English Edition : The Hankyoreh

Updated : Apr.5,2016 17:29 KST

Son of former Pres. Roh Tae-woo implicated in Panama Papers

Son of former Pres. Roh Tae-woo implicated in Panama Papers

Roh Jae-heon created three paper companies, in an apparent attempt to conceal his father’s slush funds

On Apr. 4, news website Newstapa reported that Roh Jae-heon, 51, son of former president Roh Tae-woo, had created three paper companies in the British Virgin Islands, a favorite haven for tax evasion.This is the conclusion of an analysis of 1,150 internal documents leaked from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca that the online newspaper had carried out in conjunction with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists since September of last year.

Leaked document shows that special connections lead to lucrative franchises

Friends, relatives and family members of major figures in the retail industry such as Lee Seung-han, former chairman of Homeplus, and Gu Hak-seo, former chairman of the Shinsegae Group, are running franchises located in Homeplus and Emart outlets, a leaked document reveals.It also turns out that family members and relatives of former and current executives at home offices, government officials and other important business figures own franchises located in major retail outlets.

Former KB Hanmaum CEO wins damages for illegal surveillance of civilians

The Supreme Court ruled on Apr. 2 to order the state and individuals involved in the illegal surveillance of former KB Hanmaum CEO Kim Jong-ik to pay him over US$400,000 in damages.Kim, 62, was a high-profile victim of illegal surveillance of civilians by the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) during the presidency of Lee Myung-bak (2008-13).The court‘s second division under Justice Cho Hee-dae ruled on Apr. 4

North Korean Defense Commission mentions negotiations as “fundamental solution”

North Korea described “establishing negotiations” as a “fundamental solution” to issues surrounding its nuclear and missile programs.The statement came on Apr. 3, a month after the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 2270 sanctioning the North for its recent nuclear test and missile launch. It also showed a very different approach from the various shows of force with military exercises and threatening statements from Workers’ Party,

Chinese money flooding into South Korean companies

Chinese investors are on a veritable shopping spree for shares in South Korean companies.In just one year, the number of listed South Korean companies with Chinese investors holding a stake of 5% or more has doubled. Annual investment from China has also more than tripled in the last five years.

After summit, S. Korea, US and Japan expected to step up military cooperation

Military cooperation among South Korea, the US, and Japan is expected to gain traction after their leaders agreed to strengthen trilateral collaboration on security at the Nuclear Security Summit on Mar. 31.South Korean President Park Geun-hye, US President Barack Obama, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe previously helped usher in stronger trilateral cooperation by tackling frictions between Seoul and Tokyo during a trilateral summit at the Nuclear Security Summit in The Hague two years

Pres. Park directing government to refrain from criticizing Japan

Reports in the Japanese media suggest that the South Korean government‘s decision not to criticize Japan since the two governments’ reached an agreement on the comfort women issue on Dec. 28, 2015 is the result of instructions given by President Park Geun-hye. Regardless of the veracity of these reports, it is true that the South Korean government has been holding back on criticism of Japanese behavior that violates the spirit of the agreement.

Workers setting up strategies to narrow gap between regular and irregular positions

Inside the labor movement, there are signs of a push for a strategy of solidarity to reduce the gap in wages and working conditions between regular and irregular workers, and between workers at chaebol, or family-run conglomerates, and the smaller companies that serve as their subcontractors. This strategy includes such measures as labor unions for regular workers accepting a lower raise in wages in exchange for improved conditions for irregular workers and creating a fund to provide irregular workers with assistance.

Sluggish exports the biggest factor in S. Korea’s weak economic growth

Poor export performance was the single biggest factor in South Korea’s sliding economic growth rate last year, statistics show.Meanwhile, the prospects for 2016’s growth rate appear increasingly bleak as corporate investment, private consumption, and other domestic demand fail to make up for weak exports.

At Apr. 3 Jeju ceremony, Pres. Park a no-show for third consecutive year

Leaders from the ruling and opposition political parties kicked off the first weekend of the campaign season for the upcoming parliamentary elections by attending the ceremony for the April 3 Incident, a bloody uprising on Jeju Island that began on that date in 1948.

