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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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North Korea

'If left divided, Korean Peninsula will never be at peace'

David Maxwell, senior fellow at the Global Peace Foundation and vice president at the Center for Asia Pacific Strategy, speaks during an interview after the forum on “The 70th Anniversary of the U.S.-ROK Alliance ― Onward Toward a Free and Unified Korea” on Capitol Hill in Washington, May 17 (local time). The event was cohosted by the Global Peace Foundation, Action for Korea United, Alliance for Korea United and One Korea Foundation. Courtesy of Global Peace FoundationExperts share views on why unification, not denuclearization, should be ultimate goalBy Jung Min-hoWASHINGTON ― While denuclearization and security issues are dominating the news about North Korea, the vision for peaceful unification of the Korean Peninsula now appears out of date. Politicians barely talk about it as a serious possibility and when they do, no one seems to listen.Such pessimism has prompted those who fear another possible armed conflict on the peninsula to find alternative solutions, such as seeking peaceful coexistence between the two Koreas. Unification, cynics say, this hope is not feasib

May 23, 2023By Jung Min-ho
'If left divided, Korean Peninsula will never be at peace'
North Korea

Gov't conducts radiation tests on North Korean defectors with contamination risks

This May 24, 2018 photo shows the Punggye-ri nuclear test site in North Korea. Seoul has started conducting radiation exposure tests on North Korean defectors who came from areas adjacent to the test site, as concerns grow over their health as well as potentially contaminated food products smuggled in from the North. Korea Times fileEffects of nuclear weapons tests on residents, food and water supply put under microscopeBy Jung Min-hoSeoul has started conducting voluntary radiation exposure tests on North Korean defectors who hailed from areas adjacent to the regime's Punggye-ri nuclear test site, as concerns grow over risks to their health as well as the possibility of food products smuggled in from the North being contaminated. Speaking to The Korea Times Tuesday, an official at the Ministry of Unification said it started radiation testing on 89 individuals who used to live near the facility, in which all of North Korea's six nuclear weapons tests in the past were carried out.The tests come three months after the Transitional Justice Working Group, a human rights group, released a

May 15, 2023By Jung Min-ho
Gov't conducts radiation tests on North Korean defectors with contamination risks
Foreign Affairs

Seoul, Tokyo remain apart on specifics of Korea's Fukushima inspection

Storage tanks hold contaminated water at the Tokyo Electric Power Company's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, Feb. 21, 2021. Seoul and Tokyo have not reached an agreement on the specifics of the planned Korean inspection of the tsunami-damaged plant, officials said Sunday. AFP-YonhapExpert says it's too late to do anything meaningfulBy Jung Min-hoSeoul and Tokyo are struggling to agree on the specifics for the planned Korean inspection of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.According to officials, Sunday, the two countries were still in talks over the size of the Korean inspection team and what they will be allowed to do at the tsunami-damaged nuclear plant among other issues, ahead of their four-day visit to the area next week.The Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the plant's operator, say the release of the contaminated water into the sea will begin in the coming months ― possibly this July after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) releases its final report on the issue.Before releasing the irradiated water

May 14, 2023By Jung Min-ho
Seoul, Tokyo remain apart on specifics of Korea's Fukushima inspection
Defense

'Soldier most feared by North Korea' returns to military

Former Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin, right, poses with President Yoon Suk Yeol at the presidential office in Seoul, Thursday. Kim was appointed as the de facto chief of a committee tasked with military reform. YonhapBy Jung Min-hoKim Kwan-jin, a former defense minister known as the “soldier most feared by North Korea” because of his zero-tolerance stance against the regime's provocations while in office, has been named the de facto chief of a committee tasked with reforming the South Korean military.According to President Yoon Suk Yeol's office Thursday, Kim is one of 11 members of the Presidential Committee on Military Innovation. With Yoon as the chairman of the body, Kim is expected to lead the effort to improve the military's capabilities against rising nuclear and missile threats from North Korea.Addressing Kim as “the vice chairman” at the committee's first meeting, the president called for fundamental reforms, saying the military must build up an overwhelming force that can deter North Korea and, if an armed conflict occurs, completely defeat it.More s

May 11, 2023By Jung Min-ho
'Soldier most feared by North Korea' returns to military
North Korea

Over 70% of South Koreans support promoting human rights in North Korea

People bow to portraits of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang, in this November 2021 file image. More than 70 percent of South Koreans said they are in support of promoting North Korea's human rights issues, according to a poll released Thursday. YonhapBy Jung Min-hoMore than 70 percent of South Koreans said they are in support of promoting North Korea's human rights issues, according to a poll released Thursday.A survey, conducted by the Peaceful Unification Advisory Council between March 24 and 28, shows that 70.5 percent of the respondents said they support their government's efforts to improve the human rights situation in North Korea by conducting studies and cooperating more closely with other countries.Only 28.5 percent said they do not support such efforts, while 1 percent refused to respond.Notably, the support rate among those who identify themselves as politically liberal was 77 percent, which was higher compared to their conservative and moderate counterparts, at 69.3 percent and 68.8 percent, respectively.This particular result refutes the traditional assumptio

May 11, 2023By Jung Min-ho
Over 70% of South Koreans support promoting human rights in North Korea
Defense

