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CEO & Publisher: Oh Young-jinDigital News Email: webmaster@koreatimes.co.krTel: 02-724-2114Online newspaper registration No: 서울,아52844Date of registration: 2020.02.05Masthead: The Korea TimesCopyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.

Pastors Wife Gives Birth to 13th Child

By Park Si-soo Staff Reporter With Korea's birth rate declining to 1.13, the world's lowest level in 2006, a couple here delivered their 13th child last week. Kim Seok-tae, 48, and his wife Uhm Kae-sook, 43, had a baby on Dec. 7 at Soonchunhyang University's Gumi Hospital. Kim has served for about two decades as a pastor at a church in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province. The couple had been the center of the media spotlight last year when Uhm gave birth to their 12th baby, a boy named Kim Ga-on. The couple tied the knot in 1986. They had their first child in 1987 and have had a child every two or three years. Currently, they have five sons and eight daughters, the largest family size in Korea as of now. They had lived in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, for two years before moving to Gumi in 1988. ``My wife has gone through a hard time to give birth to a baby. I sincerely appreciate my spouse,'' Kim said. He requested Kim Kwan-yong, governor of North Gyeongsang Province, to give a name to the newborn child. Uhm is supposed to leave hospital next week.

Dec 9, 2007

Choi Tae-ji Returns as Director of National Ballet

By Han Sang-hee Staff Reporter Choi Tae-ji, 48, the former director of Chongdong Theater, is once again expected to head the Korea National Ballet. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism said Thursday that Choi is likely to start next year, as it announced the heads of three national art organizations. The former ballerina held the post from 1996 to 2001. ``My passion has always been ballet. I thought I had to accomplish something here,'' she said. ``I want to give everything that I have learned to the younger generation, and also want to open a new road for them.'' Although Choi had another year left as the director of Chungdong Theater, she resigned and listed her name as one of the candidates for the ballet director post. Choi was renowned for her natural ability to discover fresh and talented newcomers, such as ballerino Lee Won-kuk and ballerinas Kim Joo-won and Kim Ji-won, in her first stint as director of the ballet. She also introduced high-level repertoires and contributed to creating a ``ballet boom'' here. Choi was born in Kyoto, Japan and was the principal bal

Dec 7, 2007

Surgeon Donates W20 Bil. for the Poor

By Park Si-soo Staff Reporter A heart surgeon has pledged to donate most of his fortune to the community. Prof. Song Myung-keun, 56, a noted cardiac surgeon at Konkuk University Hospital in Seoul, made public a will Friday in which he and his spouse pledge to contribute as much as 20 billion won to support disadvantaged people. The professor and his spouse wrote their will in 2002, leaving most of their property to society once they pass away. Song built a huge fortune in a relatively short time thanks to his development of a medical tool named the ``SS-Ring'' that became very popular. Dissatisfied with the heart surgery procedures in the 1990s, Song started researching to develop new methods, and succeeding in creating a procedure utilizing the device he developed. The new invention cuts the cost of surgery to 2.5 million won from 6 million won and is more efficient. He founded a company producing the device in 1997. ``When I first witnessed my fortune swelling drastically, I was quite surprised rather than exciting,'' Song said. ``I made the private documen

Dec 7, 2007

Patriotic Poet Remembered

By Jung Sung-ki Staff Reporter The Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs has selected poet Yoon Dong-ju (1917-1945) as the Independence Fighter of this Month in consultation with the Korea Liberation Association and the Independence Hall of Korea. Yoon is one of the most prominent poets in Korea. His poems are thought to have reflected the darkness of Japanese colonial period (1910-1945) and hopes for Korea's independence at the same time. He was born in northern Manchuria on Dec. 27, 1917. In 1941, a year before graduating from Yonhi College, predecessor of Yonsei University in Seoul, Yoon made a collection of poems, titled ``Sky and winds and stars and poems'' including the renowned poem ``Seo-shi.'' But he failed to publish the collection at that time due to tight surveillance of Japanese authorities and financial problem. In 1942, Yoon went to Japan to study English literature at a Tokyo university. He was arrested next year on a charge of supporting Korea's independence movement by ``instigating'' Korean students in Japan, along with his cous

Dec 6, 2007

Condom Maker CEO Voices `Safe Sex’

By Ryu Jin Staff Reporter In a country where sex is still a taboo word, it would not be easy to sell condoms. But, here is a CEO who struggles not only to promote his company’s sales but also raise public awareness of so-called safe sex. UNIDUS President Kim Sung-hoon, who took office as the chief of his company in June last year at the age of 39, stressed in an interview with The Korea Times that condoms are the best way to protect oneself from disease as well as unwanted pregnancy. Listed on the tech-heavy KOSDAQ, UNIDUS has recently emerged as the world’s No. 1 condom maker in terms of sales and production, accounting for more than 65 percent of the domestic market and over 30 percent of the global market. Global Market Leader UNIDUS, which was launched under the name Seohung Industrial Co. in 1973, has devoted itself to manufacturing quality latex material products such as condoms, surgical gloves and latex finger cots for the past 35 years. In April 2000, it changed the company name to UNIDUS ― from the similar phonetics of the catchword ``You Need Us.’’ In 20

