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Ju-min Park
Japan Times
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.
Japan Times
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.
Japan Times
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.
Japan Times
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.
Japan Times
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.
Japan Times
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.
Japan Times
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.
Japan Times
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.
Japan Times
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.
Japan Times
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.
Japan Times
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.
Japan Times
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.
Japan Times
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.
Japan Times
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.
Japan Times
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.
Japan Times
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.
Japan Times
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.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 2, 2015
South Korean children navigate rocky road to K-pop stardom
Nine-year-old Kim Si-yoon has no time to throw tantrums.
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 5, 2014
North Korea's hackers are a hand-picked elite
Despite its poverty and isolation, North Korea has poured resources into a sophisticated cyber warfare cell called Bureau 121, defectors from the secretive state said as Pyongyang came under the microscope for a crippling hack into computers at Sony Pictures Entertainment.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 28, 2014
North Korean 'princess' moves closer to center of power
In her slim-fitting pantsuits and black-heeled shoes, Kim Yo Jong cuts a contrasting figure to her pudgy older brother, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

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