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Kim Se-jeong

Korea Times K-Culture Reporter

I am covering trend, food and fashion. Previously, I covered diplomacy, city, environment and unification.

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Health

Gimhae official under probe for sending inappropriate messages to woman in self-quarantine

A screen capture of an inappropriate message allegedly sent by a Gimhae city officialBy Kim Se-jeong The Gimhae city government will investigate an employee who allegedly sent inappropriate messages to a female resident under self-quarantine amid the COVID-19 pandemic.“Depending on the findings, the city government will decide on a sanction against him,” a city government official said Tuesday, adding that the employee was in a state of shock and had taken a short vacation.The resident had returned from New Zealand and self-quarantined between April 11 and 25, and the city employee was assigned to monitor her ― all arrivals must go into self-quarantine and local government officials near the self-quarantine locations monitor their whereabouts. According to news reports, the two met on April 13 for the first time when he brought her some personal hygiene products, and soon after she began receiving seemingly personal messages. One message allegedly said, “Dear, send me your picture that can show you're at home. You don't have to show your face. I was told to make a s

Apr 28, 2020By Kim Se-jeong
Gimhae official under probe for sending inappropriate messages to woman in self-quarantine
Law & Crime

Police begin probe into ex-Busan mayor

Former Busan Mayor Oh Keo-don, leaves a press conference in Busan City Hall, Thursday, after admitting to sexually harassing a female employee. / YonhapBy Kim Se-jeong Police in Busan began an investigation Friday into an accusation of sexual harassment against former Mayor Oh Keo-don, who stepped down the previous day after admitting culpability.In a surprise press conference Thursday, Oh said, “I made inappropriate physical contact in a recent meeting with a civil servant that lasted for five minutes. I realized that it was an indecent assault. I bow my head and offer an apology for my actions.” Oh has since disappeared, following the press conference, and the police are looking into his whereabouts. Officers said they were also assessing another claim of harassment.According to local media reports, that incident took place earlier this month in his office. The victim, also a city government employee, was asked by Oh's personal secretary to visit the mayor during office hours. When she got there, he asked her to sit on his chair and teach him how to use a computer.Oh re

Apr 24, 2020By Kim Se-jeong
Police begin probe into ex-Busan mayor
  • Timing of Busan mayor's resignation brings political controversy
Law & Crime

Gov't vows to get tougher on digital sex crimes

Rep. Baek Hye-ryun, center, of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea speaks during a meeting between lawmakers and government officials at the National Assembly in Seoul, Thursday, to discuss responses to online sex crimes. /YonhapBy Kim Se-jeongThe government and the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) vowed Thursday to pass bills to criminalize the downloading and circulation of child pornography and abusive sexual videos on computers and snmartphones, and to redefine the age of consent, in an effort to protect minors from sexual exploitation.Under Korean law, a 13-year-old is considered mature enough to have consensual sex ― lawmakers are pushing to raise the age to 16. They are also seeking to impose sanctions on internet business operators who fail to remove such video clips from their websites and those who advertise and promote them online. When it comes to the proceeds from circulating child pornography, lawmakers want law enforcement bodies to confiscate them from alleged offenders even before they go on trial.“Online sex crimes, as proven, are serious crimes which c

Apr 23, 2020By Kim Se-jeong
Gov't vows to get tougher on digital sex crimes
Society

Lessons from MERS help Gangnam District respond to COVID-19

Residents arrive at the Gangnam District's COVID-19 testing center from Incheon International Airport on April 2. Courtesy of Gangnam District OfficeBy Kim Se-jeongJung Soon-kyun, head of the Gangnam District Office in Seoul, said his office's response to the COVID-19 outbreak was helped by infectious disease manual developed after the 2015 Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak.South Korea saw the largest outbreak outside the Middle East, with 186 cases and 36 fatalities. Samsung Medical Center, which is located in Gangnam District, was the main facility affected by the virus. “Going through the MERS outbreak, the district government learned to build up an infectious disease response manual and store the necessary equipment,” Jung said in an interview with The Korea Times on Monday. Gangnam District's health center created a negative-pressure treatment facility within it after the MERS outbreak. As of Wednesday morning, the district has 62 confirmed COVID-19 infections with 1,402 under self-quarantine. Seoul has recorded more than 628 cases as of Wednesday morn

Apr 22, 2020By Kim Se-jeong
Lessons from MERS help Gangnam District respond to COVID-19
Health

Gov't bracing for second wave of coronavirus outbreak in winter

A cashier at an E-mart store in Daegu works behind a sneeze guard, a new private initiative by the company to prevent possible spread of the COVID-19, Wednesday./ YonhapBy Kim Se-jeongThe likelihood of a COVID-19 pandemic recurrence this fall or winter is high and the government is preparing for a worst case scenario, Jung Eun-kyeong, director of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), said Wednesday.“The possibility is quite high for a second wave of the pandemic to hit us this fall or winter when people's immune systems are depressed, and we don't as yet have vaccines or treatments available for then,” Jung said during a daily press briefing at the Sejong Government Complex. “The government is preparing for the worst case scenario where public medical services collapse.” Her comments came the day after the KCDC reported 11 new COVID-19 infections bringing the total number of cases here to 10,694, with 238 fatalities as of Tuesday. Among the 11, six were people who recently returned to Korea from overseas. Regarding people who had recover

Apr 22, 2020By Kim Se-jeong
Gov't bracing for second wave of coronavirus outbreak in winter
  • Gov't to set up 1,000 clinics for 2nd wave of outbreak
Society

