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Yoon Ja-young

Korea Times AI content 1 team Reporter

Yoon Ja-young is in charge of articles translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times. She is interested in improving the newspaper through AI.

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North Korea

North Korea's young generation becomes headache for Kim Jong-un

Young North Korean students watch fireworks celebrating the regime's founder Kim Il-sung's birthday on April 15, in this photo released by the North's official Korean Central News Agency. YonhapBy Yoon Ja-youngFor North Korea's young leader Kim Jong-un, his peers increasingly seem to be becoming his biggest headache. Having experienced a market economy and foreign cultures while growing up, unlike their parents, they don't think they owe anything to the regime. “Just like South Korea, there is generation gap in North Korea. If the Korean War is the landmark in South Korea that divides the generation who experienced the war from those born after it, North Koreans regard the great famine in the mid-1990s as a similar milestone,” said Seo Jae-pyoung, a director at the Association of the North Korean Defectors.In the North young people in their 20s and 30s are called the “Jangmadang (market) generation.” As children, the young generation which accounts for about 14 percent of North Korea's 25 million population, went through the worst famine in the country's moder

Jul 2, 2021By Yoon Ja-young
North Korea's young generation becomes headache for Kim Jong-un
Society

Teenagers showing off about apartments on social media amid surging house prices

The Hannam The Hill apartments in Yongsan District, Seoul / Korea Times fileBy Yoon Ja-youngA new trend among Korean teenagers on social media is to introduce themselves as residents of fancy apartments ― even when that is not true. Experts say it reflects a deep-rooted sense of social hierarchy, highlighted by surging property prices over the past few years.According to the Hankook Ilbo, sister paper of The Korea Times, many teenagers are putting names of luxurious apartments such as “Hannam The Hill” on their profile page of their social media accounts. For example “Hana Hong at Hannam The Hill.”When searching for affluent apartment complexes, such as Nine One Hannam and Trimage, results show the trend clearly. Hannam The Hill is known as one of the most expensive apartment complexes in the country, with a 243.201 square meter unit having sold for 8 billion won ($7.06 million) in February. It was also reported recently that BTS members RM and Jimin each bought Nine One Hannam apartments. When contacted by the Hankook Ilbo, however, most of the teenagers with

Jul 1, 2021By Yoon Ja-young
Teenagers showing off about apartments on social media amid surging house prices
Health

Sleeping longer hours correlates with IQ: study

gettyimagesbankBy Yoon Ja-youngIf you are one of those parents making your children sit up late doing homework, you'd better think again. A study revealed that children sleeping longer hours tend to have higher IQs.According to a joint research by the Environmental Health Center at Seoul National University's College of Medicine and Kim In-hyang, a professor at Hanyang University Medical Center, six-year-old children who sleep longer scored higher in verbal IQ evaluation tests, compared with their peers who sleep less. The research is based on 538 six-year-olds who have been included in the center's cohort. Designated by the Ministry of Environment in 2008, the center has been conducting research on children in Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province to verify the correlations between the exposure to various environmental factors and the development of their physical, neurological and cognitive abilities.It showed that, the longer hours children sleep, the higher their IQ scores.This was especially the case with boys. Boys who sleep more than 10 hours a night score 10 points higher than

Jul 1, 2021By Yoon Ja-young
Sleeping longer hours correlates with IQ: study
Society

Hundreds gather for water gun fight at Everland despite virus worries

Visitors enjoy the "Shooting Water Fun" event held at Everland in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, June 22. YonhapBy Yoon Ja-youngHundreds of people gathered for water gun fights at Everland, the country's largest theme park, as more people are loosening up on social distancing measures. Experts warn that wet masks will not protect wearers against transmission of COVID-19. Everland is offering the “Shooting Water Fun” events at its Carnival Square for the summer, in which people have a large-scale water gun fight at the end of an exciting performance. The theme park does ask visitors to wear masks and keep social distancing. It has even marked spots on the ground where each participant is supposed to stand, but it was impossible to enforce this as hundreds of excited people gathered there during the weekend. Furthermore experts say the chances of virus transmission are increased since wet masks become ineffective once water starts being spraying around and all over participants.“With many people gathering, it is difficult to maintain social distancing at events like the w

Jun 29, 2021By Yoon Ja-young
Hundreds gather for water gun fight at Everland despite virus worries
  • Korea set to ease social distancing amid lingering concerns
Companies

People line up to buy Chanel bags on rumors of price hikes

A woman wearing a Chanel bag / Korea Times file By Yoon Ja-youngPeople are lining up in front of Chanel stores upon rumors that there will be price hikes next month. Luxury brands, including Chanel, have usually raised prices steeply after such rumors ― which is suspected to be one of their business tactics.The number of people lining up in front of the Chanel store within Lotte Department Store in downtown Seoul on Monday morning appeared to be as twice as long as usual, according to Yonhap news agency. A department store staff member reported that the line was long enough to surround the building.The rush follows rumors that Chanel Korea will raise the prices of its major items by up to 12 percent next month. Chanel does not officially confirm whether there will be a price hike, but numerous postings can be found about Chanel's planned price hikes in online forums focusing on luxury goods. One person claimed online that her shopping assistant in the United States

