People & Events

Former President Roh Tae-woo dies

Former President Roh Tae-woo takes the oaths of office during his inauguration ceremony at the National Assembly on Feb. 25, 1988. YonhapBy Nam Hyun-wooFormer President Roh Tae-woo died Tuesday at the age of 88, leaving behind a checkered political career. He was the first Korean president sworn in through a direct election since 1971 and made efforts to broaden the country's international ties as well as introducing the country's National Health Insurance plan.According to his aides, Roh was being treated at Seoul National University Hospital for a chronic illness, but failed to recover. He had not made any public appearance for nearly two decades after his health weakened following surgery for prostate cancer in 2002.Roh was the 13th president of Korea serving from 1988 to 1993. Before taking office, he led the Democratic Justice Party, was a member of the 12th National Assembly, an interior minister and defense security commander. Born in Dec. 4, 1932, in a rural area of Daegu, Roh entered the Korea Military Academy ― after graduating high school ― where he met Chun Doo-hwan, who

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Yoido Full Gospel Church founder Cho Yong-gi dies

Rev. Cho Yong-gi, founder and senior pastor of the Yoido Full Gospel Church, speaks during an interview with The Korea Times at the church office, Seoul, March 27, 2020. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chulBy Park Ji-wonRev. Cho Yong-gi, founder and senior pastor of the Yoido Full Gospel Church, died Tuesday. He was 85.The pastor emeritus passed away at 7:13 a.m. in Seoul National University Hospital due to a brain hemorrhage, the church said. Cho had been hospitalized due to the stroke since July last year. He is considered as the pioneer in expanding the size of Protestant church in Korea.Born on Feb. 14, 1936 in Ulju, Ulsan, South Gyeongsang Province as the eldest of nine children, he was raised in a Buddhist family. Cho was diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis in his second year of high school and was told that he would not have long to live. He was introduced to Christianity through a friend of his sister and decided to follow the religion. Cho met with Kenneth Tice, a missionary from the Assemblies of God, an American Pentecostal denomination in Busan and began helping him. He

Rev. Cho Yong-gi, founder of Yoido Full Gospel Church, dies

Rev. Cho Yong-gi / Courtesy of Yoido Full Gospel ChurchRev. Cho Yong-gi, the founder of Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul, died Tuesday. He was 85.The pastor emeritus of the world's largest congregation passed away at 7:13 a.m. at a Seoul hospital. He had been under medical treatment suffering a cerebral hemorrhage since last year.In 1936 in the southeastern rural county of Ulju, he was born to a family with Buddhist belief. His family moved to the southern port city of Busan after the 1950-53 Korean War broke out.He is known to have come to believe in God after being diagnosed with fatal phthisis when he was 17 years old.In 1956, he entered a Full Gospel college in Seoul to study theology. While there, he met Choi Ja-shil, who later became his mother-in-law and a close religious associate.After graduating in 1958, he opened a tent church in northwestern Seoul, which later moved to Yeouido, a financial district in the capital, and became Yoido Full Gospel Church with more than 700,000 followers.He engaged in many social activities other than religious pastorship at the church.He esta

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Korea eyes resumption of new FTA with group of Arab nations

gettyimagesbankSouth Korea's trade ministry said Monday it aims to resume talks for a new free trade agreement with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to forge deeper economic ties with the Middle East after a hiatus of more than 10 years.Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo plans to meet his UAE counterpart Thani Al Zeyoudi virtually later in the day and propose resuming talks for the South Korea-GCC FTA, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.Asia's No. 4 economy and the GCC agreed to launch negotiations for the free trade agreement in 2007, but related talks have been stalled since 2009.The GCC has six members under its wing, namely the UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait."A multilateral FTA plays a crucial role in establishing sustainable economic ties and coping with changes in the global supply chain amid the COVID-19 pandemic," Yeo said in a statement.During the meeting, the two countries also plan to discuss a wide array of bilateral issues to forge deeper ties in the energy sector. "South Korea and the UAE have been holding close ties in traditional ene

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Former president-publisher of The Korea Times dies at 79

By Park Ji-won Yoon Kook-byung, former president-publisher of The Korea Times / Korea Times file Yoon Kook-byung, former president-publisher of The Korea Times, died of cancer Thursday. He was 79.Born in 1941, he began his career in 1965 as a staff reporter for the Hankook Ilbo, the sister paper of the country's oldest English daily.Yoon became the president-publisher of The Korea Times in April 2002 and served until March 8, 2004. He also served as the president-publisher of the Hankook Ilbo in 2002 from Aug. 30 to Dec. 31. He retired at The Korea Times.He also served as the politics editor and the managing editor in the Hankook Ilbo. He also worked as the president-publisher of the Sonyeon Hankook Ilbo, a daily published for elementary-school readers from February 1998 to March 2002.He was one of the survivors of the 1983 Rangoon bombing, where 16 Cabinet members and one journalist, as well as four Burmese citizens were killed by two North Korean bombers in a terror