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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.

Search continues for 17 bodies

Divers prepared to resume their search Tuesday for 17 people still missing in the Sewol ferry disaster amid hopes of weaker currents at the scene.One more body was recovered from the sunken ferry on Monday, raising the death toll to 287 and lowering the number of those missing to 17.The woman's body was found in a kitchen on the third deck, wearing a blue long-sleeved hooded shirt and khaki sweatpants, officials said.Tuesday's search is expected to focus on the kitchen and the front part of the fourth and fifth decks. There could be progress in the operations if currents slow down as expected on the second day of a period of weaker currents, officials said.Divers may use underwater cutters to break into parts of the vessel that are difficult to enter due to a weakening of the walls and a partial collapse of the hull, they said.Rescue workers also planned to attach more wires to a new barge mobilized in the recovery efforts to fasten it tightly to its anchor chains.Operations were suspended for hours on Monday after a wire connecting an anchor chain to a barge was found to be damaged.

May 20, 2014
Search continues for 17 bodies

Brief history of presidential tears

From left, President Park Geun-hye and former presidents Lee Myung-bak and Roh Moo-hyunBy Ko Dong-hwan As she announced her decision to disband Korea’s coastguard over its lamentable job in rescuing passengers from the doomed Sewol ferry, President Park Geun-hye shed tears while reading the names of the students who died.It was a rare expression of emotion for Park, who is usually reserved and icy, and the moment was destined to dominate the front pages of newspapers.However, it wasn’t the first time Park shed tears in public. As the leader of the Grand National Party, which preceded the Saenuri Party, Park got emotional during a televised speech ahead of the 2004 local elections.  Park also cried while visiting the memorial of South Korean soldiers who died during North Korea’s sinking of the Cheonan warship in 2010 and at a funeral of her bodyguard who died during the presidential elections in 2012.Former President Lee Myung-bak, who preceded Park, cried while delivering a speech over the Cheonan attacks in 2010 and also when he appeared on television la

May 19, 2014By Ko Dong-hwan
Brief history of presidential tears

Young K-pop stars come of age

SuzyCrystal Kim Nam-jooSeolhyunIlhoon By Ko Dong-hwan After rocking the K-pop world as a teenage idol, Suzy is now an adult.Suzy, a member of the popular girl band Miss-A, joins other singers such as A Pink member Kim Nam-joo, AOA’s Seolhyun, f(X)’s Crystal and B2B’s Ilhoon who have or will become 19 this year, making them legally adults by Korean standards.“I feel kind of weird and good at the same time,’’ Suzy said in a statement issued through her management agency JYP.“I used to always think that, when I turn 19, I will definitely earn a driver’s license and drive a car by myself after my schedule. And I managed to do just that recently.’’Korea has lowered its official adult age from the previous 20 to 19 starting this year. 

May 19, 2014By Ko Dong-hwan
Young K-pop stars come of age

Search intensifies for ferry operator owners

By Ko Dong-hwanYoo Dae-kyunProsecutors are intensifying their search for members of the family that owns the operator of the Sewol ferry, which sank last month killing hundreds of people including school children. With the search becoming a national spectacle, investigators say they are receiving a large number of calls from civilians claiming to have spotted Yoo Dae-kyun.Yoo, 44, is one of the major shareholders of Cheonghaejin Marine, founded by his reclusive father Yoo Boo-eun, 73, who investigators are also seeking to arrest.Prosecutors are guarding against the possibility that Yoo finds a way to leave the country and are strengthening border controls at ports such as Incheon and Paengmok in Jindo, South Jeolla Province, which is near where the ferry sank.With Yoo remaining elusive, investigators are eagerly awaiting for civilian tip offs and have been moving with urgency on even weak information. A team of prosecutors and police officers raided a farm in Cheongsnog, North Gyeongsang Province, after being contacted by an area resident who believed he saw Yoo, but he wasn’t

