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Father's status may make or break your career in Korea
By Jung Min-ho
The social status of parents tends to influence the job prospects of young people seeking work, according to a number of studies. This has even greater significance in Korea, where some parents with political or economic influence directly ask companies to hire their children.
That is exactly what Rep. Yoon Hu-duk from the New Politics Alliance for Democracy is believed to have done for his daughter, a lawyer who got a job at LG Display in 2013 under questionable circumstances.
His daughter, fresh from a law school that year, sent her resume to the firm when it was looking for a lawyer with at least four years of experience in the field of fair trade.
Yoon reportedly called the company CEO Han Sang-beom and said that his daughter had applied for the position. The company later changed its plan and decided to hire two lawyers, including his daughter.
After the issue made headlines, the lawmaker admitted that the allegations against him were true and made a public apology.
Yet the Seoul Bar Association believes that his apology was not sufficient. It is asking the National Assembly to call an ethics committee to punish Yoon immediately.
Some lawmakers from the ruling Saenuri Party also joined the chorus. Rep. Lee No-keun said an ethics committee should be held as soon as possible. "Everyone has someone they want to help. As a public figure, however, he should not have done it," he said. "The issue must be taken seriously."
Such malpractice in employment is hardly rare in Korea. During the corruption probe into former senior presidential secretary for education Park Bum-hoon earlier this year, investigators found that he allegedly pressured Chung-Ang University and Yong In University to hire his two daughters as professors.
This is a sensitive issue for a majority of young job-seekers who are struggling in a tough job market.
According to Statistics Korea, the unemployment rate for young people is the highest in 15 years. Among those employed, nearly half of them have low-paying, precarious jobs.
Although such corruption in the recruitment process is ethically wrong, Korea does not have laws preventing this.
Many critics suspect that it is in companies' interest to hire children of powerful politicians in order to create ties with them. Indeed, many companies still require job applicants to provide family information, including what their parents do and how much their income is.
It has been over a decade since the National Human Rights Commission advised companies not to require applicants to disclose information unrelated to job performance in 2003. But little has changed.
Asking for such information for jobs is considered illegal and could result in a lawsuit in many developed countries, including the United States and Canada.
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mj6c2@ktimes.com,
Teacher admits sexually harassing student
Students take part at an anti-sexual harrassment campaign at a booth set up at Kookmin University in Seoul in this May 2015 file photo. / Korea Times
At the same time police are investigating a sexual harassment case at a public high school in Seoul, it has been revealed that a teacher at another high school in Seoul harassed a female student in May, Yonhap reports.
The teacher confessed to police and was indicted without detention, but education authorities are working to have him banned.
The physical education teacher allegedly harassed a female student on May 12 while supervising students in an after-school program.
The female student asked to be excused from the after-school program, and told other teachers and her parents what happened.
The teacher has resigned and has been released from duty.
But educational authorities are reportedly trying to have him banned from teaching. The law governing sex crimes by teachers was strengthened this April, so teachers can be released from their position or expelled.
The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education in August adopted a zero-tolerance approach, after a group of male teachers at a public high school in Seoul were recently accused of sexually harassing female teachers and students for more than a year.
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janee@ktimes.com,
Extra sugar problem
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is shifting its obesity focus from fat to sugar, as it should. Recent studies have provided evidence of how overconsumption of sugar, often through sodas and energy drinks, has contributed to the rise of weight-related health problems among Americans. But the FDA's draft proposal to add labeling information on sugar has so many problematic inconsistencies that it could backfire.
The familiar nutrition labels on packaged foods would continue to tell consumers how many grams of sugar a serving contains. A new second line would break out how many of those grams were from "added sugar," as well as what percentage that represents of all the added sugar a person should consume in a day. The idea is to direct shoppers away from empty sugar calories and toward foods that, although they naturally contain sugar, also provide other nutrients.
But sugar can be complicated stuff. Fruit juice concentrate would count as "added sugar" under the proposal rather than as "natural sugar," even though its sugar occurs naturally. But the sugar in regular fruit juice would be considered natural ― unless more sugar were added. And what about juice reconstituted from concentrate? How would that be labeled?
The FDA's reasonable concern was that companies would switch to sweetening their products with fruit concentrates and thus load them with sugar calories while avoiding the "added sugar" label. But if the nutritional values of fruit juice and concentrate are the same, it's misleading to label them differently.
