Latest news with #SookmyungWomen'sUniversity
Korea Herald
25-06-2025
- Politics
- Korea Herald
Yoon visits hospitalized wife daily, aide says
Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has been visiting Seoul Asan Medical Center almost daily to care for his wife, Kim Keon Hee, a close aide told local media Wednesday. According to lawyer Seo Jung-wook, Kim's condition has deteriorated since she was hospitalized on June 16 for depression and difficulty breathing. Her stay was initially expected to last about a week, but has been extended due to worsening health. Kim is at the center of a special counsel probe into 16 alleged corruption and influence-peddling allegations tied to her time as first lady. These include suspected stock manipulation, bribery involving corporate sponsorships of her exhibitions, illegal campaign financing, and meddling in government appointments. Despite her hospitalization, Seo said Kim will 'appear at the prosecutor's office when summoned,' ruling out the possibility of investigators questioning her in the hospital. Former President Yoon, too, is also facing investigations over his failed martial law attempt in December 2024. Special prosecutors filed for an arrest warrant for him Tuesday. The former president had defied multiple summons from police since March. His legal team claims this was partly due to his wife's condition and partly because the case had not yet been officially transferred to the special counsel. Separately, two universities recently revoked Kim's academic degrees after confirming plagiarism in her theses. Sookmyung Women's University found over 48 percent of her master's thesis copied and canceled the degree. Kookmin University then rescinded her doctorate, which had depended on the former. Seo criticized the timing, saying such actions 'would have been brave under Yoon's presidency,' but now appear politically motivated.
Korea Herald
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Korea Herald
Students, professors urge Sookmyung Women's University to take action on Kim Keon Hee's plagiarism
Kim's 1999 thesis accused of plagiarism in 2021, confirmed in February this year Students and professors at Sookmyung Women's University on Thursday called on the school to take action by revoking the master's degree of Kim Keon Hee, wife of former President Yoon Suk Yeol, after her thesis was found to have been plagiarized. 'It's been more than three months since Kim's thesis was confirmed to be plagiarized, but the university still hasn't revoked her degree or taken any action, and we haven't been told why it's taking so long,' said Hwang Da-kyung from Seolhwa, a student group at the university, during a press conference held in central Seoul with the Democratic Alumnae Association. 'There is nothing to learn from a university that no longer upholds the values of fairness and integrity." Kim earned her master's degree in art education from Sookmyung Women's University in 1999. Allegations of plagiarism in her thesis emerged in late 2021 amid growing public scrutiny of her academic background, shortly after Yoon became a leading presidential candidate. In early 2022, an accusation filed by the alumnae group prompted the university's research ethics committee to begin reviewing Kim's thesis, but a full investigation didn't begin until December, raising criticism about delays. Finally this January, the university determined that she had plagiarized her work. Shin Dong-soon, a professor of Chinese language and literature at the university who attended the press conference, said, 'It took far too long for the university to officially confirm plagiarism in Kim's thesis, even though the similarity rate exceeded 50 percent.' 'I urge President Moon to proceed with fairness and without partiality, no matter who the subject of the investigation is.' According to Article 65 of the university's academic regulations, a degree obtained through dishonest means may be revoked following deliberation. Meanwhile, another thesis Kim wrote in 2008 while studying at Kookmin University's Graduate School of Techno Design, where she earned a doctorate in design, has also come under scrutiny for alleged plagiarism. The university, however, concluded that the level of plagiarism in Kim's doctoral thesis and related papers did not constitute research misconduct that 'seriously exceeds what is generally considered acceptable in academia.' Possibilities have emerged that if Kim's master's degree from Sookmyung is officially revoked, her doctoral degree from Kookmin University could also be subject to cancellation. Under the Korea's Higher Education Act, a master's degree is a prerequisite for admission to a doctorate program.
