South Korea - The Korea Times

Naturalized Korean at risk of losing citizenship over bigamy

By Park Si-soo A naturalized man faces the risk of losing her Korean nationality after his bigamy was discovered. The Seoul Administrative Court found the Ministry of Justice's decision to strip him of Korean nationality grounded on Tuesday, rejecting his petition. Bigamy is illegal in Korea. “The ministry has the authority to reject or revoke its giving of Korean citizenship after reviewing (candidates or the naturalized's) willingness to respect and abide by rules and legal systems,” Judge Kim Jung-joong said. “For him to be in the state of bigamy is a critical cause of getting his citizenship revoked.” It is unknown if he will appeal. The man, born in an unidentified Islamic country, won Korean citizenship in 2014 after marrying a Korean woman in 2004. In 2009, he tied the knot with another woman in his mother country and had a daughter. A ministry investigation revealed his bigamy. It became suspicious when he attempted to adopt “a girl” from his motherland shortly after his divorce from the Korean.The ministry said he had deliberately avoided

Nov 26, 2019

Naturalized Korean at risk of losing citizenship over bigamy

Joseon Images Forbidden love in 1890s Busan

Busan in the early 1900s / Robert Neff Collection By Robert NeffThere is a popular tale, especially in Busan, of a forbidden romance between an Englishman's daughter and a Korean servant at the end of the 19th century. Like many scandalous affairs of the past, there was very little evidence to verify the tale ― only hazy anecdotes of family history. Recently, however, another source has been located ― the gossipy account of an unidentified American, probably a missionary. These two sources along with genealogy provide us with a clearer picture of late Joseon's “Romeo and Juliet.”In summer 1888, John H. Hunt was made commissioner of the Korean Imperial Customs at Busan. He was joined by his wife, Loomis, and their 11-year-old daughter, Florence.The Western community in Busan at this time was extremely small ― only a handful of Australian and American missionaries along with Customs staff. Eventually, Hunt was able to hire a young English girl to act as his daughter's

Nov 26, 2019By Jon Dunbar

Feasts in Seoul this weekend

Hyatt hosts St. Andrew's BallThe St. Andrew's Society of Seoul is having its biggest event of the year, the St. Andrew's Ball in honor of Scotland's patron saint. The event is this Saturday starting at 8 p.m. at the Grand Hyatt Seoul. The event is black tie and includes champagne and other drinks, a five-course meal, an evening of entertainment and dancing, and a “survivor's breakfast” ― a full breakfast buffet served starting as early as 3:30 a.m. Tickets cost 200,000 won, or a table of 10 costs 1.7 million won. Visit this link to purchase tickets. Seoul restaurants offer American ThanksgivingThanksgiving is a major family holiday for Americans, and to a lesser extent Canadians earlier in the year. But anyone should appreciate the feast of festive foods, which include turkey, ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie and various other recipes. Several restaurants across Seoul will be offering Thanksgiving meals this week. In the Itaewon area, check out Hustle Itaewon, The Workshop, California Kitchen & Craft Pub and 1842 Seoul. Most have a single event on Thursday, except for Cali

Nov 26, 2019By Jon Dunbar

Gov't to open 30 new overseas King Sejong centers next year

The South Korean government said Saturday it plans to open some 30 new state-run King Sejong Institutes abroad next year to meet rising demand for learning the Korean language and culture.The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said the new institutions will be set up in Southeast Asia, Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Central and South America, and Africa.Named after the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) king who invented the Korean alphabet Hangeul, the institutes offer language education programs teaching Korean as a second language. There are currently 180 such institutes in 60 countries across the globe.The culture ministry and the King Sejong Institute Foundation will receive applications from candidate centers to be designated as King Sejong Institutes starting Tuesday and running through January. (Yonhap)

Nov 23, 2019

The Collective presents 'Dinner with Friends'

Damien Furtado and Jema Tareze rehearse a scene from "Dinner with Friends." / Courtesy of Mallory DowdBy Celeste KrielExpat theater group The Collective keeps flipping scripts and is back to stage its unique take on Donald Margulies' Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, "Dinner with Friends." Ray Salcedo, co-founder of The Collective, returns as director for this year's main stage, coming off their successful run of “Romeo and Juliet” last fall. The play is one of Salcedo's personal favorites and he had long been eyeing the script. Relevant to the context of the expat experience of a “chosen family,” “Dinner with Friends” surrounds two best friend couples who realize that the seemingly impermeable bonds of marriage and decade-long friendships aren't an antidote to the alienation that can occur between any of them. "One of the main reasons we selected to stage this particular play regards one of its main themes, which surrounds the concept of family," Salcedo explains. "Based on the need for strong connections and support, many of us in the large, vibrant

