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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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Health

Korean adopted as baby searches for her biological parents

Photos of Lee Hyung-ja as a baby / Courtesy of Lee Hyung-JaBy Jung Min-hoOne of the first photos Lee's adopting parents took after she arrived at Stockholm's Arlanda Airport in early 1974.There are tears and heartbreaks in every adoption story. Nevertheless, some people manage successfully to build their lives in a new place with the love and support of a new family.Unfortunately, it was not the case for Lee Hyung-ja, who was adopted by a Swedish couple in 1974 when she was only a year old.“My whole life, I felt lost,” Lee, 46, whose Swedish name is Katarina Chi Lind, told The Korea Times. “I've felt different, not 'at home' in Sweden. Something was missing and I didn't know what it was. I searched and searched but never found what I was searching for.”Part of her struggle came from an emotionally distant relationship with her adopting parents, who wanted her to grow as a normal Swede.Lee found that missing piece of the puzzle in 2011 when she fell in love with a Korean man. It was her roots, she said. The man, who eventually became her husband, encouraged her

Nov 29, 2018By Jung Min-ho
Korean adopted as baby searches for her biological parents
Tech & Science

New Zealand blocks Huawei over 'significant national security risks'

In this Sept. 26 file photo, a staff member uses a laptop computer at a display for 5G wireless technology from Chinese technology firm Huawei at the PT Expo in Beijing. New Zealand's international spy agency has banned mobile company Spark from using Huawei equipment in its planned 5G upgrade, saying it posed a “significant network security risk.” APBy Jung Min-hoNew Zealand has become the latest country to block Huawei from supplying technology for a next-generation mobile data network over national security concerns.Spark, one of New Zealand's biggest telecom carriers, said on Wednesday that the Government Communications Security Bureau rejected its proposal to use the Chinese company's equipment in its 5G mobile network towers.The decision comes as many nations are increasingly wary of what they see as a possible Chinese cyber-espionage threat ― an accusation Huawei has denied. Australia, New Zealand's key ally, decided in August to bar the company from taking part in its 5G infrastructure rollout, as did the United States. Many countries, including Japan, Germany and

Nov 29, 2018By Jung Min-ho
New Zealand blocks Huawei over 'significant national security risks'
World

Meet 'Knickers' - Australia's largest steer

In this image from a video taken Nov. 15, Knickers is in a paddock with cows at Lake Preston in Western Australia. The enormous steer has avoided the abattoir because it is too big.Knickers stands tall. / Channel 7's Today Tonight via APBy Jung Min-hoA huge steer weighing some 1,400 kilograms and standing 1.94 meters tall is making headlines around the world as Australia's largest.Geoff Pearson reared the Holstein Friesian named “Knickers,” which is seven years old. He told local media he could not sell the beast for export because of its enormous size.The title of world's tallest living steer belongs to Bellino, a Chianina ox in Italy, according to Guinness World Records. The ox measured 2.027 meters in March 2010.

Nov 28, 2018By Jung Min-ho
Meet 'Knickers' - Australia's largest steer
Foreign Affairs

Korea's foreign ministry mistakenly calls Czech Republic 'Czechoslovakia'

Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha / YonhapBy Jung Min-hoKorea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrongly called the Czech Republic “Czechoslovakia” on its official Twitter account, Thursday.On the day President Moon Jae-in arrived in the Czech Republic as part of his eight-day overseas trip, the ministry said: “President Moon @moonriver365 embarks today on visits to Czechoslovakia, Argentina (G20) and New Zealand, on a trip spanning across continents.”Czechoslovakia, or Czecho-Slovakia, was a sovereign state formed in 1918 in Central Europe after the dissolution of Austria-Hungary at the end of the First World War. But due to various issues between Czechs and Slovaks, it split into the two sovereign states ― the Czech Republic and Slovakia ― in 1993.The ministry's posting immediately met with ridicule and criticism on social media.“I took it as a message that Moon is going to Czechoslovakia through the time machine,” one person joked.“Minister Kan(g) Kyung-wha, it is Cxech (sic), not Czechoslovakia. It has been 26 years since it split into Cz

Nov 28, 2018By Jung Min-ho
Korea's foreign ministry mistakenly calls Czech Republic 'Czechoslovakia'
  • Foreign ministry official dismissed for displaying crumpled national flag
Law & Crime

Ex-mayor of Gwangju probed after sending money to fake ex-first lady

Former Gwangju Mayor Yoon Jang-hyun / YonhapBy Jung Min-hoFormer Gwangju Mayor Yoon Jang-hyun is being investigated after sending about 450 million won ($400,000) to a swindler who pretended to be former President Roh Moo-hyun's widow Kwon Yang-sook.The Gwangju District Public Prosecutors' Office said Monday it is now tracing the source of the money, which Yoon sent to the person ― who turned out to be a 49-year-old ex-convict ― on four occasions between December 2017 and January.The swindler, who was later arrested on charges of fraud, told Yoon she needed money for her daughter's business. He said he didn't doubt her because the voice on the phone was “exactly like Kwon's.”Following the news, civic groups questioned Yoon's motive for sending the money and urged the prosecution to investigate where it came from.“We suspect that Yoon sent her the money as 'insurance' for the next election,” an official at Transparency International-Korea, said.“He may be a victim, but he should apologize to everyone in Gwangju for tarnishing its good name … We urg