Sunflower Centers treat more than 20,000 sexual violence victims per year

Ms. Kim first visited the Sunflower Center at Seoul National University Hospital in the spring of 2011. The university student, now 23, was suffering from auditory and visual hallucinations. For 12 years since the age of eight, she had suffered terrible abuse from her father. As a child, she didn’t understand that she had been molested. Scared by her father’s warnings that she wouldn‘t be able to live with her parents if she told anyone, she kept the abuse to herself.

[News analysis] “Like hits of a drug” - drones and the government’s North Korea fear mongering

Let’s take a trip back in time two years.It was Mar. 24, 2014, and the discovery of a crashed drone in Paju sparked an investigation by a team composed of the Defense Security Command (DSC), National Intelligence Service (NIS), and local police. The DSC served as secretary, and NIS agents agreed with its assessment that the drone showed “nothing to raise North Korea-related suspicions.” A few days later on Mar. 28, the investigation resumed under a central joint interrogation team, this one with the NIS - which had collected the drone - as its secretary.

[Reporter’s notebook] Sewol hearings show tragic “business as usual” in S. Korea

The hearings for the special committee investigating the Apr. 2014 sinking of the Sewol ferry on Mar. 28 and 29, triggered a mix of bafflement, shock, and horror. Crew members who disembarked before passengers; a company, Chonghaejin Marine, that subsisted on overloading cargo; the Korean Register of Shipping and ports, which signed off too readily on additional lines and departures; vessel traffic service officials in Jeju and Jindo who responded casually even after receiving reports of the sinking; and, perhaps most familiar of all, harsh relationships of power dynamics -

Weak job market and encroaching AI cause headaches for young people

Two recent pieces of news surfaced to bring tears to the eyes of the so-called “2030 generation.” The first was that household income from this age group - people aged 20 to 39 - fell for the first time since statistics have been collected. The second is that the unemployment rate for people aged 15 to 29 stood at 12.9% last month, the highest since unemployment was first tallied by the same standard in 1999.

A Spanish priest who has served Hansen’s patients for 36 years

The man is barefoot. Regardless of the time or season, he never wears socks. He wears sandals, and his feet look tough.It isn’t easy for feet to connect humans to the earth. That’s why people wrap their feet in cloth to protect them from the cold.

[Reportage part I] The effect of sanctions at the corridor between N. Korea and China

“Everything’s determined by who makes more money. Money is power. For all the talk about equality between men and women, it all comes down to who makes more money. Money talks.”“The world doesn’t just revolve around money, you know.”“I beg your pardon? You should speak the truth.”“But that is the truth. . . .”“That’s the future. What about the reality today?”He kept pressing me for an answer.“I guess today it does revolve around money. . . .”

[Reportage part II] The effect of sanctions at the corridor between N. Korea and China

Korean-Chinese Kim’s office for trade with North KoreaI arrived at the train station in Dandong at 4:30 pm on Mar. 8, the day that the South Korean government announced plans to place its own sanctions on North Korea.At the same time, an international train that had arrived from Pyongyang was stopped on a different track. The train had set out from Pyongyang that morning and traveled 200km to Dandong, which it reached just before sunset.

[Reportage part III] The effect of sanctions at the corridor between N. Korea and China

Three nationalities share one dinner partyI arrived in Dandong on March 8 - International Women’s Day. Both China and North Korea have it as an official holiday for women. Kim, a Korean-Chinese company president, runs a trade office, while a friend runs a clothing factory with North Korean workers. Kim’s friend invited the North Korean “safety representative” - a workers’ representative - and three female employees out for a meat dinner. Dr. Kang

US official speaks on necessity of cooperation with S. Korea and Japan

A high-ranking US official delivered a public talk on the necessity and vision of trilateral cooperation with South Korea and Japan.The speech came ahead of a trilateral summit scheduled on Mar. 31 to coincide with the upcoming Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, DC. The message could be a sign that the US government is getting set to pursue trilateral diplomatic and military cooperation in earnest now that the “obstacle” of the Japanese military comfort women issue has been cleared by an agreement on it by Seoul and Tokyo late last year.

