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.
The size of Korea’s economically active population is predicted to start declining in five years and the country will face a shortage of 820,000 workers by 2033, according to a report, Monday.
Korea will use the QS World University Rankings and the U.S. News & World Report Best Global Universities Rankings as criteria to assess potential beneficiaries of its Top-tier Visa System, which aims to attract tech experts to the country.
Yeongyang, a sleepy county with a population of just 15,000 in North Gyeongsang Province, is seeking to host refugees from Myanmar amid its demographic cliff.
Korea will train and employ workers from Uzbekistan through a special program designed for the southeastern port city of Ulsan, which is a major hub for the country's shipbuilding industry, officials said on Thursday. According to the Ministry of Employment and Labor, about 280 workers will receive training in Uzbekistan to acquire the skills and knowledge required to build ships and will arrive in Korea later this year to work at shipbuilding companies. They will have E-9 work visas, which are for foreign laborers employed in labor-intensive industries such as agriculture, construction and manufacturing. The program was launched under the ministry’s broader plan to hire 130,000 workers from other countries on that visa this year amid Korea’s growing labor shortages resulting from its persistently low birthrate. “The program is expected to benefit both the workers and companies here as education and training for the worker would reduce the risk of industrial accidents and increase their work productivity,” an official told reporters. This decision came after ministry officials ap
The number of Koreans suffering from dementia is expected to surpass 1 million next year and double in 20 years, due to the country's rapidly aging population, the government said Wednesday.
Human rights activists in South Korea and overseas on Tuesday urged Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to send North Korean prisoners of war (POW) to the South, saying it would not only be the right thing to do but would also help Ukraine’s war efforts against Russia.
The National Human Rights Commission of Korea on Monday recommended raising the legal retirement age from 60 to 65, emphasizing the importance of protecting the growing number of financially vulnerable older adults in the country.
As President Yoon Suk Yeol was released from detention on Saturday following a court decision, all attention is now channeled into how the release will affect the impeachment trial on his Dec. 3 martial law declaration, as any influence could add further complications.
The number of young people applying for state-funded fertility tests has surged so far this year, in the latest sign that Korea’s birthrate is bouncing back after a decade of decline.
Korea will introduce a new visa program later this month to provide stable stays and speedy visa processes for foreign professionals in high-tech areas such as semiconductors and electric vehicle batteries, the government said Wednesday.