Los Angeles Times
05-05-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
A court ruling roils South Korea's presidential election
SEOUL — As South Koreans prepare to elect a successor to ousted former president Yoon Suk Yeol, a court ruling against front-runner Lee Jae-myung has thrust the country — which has been under interim leadership for the last five months — into further uncertainty. Yoon, who was impeached for declaring martial law in December, was removed from office last month, triggering a snap election that will be held June 3. Since then, the country has been led by a descending order of deputies, including the prime minister, the finance minister and, now, the education minister. Lee, who until declaring his candidacy last month was the leader of South Korea's liberal opposition party, has been the clear favorite in polls. But his candidacy has been complicated by several criminal trials he has decried as politically motivated. These troubles came to a head Thursday, when South Korea's Supreme Court overturned a lower court's acquittal of Lee on charges he had violated the country's election law — which prohibits candidates from making 'false statements' — and ordered the appeals court to issue a sentence. If the appeals court rules on Lee's case before the presidential election next month, Lee may be forced out of the running. The Supreme Court ruling will also likely sway moderate voters who may prove crucial in clinching the presidency. It is a surprising turn that has drawn fire from Lee's supporters, who say the Supreme Court is inappropriately putting its finger on the scale of the election. Of the 12 Supreme Court justices, all but two — who both issued dissenting opinions — were nominated by Yoon, a conservative. In the wake of the ruling, Lee's opponents have called for his withdrawal from the race. 'Although the sentence has yet to be confirmed, Lee's disqualification from the election is only a matter of time,'wrote Lee Jun-seok, a conservative candidate. 'The Democratic Party should respect the Supreme Court's decision and immediately replace him as the party candidate.' Many legal experts have expressed skepticism at the Supreme Court's decision, which was unusually swift. Lee's first trial took just over two years, and the second took around four months. The Supreme Court, however, issued its decision after just eight days of deliberation. 'I am doubtful whether there was enough time for the 12 justices to sufficiently review and debate the vast number of trial documents,'wrote Hong Sung-soo, a law professor at Sookmyung Women's University in Seoul, in a social media post Friday. 'Even with help from research judges, there is still a minimum amount of time that this will take.' Under South Korean election law, candidates are forbidden from lying about themselves or their opponents and can face up to seven years in prison for doing so. Those found guilty are prohibited from running for public office for five years if their penalty is 1 million won ($717) in fines or greater. The two false statements Lee is accused of making date back to his second presidential run in 2021 — a race he ultimately lost to Yoon — and concern a controversial real estate development project in the city of Seongnam where Lee was mayor from 2010-18. During his campaign, Lee claimed that a photograph showing him with a municipal official implicated in the project was doctored — and that he didn't know the official. He also stated that a re-zoning decision he made during that time was due to pressure from the central government. Prosecutors indicted Lee, arguing the two statements were false. The first court found Lee guilty last November. But the appeals court disagreed four months later, saying that Lee's claims should be understood as subjective viewpoints, rather than factual statements. Many legal scholars have argued that this provision in the country's election law — which politicians from both sides have weaponized against their opponents — violates both the spirit of free political expression and the prerogative of citizens to judge the truthfulness of their leaders' statements on their own terms. That was the warning issued by the two Supreme Court justices who voted against the ruling against Lee. 'The various statements that are made during the course of an election are a mixture of facts, opinions and judgments that, existing within the context of political interests, cannot always be clearly defined as true or false,' they wrote. 'But the judiciary is nonetheless still responsible for maintaining political impartiality, and for it to intervene in this mixed-up realm of politics and sort truth from falsehood is itself an act that compromises its political impartiality.'
