Ju-min Park - The Japan Times

ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS

Oct 15, 2017

North Korea’s Kim works to turn missile-testing outpost into tourism cash cow

In the seaside city of Wonsan, North Korean families cook up barbecues on the beach, go fishing, and eat royal jelly flavored ice cream in the summer breeze. For their leader Kim Jong Un, the resort is a summer retreat, a future temple to tourism, and a good place to test missiles.

ASIA PACIFIC

Oct 15, 2017

North’s unhappy mix of tourists and military

The Wonsan resort is not North Korea’s first attempt to mix the military and tourism.

ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS

May 26, 2017

Kim’s rocket stars: the trio behind North Korea’s missile program

After successful missile launches, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un often exchanges smiles and hugs with the same three men and shares a celebratory smoke with them.

ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS

May 21, 2017

North Korea’s Unit 180, the cyberwarfare cell that worries the West

North Korea’s main spy agency has a special cell called Unit 180 that is likely to have launched some of its most daring and successful cyberattacks, according to defectors, officials and internet security experts.

ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS

May 4, 2017

In the South, voters seeking ‘Korea first’ leader may head to polls in near-record numbers

Jason Lim, a 36-year-old South Korean engineer living in Washington, thinks it is important to maintain a solid alliance with the United States — but not at any cost.

ASIA PACIFIC / Politics

Feb 13, 2017

‘Boy-band governor’ surges in S. Korean presidential poll as Ban Ki-moon drops out of race

A provincial governor nicknamed after a leading boy-band is surging in South Korean presidential polls following former United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon’s announcement that he would not run in an election that could come within months.

ASIA PACIFIC / Politics

Jan 3, 2017

How ties to an ‘equestrian princess’ landed Samsung at the center of the Park scandal in South Korea

Samsung Electronics’ sponsorship of the equestrian daughter of a longtime friend of President Park Geun-hye has helped to land South Korea’s top company in the center of the country’s influence-peddling scandal.

ASIA PACIFIC / Politics

Dec 6, 2016

U.N. chief Ban may be unwitting loser in South Korean presidential scandal

Besides South Korean President Park Geun-hye, the biggest casualty of the country’s mushrooming political corruption scandal may be the presidential aspirations of United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

author

Meta

Podcast

Longform

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER

In your social network

In your inbox

In your social network

In your inbox