By UN Journal Lee Kap-soo Venerable Chief Monk Hyangdeok (Park Seong-eok in Korean name) of the Cheonmansa Buddhist Temple in Ulsan is striving to promote world peace and cultural exchanges between Korea and foreign countries while attending major cultural events with foreign ambassadors in Korea. Ven. Chief Monk Hyangdeok, who is honorary consular of culture and economy of the Embassy of Ethiopia and UN NGO World Peace Ambassador, always prays for good luck and good health for all people he met, including foreign ambassadors, staff members of foreign embassies and their family members in Kore
By UN Journal Lee Kap-soo The number of Starbucks stores in South Korea ranks fourth in the world, after the United States, China and Japan. According to Starbucks' global website on Feb. 12, the number of Starbucks stores in South Korea totaled 1,893 at the end of last year, up 116 from the previous year. That's just eight fewer than Japan (1,901), which has 2.5 times the population of South Korea. The number of Starbucks stores in South Korea has steadily increased by more than 100 each year, from 1,508 in 2020 to 1,639 in 2021 and 1,777 in 2022. In Japan, the number of Starbucks stores grew
By UN Journal Lee Kap-soo Samsung announced on Feb. 12 that eight product series1 in its 2024 Neo QLED 8K, Neo QLED 4K, OLED, and The Frame lineups have received the “Product Carbon Reduction” certification from TÜV Rheinland, the international independent third-party testing, inspection, and certification organization. The certification demonstrates the carbon footprint reduction ratio of these products compared to the previous year’s model, serving as a testament to the company’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions year-over-year. “As the world’s leading TV manufacturer, it is our responsibil
By UN Journal Lee Jon-young Let's not be a soulless people on Feb. 14. Some people may know whether it is Valentine's Day, but how many people remember that Feb. 14 is the day when Korean independence fighter Ahn Jung-geun, a hero of our country and the pride of our nation, was sentenced to death by the Japanese. But to hide that fact, Japan made it a day to exchange chocolates between lovers as a shallow gesture. It's a shameful and unbelievable story that they're trying to hide the memory of this day. February 14, the day a Korean hero was sentenced to death at the tender age of 31, should b
By UN Journal Lee Jon-young President Yoon Suk-yeol has labeled his wife Kim Keun-hee's luxury bag scandal as "political maneuvering" and emphasized that he will "take a firm line in the future." This is Yoon's first public statement on the controversy. In the 100-minute "Special Interview with the President," which aired on KBS on July 7, President Yoon said, “It's an operation because Choi, a Korean-American pastor, came with a watch and a hidden camera.” President Yoon said, "The fact that she was unable to cold-heartedly reject him was the problem, if one can call it a problem, and it is a
By UN Journal Lee Jon-young Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Yoo In-chon announced the 'Major Policy Promotion Plan for 2024' on June 6, which includes cultural folklore policies and strategies for K-culture's overseas expansion. The ministry selected this year's priority tasks with the vision of 'a happy society with culture and a global cultural powerhouse led by K-culture'. It aims to raise the national leisure satisfaction rate from 60.7 percent last year to 65 percent this year, and increase the revenue of the K-content industry from 150 trillion won in 2022 to 170 trillion won thi
By UN Journal Lee Kap-soo "As a person who served as president, I wrote my memoirs with the hope that they would serve as a lesson for future generations by revealing what I regretted and what I did well," said former President Park Geun-hye at the launch of her memoirs, "Park Geun-hye Memoirs: Past the Darkness and into the Future. On the same day, Park also released for the first time a handwritten memo she wrote in late fall 2021, when she was imprisoned for more than four years and nine months. At a book release ceremony held at a hotel in Daegu, Park said that in late 2021, about half a y
By UN Journal Kim Ji-eun Gyeonggi-do Governor Kim Dong-yeon met with a group of lawmakers from the Aichi Prefectural Assembly on Jan. 30 at the Gyeonggi-do Government Office to seek ways to revitalize friendly cooperation between Gyeonggi-do and Aichi Prefecture, including cooperation in the manufacturing sector and youth exchanges. The six members of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan's Aichi Prefectural Assembly visited Gyeonggi-do in preparation for the 2026 Aichi and Nagoya Asian Games, and delivered a letter from the governor of Aichi Prefecture expressing their desire to expand friend
By UN Journal Lee Jon-young Bucheon City Mayor Cho Yong-ik met with Ambassador of the Kyrgyz Republic to South Korea Aida Ismailova, and agreed to find ways for mutual cooperation on Jan. 29. Bucheon City announced on Jan. 31 that Bucheon and Kyrgyz Republic have recently increased exchanges in the medical and economic fields. Soon Chun Hyang University Bucheon Hospital has been operating the Bishkek Imaging Consultation Center in Kyrgyzstan since 2022, and a local cosmetics company signed a contract to sell functional cosmetics to CIS member states, including Kyrgyzstan, in January this year.