S. Korea first in R&D investment as percentage of GDP, sixth in total investment

South Korea ranks first in the world for research and development (R&D) investment as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP), but spends just 28.5% of what China does in total investment, a recent study shows.South Korea’s cumulative R&D investment over the past 32 years was also found to be roughly one-fifteenth of the US’s investment and one-seventh of Japan’s.A report titled “Major South Korean Science and Technology Indicators at a Glance” published on Mar. 30 by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning

Defense Ministry announces response to N. Korea long range artillery threat

The Ministry of National Defense announced plans on Mar. 30 for the introduction of tactical surface-to-surface guided missiles in response to the North Korean long-range artillery threat.The ministry released its five-year defense plan for 2017-2021 that day with investments totaling 226.5 trillion won (US$197.8 billion), including 73.4 trillion won (US$64.1 billion) for a five-year defense capability improvement project and 153.1 trillion won (US$133.7 billion) for a military capability operation project.

Civic group filing lawsuit against NIS over data collection

On Mar. 28, civic group People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD) announced that it would be making a freedom of information request and filing a lawsuit for damages against state institutions including the National Intelligence Service (NIS) and the police and prosecutors that have viewed individuals’ telecommunications data.

At Nuclear Security Summit, Pres. Park to meet with leaders of US, China, Japan

The Nuclear Security Summit, which will take place in Washington, D.C., from Mar. 31 to Apr. 1, offers the leaders of South Korea, the US, China and Japan their first opportunity to convene since North Korea’s fourth nuclear test. During a series of meetings, these leaders will discuss how to respond to North Korea‘s nuclear program.

Navy files suit for losses against locals that opposed naval base in Jeju

The South Korean Navy is demanding damages from local groups and residents in Jeju Island for “taxpayer losses” incurred by their opposition to the construction of a new naval base.The groups targeted include the village association of Gangjeong in the city of Seogwipo.

At second Sewol hearing, victims’ families bristle as crewmembers “can’t remember”

It was the morning of Mar. 28, and the second hearing was being held for the special fact-finding commission into the sinking of the Sewol ferry [in Apr. 2014]. For an instant, there was tension in the air of the multi-purpose hall on the eighth floor of Seoul City Hall, where the hearing was taking place.When the crew of the Sewol entered the hall for the hearing, there was a stir from the gallery. Crewmembers including Lee Jun-seok, the captain, and Kang Won-sik, the first mate, were wearing their blue prison garb, along with hats and masks to cover their faces.

Documentary gives an “Upside Down” look at the Sewol sinking

Kim Dong-bin was watching South Korean television online from Boston when the Sewol ferry disaster occurred on Apr. 16, 2014. The documentary filmmaker, now 24, saw live footage of a boat sinking. Soon word came that everyone had been rescued. He breathed a sigh of relief. But the next morning brought news that over 300 people were still trapped on board.

[Reporter’s notebook] The reason a museum director got booted

The sudden removal of Kim Young-na as National Museum of Korea (NMK) director earlier this month has become a hot topic in South Korea’s cultural community. In a telephone interview with the Hankyoreh, Kim said she was convinced the reason was her opposition to a feature exhibition on French decorative art that President Park Geun-hye had shown an interest in.

Study: in Seoul, women are taller and thinner than national average

Women living in Seoul are taller, weigh less and have a narrower waist than the average South Korean woman, a recent study shows.According to bodily measurement data from state-sponsored health checkups that was released by South Korea’s National Health Insurance Corporation on Mar. 28, 38.1% of women living in Seoul are taller than 160cm, which comes in above the corresponding figure of 33.8% for women around the country.

Household income falls as a portion of S. Korea’s GDP

Household income has sharply declined as a portion of South Korean gross domestic product (GDP) in the past twenty years.The findings mean households account for a lesser portion now in terms of economic growth distribution.A recent report by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) titled “Economic Policy Reforms 2016: Going for Growth” examined the rate of increase in household income as a portion of GDP for its member states between 1995 and 2013 or 2014.

Lawyers group constitutional complaint over comfort women agreement

On Mar. 27, MINBYUN-Lawyers for a Democratic Society filed a complaint with South Korea’s Constitutional Court objecting to the comfort women agreement reached recently by South Korea and Japan’s foreign ministers. In the complaint, MINBYUN is representing 29 former comfort women and 41 relatives of the comfort women (both surviving and deceased).

Ahead of second anniversary, students visit with Sewol victims’ families

A sparsely visited government memorial to victims of the Sewol sinking in Ansan found itself crowded with visitors once again on Mar. 26 as around ten siblings of victims from the city’s Danwon High School greeted 106 university students there.The university students visiting the memorial included incoming first-year students from 26 universities around the country in cities such as Busan, Mokpo, and Chuncheon. The siblings had begun personally planning the two-day “April 16 University Student Study Center” a month before.

