[Kim Seong-kon] Teachers change the world and our children

Recently in Seoul, an elementary school teacher died by apparent suicide in her classroom, with claims emerging since that she had been dealing with a belligerent parent. The deceased teacher was a 23-year-old young woman who had just begun her career as an educator. In another elementary school in Seoul, a sixth grader beat up his female homeroom teacher, whose injuries will likely take weeks to heal. Embarrassingly, violent assaults on teachers by students and parents are becoming common these

July 26, 2023

[Gearoid Reidy] Fukushima water opposition is steeped in anti-science

Hong Kong is so opposed to Japan’s plan to release treated water from the Fukushima nuclear plant that it’s banning seafood products -- from four of the country’s landlocked prefectures. That sounds a bit off, yes? Tochigi, Gunma, Nagano and Saitama, which have a combined zero kilometers of coastline between them, are among the 10 regions whose aquatic produce will no longer be welcome in Hong Kong’s restaurants once Japan proceeds with its aim to begin releasing the more

July 25, 2023

[Pankaj Mishra] Europe's far right in the ascendant

A global upheaval looms as Donald Trump strengthens his candidacy for the next US presidential elections. Ukraine and its European allies need to start considering the prospect that by the end of next year, they could face a US no longer invested in resisting Russia’s aggression. We should also start bracing ourselves for a geopolitical earthquake in Europe itself. In Spain, which holds national elections on July 23, and across the continent, far-right demagogues are in the ascendant. Prim

July 25, 2023

[Gordon Brown] For whom Spain polls: a test for democracy in Europe

Spain’s general election Sunday matters not just for the country’s future but also for the future of Europe. A defeat for socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez would likely propel the extreme right-wing Vox party from back street demagogues to parliamentary power, and if, as is widely expected, Vox and the Popular Party (PP) enter into a coalition government, it will mark the end of Spain’s long aversion to far-right politicians, which has endured since the death of Generaliss

July 24, 2023

[Robert J. Fouser] Korea and global competition for labor

On my recent visit to South Korea and Japan, the topic of foreign migrant labor came up more than on any previous visit. An architect friend in South Korea said that construction would be almost impossible without foreign labor. A Japanese friend in Tokyo said that the service industry would face a severe shortage of workers without foreign labor. As the COVID-19 pandemic recedes, interest in other long-standing issues has reasserted itself. In 2021, South Korea joined Japan as one of the few na

July 21, 2023

[Lee Kyong-hee] Gyeongju: archaeology, myths and memories

Summer 1973. The sights and sounds of excavations descended on Gyeongju, turning the entire city into a massive archaeological project. If a Korean movie studio ever decides to make its own version of “Indiana Jones,” they would not have to search much for opening-scene inspiration. The “comprehensive tourist development” of the ancient royal capital of Silla, a pet project of then President Park Chung-hee, triggered the cacophony. Famously called “the museum withou

July 20, 2023

[Kim Seong-kon] Demagogy ruins our friendship with neighbors

John F. Kennedy once said, “Geography has made us neighbors. History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners, and necessity has made us allies. Those whom God has so joined together, let no man put asunder.” Indeed, no one can force us to change such a God-given situation. Having a good neighbor is crucial for having a peaceful life. On the contrary, a bad neighbor is like a recurring nightmare that you have to suffer and endure every day. Therefore, what kind of a neigh

July 19, 2023

[Chris Edelson] Surreal prospect of Trump's reelection

In the wake of Donald Trump’s federal indictment, the former president remains legally eligible to run again -- even if he is convicted, and even (bizarrely) if he is incarcerated, which is unlikely to occur before the election. In a functioning, healthy democracy, Trump would be denied the Republican Party’s nomination. GOP elites would stand together to reject his candidacy and rally behind a nominee who is not facing criminal prosecution related to willful retention of classified

July 19, 2023

[Howard Davies] Buffer madness

Speaking at this summer’s European Central Bank Forum in Portugal, Gita Gopinath, the International Monetary Fund’s first deputy managing director, set out what she described as “Three Uncomfortable Truths for Monetary Policy.” But it was the speech itself that often made for awkward listening. Gopinath’s first truth was that “inflation is taking too long to get back to target” and that “sustained high inflation makes bringing down inflation more d

July 18, 2023

[Andrew Sheng] The promises and perils of the tech war

How well or badly is the US-China chip war going? After the Biden administration announced its industrial strategy to revitalize domestic manufacturing, create jobs, strengthen American supply chains and accelerate future industries, the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 will give as much as $280 billion over the next decade to support US semiconductor chip industry. Goodbye free markets, hello industrial policy. The outcome of the US-China rivalry hinges on the technology edge and how to use such t

