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Understanding young Koreans' rage against Cho Kuk

Seoul National University students hold a rally on their campus, Aug. 23, to urge justice minister nominee Cho Kuk to step down due to multiple allegations surrounding his family. / YonhapBy Lee Suh-yoonFor Kim Mina, 27, a graduate student studying science history and philosophy in Seoul, preparing for college was like making her way through a dark maze by herself.The small town she grew up in Gyeonggi Province got its first public library when she was in middle school. In high school, she realized English was not a subject she could teach herself with books after getting the result of her first national exam trial test. Her parents were loving, but did not have the education to understand much of her writing.So when she entered Seoul National University (SNU) through a special quota for residents of agriculture and fishing areas, the gap she felt with many of her lavishly groomed peers ― many of them from upper class households ― often made her feel alone.But it still didn't prepare her for the recent scandal involving justice minister nominee Cho Kuk's daughter. It has been reporte

Aug 28, 2019
Understanding young Koreans' rage against Cho Kuk

More Japanese politicians raise voice against Abe

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe meets with the U.S. president (unseen) during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Biarritz, southwestern France, Sunday, on the second day of the annual G7 Summit attended by the leaders of the world's seven richest democracies, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States. AFP-Yonhap By Park Ji-wonMore Japanese politicians have raised their voices against the Abe administration's recent moves against South Korea, urging Tokyo to look back what the country did to South Korea.Regarding Seoul's decision to withdraw from the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) with Japan, Aug. 22, Rep. Shigeru Ishiba, a member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and Japan's House of Representatives, wrote in his blog Aug. 23 that “there are many problems created by the fact that Japan didn't take responsibility for the war after being defeated in the past and those are surfac

Aug 28, 2019By Park Ji-won
More Japanese politicians raise voice against Abe

'Japan must be prudent in Fukushima water issue'

Japanese Ambassador to Seoul Yasumasa Nagamine is being summoned with a somber look at the South Korean foreign ministry headquarters in Seoul, Wednesday. Seoul's First Vice Foreign Minister Cho Sei-young called the Japanese diplomat in on Wednesday when Tokyo's decision to remove South Korea from its whitelist of countries receiving trade benefits took legal effect. Yonhap By Lee Min-hyungSouth Korea has urged Japan to remain transparent in its handling of 1.15 million tons of water that was contaminated after the catastrophic meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in 2011.“Japan explained that no specific conclusions over how to handle the water have been made as of now,” the South Korean foreign ministry said in a statement. “The Japanese government also stressed that it is dealing with the issue in a responsible manner on a scientific basis.”Previously, the ministry sent a diplomatic letter to its Japanese counterpart, asking Tokyo to share detail

Aug 28, 2019By Lee Min-hyung
'Japan must be prudent in Fukushima water issue'

'Japan aims to rewrite history'

Kim Hyun-chong, deputy presidential National Security Office, answers questions during a press briefing in announcing South Korea's position after Japan's decision to exclude South Korea from its list of most trusted trading partners took effect, at Cheong Wa Dae, Wednesday afternoon. YonhapBy Kim Yoo-chul, Park Ji-wonA senior presidential aide reaffirmed Wednesday that South Korea will not reconsider renewing a military intelligence-sharing agreement with Japan. He also accused Tokyo of attempting to rewrite history to hide its past wrongdoings before and after World War II. “The removal of South Korea from a Japanese whitelist of preferred trading partners finally took effect, Wednesday. This is very regrettable. Japan is seriously damaging mutual trust. South Korea clearly has no plans to disregard the 1965 treaty normalizing diplomatic relations between the two countries,” Kim Hyun-chong, deputy head of the presidential National Security Office (NSO), told reporters in a briefing at Cheong Wa Dae.“Japan is asking us to do something about last year's South Korean

Aug 28, 2019By Kim Yoo-chul
'Japan aims to rewrite history'

US Embassy twitter account turns into battlefield for Koreans

By Oh Young-jin U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Harry Harris. Korea Times fileThe U.S. Embassy in Seoul retweeted the U.S. State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus' “deeply disappointed and concerned” comments on Aug. 26 over Korea's decision to terminate its three-year-old military intelligence-sharing pact with Japan. It has a Korean translation that was tweeted as well. Other postings have Korean translations but some may raise questions about its appropriateness. The responses vary widely, with some being very graphic. One posting talks about the importance of the ROK-U.S.-Japan alliance, while another suggests the U.S. pull out.There is one regarding the statement preventing Cheong Wa Dae from lying and another describing the GSOMIA decision as Korea's act of betrayal. One even went to the extreme of raising an issue over U.S. Ambassador Harry Harris' Japanese ancestry.First of all, it appears that the Korean account has not been screened for basic national, racial and linguistic sensitivities. Second, it appears that the U.S. Embassy is directly getting involved i

Aug 28, 2019By Oh Young-jin
US Embassy twitter account turns into battlefield for Koreans

