Lifestyle - The Korea Times

Gallup Korea chairman dies at 74

By Kang Seung-woo Park Moo-ik, chairman of Gallup Korea, passed away at age 74, Wednesday.According to the public pollster, Park was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a respiratory disorder, in 2004 and underwent a lung transplant last year.“His weak kidney function in the rehabilitation process led to his death,” Gallup Korea said.Park, born in 1943 in Gyeongsan, North Gyeongsang Province, majored in philosophy at Seoul National University and joined Goldstar, the predecessor of LG Electronics, as a copywriter in 1970. Later, he also worked freelance in the ad industry.In 1974, Park began his career in the public survey field by establishing Korea Survey Polls of which name changed to Gallup Korea in 1979 after it became an affiliate of the Gallup International Association.After translating and publishing research pioneer George Gallup’s book “The Sophisticated Poll Watcher’s Guide” in Korea, Park decided to become a unit of the authoritative global pollster.Park made his name in 1987 when Gallup Korea accurately forecast

Apr 20, 2017

48th Modern Korean Literature Translation Awards

Apr 7, 2017

Another ex-comfort woman dies

Another South Korean woman who was coerced into Japan's wartime sexual slavery died Tuesday, a local civic group said.The Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan said Lee Soon-deok died at around 7:30 a.m. at the age of 99.Her death leaves only 38 surviving victims of Japan's brutal wartime crime. Initially, 238 women were on the list of government-registered former sex slaves.Historians estimate that up to 200,000 women, mostly from Korea, were forced to work in front-line brothels for Japanese troops during World War II. Japan colonized Korea from 1910-45. (Yonhap)

Apr 4, 2017

UN calls for Seoul-Tokyo 'comfort women' deal to be revised

'Father of War Orphans' honored

By Yi Whan-woo Dean HessThe Air Force has set up a memorial monument on Jeju Island to honor the late Dean Hess, an American pilot who saved hundreds of South Korean orphans during the 1950-53 Korean War, according to military officials.They said the monument was installed last week at the Jeju Aerospace Museum on the second anniversary of Hess’ death. He died in March 2015 at the age of 97.Nicknamed the “Father of War Orphans,” Hess, a former U.S. Air Force colonel, saved approximately 950 orphans in the path of the Chinese advance in December 1950 and helped move them to the island on C-54 transport planes.Hess, also a Christian minister, built a children’s home on Jeju Island and raised funds for the orphans for more than 20 years after the truce.His eldest son Larry Hess attended the memorial unveiling ceremony, joined by Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Jeong Kyeong-doo and Marc Knapper, deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy and the acting ambassador in Seoul.The Air Force said the memorial was erected in line with Hess’ wishes as written in

Mar 15, 2017

More Koreans consider exit from urban metropolises

By Kim Ji-soo Hur Sang-kook, 38, made the move several years ago that others are now contemplating. Hur now lives with his Japanese wife Keiko Chiyonobu and three children in Pungwha-ri, near Tongyeong, South Gyeongsang Province, running cafe and guesthouse Antwerp. The entire family relocated from the city in 2015; Hur first came down to build the house in 2013. While Tongyeong is a popular tourist site now, Pungwha-ri remains the small fishing village it was with some 20 households. Hur moved to provide a better environment for his children in terms of education and life experiences.“Everything is monosyllabic in Korea. I wanted my children to have one place other than Seoul, where more than 50 percent of the Korean population lives, to call home, and where they can encounter the sea, the fields, the nature,” he said.Originally from Gimhae, South Gyeongsang Province, he had considered returning to his hometown, only to find it partly urbanized and no longer identifiable as the rustic community that he knew.Hur had all the right credentials to succeed with urban fam

Feb 17, 2017

More Koreans consider exit from urban metropolises

Pioneer of Korean art of paper folding

Rho Young-hye, center, chairwoman of the Korea Paper Culture Foundation and the World Jongie Jupgi Organization, poses with other guests and participants during an opening ceremony of the organization’s new branch office in Riedberg, a district in Frankfurt, Germany, Jan. 29. / Courtesy of Korea Paper Culture Foundation and World Jongie Jupgi OrganizationBy Yi Whan-wooRho Young-hye, 67, a pioneer in promoting jongie jupgi, the Korean art of paper folding, says it can surpass the reputation of origami and also join the growing international popularity of Korean culture.“It was Japan’s karate that became known around the world first, but Korea’s taekwondo eventually caught up and became an Olympic medal sport,” she said in a press release, Wednesday. “And I believe our jongie jupgi can also receive attention globally just like origami does.”Rho, the chairwoman of the Korea Paper Culture Foundation and the World Jongie Jupgi Organization in Seoul, first sought to run an international campaign for the Korean art of paper folding in the late 1980s