[Follow-up] After Hankyoreh report, Liberian mother and daughter find a home

“I can’t tell if this is a dream or reality.”The mother and daughter marveled at the apartment, which measured 49.56 square meters and included two bedrooms, a living room with veranda, a bright white bed, a computer for studying, and a large TV.

100 years of Korean-Japanese experiences come to the stage

“Who am I? What do I do? Am I Japanese, am I Korean - or am I South Korean? South Korean . . . can you judge a person simply by nationality? They say I’m a member of the race, but it doesn’t feel that way with me at all. I came to hate myself for the way I had my nationality and became so servile in front of Japanese people.”These lines spoken by the Korean-Japanese character Dong-hee offer a glimpse at the kind of lives people like him have experienced. The April 3 Uprising in Jeju,

North Korea threatens attack if Pres. Park doesn’t apologize for “treason”

North Korea threatened a strike against the Blue House if President Park Geun-hye does not issue a public apology for “treason.”In an “ultimatum” released on Mar. 27, the long-range artillery force of the North Korean People’s Army large combined unit described “the attempt to harm our ‘military first’ Sun” as “an unforgivable crime.”

High-ranking government officials have average assets of US$2.4 million

2.9 billion won – about US$2.44 million. This is the average assets (based on figures reported at the end of 2015) of South Korea’s 405 highest ranking government officials, including the president, senior presidential secretaries, ministers, lawmakers, the chief justice and other justices on the Supreme Court and justices on the Constitutional Court.

Defense Ministry with evasive response on problematic body armor program

The Ministry of National Defense responded to Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) findings on procurement improprieties that resulted in soldiers being supplied with body armor vulnerable to armor-piercing bullets. But its response was less about remorse and alternative solutions - and more about twisting the facts.

With Kakao Talk labor, the work day never ends

An individual surnamed Kim, 28, who works in customer service at a plastic surgery clinic in Seoul’s Gangnam district, has been fielding customers’ queries over the KakaoTalk, an instant messaging app, for more than three years.Since KakaoTalk is used by nearly everyone in South Korea, the app is an attractive marketing platform for clinics. The majority of plastic surgery clinics have been expanding their customer service, answering questions over KakaoTalk not only from their patients but from prospective customers too.

South Korea’s unseen children suffer with parents behind bars

“It’s okay.” Her uncle mouthed the words slowly through the police car window. Choi Mi-young, 20, had lived with him ever since her parents had divorced when she was a child. Three years later, she still can’t erase the shock of that day.She was in her second year of high school when he came to find her in a panic. To Choi, the man who had promised not to marry before she did was something more than just a father figure. She raced home to find four police officers in their house. Her uncle, a taxi driver, asked them

Children of convicts suffer in government blind spot

Despite calls for greater attention to the plight of children of convicts in South Korea, the government has made almost no efforts to look into the situation. Indeed, little is understood about the specific conditions even now.To date, no government investigation has yet been conducted on conditions for the children of prisoners. The Ministry of Justice, which oversees prisoners who have either already been convicted or are currently standing trial,

Ministry of Education bans use of “Sewol Textbooks” for sinking’s second anniversary

The Ministry of Education banned the use of “Sewol textbooks” published by the Korean Teachers’ and Education Workers’ Union (KTU) for the second anniversary of the Sewol ferry sinking (Apr. 16), citing “concerns about negative effects in shaping students’ healthy views on their country.”On Mar. 25, the ministry announced that an examination of KTU’s April 16 Textbook for Memory and Truth by current and former teachers and related government agencies had found it “unsuitable as educational material.”

South Korea still unable to reach US$30,000 per capita income

With South Korea’s per capita income faltering for the first time in six years, it is becoming even harder for the country to escape from the $20,000 trap, where it has been stuck for 10 years. While per capita income climbed above 30 million won for the first time, a comparison with other countries shows that South Korea is having trouble catching up with advanced economies.

Single-parents earn less than half the national average

The household income of single-parent families in South Korea who are raising children by themselves following a divorce or the death of their spouse is less than half of the national average, a recent survey found. In addition, half of single parents with a job have to work long hours - more than 10 hours a day - in order to make ends meet.