Jun 29, 2021By Yoon Ja-young
People line up to buy Chanel bags on rumors of price hikes
Society

300,000 won penalty for failing to recycle transparent water bottles separately

Transparent PET bottles are seen in the recycling bin of an apartment complex in Sejong City. Some of them still have labels on them, which should have been removed. Korea Times photo by Yoon Ja-youngBy Yoon Ja-youngPeople living in apartments need to be more careful when recycling. If they fail to comply with proper plastic recycling regulations, they could face a fine of up to 300,000 won ($265).According to the Ministry of Environment, the grace period for the required separation of recyclable transparent PET bottles at multi-unit housing complexes such as apartments ended on June 26. Now, a penalty of up to 300,000 won will be levied on the apartment managing office for failing to recycle them properly, which of course will be financed by the apartment residents.The new rule requires residents to put transparent PET bottles in bags separate from other plastics for collectors to pick up. The rule was introduced in Dec. 25, with the grace period of six months. A fine of 100,000 won will be levied for the first breach of the rule. Then, it will be 200,000 won for the second violatio

Jun 28, 2021By Yoon Ja-young
300,000 won penalty for failing to recycle transparent water bottles separately
Society

Late Samsung chairman's house up for sale

The residence of late Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee / Screenshot from Kakao Map's Road ViewBy Yoon Ja-youngThe residence of late Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee is up for sale. As the bereaved family is subject to inheritance taxes of more than 12 trillion won ($10.6 billion), the money is expected to be used to pay off these.According to a report by Chosun Biz, the house, located in Itaewon, Yongsan District in Seoul, is being sold for 21 billion won ($18.6 million), about 6 billion won more than the official government evaluation of 15.5 billion won. This “official price,” which is used for taxation purposes, is usually lower than the actual market price. The residence is comprised of two two-story buildings (with basements) - with respective 215 square meters and 150 square meters in areas ― built on a 1,069-square meter site. The late chairman purchased the residence in October 2010, and, following his death last October, it was inherited jointly by his wife Hong Ra-hee, the former director of the Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, and their children: Samsung Elect

Jun 28, 2021By Yoon Ja-young
Late Samsung chairman's house up for sale
Society

High-speed train project raising housing prices, conflict

Two members of Gimpo City Council have their heads shaved during a protest against the government's decision not to extend the GTX-D line, near the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure in Sejong, June 2. Yonhap By Yoon Ja-youngThe high speed GTX train project that was aimed at stabilizing the housing market is triggering a housing price hike. Residents of various locations are demanding that the train should stop in their town while opposing the building of additional stations in neighboring towns.“Those who own apartments here have high expectations for the GTX. They expect that it will pull up prices of their apartments even further,” said a real estate agent in Haengdang-dong, which is close to Wangsimni Station where the GTX-C train is expected to make a stop. GTX, which stands for Great Train Express, is a high speed railway that will link central Seoul with towns in Gyeonggi Province that surrounds Seoul. Unlike Korea's subway rail system where trains run at 30 to

Jun 21, 2021By Yoon Ja-young
High-speed train project raising housing prices, conflict
Society

Aged farming population prompts shift in local produce

Oriental melons produced in Seongju / Korea Times file By Yoon Ja-youngSeongju County in North Gyeongsang Province is famous for Oriental melons ― also known as Korean melons or “chamoe” locally. The yellow-colored, sweet melon, the inside of which is white, has become a main source of revenue for farmers in the region known to produce some 70 percent of the fruit available in Korea.An increasing number of Seongju farmers, however, are giving up this profitable crop due to their age, according to the Hankook Ilbo, the sister paper of The Korea Times. As the older generation of farmers become weaker each year, they are finding it harder to bend over and squat to cultivate and harvest the fruit that grows in sprawling ground vines. Instead, these melon farmers are increasingly switching to Shine Muscat, an increasingly popular variety of grapes.Seongju County Agriculture Technology Center reported that as most of the farmers are elderly, they are switching to crops th

Jun 21, 2021By Yoon Ja-young
Aged farming population prompts shift in local produce
Health

Baby boomers change image of senior citizens in Korea

gettyimagesbankSurvey shows 78.2 percent of elderly Koreans live independentlyBy Yoon Ja-youngSenior citizens in Korea are healthier, wealthier, more active and confident than ever. If elderly people were typically depicted as passive and dependent, suffering from poverty, the new generation of senior citizens gives off a different image.A woman surnamed Roh, who runs a small hardware shop with her husband in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, lived under the same roof as her husband's mother ― prior to the mother-in-law's death a few years ago ― but she doesn't want that lifestyle for herself, her husband and her son's family. “We are still healthy and we can make ends meet with the money we earn. Why would we live together with my son's family? They wouldn't like it, and I wouldn't like it either. My friends say that's the last thing we should do,” said the 68-year-old. While it was regarded as a norm ― under Korea's unique brand of Confucianism ― for children to live with and take care of their aging parents, many elderly Koreans, or 78.2 percent, now live independe

Jun 19, 2021By Yoon Ja-young
Baby boomers change image of senior citizens in Korea
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