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May 04, 2024
 

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Ju-min Park
For Ju-min Park's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 4, 2016
Embattled South Korean president turns to her 'Bulletproof Vest'
When South Korean President Park Geun-hye turned to a lawyer known as her "Bulletproof Vest" to defend her in a corruption case that could lead to impeachment and criminal prosecution, she may have had little choice.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 1, 2016
The fall of Choi Soon-sil: from South Korean presidential confidante to incarceration
When the lawyer representing the woman at the center of a scandal engulfing South Korean President Park Geun-hye met his client upon her arrival in the country from Germany on Sunday morning, he was blunt.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 4, 2016
South Korea's graft-busters snooping on lavish weddings and funerals
A pair of aspiring paparazzi staked out two weddings in Seoul's high-end Gangnam district recently, but they weren't looking for celebrities. Their target: officials receiving gifts that might violate South Korea's tough new anti-corruption law.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Sep 29, 2016
The underground pipeline shaping North Korea's new capitalists
As the United States and other nations grasp for new ways to sanction Pyongyang in response to its latest nuclear test, some North Korean defectors see investment in its rudimentary market economy as a way to foment gradual change from within.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / ANALYSIS
Aug 31, 2016
North Korea makes progress on missiles, but no evidence of nuclear warhead yet
North Korea has made considerable progress this year on weapons technology, including testing a submarine-launched missile for the first time, but it is still not clear if the isolated nation has developed a nuclear warhead.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / ANALYSIS
Aug 8, 2016
Despite sanctions, North Korean prices hold steady as Kim leaves markets alone
Food and fuel prices in North Korea have remained largely stable under leader Kim Jong Un, despite tightening international sanctions to punish the North for its nuclear and ballistic missile tests, rare data from inside the isolated country shows.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
May 1, 2016
Ahead of rare North Korea Congress, money trumps party for most
Kim Dan-bi's brother is the model of the establishment North Korean: an army veteran and member of the ruling Workers' Party, he is now a manager at a state enterprise.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 19, 2016
Nuclear test seen as move to boost Kim's legitimacy as Pyongyang readies for rare party congress
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's recent nuclear weapon test was designed to boost his domestic legitimacy ahead of a rare ruling party conference in May that could formalize market-based economic experiments in the isolated country, analysts say.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Sep 11, 2015
North Korea's unofficial markets driven by repurposed buses
It is not Amazon or FedEx, but in North Korea's fledgling market economy, a fleet of re-purposed old passenger buses is the next best thing for moving trade goods, from rice to textiles and livestock, between far-flung corners of the country.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 26, 2015
Korean peace meeting was a summit by proxy
The leaders of North and South Korea have not met for the last eight years, but the marathon 44-hour talks that brought the bitter rivals back from the brink of conflict was effectively a summit by proxy.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
May 25, 2015
In North Korea, men call the shots, women make the money
North Korea is a militarized, male-dominated society, but it is women who are making the money as the insular nation allows an unofficial market-based economy to take shape.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 7, 2015
Korean pop band Bigbang back with new single after three years
South Korean boy band Bigbang is back on the music scene after a three-year hiatus, with a new single delving into the stresses of daily life.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 2, 2015
South Korean children navigate rocky road to K-pop stardom
Nine-year-old Kim Si-yoon has no time to throw tantrums.
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 5, 2014
North Korea's hackers are a hand-picked elite
Despite its poverty and isolation, North Korea has poured resources into a sophisticated cyber warfare cell called Bureau 121, defectors from the secretive state said as Pyongyang came under the microscope for a crippling hack into computers at Sony Pictures Entertainment.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 28, 2014
North Korean 'princess' moves closer to center of power
In her slim-fitting pantsuits and black-heeled shoes, Kim Yo Jong cuts a contrasting figure to her pudgy older brother, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Sep 22, 2014
Jailed American lived enigmatic life
Matthew Miller, the U.S. citizen imprisoned in North Korea on espionage charges, spent months in South Korea pretending to be an Englishman named "Preston Somerset," acquaintances who met or worked with him say.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 22, 2014
Some South Korean ferry mourners tire of activists seizing their cause
South Korean families who lost loved ones in April's ferry disaster are demanding accountability from the government, but some have grown weary of strident activists adopting their cause for political ends.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 3, 2014
While Japan presses North on abductions, South Korea victims are forgotten
Kim Young-nam was a teenager living on the coast of South Korea when he disappeared in 1978, only to turn up in North Korea. There, he met and married Megumi Yokota, a Japanese national abducted by North Korean agents on her way home from school a year earlier.
Biden calls ally Japan ‘xenophobic’ along with rivals China and Russia
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks in Syracuse, New York, on April 25.
Yen swings stir talk that Japan is in the FX market once again
An electronic screen in Tokyo displays the yen exchange rate against the U.S. dollar and the graph showing its recent swings, on Thursday.
Harajuku strives to reclaim its former glory — and surpass it
Laforet Harajuku, which celebrated its 45th anniversary last year, has been a witness to the district's evolution over the years.
Weak yen fattens tourist wallets in Japan
People visit the Ameya Yokocho market in Tokyo's Ueno district during the Golden Week holiday on Tuesday.
Japan's May 1 intervention may have cost ¥3.66 trillion, BOJ data suggests
An electronic screen displays a graph showing Japanese yen exchange rates surging against the dollar amid signs of intervention by authorities, in Tokyo on Thursday.
Kishida sets sights on energy and climate in South America trip
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will use a policy speech in Sao Paulo to set out his vision for ties between Japan and South America, almost 10 years after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe advocated for stronger ties between the two in the same city.
Yellow sand allergy: A health issue made worse by climate change
A screenshot of the Meteorological Agency's satellite image of clouds and yellow sand (in pink) on Sunday.
Climate change, chalky grains and the risks for Japan’s rice farmers
A farmer plants seedlings in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture. Japan’s self sufficiency rate for rice is nearly 100%, compared with 38% for food overall, on a calorie basis.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Theaster Gates’ ambitious ‘Afro-Mingei’ brings Black Chicago to Tokyo
Theaster Gates' “A Heavenly Chord” lines up church pews before seven speakers and a Hammond B3 organ, a type of electric organ prevalent in Black American churches.

Podcast

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.
[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

Longform

When trying to trace your lineage in Japan, the "koseki" is the most important form of document you'll encounter.
Climbing the branches of a Japanese family tree
By Alex K.T. Martin

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