Korea showcases weapons to foreign diplomats

Envoys from 18 countries attend a question and answer session with officials of Korea's foreign and defense ministries during an event promoting Korean weapons in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, in this May 2 photo released Wednesday. Courtesy of Ministry of Foreign AffairsEnvoys from 18 countries watch firing drills as exporters aim for global expansionBy Jung Min-hoAmbassadors and other diplomats from 18 countries were invited to a special military event promoting Korean weapons last week as local government and arms exporters intensify efforts to expand their presence in the global market.According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wednesday, envoys from the Czech Republic, Chile, Poland, Saudi Arabia and about a dozen other major arms markets for Korean companies were given an opportunity, May 2, to watch live-fire gunnery exercises with ministry officials and military officers.The event, the first of its kind, was held in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province. Some of the Korean Army's most lethal hardware, including K2 tanks, K9 self-propelled howitzers, K21 infantry fighting vehicles and K

May 10, 2023By Jung Min-ho
Korea showcases weapons to foreign diplomats
Foreign Affairs

Korea's forgotten A-bomb survivors welcome acknowledgement from leaders

Wooden memorial plaques for Korean victims are placed near a nursing facility for Korean atomic bomb survivors in Hapcheon, South Gyeongsang Province, in this July 19, 2018 photo. Korean atomic bomb survivors have welcomed President Yoon Suk Yeol's plan to visit the memorial monument for Koreans at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida later this month. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-sukVictims' representatives plan to visit Hiroshima during G7 summitBy Jung Min-hoIn a symbolic move for peace and harmony, the leaders of Korea and Japan ― Yoon Suk Yeol and Fumio Kishida ― said at Sunday's summit that they will visit later this month a memorial monument in Hiroshima established to remember Korean atomic bomb victims.This August 2018 photo shows a memorial monument for Korean atomic bomb victims at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, Japan. Korea Times photo by Jung Min-hoYoon and Kishida's joint plan for the Japanese host city of the upcoming G7 summit (May 19 to 21) has been welcomed by the Koreans whose lives changed forever on Aug. 6

May 9, 2023By Jung Min-ho
Korea's forgotten A-bomb survivors welcome acknowledgement from leaders
Foreign Affairs

ANALYSIS Kishida's remarks on forced labor victims show his political limits

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his wife Yuko Kishida arrive at Seoul National Cemetery, Sunday. AP-YonhapExperts welcome Japan's decision to allow Korean inspection of Fukushima plantBy Jung Min-hoJapanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Sunday that he felt “strong pain” in his heart when he thought of the suffering of the Korean victims of forced labor during his country's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.In carefully selected words, he expressed sympathy for the Koreans at a press conference in Seoul after his summit with President Yoon Suk Yeol, acknowledging “the extreme difficulty and sorrow that many people had to suffer under the harsh environment in those days.”Kishida's remarks suggest both his determination to improve Korea-Japan relations and how far he was willing to go in that effort, given his political climate at home, according to experts, Monday.“In his famous 2015 address [marking 70 years since Japan's defeat in World War II], former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said his administration would not let their futu

May 8, 2023By Jung Min-ho
[ANALYSIS] Kishida's remarks on forced labor victims show his political limits
  • Allies eye talks to form trilateral security forum at G7 meeting
North Korea

Seoul to back companies suing Pyongyang for illegal use of property

North Korea leader Kim Jong-un speaks to officials at the Mount Geumgang resort on the east coast of North Korea, in this October 2019 photo. Seoul is pushing to hold Pyongyang liable for damaging and using South Korean companies' property there, including the pictured Hotel Haegumgang owned by Hyundai Asan. Yonhap Satellite images show Hotel Haegumgang demolished at Mount Geumgang resortBy Jung Min-hoSeoul is pushing to hold Pyongyang liable for damaging and using the property of South Korean companies without their consent at the Mount Geumgang resort in North Korea, officials told The Korea Times, Friday.This move comes as the Ministry of Unification is looking into the feasibility of taking separate legal action against the North Korean regime over clear violations regarding the property rights of the South Korean companies that own the facilities and equipment at the inter-Korean manufacturing complex in Gaesong, based on intelligence and North Korea's own medi

May 5, 2023By Jung Min-ho
Seoul to back companies suing Pyongyang for illegal use of property
Foreign Affairs

Gov't beefs up security ahead of Kishida's visit

Police stand behind the fences set up near the building in which the Japanese Embassy is located, in Seoul, Friday. NewsisBy Jung Min-hoAuthorities in Seoul are beefing up security ahead of one of the most significant diplomatic events in years ― the first Korea-Japan summit here in more than a decade. According to presidential officials Friday, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will receive the highest level of protection during his two-day visit starting Sunday. That level of security has so far been given to only a handful of visiting world leaders, such as U.S. presidents, they said.With anti-Japan rallies set to be staged on streets before and during his visit, security forces are expected to set up fences and check points near the Japanese Embassy in Seoul and the Lotte Hotel in which he reportedly will meet with Korean business leaders and stay the night.Security issues have come to the fore in Japan recently following attempts targeting political leaders. Just three weeks ago, Kishida escaped an assassination attempt at Saikazaki port in Wakayama after being apparently ta

May 5, 2023By Jung Min-ho
Gov't beefs up security ahead of Kishida's visit
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