Feb 1, 2017

Former Finance Minister Kang passes away

By Park Hyong-kiKang Bong-kyunKang Bong-kyun, former finance minister, passed away on January 31, 2017. He was 74.Not many young people might remember him. But for those who lived through and experienced the difficult times of the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s, Kang would be most remembered then as the country’s top fiscal policymaker.Faced with the biggest economic crisis in the country when the value of the won depreciated beyond 2,200 won and the governance of family-run conglomerates were at their worst, Kang was appointed as the finance minister to fix the broken system.Under heavy debt and scrutiny from the global financial community including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which exercised harsh conditions on Korea in exchange for providing bailout funds, it was highly likely that Kang did not want the job. No economic bureaucrats or politicians did, other than pointing fingers at one another and playing the blame game.Kang, nevertheless, took the helm as former President Kim Dae-jung’s finance minister, trying to reform the economy by correcting

Feb 1, 2017

Former Finance Minister Kang passes away

Columnists' night

Columnists of The Korea Times and its management pose for a photo in the newspaper’s conference room in Seoul, Monday, before the start of the First Korea Times Columnists Night. From left are the Times’ Executive Editor Sah Dong-seok, Managing Editor Cho Jae-hyon, Future Strategy Officer Lee Byeong-eon, Chief Editorial Writer Oh Young-jin, Andrew Salmon, Choe Chong-dae, Don Kirk, Korea Times President Lee Chang-sup, Jeffrey Kim, Michael Breen, Kim Ji-myung, Casey Lartigue, Lee Sun-ho, Jacco Zwetloot and Lee Seong-hyon. Deauwand Myers didn’t make it for the photo but joined later. / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

Jan 24, 2017

Former Japan sex slavery victim dies at 94

A Korean victim of Japan's wartime sex slavery died at her home in Xiaogan, in China's Hubei Province, Wednesday, the South Korean government said. She was 94.Park Cha-soon's death brought the number of survivors down to 39 among a total of 239 known South Korean victims.Park died of various diseases at about 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday, local time, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family said. She had been treated for spinal stenosis, colitis and cerebral infarction for the past two years, but her symptoms worsened recently.Historians estimate that more than 200,000 women, mostly from Korea, were forced to work at front-line brothels for Japanese forces.Born in North Jeolla Province in 1923, Park was taken to a Japan-dominated region in China in 1942 and was forced to work at brothels for Japanese soldiers in such cities as Nanjing, Hankou and Wuchang before Korea was liberated from Japanese colonial rule in 1945.Park ran away from the military brothel but was unable to return to her hometown, according to the ministry. She has since lived in China, raising an adopted daughter. (Yonha

Jan 18, 2017

Comfort women were Japan's shocking human rights violations: Lippert

Lawmaker looks after stray cats at Assembly

 Rep. Han Jeoung-ae of the Democratic Party of Korea, left, and National Assembly Secretary General Woo Yoon-keun smile in front of an outdoor shelter for stray cats, Jan. 4. / Courtesy of Rep. Han Jeoung-aeBy Choi Ha-youngThe National Assembly opened four outdoor shelters for stray cats on Jan. 4. The structures were made after Rep. Han Jeoung-ae of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) rescued three cats from the parking lot at the Assembly last September. They were named “Democracy,” “Nuri” and “People” after the three largest parties: DPK, Saenuri Party and People’s Party. The cat called Democracy was seriously injured after being hit by a car, and barely survived. Han proposed to Secretary General Woo Yoon-keun to install the houses for cats at the Assembly and Woo approved it. “Lawmakers take many steps to protect social minorities,“ Han told The Korea Times, Wednesday, at her office. “If we fail to protect the weakest creatures here, it would be hard to say we can protect citizens.”This is the first time cat