Park Geun-hye

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Seohoi Stephanie Park
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Revisiting: My Political Coming of Age

Almost every Saturday for the last twenty weeks or so, my friends and I took a stroll down to Gwanghwamun Plaza in downtown Seoul to join the protesters. We were young, awkward, and clueless. It didn’t take us long to realize that it was the first time, too, for

Jieun Choi
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“I’m Young, I’m Fast, I’m Pretty”: S. Korea’s Dogged Young Conservatives

After Korea Post scrapped plans to print stamps honoring former military dictator Park Chung-hee this July, the youth of today picked up the slack. University Students’ Forum of Korea, a conservative youth group, launched a crowdfunding project in September to print stamps commemorating Park’s centenary (Nov. 14). This was

Ben Jackson
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CCPI 2018: South Korea's Climate Change Response Sucks

South Korea has been ranked 58th out of 60 countries worldwide in Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) 2018, an instrument that assesses action taken on climate protection. The index, compiled by European NGO Germanwatch, aggregates performance in terms of 14 indicators within four categories: greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy, energy

Steven Borowiec
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Former Spy Chief Could Be Next On Chopping Block for Park Geun-hye Saga

Appearing at the prosecutors’ office in Seoul on Monday morning, former National Intelligence Service Director Lee Byung-kee told reporters, “I regret having disappointed the people of this country over the question of having National Intelligence Agency funds funneled to the Blue House.” Lee, 70, is being questioned in relation to

Haeryun Kang
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A Small Victory for South Korea's Disability Rights

On a cold winter evening in 2012, Lee Hyung-sook came out to Gwanghwamun, a historic square in central Seoul, to catch the attention of then-candidate Park Geun-hye. Lee uses a wheelchair to get around and is officially classified as “level 1,” a grade applied to the most severely handicapped

Steven Borowiec
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South Korean Perp Walks: What's Up With the Blurred Handcuffs?

If you happened to catch television coverage of then-South Korean President Park Geun-hye arriving for a court hearing in May, you might have noticed that before she even disembarked from the jail bus, there was a pixelated blob on the screen waiting for her. The pixelation was strategically placed to

Steven Borowiec
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Spending Candlelight Protest Anniversary in the Slammer

One year after the start of a historic protest movement that ended with the ouster of a president, central Seoul is set to be filled with candle-holding citizens again this Saturday. Last year’s nationwide demonstrations were  sparked by allegations of influence peddling involving then-President Park Geun-hye, her confidante

Haeryun Kang
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Not Even Kim Jong-un Can Stop KBS, MBC Strikes

On the day North Korea conducted its sixth nuclear test on Sep. 3, two of South Korea’s biggest public broadcasters didn’t have enough reporters to thoroughly cover the breaking story. Many of them were on strike. “We beseech the employees and the labor unions leading the strike to

Jieun Choi
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Were Park Geun-hye's Seven 'Missing Hours' Actually More?

The seven missing hours. This number has been the hotbed for sensational rumors, conspiracy theories and politically polarized debates about how responsible the government — namely, Park Geun-hye — was for one of the country’s most tragic ferry disasters in recent memory. On the day of the Sewol

Se-Woong Koo
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Lee Myung-bak: One More President to Face the Past

Former president Lee Myung-bak has enjoyed a comfortable retirement until now, thanks to having a fellow conservative succeed him. But now that Park Geun-hye has been replaced by Moon Jae-in, from the center-left Minjoo Party, Lee faces growing scrutiny over his term, from 2008 to 2013. A reform committee within

Daniel Corks
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A Lost Decade for Human Rights in South Korea

In November 2015 I was invited to be a judge at a debate contest for university students. The topic was whether Kaesong Industrial Complex was helping the human rights situation for average North Koreans. At the end of the day, I heard one of the winners remark that he was

Haeryun Kang
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Those Texts Between Samsung and S. Korean Journalists

“Dear respected Mr. Chang Choong-ki! …. I have finally mustered the courage to send you this text message, after hesitating again and again. My son XXX applied to the XXX department of Samsung Electronics…. His application number is 1XXXXXXX, and he graduated from XXX University with a degree