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Choi Won-suk

Korea Times Photo Reporter

Choi Won-suk is a photojournalist at The Korea Times. Before joining the newspaper, he also worked as a photojournalist with AFP and St. Joseph News-Press in Missouri. He spent 13 years in the United States, graduating with a Bachelor of Journalism degree (Cum Laude) from the University of Missouri - Columbia and a Master of Arts in Photography from Ohio University - Athens. Over the past 11 years, Choi covered various news events such as presidential elections, the 2019 North Korea-United States Hanoi Summit and 2022 Qatar World Cup. But above all, Choi believes in local journalism and finds a lot of joy telling life stories of ordinary citizens in small neighborhoods.

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Hong Kong faces fresh round of protests

Hong Kong faced more protests on Tuesday, against a proposed extradition law that would allow people to be sent to China for trial. Hundreds of protesters out in force in Hong Kong again on Tuesday (June 11).They seek to derail a proposed extradition law that would allow people to be sent to mainland China for trial. These marches are ahead of a second round of debate on the bill on Wednesday (June 12).And despite the backlash, the Chinese-ruled city's leader Carrie Lam has vowed this will go ahead.But outrage over the proposed bill has been brewing for weeks.Business leaders have warned that pushing through the extradition law could undermine investor confidence in Hong Kong, eroding its competitive advantages.A demonstrator holds up a sign during a protest to demand authorities scrap a proposed extradition bill with China, in Hong Kong, China June 9, 2019. ReutersAn online petition called for 50,000 people to surround the legislature building - which is currently controlled by a pro-Beijing majority.Officials argue that a loophole has allowed Hong&nbsp

Jun 12, 2019By Choi Won-suk
Hong Kong faces fresh round of protests
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Timelapse of Hungary boat wreckage being pulled out

 A crane places the wreckage of the sightseeing boat on a transporting barge at Margaret Bridge, the scene of the fatal boat accident in Budapest, Hungary, Tuesday, June 11, 2019. The Hableany sightseeing boat carrying 33 South Korean tourists and two Hungarian staff was crashed by a large river cruise ship and sank in the River Danube on May 29. Seven tourists survived, twenty people died, eight persons are still missing. APSalvage crews in Budapest recovered four bodies on Tuesday (June 11) as they slowly lifted the wreck of a boat two weeks after it capsized on the Danube River.The Mermaid boat sank on May 29 after a large cruise liner hit it from behind under a bridge in the Hungarian capital during heavy rain.Twenty-six South Korean tourists and two Hungarian crew died in the worst disaster on the river in half a century.The bodies of all but four of the victims have now been recovered. (Reuters)

Jun 12, 2019By Choi Won-suk
Timelapse of Hungary boat wreckage being pulled out
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Refugees and migrants are entitled to better life

Karim Azizi, 55, a Kurdish Iranian, poses for a photograph in his bedroom as he shows his injuries, at Kaershovedgaard, a former prison and now a departure centre for rejected asylum seekers in Jutland, Denmark, March 26, 2019. Azizi claims to have lost his arm when a bomb exploded near him. Reuters Vero Seryi, 45 from Nigeria, returns to her room in the women's block with her meal, one of three a day provided by the centre at Kaershovedgaard, a former prison and now a departure center for rejected asylum seekers in Jutland, Denmark, March 25, 2019. Reuters Vero Seryi, 45, from Nigeria, sorts through her prescription medicine at Kaershovedgaard, a former prison and now a departure centre for rejected asylum seekers in Jutland, Denmark, March 25, 2019. Reuters Yasaman Paknejad, 36, an architect from Iran, sits in her room at Kaershovedgaard, a former prison and now a departure centre for rejected asylum seekers in Jutland, Denmark, March 25, 2019. Reuters Hoshang Rostami, 24, a Kurdish Iranian who lost part of his leg when stepping on a land mine aged 16 in Iran, p

Jun 7, 2019By Choi Won-suk
Refugees and migrants are entitled to better life
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Increase of CFC emissions linked to China, study finds

CFC-11, a potent greenhouse gas and one of the main culprits in depleting the ozone layer, was set to be phased out by 2010. But starting in 2012 scientists noticed a considerable slowdown in the decline of global concentrations of CFCs.The bulk of an increase of trichlorofluoromethane, better known as CFC-11, in the atmosphere has been found to originate from areas in eastern China, according to a new study published in the journal Nature.The gas is believed to be stronger than carbon dioxide or methane in terms of its contribution to damaging effects from greenhouse emissions, the Guardian reports.For the study, researchers from South Korea and Japan used air monitoring stations and created model simulations with the data they collected. They found the CFC-11 molecules originated from the northeastern Chinese provinces of Shandong and Hebei.According to the study, CFC-11 emissions from these Chinese regions have increased by around 7,000 metric tons since 2013. This was a 110 percent increase compared emissions from 2008 to 2012, or 40 percent to 60 percent of the extra global CFC-

Jun 6, 2019By Choi Won-suk
Increase of CFC emissions linked to China, study finds
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Climate change could push humanity to a point of no return by 2050: Report

A new report by an Australian think tank called Breakthrough National Center for Climate Restoration predicts that humanity could be reaching a point of no return by 2050 if climate change concerns are not addressed. Here is how climate change affects weather.The terms "weather" and "climate" are not interchangeable. Weather refers to daily variations in temperature, precipitation, wind etc. And, according to the NOAA, climate is the average weather conditions of an area over at least a 30-year period.Global warming refers to the gradual increase of the Earth's average temperature. The sudden rise in temperature in recent years is primarily attributed to the increasing presence of greenhouse gases caused by human activity.These gases include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone. Climate change refers to changes in weather patterns in Earth over an extended period of time. A woman (C), who scavenges for recyclable plastics for a living, collects plastic bottles next to Marabou storks who feed on the garbage, as she puts them in a sack at the Dandora dumpsite, before

