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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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Sports

INTERVIEW 'Taekwondo unification can be inspiration for Korean unification'

World Taekwondo Executive Deputy Secretary General Kim Eil-chul, center, and North Korea's National Athletics Guidance Committee Chairman Choe Hwi, left, put their palms together as International Taekwondo Federation President Ri Yong-son looks on during a dinner at Okryugwan in Pyongyang on Nov. 2. Courtesy of World TaekwondoTop World Taekwondo officials and their International Taekwondo Federation counterparts take time for a photo before starting their meeting at Yanggakdo Hotel in Pyongyang on Nov. 2. Courtesy of World TaekwondoBy Jung Min-hoThe modern history of taekwondo resembles that of the country it was born in.There used to be only one taekwondo. But just like Korea, the martial art was separated into two forms and each has developed in its own way for decades.At a time when South and North Korea are making new efforts for peace, World Taekwondo (WT) Executive Deputy Secretary General Kim Eil-chul said taekwondo can be “an inspiration and a catalyst” for their unification.“Unification of taekwondo will have significant implications for everyone in Korea w

Dec 5, 2018By Jung Min-ho
[INTERVIEW] 'Taekwondo unification can be inspiration for Korean unification'
  • WT executive to share stories behind taekwondo unification efforts
  • 'Korean unification is consequence, should not be goal'
Travel & Food

Korean believed drowned in Myanmar

A Korean woman is missing in Myanmar. Screengrab of the Irrawaddy News Magazine's websiteBy Jung Min-hoA Korean tourist in Myanmar has been missing for 10 days after being swept away in a swift current.According to Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Myanmar's media reports, the tourist, 45, surnamed Heo, went missing on Nov. 21 while floating on inner tubes in the Namtu River.She was on a group tour at Hsipaw Township, Shan State, with four other travelers and a local guide.Citing witnesses, a police sergeant said Heo suddenly “disappeared beneath the water.” An Italian man tried to rescue her multiple times but to no avail.The guide told police that he had suggested several times that all tourists wear lifejackets, but Heo refused.“The water surface is rough in that river as there are hard-to-see rocks in the riverbed that cause unexpected waves,” the police sergeant said.Local police and tour agency employees have been searching for her since.According to the Tourism Ministry's website, foreigners are not allowed to travel outside the Hsipaw downtown. B

Dec 3, 2018By Jung Min-ho
Korean believed drowned in Myanmar
Health

Buckle up: Police cracking down on seatbelt violations

A police officer checks whether a driver violated a new seatbelt rule on a road in southern Seoul, Sunday. YonhapBy Jung Min-hoPolice are clamping down on seatbelt violations throughout this month.As announced in September, police across the country have started an intense crackdown on drivers who violate the new seatbelt rule.On Sept. 28, an enforcement ordinance came into force to require all car passengers to wear seatbelts on all roads.A driver will be fined 30,000 won ($27) if any passenger does not wear a seatbelt. If a rule violator is 13 or younger, the fine will be 60,000 won. Passengers six or younger have to be in protective seating.

Dec 3, 2018By Jung Min-ho
Buckle up: Police cracking down on seatbelt violations
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
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