Overall, the emphasis on added sugar could lead consumers to think that natural sugars aren't something to watch carefully, which could encourage them to consume more, not less, sugar. Some fortified, flavored sports drinks contain a third of the sugar in fruit juice and just as much or more nutrition. But those drinks would all carry the "added sugar" stigma while the juice would not.
That might not matter, because consumers could see that the juice contained far more sugar, as well as more calories. But by setting a daily allowance on added sugar, and not all sugar, the FDA risks sending a message that naturally occurring sugar somehow doesn't "count." It does.
Before issuing its final rules, the FDA should reexamine the message it's sending. Admittedly, this isn't an easy problem to solve, but above all the agency should avoid giving consumers information that might lead to unintended consequences ― such as higher overall sugar consumption. The words "natural" and "added" don't necessarily mean "healthy" and "unhealthy."
This article was published and distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Seoul has Hungarian dessert cafe
Cafe Gerbeaud Seoul opened at the Lotte Tower in Jamsil, Seoul, in October last year. / Courtesy of Cafe Gerbeaud Seoul
Cafe Gerbeaud is 157 years old
By Rachel Lee
Cafe Gerbeaud offers the finest Eastern European desserts, but what makes this place special compared with the big coffee franchises is its rich heritage and history built up over 150 years.
Henrik Kugler — the third descendant of a confectionery dynasty — established the cafe in Budapest, Hungary, in 1858.
It became famous for its Chinese and Russian teas and the best ice-cream in Budapest, making it a favorite haunt of the aristocracy. Kugler met Swiss confectioner Emil Gerbeaud in Paris in 1882 and teamed up, handing over the business to Gerbeaud in 1884.
‘Esterhazy Torte'
Some of the biggest names have patronized the cafe, including Queen Elizabeth of England, Princess Diana, pianist Franz Liszt and Queen Elizabeth of Hungary, who praised it as a "Hungarian Jewel."
Hungarian managing director Katalin Pinter, who also operates award-winning restaurant Onyx in Budapest, runs the cafe.
"It took a considerable amount of time and effort for me to persuade the head office because they'd never really been interested in franchise business," said Oh Jin-wan, 49, Gerbeaud Seoul CEO. The Korean branch, launched last October, is the world's third Gerbeaud after Japan.
"The Japanese store in Tokyo is an exceptional case. They opened the cafe as part of an exchange between the two countries, whereas I started this business from scratch, all by myself," the CEO added.
Gerbeaud, at the Lotte Tower in Jamsil, Seoul, has a cult following.
"Customers have told me that we offer something unique from other dessert cafes," Oh said. "For example, these cakes, ‘Gerbeaud Select' and ‘Esterhazy Torte,' made of multiple layers, were invented to make it easier for Queen Elizabeth of Hungary, who visited Gerbeaud every day, to carry it home safely because layers hold the shape, even on the move."
The menu has four types of cakes with a scoop of ice cream, three Kehelys, or sundaes, and beverages including "kooler," or fruit juice, coffee and tea. Prices range from 8,000 to 18,000 won.
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rachel@koreatimes.co.kr,
Tianjin chemical blasts won't pollute air here
By Kim Se-jeong
Last week's explosion at a chemical warehouse in the Chinese city of Tianjin has raised concerns of air pollution over the Korean Peninsula.
Almost 700 tons of sodium cyanide, a toxic chemical, is believed to have been released due to the blast. Other toxic chemicals such as nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide and sulphur dioxide, were also detected in a neighboring region, according to reports.
The dangerous chemicals possibly spreading to Korea is worrying citizens here, especially since Sunday when an ultrafine particles advisory was issued for Seoul and neighboring regions.
Although heavy rain cleared the air and the advisory was lifted, speculation regarding the fallout of the huge explosion in China and its effect on Korea has remained.
The environmental authorities responded to this, saying that there's nothing to worry about.
"Tianjin is too far away to have any effect on Korea," said a researcher from the National Institute of Environmental Research under the Ministry of Environment. "Tianjin is almost 800 kilometers from the peninsula. Sodium cyanide is too heavy a substance to fly that far. Also the wind from the blast site blows northeast, not toward the peninsula."
He also said the ultrafine particles advisory on Sunday was caused by wind coming from Shanghai, south of the troubled city.
"The wind pushed the particles near the peninsula to move inland. It was nothing to do with the Tianjin accident."
On Monday after the rain the previous day, nowhere on the peninsula had an advisory.
skim@koreatimes.co.kr