In South Korea, more and more debt-ridden “marginal households”

In a report titled “Characteristics and Implications of Marginal Households with Household Debt” the Hyundai Research Institute reported that there are 1.58 million “marginal households” in South Korea that are having trouble paying off their debts.“Marginal households” refer to those with a debt service ratio (DSR) above 40%. Debt service ratio is the ratio of debt to disposable income.

How a museum director earned the President’s ire

Late last year, National Museum of Korea (NMK) director Kim Young-na was busy developing the 2016 exhibition schedule when she received a request to visit the office of Blue House Senior Secretary for Education and Culture Kim Sang-ryul.She hurried to the Blue House, where Kim presented her with a document. It was a proposal to stage a feature exhibition at her museum on the history of French decorative art. Intended to honor the 130th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Korea and France,

Ruling party leader launches coup in party split between “victims and victimizers”

“The party has split into victimizers and victims. The remark that my friend made when he was unfairly forced out of the party - when he said that ‘this is not justice and this is not democracy’ - was like a dagger to the heart.”Saenuri Party leader Kim Moo-sung had always kneeled so low he could bend no further whenever there was a conflict with President Park Geun-hye, but on Mar. 24,

Next year, S. Korea will have more old folks than youngsters

South Korea is projected to next year have more people older than 65 than under 15 for the first time in history.Amid a general population aging trend and low birth rate, the average age of South Koreans stands at 40.7 this year after passing 40 for the first time in 2015.

“Military mafia” wins millions in body armor project

Lobbying by a defense company resulted in it being granted general monopoly rights by the Ministry of National Defense on a body armor project worth up to 270 billion won (US$231 million) - even after the ministry had developed its own state-of-the-art body armor at a cost of 2.8 billion won (US$2.4 million).Samyang Chemical, parent group of Samyang Chemtec - which came under fire last year for its production of penetrable body armor - hired 29 reserve soldiers over six years to work as lobbyists for affiliates.

S. Korea and the US agree in principle to deploy THAAD system

On Mar. 22, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said the US and South Korea are discussing the deployment of THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) on the Korean Peninsula and that the two countries had agreed in principle to deploy the anti-ballistic missile system.While the South Korean Defense Ministry has already treated the THAAD deployment as an accomplished fact, this is the first time for a high-ranking official in the US government to confirm it.

[Reporter’s notebook] The facts about THAAD missile defense system

In spring 2015, I met with a missile defense expert at a Washington think tank. While we were discussing the possible deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system on the Korean Peninsula, he told me he didn’t really know if it would be helpful. Then he showed me a memo. It had been circulated quietly among experts, he said, and the US Defense Department and defense companies were in an uproar over it. It had been drafted by the Army and Navy Chiefs of Staff for then-Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel. It was called the “eight-star memo,” since it bore the signatures of two four-star generals.

Court rules Blue House can keep some Sewol details secret

The Blue House’s refusal to publish the details of reports made to South Korean President Park Geun-hye on the day of the Sewol ferry sinking in April 2014 is legal, a court has ruled.On Mar. 23, Hon. Ho Je-hun, a judge in the 11th administrative division of the Seoul Administrative Court, partially ruled in favor Ha Seung-su, co-chair of the Green Party’s steering committee, who is the plaintiff in a freedom of information lawsuit

North Korea issues harshly worded threat of military action

North Korea has threatened to take military action, declaring that it is prepared to “wipe out” South Korean President Park Geun-hye and the Blue House.The threat was in response to an exercise carried out by the South Korean air force on Mar. 21 that involved simulated precision strikes on key North Korean facilities.

University students resisting artificial, government-directed restructuring

University students are embarking on a coordinated response to restructuring imposed by universities and the Ministry of Education with a focus on “industry demand.”As universities undertake department mergers and shutdowns, cuts to incoming class sizes, and other intensive restructuring to receive support from the ministry‘s PRIME and CORE efforts, many are demanding that the programs be ended or reconsidered - fearing infringements of academic autonomy and a decline in basic disciplines in the humanities, arts, and natural sciences.

[Reporter’s notebook] Finance Minister’s bizarre comments won’t revive the economy

Yoo Il-ho has been speaking out lately. It’s a different look from his quietness before taking over as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategy and Finance - or the seemingly scripted responses he gave afterwards. But any attempts to trace his recent statements draw a blank on why he felt compelled to make them.