Nov 27, 2018By Jung Min-ho
Ex-mayor of Gwangju probed after sending money to fake ex-first lady
North Korea

French gov't official arrested for allegedly spying for North Korea

France's Senate chamber in Paris. A senior official has been arrested for allegedly spying for North Korea. ReutersBy Jung Min-hoBenoit Quennedey / Screengrab of Actu88's websiteA senior French government official has been arrested on suspicion of spying for North Korea.Local media reported Tuesday that Benoit Quennedey, a senior official in the French Senate, was arrested late Sunday over the “collection and delivery of information to a foreign power likely to undermine the fundamental interests of the nation.”The country's domestic security agency is questioning him to find out whether he provided confidential information to Pyongyang.Investigators reportedly searched his home in Paris and his parents' house near Dijon.Quennedey is a senior administrator in the upper house of parliament in the department of architecture, heritage and gardens. He is also president of the Franco-Korean Friendship Association.

Nov 27, 2018By Jung Min-ho
French gov't official arrested for allegedly spying for North Korea
Foreign Affairs

Filipinos furious over Korean lawmaker's degrading remarks

Rep. Lee Un-ju / YonhapBy Jung Min-hoMany Filipinos have reacted with fury after a Korean lawmaker belittled their country during a recent interview with Korean daily Dong-A Ilbo.The reactions came after Rep. Lee Un-ju of the minor right-wing Bareunmirae Party said the people of Korea “would have lived in a country worse than the Philippines” if former military dictator Park Chung-hee had not ruled the country.“Filipino soldiers shed their blood and died in Korea,” Romeo Santos Mandinggin, a Filipino man and a fan of Korean culture, told The Korea Times. “By all means she should (apologize), but I doubt she will.”Belittling the Philippines, which was one of the first countries to send troops to South Korea during the Korean War (1950-53), is nothing but a disgraceful act, another Filipino said.“The Philippines may not be as rich as Korea is right now, but part of Korea's development is due to the help of Filipinos even after the war,” Jerry Yusi said.The lawmaker made the comment as she defended the economic policies of Park, whom she c

Nov 27, 2018By Jung Min-ho
Filipinos furious over Korean lawmaker's degrading remarks
  • Korean lawmaker belittles Philippines
World

145 pilot whales die of mysterious cause on New Zealand beach

A supplied image shows 145 pilot whales that died in a mass stranding on a beach on Stewart Island, south of New Zealand's South Island, Nov. 25. New Zealand Department of Conservation via ReutersBy Jung Min-hoA total of 145 pilot whales have died in a mass stranding on a remote New Zealand beach.According to the nation's Department of Conservation (DOC) Monday, a hiker discovered the whales on Stewart Island, 30 kilometers off the southern coast of the South Island, last Sunday.When conservation workers arrived there, half the whales were already dead. The DOC later decided to euthanize the rest.“Sadly, the likelihood of being able to re-float the remaining whales successfully was extremely low,” said Ren Leppens, the DOC's operations manager on Stewart Island. “The remote location, lack of nearby personnel and the whales' deteriorating condition meant the most humane thing to do was to euthanize … However, it's always a heart-breaking decision to make.”Leppens said the whales were half buried in sand and not in good health, indicating they had been th

Nov 26, 2018By Jung Min-ho
145 pilot whales die of mysterious cause on New Zealand beach
Foreign Affairs

Korean lawmaker belittles Philippines

Rep. Lee Un-ju / Korea Times fileBy Jung Min-hoA high-profile Korean lawmaker has come under criticism after belittling the Philippines in defending the economic policies of former military dictator Park Chung-hee.In a recent interview with Dong-A Ilbo, a local daily, Rep. Lee Un-ju of the minor conservative Bareunmirae Party said “Koreans would have lived in a country worse than the Philippines” if Park had not ruled the country in such a way.“There have been many dictators across East Asia and Africa. Most of them failed to develop the economy, unlike former President Park. We should recognize his achievement,” she added in a comment apparently aimed at Ferdinand Marcos, the late Philippine strongman who ruled the country from 1965-86.While some Koreans take her remarks only as a political attack against liberals, who generally share negative views about Park, others find them offensive to the people of the Philippines and diplomatically problematic.“If I were a Filipino, I wouldn't forgive Lee Un-ju. I wonder what Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte

Nov 26, 2018By Jung Min-ho
Korean lawmaker belittles Philippines
  • Filipinos furious over Korean lawmaker's degrading remarks
Society

PHOTOS First snow of the season falls in Seoul

The first snow of the season falls at Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul, Saturday. Yonhap Yonhap Yonhap Snow falls on the "comfort woman" statue in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, Saturday. Yonhap Vehicles are covered with snow in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, Saturday. Yonhap A village is covered with snow in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, Saturday. Yonhap Children roll snow into a snowman in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi Province, Saturday. YonhapKorea's first snow was observed on Oct. 18 around Mount Seorak, according to the Seorak National Park office of the Korean National Park Service.

Nov 24, 2018By Jung Min-ho
First snow of the season falls in Seoul [PHOTOS]
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