Amid the dynamic race to the March 9 presidential election, the fates of two women test our moral compass. One vanished soon after she appeared, and the other virtually stays on track, her mystic presence piquing voter curiosity in novel ways with potential consequences. Last month, when Cho Dong-youn joined the ruling Democratic Party of Korea’s campaign committee for Lee Jae-myung as co-chair,...

Can democracy be snuffed out? You bet it can. Just look at what’s happening in Hong Kong. My last visit there was at the end of 2019, right before the pandemic, during what seems in retrospect to have been the final stand of the pro-democracy movement. In those days, pop-up demonstrations were a regular event, including clashes in the streets between masked activists and police officers. The Ho...

Recently, the American satirical film, “Don’t Look Up,” has been attracting widespread attention. It is a small wonder why. The film features a stellar cast: Meryl Streep is president of the US, and Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio play two astronomers from Michigan State University, who have found a comet big enough to destroy humanity on a direct course to earth. The two astronomers, Kat...

After a half century or so in politics, Joe Biden sure didn’t need to be reminded -- by a pollster, or a political science professor or a media pundit -- of the secret of winning elections. Because this is one secret that every politico knows. Namely: A politician will never be able to convince people that their perceived problems aren’t real -- or aren’t being fixed -- if voters are sure the pr...

The coronavirus is everywhere: in the air, on surfaces, in our respiratory tracts, and, over the past week, at the US Supreme Court. On Jan. 10, key elements of US President Joe Biden’s controversial “vaccine-or-test” mandate provisionally went into force, requiring that all workers at companies with more than 100 employees be vaccinated or tested regularly for COVID-19. With roughly 84 million A...

As fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine mounted, political unrest exploded in Kazakhstan last week, prompting the Kazakhstan government to invite Russia troops into the country to suppress the dissent. Russia is suddenly wielding power and influence in ways reminiscent of the former Soviet Union. The situation is a reminder that power and influence in the world remain in the hands of a few nati...

South Korean defense authorities suffered a serious loss of face at the beginning of the year when a young man crossed the high fences on the heavily guarded Demilitarized Zone to escape to North Korea a little more than a year after he made a similar adventure in a reverse direction. The incident tarnished the finale of President Moon Jae-in’s five-year epic of inter-Korean reconciliation. The ...

Kelly Ernby was no doubt a good person, a friend to her friends, a companion to her husband, a crime-fighting prosecutor. She presumably had all the decent qualities we usually celebrate after a person dies, when we generally say only the kindest things we can think of. But she was also a vocal critic of vaccine mandates whose posts on social media risked lives, denied science and confused Ameri...

Dear Presidential Candidates of South Korea, We hope you realize that 2022 is a crucial and pivotal year for your country for many reasons. As you know, South Korea is now facing unprecedented crises both internally and externally. Whoever is elected as the next president will therefore face the challenging task of skillfully navigating the “S.S. Republic of Korea” in a stormy sea, sailing the n...