S. Korea and Japan have highest-level meeting yet on comfort women agreement

Senior officials from South Korea and Japan resumed working-level discussions on implementing the agreement that the two countries reached on Dec. 28 on the issue of the comfort women for the Imperial Japanese Army.On Mar. 22, Chung Byung-won, director-general for Northeast Asian Affairs at South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, held a meeting with Kimihiro Ishikane, director-general of the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau at Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tokyo.

Former jurist has a hard rebuke for South Korean courts

On Mar. 22, a renowned South Korean jurist sharply criticized the South Korean judiciary. Han Seung-hyeon, 82, former head of South Korea’s Board of Audit and Inspection, said that, under the leadership of Supreme Court Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae, the judiciary had been making regressive decisions in cases related to controversial events in the past that reflect excessive deference for the feelings of South Korean President Park Geun-hye.

[Interview] Fighting to make S. Korea’s top university truly diverse

The glass ceiling for women who leave their jobs to raise families isn’t just a company phenomenon - it’s happening in universities too. In an interview at her office in the Seoul National University College of Natural Sciences on Mar. 22, biological sciences professor Roe Jung-hye stressed the continuing low representation of women in engineering, saying, “When the percentage of qualified women who can’t get a job simply because of their gender is very high, doesn‘t that mean something needs to be fixed?

Family of farmer still in coma file lawsuit against the police

Family members of a farmer named Baek Nam-ki, 69, have filed a lawsuit against the South Korean government and the head of the National Police Agency, seeking 240 million won (US$207,000) in damages. Baek is in a coma after being blasted a police water cannon during a nationwide rally held last year.

Politician or royalty? Prime Minister gets driven onto train platform

On the evening of Mar. 20, an office worker surnamed Kim who was on a KTX high-speed train from Seoul to Busan, saw something unexpected outside of the window. Two big cars were driving across the platform, where passengers were getting on and off the train.The two automobiles stopped in front of train cars No. 1 and No. 2 and let out men in suits, who blocked passengers hurrying to board the train in time. Then, a man got out of the rear seat of a black Hyundai Equus and leisurely walked onto train car No. 2 and into first class.

“Spending money like they’re possessed” - going all out for special high schools

“Mothers: The difficult and small-class-size courses that Seoul National University likes are at the special purpose and autonomous private high schools. Starting in 2021 [the year current second-year middle school students enter university], there is likely to be an assessment system where everyone with just 90 points or more on their high school record gets an ‘A.’ The answer is clear: special purpose and autonomous private high schools at all costs.”

A persistent decline in the number of stay-at-home mothers

The number of South Korean stay-at-home mothers has declined over the past two years.According to data from Statistics Korea on Mar. 21, a total of 7.09 million stay-at-home mothers were counted last year, down 58,000 from the year before. The number rose steadily from 6.38 million in 2000 - the first year related statistics were tallied - to 7.30 million in 2013 before declining to 7.14 million in 2014 and 7.09 in 2015. The total for Jan. and Feb. 2016 was also down 93,000 from the same period last year.

For prestigious university admission, S. Korean students and parents in a war for information

“It was in the process of trying to build my extracurriculars and make a stronger application that I really sensed how much of a ‘dirt spooner’ I was.”“Yu Si-yeol,” 19, used a popular coinage used in South Korea lately to describe people from underprivileged backgrounds. This year, he started at a private university in Seoul after graduating from a general high school in nearby Gyeonggi Province. He’s also from a single-parent household where finances are tight.

[Interview] The first public fact-finding survey related to the Sewol

One night not long after the sinking of the Sewol ferry, in which 304 precious lives were lost (including those whose bodies have not been recovered), a lawyer named Oh Ji-won, 39, who was working in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, had a dream about the students from Danwon High School in Ansan. In her dream, smiling students in their school uniforms had gathered in front of Oh’s house.

The end of an era of dominance for S. Korea‘s big three shipbuilders

The global shipbuilding market once dominated by three major South Korean companies is undergoing rapid changes, with a Japanese competitor nudging its way into the top three as domestic builders struggle with a drought of new orders.

