Ahn Seong-jin
Korea Times Business Planning Reporter
Ahn Seong-jin is a project manager in the Business Planning Team. He joined The Korea Times in late 2009 as a specialist in English Newspapers in Education (ENIE). He has a strong interest in fostering strategic partnerships with public and private sectors worldwide.
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Learning English
Looking after families
As time goes by, memory of the tragic sinking of the Sewol ferry will fade out of the minds of most Koreans. Never so for bereaved family members, whose pain and sorrow could deepen with the passage of time.The rest of society also should not forget this disaster so soon or easily even after the ongoing search operations come to an end. The whole nation has the responsibility for sharing the surviving families’ sadness and frustration from this tragedy caused by the failure of the entire social system.Already, however, some “secondary damages” have all but become a reality; a victim’s father attempted suicide by hanging himself, and the mother of another made a similar attempt with an overdose of sleeping pills.Most, or rather all, of the family members will experience severe cases of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which experts say drive people into failing health, joblessness, divorce _ and suicide.And this explains why the Park Geun-hye administration, which failed to prevent the worse maritime disaster in decades or rescue any after the sinking, mus
May 25, 2014
Learning English
Crucial local polls
Candidates, voters should focus on policies, not politicsLocal elections are less than a month away but the national atmosphere is too calm and staid to indicate this. That will likely change somewhat next week when political parties select their candidates for governors and mayors. The quadrennial polls have become additionally important, as an occasion to help cast away the gloom caused by the tragic sinking of the ferry Sewol, and give Koreans some vigor to start anew.It is regrettable in this regard that the nation’s two largest parties are embroiled in unseemly infighting over their nomination processes.The political noises are loudest in the ruling Saenuri Party, and at its center is former Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik who is struggling to win the candidacy for Seoul mayor in a three-way primary. The problem is Kim has been openly announcing he has the support of President Park Geun-hye and her aides.If true, President Park is violating the Election Law that calls for public officials, from the president on down, to maintain strict electoral neutrality. Former President R
May 18, 2014
Learning English
Put it on front burner
Seoul ought to provide momentum for nuclear bargainingPresidents Park Geun-hye and Barack Obama have just agreed _ as expected _ to do virtually nothing regarding North Korea’s nuclear program for the time being.At a news conference after their summit on Friday, Park said that North Korea has finished preparations for its fourth nuclear test. Instead of trying to prevent this, however, the two leaders repeated previous warnings of tougher sanctions. It was as if Seoul and Washington had called Pyongyang’s bluff.North Korea struck back _ also as expected _ criticizing the summit, especially the South Korean leader, in venomous and vulgar rhetoric. Chances appear to be getting increasingly slimmer of President Park’s ``unification-is-bonanza” theory and other peace initiatives contained in her speech in Dresden, Germany, becoming a reality.Satellite photos indicate that the North may explode another nuclear device within one or two weeks. If these predictions prove to be true, it will lead to stepped-up sanctions from the international community, which in turn w
May 11, 2014