility for the garbage a Canadian firm illegally sent to Manila from 2013 to 2014.“We are writing to express our support of the appeal made to you by the EcoWaste Coalition … We call on you (Trudeau) to demonstrate comm

Feb 12, 2019By Jung Min-ho
Activists to Trudeau: 'It's time for Canada to take its trash out of Philippines'
  • Duterte in war of words over Canada garbage row
  • Canada to take back trash sent to Philippines after Duterte's warnings
Tech & Science

Apple iPhone shipments plunge in China

Apple CEO Tim Cook / AFPBy Jung Min-hoApple's iPhone shipments fell nearly 20 percent in China during the fourth quarter, according to the latest data from research firm IDC.The report shows a 19.9 percent fall in the U.S. company's smartphone shipments in its core Asian market. This reduced its market share to 11.5 percent from 12.9 percent a year earlier.Meanwhile, Apple's home-grown rival Huawei registered a 23.3 percent gain. Other Chinese brands Oppo and Vivo eked out modest gains of 1.5 percent and 3.1 percent, respectively.“The imbalance between the increasingly severe domestic market environment and Apple's high product unit price has led to the declines of iPhone shipments in the Chinese market,” IDC said.Apple no longer reveals detailed numbers on iPhone sales in its quarterly results. Therefore, surveys and channel checks by research firms are the only clear indicators of sales shifts.

Feb 12, 2019By Jung Min-ho
Apple iPhone shipments plunge in China
Society

Seoul to correct spelling errors on street signs

By Jung Min-hoThe Korean sign says "Meeting point in Cheong Wa Dae (the presidential office)," but it wrongly says "Staring point for Cheong Wa Dae" in English. The error was later fixed, but mistakes on many signs remain uncorrected. Korea Times fileThe Seoul Metropolitan Government will start correcting hundreds of errors on street signs this month.The city government said Monday it will fix more than 400 errors on nearly 200 foreign-language signs across the capital between Feb. 11 and March 15.The move comes after media reports that there are many ― some critical ― mistakes on signs written in English, Chinese and Japanese.Errors include an English sign calling a post office a hospital and another one spelling gallery as “gallerly.”Seoul is not the only Korean city that needs to make many corrections. According to Pukyong National University, its students recently found 366 mistakes on foreign-language signs across Busan.

Feb 12, 2019By Jung Min-ho
Seoul to correct spelling errors on street signs
Companies

Court allows import of life-size sex dolls

Sex dolls at the Dreamdoll company in France / ReutersBy Jung Min-hoA Seoul appellate court has allowed the import of life-size sex dolls into Korea, saying it does not violate the customs law that prohibits “morally degrading” items.The decision is expected to affect the sex doll industry here because it opens the door to overseas manufacturers.The Seoul High Court overturned a lower court's ruling on Monday, and ordered Incheon Main Customs to permit a Korean company to import silicone sex dolls.After Customs confiscated the dolls in 2017, the company brought the issue to the court.The lower court ruled in favor of Customs, saying the dolls would “degrade the dignity of human beings.”But the appellate court said the dolls ― although they seemed vulgar― would not violate the law that bans the import of morally degrading products.“State interference in private matters should be minimized to protect the freedom and dignity of individuals,” the court said. “Sexual devices should not be treated the same as other obscene materials.”However,

Feb 11, 2019By Jung Min-ho
Court allows import of life-size sex dolls
Foreign Affairs

Korean man dies at Thai police station

A Korean man has died at a police station in Thailand. The scene in the photo is unrelated to the story. gettyimagesbankBy Jung Min-hoA Korean man who detained in Thailand for allegedly extorting money from three Japanese tourists there has died, according to Jiji Press Monday.The man, 27, identified only by his surname Hwang, reportedly died of heart failure at a police station early this month.Details of his death and the location of the police station are still unclear.Hwang was arrested last month on suspicion of detaining three Japanese ― one woman and two men ― in a Bangkok apartment for several weeks.The three claimed Hwang assaulted them and took their money and passports. One of them “escaped” and reported the situation to the Japanese Embassy in Bangkok.Hwang denied the allegations, insisting that they held a grudge against him after an argument.The woman, 24, came to Thailand in September 2018 to meet Hwang, who was already living there after getting acquainted with him on a dating site.

