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April 19, 2024
 

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Choe Sang-Hun
For Choe Sang-Hun's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Migrant workers harvest and package vegetables in a greenhouse in Gasan-myeon, South Korea, in December.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Mar 3, 2024
South Korea needs foreign workers, but often fails to protect them
Though a shrinking population makes imported labor vital, migrant workers routinely face predatory employers, inhumane conditions and other abuse.
Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung falls after being stabbed in the neck with a knife during his visit to Busan, South Korea, on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 4, 2024
Knife attack on opposition leader raises alarms in polarized South Korea
Politics of hatred is said to have become a norm, and tensions are unlikely to ease anytime soon as rival parties gear up for parliamentary elections in April.
Yoon Suk-yeol, then the 2022 presidential election candidate of South Korea's main opposition People Power Party, attends a news conference in Seoul in November 2021.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 10, 2023
President’s war against ‘fake news’ raises alarms in South Korea
Critics say South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol is silencing journalists in the name of fighting disinformation.
People demonstrate against the government on Nov. 5, 2022, after nearly 160 people died in a crowd crush in Seoul's Itaewon district on Halloween that year.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Oct 21, 2023
Little punishment or change after South Korea’s Halloween calamity
Families of the 159 people crushed to death last year say the government has never acknowledged its mistakes or accepted responsibility.
Nurses and university students majoring in nursing hold up signs that read "Nurse act", during a protest against President Yoon Suk Yeol vetoing a nursing act that defines the roles and responsibilities of nurses, in Seoul on May 19.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 19, 2023
Why South Korea has so many protests, and what that means
Born during South Korea’s difficult march toward self-governance in the 1980s, protest rallies are a fixture of Asia’s most vibrant democracy.
Mia Lee Sorensen with her Danish mother, Lilian Hansen, 72, and father, Bent Hansen, 74, on the coast of Korsor, Denmark, on July 13. South Korean adoptees have been returning to the country to hold the government accountable for what they call a corrupt and predatory adoption system.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Sep 18, 2023
World’s largest ‘baby exporter’ confronts its painful past
South Korean adoptees have been returning to the country to hold the government accountable for what they call a corrupt adoption system.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 30, 2023
‘Lord Commander’ of the DMZ has seen it all on the Korean frontier
He faced off with North Korean troops, helped prepare for a Trump-Kim summit and witnessed some of the most ​hair-raising moments ​on the world’s most heavily armed border.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 30, 2023
After warmth from Biden, South Korea’s leader faces a different tune at home
President Yoon Suk-yeol’s foreign policy, aligning his country more closely with Washington and Tokyo, has polarized his nation. And critics say he has won little to show for it.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 9, 2023
Leaked documents show Seoul torn between U.S. demands and its own policy
The secret documents were based on signals intelligence, which meant that the United States has been spying on one of its major allies in Asia.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 4, 2023
North Koreans trapped in 'state-sponsored slavery' in Russia
China and Russia have become loopholes helping the North earn badly needed cash as it deals with the fallout of international sanctions and the pandemic.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 20, 2023
To combat food shortages, North Korea deploys the military
Kim Jong Un, the country's leader, has called for soldiers to be “a driving force” in increasing food production, a reflection of the North's economic and geopolitical challenges.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 6, 2023
South Korea is exporting billions in arms, just not to Ukraine
Traditional weapons suppliers like the US have faced production shortages in the war effort, and South Korea has stepped in to fill the gap in the global arms market.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Feb 8, 2023
In first, South Korea ordered to compensate Vietnam war victim
The ruling is the first of its kind and expected to set a precedent in the country, where the government has long refused to address alleged civilian massacres by South Korean troops.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 13, 2023
In a first, South Korea declares nuclear weapons a policy option
Yoon Suk-yeol was quick to add that building nuclear weapons was not yet an official policy.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 10, 2022
North Korea wants dollars. It’s a sign of trouble.
Its trade with the outside world devastated, North Korea is scrambling for American dollars and other hard currency, not just to feed its people but also to finance the military.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Nov 6, 2022
A vibrant refuge in Seoul goes quiet after deadly crowd crush
Makeshift altars pay homage to the victims while the government investigates one of the worst peacetime disasters in the country's history.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 19, 2022
New South Korean president tries to make his mark on foreign policy
Yoon Suk-yeol has aligned his country more closely with the United States, but there are limits to how far he can go without angering China or provoking North Korea.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Aug 15, 2022
Japanese photographer blows whistle on treatment of ‘comfort women’
The 51-year-old photographer from Japan finds himself at the center of a current scandal about the treatment of the women, more than three-quarters of a century after the end of WWII.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
May 19, 2022
North Korea wants to follow China’s COVID ‘success.’ Its plan may backfire.
If North Koreans were placed under the kind of extreme lockdowns seen in China, the government would be unable to provide basic needs, health experts say.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 26, 2022
Relocation of presidential office in Seoul heightens security concerns
The South Korean president-elect's decision to move both the presidential office and the Defense Ministry comes at a time when North Korea is rapidly escalating tension.
No link to Nankai Trough quake seen after temblor in Shikoku
Satoshi Harada from the Meteorological Agency explains about the magnitude 6.6 earthquake during a news conference early Thursday.
Thousands evacuated as Indonesia volcano erupts
Indonesia's Mount Ruang spews hot lava and smoke as seen from Sitaro, North Sulawesi, on Wednesday.
Why hasn't Japan moved to prop up the weak yen?
Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Snake on a train: Discovery of serpent delays Tokyo-Nagoya shinkansen
A Tokaido shinkansen. It is unclear whether the snake was venomous or how it ended up on the train, and there was no injury or panic among passengers.
Sex differences could be key to the successful treatment of long COVID
A new study has found that women with long COVID had significantly lower levels of testosterone compared to those who had recovered from their infection.
'House of the Owl' brings Hollywood values to Japanese TV
In the new Disney+ series “House of the Owl,” Min Tanaka (left) plays a powerful political fixer, or “kuromaku,” who has a troubled relationship with his adult children, particularly his idealistic son, played by Mackenyu.
Benefits and risks: AUKUS looks to take gamble on Japan
U.S. President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and British leader Rishi Sunak deliver remarks on the AUKUS partnership, after a trilateral meeting, at Naval Base Point Loma in San Diego in March last year.
Kyoto’s demon night parade lives to haunt another day
In a Kyoto long past, the "hyakki yagyō" (100 demon night parade) haunted a sleepy corner of Kyoto. Now, one enterprising monster enthusiast has won a small batttle to keep the march alive.
U.S. deploys midrange missile system in Indo-Pacific for first time
A U.S. Army Mid-Range Capability (MRC) Launcher arrives as part of the capability’s first deployment into theater on Northern Luzon, Philippines, April 8.
Unpacking the chaotic by-election in a scandal-hit Tokyo district
People listen to a campaign speech in Tokyo's Koto Ward on Tuesday.

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

Historically, kabuki was considered the entertainment of the merchant and peasant classes, a far cry from how it is regarded today.
For Japan's oldest kabuki theater, the show must go on
By Lance Henderstein

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Vol. 34: Tokyo, a vanguard city for sustainability
Vol. 34: Tokyo, a vanguard city for sustainability

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