Gov't asked to grant residency to illegal immigrant worker for saving 10 lives

A screen capture from the Cheong Wa Dae petition site about Yulbashev Aliakbar, an illegal migrant worker who saved the lives of 10 people in a recent fire.By Kim Se-jeong Three petitions have been filed on the Cheong Wa Dae website, asking the government to give a 27-year-old illegal migrant worker from Kazakhstan, who saved 10 people in a recent fire in Yangyang, Gangwon Province, the permanent right to stay and work in Korea.“What he did makes him a hero. I hope the government will reward him by giving him the permanent right to stay and work in Korea and helping him get a job. He set an example by doing the right thing despite his illegal status, and that gave an example,” one petitioner wrote. As of Wednesday, the petitions have had more than 16,000 endorsements.The fire started in Yulbashev Aliakbar's residential building in the evening of May 23 as he was returning home. Instead of running away, he stayed and helped 10 neighbors escape from the blaze. One person died in the fire.He suffered neck and hand burns and had to report his illegal status to the immigration

Apr 22, 2020By Kim Se-jeong
Gov't asked to grant residency to illegal immigrant worker for saving 10 lives
Politics

Top court to make sentencing guidelines for digital sex offenses

The Supreme Court's sentencing commission said it will recommend new sentencing guidelines for digital sex crimes in response to rising public calls for the harsh punishment of the “Nth Room” sexual abuse suspects./ Korea Times fileBy Kim Se-jeong The Supreme Court's sentencing commission plans to make sentencing guidelines tougher for digital sex crimes in response to the rising public outcry over the Telegram sexual abuse case, it said Tuesday.Currently, no sentencing guidelines exist for digital sex crimes, and the closest thing to guidelines that do exist are the minimum five years in prison for producing child pornography and a maximum 10 years for distributing child pornography for profit.The guidelines assist judges in deciding on appropriate sentences. They're not mandatory but an important reference point for judges. The independent commission can revise the guidelines when it deems it necessary to do so. The 13-member commission met on Monday and agreed there was a need to create harsher sentencing guidelines. The chief commissioner Kim Young-ran said the member

Apr 21, 2020By Kim Se-jeong
Top court to make sentencing guidelines for digital sex offenses
Health

COVID-19 shows flattening trend

A COVID-19 test center at the Seoul Medical Center compound in Jungnang-gu in the capital is empty as the government announced only nine new cases, Tuesday./ YonhapBy Kim Se-jeongKorea logged a single-digit increase in the number of new coronavirus infection cases Monday, the latest sign that the highly contagious virus has largely been tamed here, according to the Korea Centers for Infectious Disease Control (KCDC) Tuesday. This raised the total number of infections to 10,683 with a death toll of 237.On Sunday, the KCDC said there were eight new infection cases a day earlier, the first single-digit increase in two months. Among nine new cases, five involved people who came from overseas which brought the total number of imported cases up to 1,011. Korea reported its first case on Jan. 20, and by Feb. 29, the new daily count reached 909. As the public social distancing campaign is now extended to May 5, the government on Tuesday said public facilities with lower risks of infection would reopen today. “Places like arboretums and recreational forests will open Wednesday. Outdoor

Apr 21, 2020By Kim Se-jeong
COVID-19 shows flattening trend
Society

How newspaper owner becomes river conservation activist

Activist Kim Jong-sul speaks during an interview with a local news media outlet about the four-river project in Seoul, last year. Courtesy of Kim Jong-sulBy Kim Se-jeongFormer President Lee Myung-bak's four-river project changed the life of Kim Jong-sul, an environmental activist, forever.As the owner of a small newspaper company in Gongju, South Chungcheong Province at the time the project was being widely promoted, Kim, 54, wrote extensively about it, which eventually cost him his company.Started in 2008 and completed in 2012, the four-river project saw sand from the riverbanks scooped up, loaded and taken away by trucks and 16 barrages installed in a bid to control water flow in the four major rivers ― the Nakdong, the Han, the Geum and the Youngsan. Kim lives close to the Geum River.“President Lee claimed keeping the water behind the barrages would make the rivers cleaner. To my knowledge, that couldn't be true,” Kim said.As the construction began, he and his colleagues went out to the construction sites to try to talk to people, but they weren't welcome. “They

Apr 17, 2020By Kim Se-jeong
How newspaper owner becomes river conservation activist
Health

40% of adults don't have child due to 'financial instability': poll

Four out of 10 adults said unstable personal finance is the No.1 reason for not having a child./ Korea Times fileBy Kim Se-jeongFour out of 10 adults said financial instability was the No.1 reason for not planning to have a child, according to the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, Friday.The local think tank surveyed 2,000 adults ― 1,029 married and 971 single ― between the ages of 19 and 49 years old, and found that 44.7 percent of unmarried people though their financial situation wasn't good enough to raise children. Among married people, 37.4 percent answered similarly.Beside finance, the responders mentioned the high cost of raising children and the lack of child-friendly housing. More than 10 percent in each group said they would remain childless because they simply preferred their freedom.The think tank's survey only served to confirm Korea's notoriously low ― already clearly documented ― birthrate.In 2018, there were 326,900 births in Korea, down 30,900 from the previous year, the lowest since 1970. The fertility rate, the average number of babies women of childbe

Apr 17, 2020By Kim Se-jeong
40% of adults don't have child due to 'financial instability': poll
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