Nov 19, 2019

Korea Encounters Former refugee recalls kindness in 1970s Korea

Back row from left: Choi Ok-suk, General Lee's youngest and eldest daughters, his sister and wife, Duyen Nguyen, Helene and Gen. Lee Dong-yeong. Front row: General Lee's youngest son, Phu Nguyen, Bao Nguyen, William Nguyen, Gen. Lee's son Min-hui / Courtesy of William Nguyen By Matt VanVolkenburgOn April 26, 1975, as the North Vietnamese Army closed in on Saigon, William Nguyen received a letter that changed his life. The letter, from his sister in Australia, contained a photo of her Korean husband together with Cho, a high-ranking official at the Korean Embassy in Saigon. She urged William to find Cho and seek his help in gaining passage aboard one of two tank landing ships (LSTs) that the ROK Navy had sent to evacuate Korean civilians from Vietnam. William, his brothers Bao and Phu and his sister Duyen packed a suitcase and took motorcycle taxis through jammed traffic to the embassy. To get past the crowds of people trying to enter, William climbed the embassy wal

Nov 19, 2019By Jon Dunbar

Former Peace Corps volunteers revisit Korea

Former Peace Corps volunteer Paul Hoff visits Sungil Middle School on Oct. 17 during the 2019 U.S. Peace Corps Volunteers Revisit to Korea program. / Courtesy of Paul Hoff By Jon DunbarLast month, 29 former Peace Corps Volunteers (PCV) and their family members returned to Korea to revisit the country they helped along on some of the more difficult parts of its development.The Korea Foundation (KF) welcomed the Americans back from Oct. 12 to 19, for an event that gave them a chance for a reunion and also let them check in on the locations across the country where they had been posted on their missions. David McCann, who was part of K-1, the first wave of PCVs here and stayed from 1966 to 68, met up with some of his former students for dinner in Insa-dong. He told The Korea Times they remembered a great deal about their time together, over half a century later. His mission took him to Andong, a remote city in North Gyeongsang Province known for its rich culture, where

Nov 19, 2019By Jon Dunbar

Multiculture Museum seeks to change perception of multiculturalism in Korea

Kim Yun-tae, center, director of the Multiculture Museum, with guests during the opening ceremony of its “Roads of the World” exhibition at the museum in Seoul, Nov. 7. / Courtesy of Multiculture MuseumBy Kang Seung-wooUnlike its original meaning, Koreans have mainly perceived multiculturalism as the culture of people from developing countries who come here for international marriage. A desire to change this perception was the catalyst for Kim Yun-tae, a vocal music major, to establish the Multiculture Museum in 2007. Kim Yun-tae, director of the Multiculture Museum.“I thought a museum was the best place to help fix their perception as it could show them the variety of cultures of each country,” Kim, the museum director, said in an interview with The Korea Times.“In general, Koreans think people from multicultural backgrounds need to understand and adjust to Korean culture, but I believe it should be a two-way introduction of each side's culture. In other words, while we guide them to our culture, we need to understand their cultures as well.“In th

Nov 15, 2019By Kang Seung-woo

Multiculture Museum seeks to change perception of multiculturalism in Korea

Foreign Community events this week

Seoul Players brings back 10 Minute Play FestivalSeoul Players brings back its 9th annual 10 Minute Play Festival this weekend, presenting 14 short plays selected from nearly 400 submissions. Separated into two programs of seven and eight plays each, Program A starts Friday at 9 p.m. and again on Saturday at 4 p.m., and Program B starts Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 4 p.m. Audience members will vote on the best four, which will be staged again on Nov. 23 in front of a panel of judges. Seoul Players is a not-for-profit, volunteer-based English-language theater group founded in 2001. Photo exhibition reveals Hong Kong protest movementGallery We.AN near Hongik University is holding a photo exhibition this weekend to spread understanding about Hong Kong's ongoing protest movement.The movement started on March 15, triggered by a proposed extradition bill which protesters feared would have placed Hong Kong residents and visitors under mainland China's legal jurisdiction, undermining regional autonomy and civil liberties. The bill has since been rescinded, but the protest has continued,

Nov 14, 2019By Jon Dunbar

Holiday in North Korea Calculating North Korean age

An Air Koryo plane sits on the tarmac at Shenyang Taoxian International Airport, waiting to take us to Pyongyang, in August 2010. / Courtesy of Jon DunbarBy Jon DunbarThere've been many commentaries and sensationalistic photo essays produced from tourist trips to North Korea. The people with anything interesting to say usually aren't willing to share it publicly, if they have any hope of ever visiting the isolated country again.I fall somewhere in between both groups, having visited in August 2010 and September 2018, and I've been cautious in what I share. But due to political reasons related to China, it looks unlikely I'll be able to return to Pyongyang for the foreseeable future. So this seems like the right time to share some of the stories from my holidays in North Korea, especially those moments of levity, the subtleties of interactions with North Koreans and the experiences that shook my world view.The first big surprise I got was before we even landed in Pyongyang, on the flight in from China.I'd heard Air Koryo was one of the world's worst, and I'd been warned our flight cou

Nov 12, 2019By Jon Dunbar

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