Korea Herald
28-04-2025
- Korea Herald
SK Telecom stores overwhelmed as customers rush to replace USIM cards over security fears
SK Telecom plans to secure 5m more USIM cards by late May, but that would still fall far short of covering its 25m users What was meant to reassure customers after a major security scare quickly turned into long lines, delays and frustration, as SK Telecom's free USIM card replacement program struggled to meet overwhelming demand on its first day. Earlier this month, South Korea's largest mobile carrier disclosed that it had discovered malware inside a key internal system, the Home Subscriber Server — the database that manages mobile user identities and network authentication. The discovery raised concerns that sensitive information stored on customers' physical USIM cards — including identifiers needed to verify a user's phone on the network — may have been exposed. To address security concerns, the company promised free physical USIM card replacements to all affected customers — over 25 million people in total. It also urged customers to enroll in its "USIM Protection Service," a security feature that blocks network access if a cloned USIM card is inserted into an unauthorized device by verifying the phone's IMEI number — a unique identifier assigned to each mobile device, like a digital fingerprint. SK Telecom emphasized that enrolling in the service offers a level of safety comparable to replacing the card. Long lines, empty hands At SK Telecom's store near Sookmyung Women's University station in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, customers lined up early Monday morning, only to find that the stock of USIM cards had already been depleted. The store had posted an online notice days earlier on Naver Map, warning that over 500 reservations had already been made. Inside, two overwhelmed employees explained that early reservation holders could swap their USIM cards immediately, while walk-ins have to book new appointments — later this week if done in person, or next week if scheduled online through SK Telecom's website ( "Even with endless stock, two of us can only replace about 100 cards a day," one staffer said. For most waiting in line, security fears, not inconvenience, drove the urgency. A woman in her 50s said she had booked her appointment "as soon as news of the breach broke." Nearby, a man in his 60s, who had received SK Telecom's security alert via text, called the breach "very serious" and said he felt far safer physically replacing his USIM card than relying solely on the network-based protection service. Others shared similar views. A university student in his 20s said he "did not expect immediate financial theft" but felt "uncomfortable leaving compromised data unaddressed." A man in his 30s, who had learned about the breach only through news reports, said he "found the situation unsettling enough to warrant a prompt replacement." The reservation website struggled under demand as well. By mid-morning, more than 97,000 customers were queued for reservations. At major airports like Incheon, SK Telecom expanded roaming center staffing by 50 percent and pledged that even if customers missed replacement opportunities before departing, the company would be liable for any subsequent overseas fraud involving cloned USIM cards. Currently, SK Telecom holds around one million USIM cards, with plans to secure five million more by late May. Given the scale, shortages are expected to persist for weeks. Experts assurance amid anxiety Amid these mounting anxieties from customers, cybersecurity professor Kim Seung-joo of Korea University told The Korea Herald that replacing the UICC smart card containing the USIM application resets the crucial IMSI and K values, neutralizing the impact of the leaked data. "When you replace your USIM card, the identifiers are regenerated. You can rest assured after replacement," Kim said. He confirmed that SK Telecom's USIM Protection Service also provides strong interim protection by blocking cloned cards from accessing the network. "Enroll in the service first if necessary, and replace the USIM card later when the rush subsides," he advised. Kim also confirmed that leaked USIM card data alone cannot directly lead to bank account theft. mjh@
South China Morning Post
19-04-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Selling comfort: ‘loneliness economy' emerges as more South Koreans live alone
Living alone in his early 40s after ending four years of marriage and getting divorced, Suh spends far more than 142,000 won (US$100) per month to buy premium food brands, get top-rated grooming services and pay insurance for his Maltese dog. Advertisement Suh acknowledges that he may be 'excessively' spending for his dog, considering 142,000 won was Korean pet owners' monthly average spending in the 2024 report released by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Nevertheless, he finds such spending 'worthwhile as my dog helped me to get away from loneliness, which I previously struggled with after getting a divorce'. 'The joy and happiness that my dog brings as a lifetime companion is priceless, especially as I do not have kids and also rarely keep in touch with friends and families in recent years,' Suh said, declining to give his full name due to privacy concerns. Suh's unsparing financial commitment to his pet, according to economists, manifests a burgeoning 'loneliness economy' – a segment of goods and services that capitalise on people's feelings of isolation and social disconnection to make profits. A woman walks past a souvenirs shop in a tourist area in Seoul. Loneliness-driven businesses are closely associated with a fast-growing number of single-person households in South Korea. Photo: AFP Such loneliness-driven businesses include psychological counselling and therapy, dating apps and even controversial dating services in return for money. The businesses are closely associated with a fast-growing number of single-person households, including those who are unmarried, divorced or widowed, according to Shin Se-don, professor emeritus of economics at Sookmyung Women's University.