By UN Journal Lee Kap-soo Choi Jeong-woo, chairman of POSCO Group, recently met with Australian Minister for Resources Madeleine King to discuss the eco-friendly future business cooperation that POSCO Group is promoting in Australia. According to POSCO on Feb. 5, Minister Madeleine King visited the POSCO Center in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, on Jan. 31 and exchanged views with Chairman Choi on the business areas of steel, clean hydrogen and secondary battery materials. At the meeting, Choi said, "The areas of cooperation between POSCO Group and Australia for the common goal of carbon neutrality are div
By UN Journal Lee Kap-soo Tajikistan's Ambassador to Korea Kirom Salohiddin and his delegation met with Gyeongbuk Governor Lee Chul-woo on Jan. 30 to discuss the expansion of friendly exchanges between Gyeongbuk Province and Tajikistan. Lee Ok-ryun, president of the Korea-Central Asia Friendship Association, also attended the meeting. Tajikistan is a country in Central Asia that gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 and is a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States (C.I.S.). Although 93% of the country is mountainous, it has shown competitiveness in agriculture and textiles
By UN Journal Lee Jon-young The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport (MOLIT) announced on Feb. 1 that it will impose an eight-month business suspension on five construction companies, including GS E&C, in connection with the collapse of the underground parking lot of an apartment building in Geomdan New City in Incheon. Five companies, GS E&C, Dongbu Corp., Daebo E&C, Sangha Construction, and Asia General Construction, were given an eight-month business suspension. The suspension period is from April 1 to November 30. The suspended construction companies are prohibited f
UNJournal Jon Lee | Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Tae-yul visited the Korea Enterprises Federation (KEF) on January 30 and met with KEF Chairman Sohn Kyung-shik. The purpose of his visit was to listen to the voices of Korean companies in the field regarding the expansion of overseas expansion. Chairman Sohn emphasized the increasingly important role of diplomacy in the face of growing uncertainty in relations with the four neighboring countries of Japan, China, Russia, and the U.S. which is ahead of the presidential election, and requested that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs actively suppor
By UN Journal Lee Jon-young Hyundai Elevator is speeding up its efforts to strengthen its global capabilities to explore new markets. At the conference, more than 70 members of the CoP team shared their research over the past year on the construction business, corporate status, cultural characteristics, and market outlook of major and strategic countries. Hyundai Elevator's major markets include China, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Turkmenistan, while its strategic countries include Saudi Arabia, Poland, and Finland. In particular, the event was attended by Mr. Abdulaziz Al-Dael, Director of the Cul
UNJournal Jon Lee | Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Tae-yul had a telephone conversation with Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong on Jan. 25 to exchange greetings, Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Affairs Soosuk Lim said in a press briefing. Over the phone, the two Foreign Ministers discussed Korea-Australia relations, cooperation on the defense industry, and regional and global issues, among others. They noted with appreciation that their two countries have built a strong and close partnership based on their “Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.” Meanwhile, Minister