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Shinhye Kang
For Shinhye Kang's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
South Korean officials count ballots following a parliamentary election on April 10. President Yoon Suk-yeol’s conservative bloc is set for a major setback in a vote for a new parliament, exit polls showed, likely meaning he will be in a weak position for the remaining three years of his term and face political gridlock.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 18, 2024
Billionaire families lose hope for tax cut after Korean vote
South Korea’s regular maximum inheritance levy of as much as 50% is the second-highest among members of the OECD, after 55% in Japan.
Doctors on Sunday lead thousands of protesters in a rally in Seoul demanding the government to scrap its plan to increase medical school enrollment.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Mar 4, 2024
South Korea to start legal steps to punish doctors in walkout
The health ministry said on its website that some of the doctors in the collective action have been ordered back to work — a procedural first step.
Demonstrators gather during a protest in Seoul on Sunday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Feb 29, 2024
South Korea seeks first talks with doctors as deadline looms
The Health and Welfare Ministry said it has proposed having talks to address the 10-day walkout by about 9,000 trainee doctors.
South Korean doctors and other demonstrators march during a protest in Seoul on Sunday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Feb 27, 2024
South Korea probing if woman’s death linked to doctor walkout
More than 9,000 of the country’s roughly 13,000 trainee doctors, who play a key role in emergency care, have walked off their jobs in labor action.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol (center) speaks during a cabinet meeting at the presidential office in Seoul on Tuesday. South Korean hospitals turned away some patients and delayed surgeries on the day, as hundreds of trainee doctors stopped working in a protest against medical training reforms.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Feb 21, 2024
Nearly 8,000 South Korean doctors walk out over plan to boost numbers
While the labor action has caused only minor disruptions so far, the junior medics play a key role in providing emergency care.
South Korea plans to increase the number of slots in university medical school programs by 2,000 from the current 3,058 next year to alleviate a shortage of doctors.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 19, 2024
For South Korea’s top students, medical school beats chips
Students are enticed by what many see as better job security and higher pay in the medical field.
A news broadcast showing at a railway station in Seoul on Tuesday shows footage of a previous North Korean missile launch.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 2, 2024
North Korea fires missiles as Kim seeks ‘war preparation’ boost
Kim is likely using the tests to show he many ways to launch a strike, adding to the planning contingencies for the U.S. and its allies in the region.
An Israeli soldier looks on as smoke rises from Gaza on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 9, 2024
South Korea confirms Hamas used North Korean weapons in Gaza war
Seoul's spy agency has released a photo of a North Korean rocket part to show that Hamas fighters were using an F-7 rocket-propelled grenade launcher made by Pyongyang.
North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un waves as he takes poses for photos during the Fifth National Mothers' Convention in Pyongyang.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 13, 2023
Kim Jong Un admits rare weakness as North Korea population falls
The rare admission indicates Kim is just as worried about a demographic crunch as he is about the U.S. forces that he says want to end his regime.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un welcomes Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during a meeting in Pyongyang on Oct. 19.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 2, 2023
North Korea sent Russia 1 million rounds of artillery, Seoul says
There have been about 10 shipments of weapons from North Korea to Russia since August, according to South Korea's National Intelligence Service.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 13, 2023
South Korea tries $500 handouts to help get reclusive children outside
The new policy’s main goal is to help disadvantaged youth, but it’s also a way for the country to address its shrinking working-age population.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 20, 2023
Major fire in Seoul’s Gangnam neighborhood destroys 60 homes
The fire broke out at 6:27 a.m. in Guryong Village, located near one of Seoul’s most affluent suburbs, Gangnam district.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 20, 2023
Mask mandate lifted everywhere but on public transport in South Korea
Authorities have determined the current COVID-19 wave has peaked, based on the country’s death rate and the number of critical patients.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 2, 2023
Kim Jong Un vows nuclear buildup to take on U.S. and South Korea
In a speech that came at the end of a nearly weeklong meeting of his ruling Workers Party, the North Korean leader said Washington and Seoul are taking aim at his government.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 27, 2022
South Korea's Yoon pardons jailed former President Lee Myung-bak
Lee is the fourth former president to be issued a pardon since the country's transition to full democracy in 1987.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 27, 2022
South Korea sends drones into North Korean airspace in unprecedented move
The deployment was consistent with South Korea's strategy over the past year to respond to North Korean provocations with similar maneuvers.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Sep 13, 2022
Netflix's megahit ‘Squid Game’ makes history at Emmy Awards
Lee Jung-jae, the star of the dystopian South Korean series, took home the top acting prize and became the first person from a foreign-language show to win best actor in a drama.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 4, 2021
Kim Jong Un’s head bandage is added to list of health mysteries
Images of the North Korean leader at events in late July showed a bandage and later a dark greenish spot on the back of his head.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 18, 2021
North Korea rules out U.S. talks in jab at visiting Biden envoys
A senior North Korean diplomat confirmed Thursday that Pyongyang had rejected numerous overtures from Washington over the past month, dismissing them as a 'time-delaying trick.”
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 5, 2021
South Korea presidential hopeful prods Biden over North Korea
Lee Nak-yon, who served as Moon's first prime minister until January 2020, has emerged in opinion polls as a top contender to represent Moon's progressive bloc in elections next year.

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