Dec 6, 2007

Lee Lights Christmas Tree in Thailand

By Lee Hyo-won Staff Reporter Actor Lee Jun-ki celebrated Yuletide, royal style, in Thailand. During his tour with the Korean-Thai Chamber of Commerce (KTCC), the 26-year-old took part in a large Christmas ceremony with the Thai royal family in Chiang Mai, Monday. This is the first time a ``hallyu'' (Korean wave) star has visited the area, and reportedly some 5,000 people swarmed the venue to catch a glimpse of Lee lighting a Christmas tree, according to Metro. The tree-lighting event is an annual royal festivity. The star of ``King and the Clown'' was also invited to the 80th birthday celebration of Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Wednesday, a first for a foreign celebrity. Lee had filmed part of his latest TV series ``Times of Dogs and Wolves'' in Thailand, and has a large fan base there. During the shooting, he took part in a charity event where he auctioned off some of his personal belongings. The occasion had attracted some 5,000 fans and over 100 local press members, demonstrating his immense popularity in the area. hyowlee@koreatimes.co.kr

Dec 5, 2007

Actress Helps Poor, Handicapped Kids

By Han Sang-hee Staff Reporter Korean actress Ha Ji-won, renowned for her role in the KBS hit drama ``Hwang Jin-Yi,'' has been secretly helping underprivileged and disabled children and their families for the past year. The actress together with the Gangnam-gu Family Welfare Center in Seoul has been running a donation project for children called ``The Smile Again Project,'' which they started in December 2006. The actress' fan club ``1023'' have been active volunteers since the beginning. Ha put down 100 million won to get the project going, ward officials said. ``Ha has been very cooperative, and most of all she has made sure the project didn't end up being merely a donation event,'' said an official from the center. Members of the project are still visiting children and provide them with financial, medical and educational support. The project has organized various events such as wall painting and special bank account campaigns, collaborating with regional welfare organizations as well. ``It is very important for these programs to last, Ha has been donating regul

Dec 5, 2007

Lee Se-ung Named as Red Cross President

By Park Si-soo Staff Reporter Lee Se-ung, 67, the president of Seoul Cyber University, has been recommended as the new president of the Korean National Red Cross (KNRC). Once approved by President Roh Moo-hyun, Lee will take office as the 25th leader of the state-run organization from Dec. 9 for the next three years. Lee would replace outgoing KNRC President Han Wan-sang, KRC said Monday. Lee first became associated with humanitarian movement in 2000 when he became the president of the Red Cross College of Nursing. He has dedicated himself to hosting various international events including the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) meeting in November 2005 in Seoul and also participated in projects sending medication to North Korea. Lee, who served as vice president of the KNRC between 2002 and 2006, is currently the chairman of Shin-il Cooperation governing Seoul Cyber University, the Seoul Arts Center and the Korean National Ballet Company. He will be the first business leader to head the KNRC. Born in 1939, Lee graduated

Dec 4, 2007

Pioneer of NK Studies Dies

By Jung Sung-ki Staff Reporter Kim Chang-soon, director of the Institute for North Korea Studies in Seoul, died of a chronic illness Tuesday. He was 86. Kim, a former North Korean journalist, has been recognized as the ``pioneer'' of North Korean studies in South Korea. Born in Uiju, North Pyeongan Province, he was a journalist in the North before he fled the country about six months into the three-year Korean War in 1950. Kim was a senior editorial writer for the communist regime's newspaper, Minju Chosun, and had been once granted the rare opportunity of interviewing the late North Korean leader Kim Il-sung. He said he learned first hand the ``deceptive nature'' of North Korea's communism when he was imprisoned on charges of ``anti-revolutionary'' crimes in 1949. In the early 1970s, Kim became the chief director of the private North Korean think tank in the South after spending several years with the now-defunct Naewoe Affairs Research Institute run by the Seoul government. The area of North Korea studies was almost like a ``barren land'' in South Korea b

Dec 4, 2007

Burmese Activist Solicits Help From Korean Businesses

By Yoon Won-sup Staff Reporter An activist for Burmese democratization urged the Korean businessmen not to just focus on making money but to contribute to democratization process in Burma. ``We need support from the business community, especially from Korea. If the military in Burma keeps getting money from the business partners, they will not listen to calls for democratization,'' Harn Yawnghwe, director of Brussels-based Euro-Burma, said during a press conference at the Kim Dae-jung Library in Donggyo-dong, Seoul, Monday. Yawnghwe, 59, took an example of a Korean company, Daewoo International, which illegally sold arms to the Burmese military and built weapons-making factories in Burma. Daewoo officials in charge are now on trial. The activist didn't ask the Korean businessmen to stop their work in Burma because companies of other countries will fill the empty space if Korean companies leave Burma. Instead Yawnghwe suggested that Korean executives talk to the generals or senior soldiers in the military regime about the real situation in Burma. He expected influentia

Dec 3, 2007
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