Feb 11, 2019By Jung Min-ho
Korean man dies at Thai police station
Tech & Science

Trump to ban Huawei equipment in US wireless networks: report

Huawei's situation is about to get worse. ReutersBy Jung Min-hoU.S. President Donald Trump is preparing to ban Chinese telecoms giant Huawei from selling its equipment to U.S. wireless carriers, sources told Politico.Trump is expected to sign an executive order banning Chinese telecoms equipment from U.S. wireless networks as early as this week or, at the latest, by the end of this month.“There's a big push to get it out before MWC (Barcelona),” said an industry source familiar with the matter. The event is scheduled to be held from Feb. 25 to 28.By pre-empting the world's largest exhibition for the mobile industry, the White House plans to send a signal that future contracts for new technology must prioritize cyber security.The move will likely worsen the Trump administration's already tense relations with Beijing.The order would have a profound impact on the future of Huawei and ZTE, the two Chinese companies accused by the U.S. government and others of posing national security risks.This comes after a report that the U.S. State Department is discouraging European count

Feb 10, 2019By Jung Min-ho
Trump to ban Huawei equipment in US wireless networks: report
  • New UK laws will block China's Huawei from sensitive state projects
Companies

Consumer Reports pulls recommendation for Dyson stick vacuums

Survey results show that nearly half of Dyson models break within the first five years. Korea Times fileBy Jung Min-hoConsumer Reports, a U.S. magazine published since 1936 by the Consumers Union, has removed all Dyson models from its list of recommended stick vacuums over reliability concerns.According to its recent survey, which was revealed last week, the British company's vacuums break at a higher rate than those of any other brand in the magazine's tests.In September 2016, Consumer Reports called Dyson's V8 Absolute the “best stick vacuum” it had tested, which helped boost its sales. But now Dyson stick vacuums are positioned in the “bottom tier” when it comes to reliability ratings.“Close to half of Dyson stick vacuums will break or stop working as they should within five years, compared with around a quarter of the stick vacuums from Shark, the most reliable brand for this type,” Consumer Reports said.

Feb 10, 2019By Jung Min-ho
Consumer Reports pulls recommendation for Dyson stick vacuums
Health

Texas man dies after e-cigarette explodes in mouth

William Brown's death marks the second recent death from an exploding e-cigarette among thousands of injuries and burns. The person and the device in the photo are unrelated to the story. gettyimagesbankBy Jung Min-hoA Texas man has died from serious injuries after the e-cigarette he was using exploded in his mouth.According to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner, William Brown, 24, died at a Fort Worth hospital on Jan. 29 (local time) after shards of metal from the exploding device dissected his left carotid artery.The explosion happened in the parking lot of a vape shop near Beach and Golden Triangle in Fort Worth.Brown reportedly did not buy anything, but wanted help using a Mechanical Mod style vape pen ― a model known to have issues.“When they X-rayed him, they found the stem, the metal embedded where the blood flows up to the brain,” Brown's grandmother, Alice Brown, told WFAA News.“I miss him already, and knowing he won't open that door and come through it ever again is the hardest part.”According to the U.S. Fire Administration, there were nearly 200 s

Feb 7, 2019By Jung Min-ho
Texas man dies after e-cigarette explodes in mouth
Foreign Affairs

Returned to sender: 1,200 tons of Korean garbage back from Philippines

Fifty-one trash-filled containers sent from the Philippines arrive at the port of Pyeongtaek-Dangjin on Feb. 3. YonhapBy Jung Min-hoMore than 1,000 tons of garbage shipped to the Philippines falsely as “recyclable materials” last year have been returned to Korea.According to the Ministry of Environment Wednesday, officials would soon look inside the 51 trash-filled containers that arrived at the port of Pyeongtaek-Dangjin Sunday morning.It is part of 6,300 tons of garbage a Korean company exported to a Philippines company in July and October. According to Korean media reports, the two companies made the deal to reduce the disposal cost, which would be less than a third of the Korean cost in the Philippines.At the Mindanao port, the Korean company declared the trash as recyclable plastic synthetic flakes, but Philippines officials and environmentalists later found that many of the materials were not recyclable.The ministry said it will continue looking into the case and talk to its Philippines counterpart to take care of the remaining trash.In this May 7, 2015, file photo,

Feb 7, 2019By Jung Min-ho
Returned to sender: 1,200 tons of Korean garbage back from Philippines
  • South Korea investigates tonnes of illegal trash sent back from Philippines
previous page
156157158159160
next page

Top 5 stories

Korea Times
About Us
Introduction
History
Contact Us
Products & Services
Subscribe
E-paper
RSS Service
Content Sales
Site Map
Policy
Code of Ethics
Ombudsman
Privacy Policy
Youth Protection Policy
Terms of Service
Copyright Policy
Family Site
Hankookilbo
Dongwha Group
FacebookXYoutubeInstagram
CEO & Publisher: Oh Young-jinDigital News Email: webmaster@koreatimes.co.krTel: 02-724-2114Online newspaper registration No: 서울,아52844Date of registration: 2020.02.05Masthead: The Korea TimesCopyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.