July 18, 2023

[Peter Singer] The coming disruption of animal production

One day, we may look back on 2023 as the year when it became apparent that the gigantic industry of raising animals for food was heading the same way as the industry that for most of the 20th century dominated how we record and store images. Is this year the equivalent, for animal production, of 1989, when the first digital camera aimed at the general public was launched? There are signs that it might be, starting with the Israeli Ministry of Health’s approval, in April, of a dairy produc

July 17, 2023

[James Stavridis] NATO's Arctic windfall: Finland, Sweden

In the wake of Finland’s and Sweden’s accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the alliance can take a well-deserved victory lap. I commanded troops from both nations in Afghanistan, and Swedish forces in the Libyan campaign of 2011. The countries have professional and motivated personnel equipped with superb technology systems, from advanced fighter jets to stealthy naval corvettes. This spells trouble for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s military, already much d

July 17, 2023

[Nani Jansen Reventlow] Righting imperialism's wrongs

At long last, European countries have begun to grapple with their colonial legacies. In the Netherlands, the government has issued an apology for the country’s role in the global slave trade, and the king has “asked for forgiveness.” The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples has urged Denmark to “address the negative impacts” of its colonization of Greenland. And in the United Kingdom, media outlets, the Church of England, and cities

July 14, 2023

[Carl P. Leubsdorf] Dangerous criticisms of Biden

Despite differences on abortion and Ukraine, most members of the large Republican presidential field have generally followed former President Donald Trump’s lead in roundly condemning President Joe Biden. While some of that criticism is justified -- his difficulty in taming inflation, or his mishandling of Afghanistan, for example -- some is not. And the most dangerous example of mistaken Republican Party condemnation of Biden is the continuing assertion that the current administration i

July 13, 2023

[Wang Son-taek] Another scenario for Fukushima wastewater problem

Japan's discharge of contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear plant seems imminent. As the International Atomic Energy Agency reported that the discharge plan meets safety standards, the only thing that remains is Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s decision on the discharge date. Some Japanese media are predicting the release in August. The prospect that the Japanese government will push ahead with the release underscores the IAEA's final report. It is also a boon for

July 13, 2023

[Yuliya Tymoshenko] What Ukraine brings to NATO

This week, almost every Ukrainian will be looking longingly toward Lithuania’s capital, Vilnius. It is there, at the summit of NATO’s leaders, that our place in Europe and the West will begin to be decided. Although virtually all Ukrainians dream of NATO membership, the brutal fighting in which we have been forced to engage since Russia invaded our country nearly 18 months ago has taught us hard lessons in realism. So, we are well aware that making our NATO dream a reality will be

July 12, 2023

[Kim Seong-kon] Asian students in affirmative action controversy

History will remember 2022 and 2023 as pivotal times when the US Supreme Court overturned two monumental legal precedents in America: women’s abortion rights and affirmative action. Conservatives say that times have changed now and we no longer need the two. However, liberals worry that America has become hopelessly conservative due to the justices appointed by former President Donald Trump. The 2022 decision of the US Supreme Court that reversed the famous 1973 Roe v. Wade case that dec

July 12, 2023

[Jean Guerrero] US top court waging war on youth

The Supreme Court's right-wing majority seems to be declaring war on young people. In recent days alone, the court has halted affirmative action in colleges, derailed student loan debt forgiveness and approved discrimination against LGBTQ+ couples in certain cases. The conservative justices seem hellbent on making the country a more hostile place for Gen Z and millennials, the most diverse voters in terms of race, ethnicity, gender identity and sexual orientation. Many young people see in

July 11, 2023

[Stephen Mihm] How Titanic became a money-making scheme

The ill-fated passengers who died trying to visit the wreck of the Titanic paid an extraordinary price for the privilege: $250,000 each. This is hardly surprising, given how many people view the story of the doomed ship with intense, if morbid, fascination. While it’s tempting to blame James Cameron for this state of affairs, that’s not quite right. Our obsession with the Titanic tragedy, along with monetizing it, has far deeper roots. Even as the corpses of those who died in the tra

July 11, 2023

[Jean Pisani-Ferry] Can climate investment be financed by debt?

Climate ambitions are running into macroeconomic headwinds in the European Union and the United Kingdom. Speaking in late May, French Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire adamantly rejected the idea that France’s transition to a net-zero economy should be financed by issuing more debt. Then, just days later, Rachel Reeves, the UK’s shadow chancellor, backtracked from an earlier campaign pledge to borrow 28 billion euros ($35 billion) per year to finance climate investments. She now

July 10, 2023