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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

Ki linked to EPL

Several English clubs interested in Celtic player By Jung Min-ho There are plenty of rumors that Celtic midfielder Ki Sung-yueng is on the verge of moving to a new team but to which one is the question. Queens Park Rangers, Blackburn Rovers and Aston Villa of the English Premier League have all shown interest in the Korea international last year. And according to British daily the Sun on Tuesday, “Liverpool are lining up a seven million pounds swoop for Ki.” Scottish newspaper the Daily Record said last month that Rubin Kazan have also tracked Ki for more than a year and are the most persistent on landing him. The Russian club offered Celtic 6 million pounds ($9.4 million) for Ki in January but the bid was rejected. They have not given up and may test Celtic’s resolve with an offer of around 7 million pounds this week, QPR Chairman Tony Fernandes has expressed interest in the midfielder saying, “Ki is a very good player and we are very aware of him and he is a player we will be watching and also monitoring closely.” The comments were made at a media conference were K

Jul 12, 2012By Jung Min-ho
Sports

Lee swings red-hot bat in Japan

By Jung Min-ho Orix Buffaloes infielder Lee Dae-ho is leading the home run and RBI standings in Nippon Professional Baseball’s Pacific League. The cleanup hitter hit a solo homer against the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles on Tuesday, following another in Sunday’s game against the Chiba Lotte Marines. He has 15 home runs and 54 RBIs with a .302 average. Takeya Nakamura of the Saitama Seibu Lions is second in the home run standings with 13 while the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks’ Wily Mo Pena is one further back on 12. Chasing Lee’s RBI tally are Nobuhiro Matsuda, also with the Hawks, with 48 and Nakamura back on 44. The 30-year-old now has four home runs in his last five outings. In March and April, Lee hit only two home runs in 24 games. However, he delivered eight in May month to heat up the competition to take the Pacific League home title although he faltered in June with only one homer. Even before Lee’s 2012 move to the Japanese league, he was well-known as a power hitter while with the Lotte Giants. In 2010, he hit 44 home runs for the Giants to become Korea’s home run king,

Jul 11, 2012By Jung Min-ho
Sports

All-Giants Game

Fans raising eyebrows over Giants' All-Star sweep By Jung Min-ho It’s good news for Lotte Giants and the team’s fans. But in becoming the first side to represent all the starting positions at the All-Star game it has raised concerns that one club dominating to this extent could make the occasion less meaningful. When the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) announced the All-Star game voting results Monday, the 10 positions, including nine regular spots and the designated hitter for the Eastern League, are all Giants players. This is the first time in the history of KBO this has happened. In the fan balloting from May 22 to July 8 Giants catcher Kang Min-ho received the most votes with 892,727. The other starters for the Eastern League are pitcher Song Seung-jun, first baseman Park Jong-yoon, second baseman Cho Sung-hwan, third baseman Hwang Jae-gyun, shortstop Moon Gyu-hyun and outfielders Son Ah-sup, Jeon Jun-woo and Kim Joo-chan with Hong Sung-heun as the designated hitter. “Although I’m a big fan of the Giants, the outcome is quite disappointing,” said 27-year-old Lo

Jul 10, 2012By Jung Min-ho
Sports

Park Ji-sung joins QPR

By Jung Min-ho Midfielder Park Ji-sung signed a two-year contract with Queens Park Rangers Monday, leaving Manchester United after spending seven years there. The deal is potentially worth five million pounds (8.867 billion won) and QPR will pay an initial sum in the region of 2.5 million pounds for the 31-year-old. “It was a difficult decision to leave United,” Park said. “However, QPR showed me something else other than just money. They showed me ambition, and I felt that I had to leave for a new challenge.” Sitting with QPR manager Mark Hughes and the chairman Tony Fernandes at a media conference the 31-year-old seemed happy with his decision. He said he wants to contribute to helping his new team reach the next level. “We are delighted Ji is going to join us because his record speaks for itself,” Hughes said on the club’s official website. “I think it is fair to say Ji has been attracted not by where QPR are, but where QPR is going. We were able to show him where we feel the club is heading and he embraced it.” Park, the most decorated Asian footballer with f

Jul 10, 2012By Jung Min-ho
Sports

World Cup veterans present memories of 2002

By Jung Min-ho The semifinalists of 2002 World Cup again united for the All-Star K-League Game 2012, facing off against the league’s top players at the Seoul World Cup Stadium, Thursday. “Tonight, who wins isn’t that important,” said Guus Hiddink, the former World Cup team manager before the game started. “It’s a celebration of what we had at the 2002 World Cup.” As expected, the game was lopsided. The K-League All-Stars dominated the match. Starting off with the Jeonbuk Motors’ midfielder Eninho’s goal, striker Lee Dong-gook scored two more to cement the lead. But soon, Team 2002 caught up after the current FC Seoul manager Choi Yong-soo and Manchester United midfielder Park Ji-sung scored one each before the first half ended. With three more goals and one loss, the All Stars finished the match with a 6-3 victory. Instead of playing hard to win the game, players on both sides seemed to enjoy their time with each other in front of a fan filled stadium, this despite the rain. The atmosphere was friendly and the players displayed the same jubilation after scoring that remi

Jul 5, 2012By Jung Min-ho
Sports

Mission impossible?