Trilateral framework at risk

Professor Gi-wook Shin of Stanford University Courtesy of Gi-wook ShinThis is the fifth in a series of interviews with political experts and experienced analysts assessing the impact of the ongoing South Korea-Japan trade row after Tokyo removed Seoul from its list of trusted trading partners receiving preferential treatment in exports. ― ED.By Do Je-haeSouth Korea's decision to end its military agreement with Japan will damage the prospect of continued close security ties among Seoul, Washington and Tokyo because the pact has been a symbol of smooth trilateral military cooperation between them and regarded as a key deterrent against North Korea.“It is a big mistake,” Shin Gi-wook, a Korea studies expert at Stanford University, said in a recent interview adding Seoul's withdrawal from the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) puts the “trilateral security framework at risk.”“The Japan-South Korea relationship may not have hit rock bottom, but it could further deteriorate in the coming months,” Shin said. “This is all the

Aug 27, 2019By Do Je-hae
Trilateral framework at risk

Kim Jong-un's possible message gets attention during SPA meeting

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un claps during the 14th Supreme People's Assembly in Pyongyang, on Apr. 13. YonhapBy Lee Min-hyungWill North Korean leader Kim Jong-un deliver any public remarks over the country's souring relations with South Korea and even the United States during its upcoming major parliamentary meeting? The 14th Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) will convene in the North's capital city of Pyongyang on Thursday, Aug. 29, when the regime's leader is widely expected to make a speech on his updated plans for state management and adjusted diplomatic policies.This will be the second time this year that the North's rubber-stamp legislature has held a meeting. Previously, the North's leader Kim blamed Washington for the fiasco of his second direct encounter with U.S. President Donald Trump in Hanoi, urging him to fine-tune the country's nuclear negotiation strategy as a pre-condition for an early resumption of denuclearization talks. Seoul and Washington are closely watching what messages the young leader will present this time, particularly on the agenda of the deadlocked nuc

Aug 27, 2019By Lee Min-hyung
Kim Jong-un's possible message gets attention during SPA meeting

YouTube star bashed for staying mum on Cho Kuk

YouTube star Kang Sung-tae / Korea Times fileWhat's your take? Celebrities asked to reveal their opinions about the justice minster nomineeBy Kang Hyun-kyungA YouTuber, who celebrated the 1 million mark of subscribers on Aug. 10, has been paying the price for his rare silence about the contentious justice minister nominee Cho Kuk. Since last weekend, nearly 200,000 people have unsubscribed from Kang Sung-tae's “God of Study” channel as the star YouTuber has been staying mum on the embattled nominee and his daughter. His channel used to see a steady rise of subscribers and reached 1.1 million subscribers at its height last week. The subscribers' exodus, however, has been evident on the heels of his rare silence about the justice minister's 28-year-old daughter's dubious college and medical school admissions. “God of Study” now has around 920,000 subscribers, and shows no signs of rebounding. Celebrities ― particularly those who were vocal on contentious political issues in the past ― have been asked to voice their opinions regarding Cho Kuk and his daughter. TV

Aug 27, 2019By Kang Hyun-kyung
YouTube star bashed for staying mum on Cho Kuk

Moon's ratings tumble on waning public trust

President Moon Jae-in at an event at Cheong Wa Dae last week YonhapPublic trust waning due to aide's scandal and diplomatic bunglingsBy Do Je-hae Public sentiment toward President Moon Jae-in is becoming noticeably negative in light of various setbacks at home and abroad, with negative assessments of his job performance exceeding 50 percent, for the first time since he took office in May 2017, in a weekly Realmeter survey.The survey published Monday showed that 50.4 percent of respondents thought Moon was doing a bad job in the third week of August, marking a 4.1 percent increase from the previous week. The pollster said the biggest reason for this was the escalating political row over one of his most trusted aides, Cho Kuk. The rival parties agreed to hold a two-day confirmation hearing from Sept. 2 for the justice minister nominee who is at the center of a widening scandal over allegations of corruption and unethical behavior involving himself and his family members.The rising negative assessment of Moon was seen in most age groups and even in regions that have been a stronghold of

Aug 26, 2019By Do Je-hae
Moon's ratings tumble on waning public trust

Assembly agrees to hold confirmation hearing for Cho on Sept. 2-3

Senior members of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee participate in a meeting at the National Assembly, Monday. They have agreed to hold a confirmation hearing for Justice Minister nominee Cho Kuk from Sept. 2 to 3. Yonhap By Park Ji-wonThe political parties have agreed to hold a confirmation hearing for Justice Minister nominee Cho Kuk from Sept. 2 to 3, Monday.Senior members of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) and the minor opposition Bareunmirae Party agreed to hold the hearing for Cho during a meeting for the Legislation and Judiciary Committee.The decision came after a series of failures in deciding when to hold the hearing at the Assembly due to their differences over its details amid growing calls for his nomination to be withdrawn. The DPK stressed the necessity of holding the hearing by the end of the month, while the LKP and the minor opposition Bareunmirae Party refused to accept the plan, sugg

Aug 26, 2019By Park Ji-won
Assembly agrees to hold confirmation hearing for Cho on Sept. 2-3
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