Jun 6, 2019By Choi Won-suk
Climate change could push humanity to a point of no return by 2050: Report
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Supposedly executed North Korean official is alive: CNN

North Korea’s nuclear envoy, who a South Korean newspaper said last week had been executed, is alive but in custody and under investigation for his role in a failed summit with the United States, according to CNN on Tuesday. Executed or not?Confusion around one of North Korea's top nuclear envoys grew even deeper on Tuesday (June 4), after CNN reported Kim Hyok Chol is alive and in state custody.Kim had led North Korea's working-level talks in the runup to the Hanoi summit, a meeting with President Donald Trump that ultimately fell apart.Last week, one of South Korea's top newspapers reported the diplomat had been executed over the failure.However, CNN's cited sources on Tuesday that say he's only under investigation over his role but that he could still face 'heavy punishment'.South Korea's Chosun Ilbo cited an unidentified sources who told them he'd been killed in March.The paper also reported that Kim Yong Chol, a senior official with a leading role in U.S. talks, had been sent to a so-called re-education camp.But that's been contested too.The North'

Jun 6, 2019By Choi Won-suk
Supposedly executed North Korean official is alive: CNN
Darkroom

World War II D-Day

FILE - In this June 8, 1944, file photo, under heavy German machine gun fire, American infantrymen wade ashore off the ramp of a Coast Guard landing craft during the invasion of the French coast of Normandy in World War II. June 6, 2019, marks the 75th anniversary of D-Day, the assault that began the liberation of France and Europe from German occupation, leading to the end World War II. AP FILE - In this June 1944, file photo, U.S. reinforcements wade through the surf as they land at Normandy in the days following the Allies', D-Day invasion of occupied France. AP FILE - In this June 5, 1944, file photo, U.S. serviceman attend a Protestant service aboard a landing craft before the D-Day invasion on the coast of France. AP FILE - In this June 1944, file photo, U.S. Army medical personnel administer a transfusion to a wounded comrade, who survived when his landing craft went down off the coast of Normandy, France, in the early days of the Allied landing operations. AP FILE - In this February 1944, file photo, Don Whitehead, Associated Press correspondent, writes hi

Jun 5, 2019By Choi Won-suk
World War II D-Day
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Tiananmen 30 years on: protesters' goals further than ever

Three decades after China's bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in and around Beijing's Tiananmen Square, increased government suppression of rights activism has pushed the demonstrators' original goals further away than ever. It's been 30 years since tanks rolled into Beijing's Tiananmen Square. On June 4th, 1989 Chinese troops opened fire on tens of thousands of students who were calling for democratic freedoms and transparency.Fast forward to today, and some of the protesters say China's no closer to embracing their goals.In fact, they argue that the government's suppression of rights activism has pushed these goals further away than ever.Wu'er Kaixi was one of the student leaders. He now lives in exile in Taiwan.TIANANMEN STUDENT LEADER, WU'ER KAIXI, SAYING:"We lost. And the western world, they adopted this China policy, they call it engagement, I just call it appeasement. And then the western world in the last twenty, thirty years, nurtured China to become what it is today, a monstrous government that suppresses their own people."Rights campaigners s

Jun 4, 2019By Choi Won-suk
Tiananmen 30 years on: protesters' goals further than ever
Darkroom

Tiananmen Square 30 years on

FILE - In this June 5, 1989 file photo, a Chinese man stands alone to block a line of tanks heading east on Beijing's Changan Blvd. in Tiananmen Square. The man, calling for an end to the recent violence and bloodshed against pro-democracy demonstrators, was pulled away by bystanders, and the tanks continued on their way. Over seven weeks in 1989, student-led pro-democracy protests centered on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square became China’s greatest political upheaval since the end of the Cultural Revolution more than a decade earlier. AP This file photo taken on June 2, 1989 shows people gathered at Tiananmen Square during a pro-democracy protest in Beijing. AFP In this June 6, 1989, photo, Chinese soldiers marching away from Tiananmen point out an an Associated Press reporter taking photos, which was against the regulations of martial law that had been declared May 20 and later gave chase, firing twice before the reporter escaped near the International Hotel in Beijing. The Chinese army had fought its way into Tiananmen Square the night of June 3-4 to reclaim the sq

Jun 4, 2019By Choi Won-suk
Tiananmen Square 30 years on
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Hungarians pay tribute to S.Koreans killed in Danube boat accident

Hungarians gathered outside the South Korean embassy in Budapest on Friday (May 31) to pay tribute to 28 tourists feared dead after a boat accident on the Danube River.Seven South Koreans were confirmed killed and seven rescued when their pleasure boat struck a cruise liner in heavy rain on Wednesday (May 29). Another 21 people were still missing and feared dead, 19 of them South Korean.Attendees of the small memorial lit candles and tied messages to the fence of the South Korean embassy.Earlier on Friday, South Korea's Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha flew to Budapest to observe the recovery operation, while Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced a full investigation into the disaster.A crane ship was docked near the wreck in preparation for recovery operations, but divers found strong currents made it impossible for rescuers to reach the hull on Friday. (Reuters)

Jun 3, 2019By Choi Won-suk
Hungarians pay tribute to S.Koreans killed in Danube boat accident
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