Table tennis coach hopes to dethrone China By Jung Min-ho “Yes, I believe we can beat China, but it won’t be easy,” said Yoo Nam-kyu, the nation’s first table tennis gold medalist who will lead the men’s team at the London Olympics. The blaze of glory for the Korean table tennis was short but intense. It accomplished a landmark when the current men’s national table tennis team manager Yoo won gold at the Seoul Olympics in 1988. It was the first time the sport had featured at the games. After the historic achievement, however, the level of the Chinese players has grown dramatically to a height other countries are now almost unable to reach. “About 20 years ago, Korea had an edge over China, which is amazing regarding the fact that there were less than 2,000 table tennis players in Korea while China had about 30 million,” Yoo said in an interview with The Korea Times. When it comes to table tennis, China has always been the unquestionable king of the sport. But the task of defeating it became almost impossible when China made a professional league to prevent a talent dr

Jul 5, 2012By Jung Min-ho
Sports

Park Chan-ho vs. Kim Byung-hyun

Ex-big league pitchers clash today By Jung Min-ho Park Chan-ho and Kim Byung-hyun, both ex-Major League pitchers, will go head to head today when the Hanwha Eagles take on the Nexen Heroes at Seoul’s Mokdong Baseball Stadium. Former L.A. Dodger Park will take the mound as the starting pitcher for the Eagles with Kim also in line to play for the Heroes. As all four games took place Tuesday as scheduled despite the rain, the two former big leaguers are almost sure to start. After wrapping up a victory against Hanwha on Tuesday, Heroes manager Kim Si-jin confirmed that the two legends would face off saying, “Let’s have them play.” Fans’ expectations shot up when the two were scheduled to take the mound as starters on June 8 after returning home from America to play in the Korean league this season for the first time in their careers. However, Eagles manager Han Dae-wha was concerned about Park’s fitness at that time and deployed Yu Chang-sik instead saying, “Keeping the players in a good condition is more important than creating a big match up.” But this time, the 39-

Jul 4, 2012By Jung Min-ho
Sports

Ex-basketball star criticizes WKBL

By Jung Min-ho The failure of the Korean women’s basketball team to earn an Olympic berth after a disastrous defeat against Japan on Sunday shocked and disappointed fans. But former basketball superstar Jung Sun-min said there may be more bad news ahead. “I was so sad and angry over the disappointing outcome. Our players were not prepared for the game physically or mentally and it was obvious throughout the match,” Jung said in a recent interview with The Korea Times. “However, it really is not just their fault, regarding the fact that Women’s Korean Basketball League (WKBL) also failed to provide a favorable environment for them to focus on training in face of an important event.” The SBS ESPN basketball commentator, who retired from the court in April, pointed out that all the ongoing issues in WKBL, such as an absence of leadership, the recent break-up of the Shinsegae Coolcat, and the controversy over appointing the national team manager in April, came to a head in the game, saying “The WKBL must get back on the right track as soon as possible to prevent bigger tragedie

Jul 3, 2012By Jung Min-ho
Sports

Women basketballers fail to earn Olympic berth

By Jung Min-ho Korea women’s national basketball team failed to win an Olympic ticket for the first time since 1996 after a crushing defeat by Japan 51-79 in Ankara, Turkey, Sunday. Getting off to a disastrous start by falling behind 4-29 in the first quarter, Korea struggled to catch up with Japan’s dominant lead and wrapped up the first half with 20-47. After completely losing its fighting spirit over the hopeless gap in the score, the 2010 Asian games silver medalists failed to shift the abject atmosphere and lost the last opportunity to compete in the upcoming London Olympics. The shocking loss against its rival calls the future of Korea women’s basketball into question. As Korea did not lose against Japan in the past five games, the team’s dismal performance as well as the lack of fighting spirit this time disappointed the fans deeply. The offense pattern was monotonous and there wasn’t any brilliant strategy that could turn the game around. As the match got harder, Korea concentrated the ball on center Shin Jung-ja and forward Beon Yoen-ha and Japan saw through

Jul 1, 2012By Jung Min-ho
Sports

Korean zombie evolves, targets UFC title

By Jung Min-ho As the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fighter Jung Chan-sung wrapped up his nail-biting bout against Dustin Poirier with a stunning victory last month, he proved why his nickname is “The Korean Zombie,” and this time, “The Zombie” got even smarter. It was not just Jung’s boltlike flying kicks, but also his uppercuts, and his outstanding submission movement that eventually won Jung a victory. When the 25-year-old faced the featherweight American powerhouse, he was severely injured with a torn rotator cuff that requires surgery. Furthermore, he struggled with his bum knees for quite a while. With many major and minor injuries, his overall body condition was really poor and, after intense training before the match, it worsened to the point where he was barely able to do exercises such as pull-ups or chin-ups. “With the major injuries in my shoulders, the situation was quite bad,” Jung said in a recent interview with The Korea Times. And then, the heartless day for the fight finally came. Ranked fourth, Poirier was one of the biggest rising stars in

Jun 29, 2012By Jung Min-ho
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