May 19, 2014By Ko Dong-hwan
Search intensifies for ferry operator owners

Unemployed and over 30: not a good combo

By Ko Dong-hwan If you are over 30 and without a job, you might be in even a more difficult situation than you imagine.Job information websites Saramin HR quizzed employment officials at 525 local companies and about 63 percent of them admitted they are reluctant to employ people in their 30s as new employees.They feel that male jobseekers are too old once they hit 32 while their average answer for women was 30.Some 70 percent of the respondents said that the age of job applicants has been increasing visibly in recent years, reflecting a stagnant job market. Nearly 64 percent of them admitted that they will pass on qualified applicants if he or she were too old.So why are firms discriminating against older job applicants? About 55 percent of the respondents claimed that staff members would be discomforted if new employees are older than them, considering the deep-rooted seniority-based culture at the Korean workplace.  About 40 percent of the employment officials feared that old new employees were more likely to challenge the company’s office hierarchy.There were also

May 19, 2014By Ko Dong-hwan
Unemployed and over 30: not a good combo

Coming-of-age

A student smiles during a traditional coming-of-age ceremony reenacted at Sungkyunkwan University in downtown Seoul, Monday./ Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

May 19, 2014

Lee Young-ae will not join `Jewel in the Palace 2'

By Kim Tong-hyungMBC is preparing a sequel to “Jewel in the Palace,’’ 11 years after the drama became one of the most-watched television shows in Korean history and triggered a Korean culture boom in Asia and elsewhere.But the broadcaster suffered a major setback on Monday after Lee Young-ae, the star of the original drama, made it clear she wants no part of the new production.MBC will still proceed with the tentatively-named “Jewel in the Palace 2,’’ but will find it difficult to find an actress who can match the presence of Lee, who practically carried the 2003 drama and rode it to international fame.

May 19, 2014
Lee Young-ae will not join `Jewel in the Palace 2'

Internet rocked over coast guard disbanding

President Park Geun-hye shows tears during Monday's announcement./YonhapBy Kim Tong-hyungPresident Park Geun-hye’s solution to every difficult problem seems simple ― when there is a headache, cut off the head.A presidential spokesman grabs the buttocks of an intern, so no more female interns on presidential trips. College students die after a building collapses during their freshmen orientation, so say goodbye to freshmen orientations.High school field trips were declared a bad idea because hundreds of students just died after a ferry sank on its way to Jeju Island.And since the country’s coast guard did a lamentable job at rescuing these students from the submerging ship, Park appeared on live television on Monday and told the nation she will disband the coast guard.Park, who announced the move after saying she accepted responsibility for last month’s tragedy, slammed the coast guard for failing to carry out an effective rescue operation.The coastguard’s investigation and information roles will be transferred to police and the rescue and maritime securit

May 19, 2014
Internet rocked over coast guard disbanding

Collapsed building meant to show “strong and prosperous” N. Korean state

A North Korean official bows in apology to citizens over an apartment building collapse at a construction site in Pyongyang, North Korea, Saturday. / YonhapBy Kim Young-jinAn apartment building that collapsed in Pyongyang recently was built as part of a “speed housing construction campaign” to mark the 100th anniversary of the country’s founder.In a stunning admission, the Kim Jong-un regime on Sunday reported that a building in the Pyongchon district collapsed on May 13, describing the accident as “serious.”South Korean officials feared the death count could be high. North Korean Economy Watch, a North-focused blog, said construction began between May and September of 2012, citing satellite imagery. The blog added that the buildings in neighborhood were built for the landmark occasion. For years, the North had promised to emerge as a “strong and prosperous” state by April 2012, when the country marked the birth centennial of “Eternal President” Kim Il-sung.The impoverished North had promised to emerge as a “strong and prosp

May 19, 2014

Ambassadors pose for a photograph

Ambassadors pose for a photograph before a meeting with members of the Corea Image Communication Institute (CICI) at the residence of KuwaitiAmbassador Jasem Albudaiwi in Seoul, Tuesday. First from left are Albudaiwi; Austrian Ambassador Elisabeth Bertagnoli; Eugenia Bellova, the wife of Slovakian Ambassador Dusan Bella; Irish Ambassador Aingeal O’Donoghue; Choi Jungwha, CICI president; and Bella. / Korea Times

May 18, 2014
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