For first time, more divided family members dead than alive

Among South Korean members of families divided by the Korean War who have applied for a chance to meet their relatives in the North, the number of the dead has exceeded the number of the living for the first time. This reflects the rapidly increasing age of these family members.When the Hankyoreh checked a database of divided families managed by the Unification Ministry and the South Korean Red Cross on Mar. 20,

[Reportage] Temp agencies abuse the law while workers suffer

Seemingly every other building at the intersection in front of Dongam Subway Station in Incheon has at least one temp agency. One ten-story building right next to the station has three. In all, some thirty to forty agencies can be found within a distance of 200 or so meters, their windows and walls plastered with advertisements about “24-hour job-seeker counseling,” “male/female production positions available,” and “semiconductor line assembly work.”

This year, S. Korea with a more muted response to Japanese history textbooks

The South Korean government has made an extremely muted response to Japan’s distorted textbooks. One example is the government’s choice of the word “lament,” which strongly implies a personal sense of regret, rather than “protest” or “denounce,” which directly express opposition to the other party.

[Reporter’s notebook] Two years later, the NIS’s fabricated spy case and two upended lives

About this time two years ago, there was an incident that turned South Korean society on its head. As you may remember, this was an espionage case against a Seoul civil servant in which investigators fabricated evidence against the accused. Yoo Woo-sung, a civil servant for the city of Seoul, was charged with espionage related to his multiple trips to the North, but it turned out that the documents that South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) submitted to the prosecutors as evidence had been forged.

Sewol students’ belongings could be forcibly removed from Danwon High School

Parents of students at Danwon High School in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province announced plans to on Mar. 25 forcibly clear classrooms maintained there in honor of victims of the Apr. 2014 sinking of the Sewol ferry.The decision comes after the group 4/16 Sewol Families for Truth and a Safer Society refused to ratify a provisional plan that would have the classrooms maintained only through the sinking’s second anniversary on Apr. 16. Students from Danwon High School accounted for a large number of the more than 300 people who died in the sinking.

On orders from Kim Jong-un, North Korea launches more missiles

North Korea fired two more missiles on Mar. 18.The latest launches come eight days after two Scud missiles were launched on Mar. 10.“North Korea launched one ballistic missile each at approximately 5:55 am and 6:17 am this morning,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff headquarters said later that day. Both launches took place around the area of Sukchon in South Pyongan Province, with missiles fired in the direction of the East Sea.

[Analysis] US sanctions on North Korea act to pressure China and Russia

In a number of respects, the executive order issued by US President Barack Obama on Mar. 16 is tougher than the UN Security Council sanctions resolution against North Korea (Resolution No. 2270) or a sanctions bill that passed the US Congress in February.That said, further administrative steps are needed to specify the targets of the sanctions before they can be implemented, and it will likely take some time before it becomes clear whether or not they will be effective.

Study finds men suffer workplace sexual harassment as well

“My wife is a foreigner, and my boss keeping asking blunt questions about my sexual relationship with her. I refused to answer them, but then he started calling her the ‘white horse’ and calling me ‘the man who rode the white horse.’ He’s my boss, so I just laughed it off, but I felt humiliated.”This account of workplace sexual harassment was shared by a male manufacturing worker in a recent study by Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training (KRIVET) associate research fellow Seo Yoo-jeong.

US sanctions N. Korea’s propaganda department for the first time

Based on an executive order issued by US President Barack Obama on Mar. 16, the US Treasury Department added the Propaganda and Agitation Department of the North Korean Workers Party (KWP) to its sanctions list for the first time.The department is directed by Kim Yo-jong, younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.Considering that the KWP Propaganda and Agitation Department is not directly connected with developing nuclear weapons or earning foreign currency

[Reporter’s notebook] An anomalous structure of university entrance

“They’re saying now that the parents of middle school third graders [the equivalent of ninth graders in the US] are in a panic now about AlphaGo.”“I bet. They’re probably wondering what major their kids should pick.”“No, they all want to send their children to ’Alpha High School,‘ and they don’t know where it is.”

[Editorial] Chaebol’s high-handedness causes crisis of ethics in S. Korea

[Editorial] Chaebol’s high-handedness causes crisis of ethics in S. Korea

[Editorial] After Summit, need a real push toward a nuclear-free world

[Editorial] After Summit, need a real push toward a nuclear-free world

[Photo] A huge ribbon to commemorate Sewol second anniversary

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