[Yoo Choon-sik] Central bank independence and government policy

In countries like South Korea that adopt the presidential system of government, the president can wield much stronger power than the prime minister under the parliamentary system because the president usually rules for a fixed period. Accordingly, comments by the president or presidential officials on specific issues can carry a much stronger and wider impact on people’s lives as well as financial markets. At the same time, their comments sometimes have a different type and magnitude of im

Aug. 5, 2024

[Lee Byung-jong] Espionage or public diplomacy?

The recent indictment by the US government of former CIA analyst Sue Mi Terry on espionage charges smacks of a thrilling Hollywood spy movie. As an expert on Korean affairs, she allegedly received luxury handbags and expensive meals from the National Intelligence Service, South Korea’s main spy agency. In return, she arranged meetings between officials of Seoul and Washington and provided sensitive US government information to the agency in a bid to influence US policies on the Korean Peni

Aug. 2, 2024

[Wang Son-taek] Obscured truth in the Sado mine complex

The Sado mine complex on Sado Island in Niigata prefecture of Japan has suddenly become world-famous. On Saturday, the 46th UNESCO World Heritage Committee in New Delhi, India decided to list the complex as a World Heritage site. Japan had sought to register it since December 2021 but had not succeeded, mainly due to strong opposition from South Korea. But recently there has been a big change in Korea’s position and Japan succeeded. In Japan, national leaders, including Prime Minister Fumi

Aug. 1, 2024

[Eric Posner] Prosecutions, politics don't mix

As America’s attention turns to November’s presidential election between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, the prosecutions of the former president have been all but forgotten. But Democrats hope that Harris’s previous role as a district attorney may help jog memories and persuade some crucial swing voters to ditch the felon for the prosecutor. Will it work? Or has the failed assassination attempt against Trump retroactively mythologized the sputtering prosecutions as Stations of

Aug. 1, 2024

[Kim Seong-kon] Cultural differences make our eyes open

Despite many striking similarities, there are a myriad of cultural differences between the East and the West. Living in Korea and the US, I can attest to the plethora of such differences. Those differences reflect how Koreans and Americans perceive things differently. The way of disciplining a child is a good example. For instance, American parents usually “ground” a badly behaving boy by confining him in his room, probably with no TV or computer. On the other hand, Korean parents pu

July 31, 2024

[Lisa Jarvis] Extreme heat hits mental health

On July 22, planet Earth achieved a terrifying milestone: Global temperatures reached their highest level in recorded history, breaking a record set just one day before. This year is expected to be the hottest in centuries. Heat waves are hotter, longer and more frequent than they were in the 1960s. By now, most of us understand that extreme heat is bad for our health, making our hearts, lungs, kidneys and other organs work much harder. But too often we overlook the quieter, less obvious toll he

July 30, 2024

[Grace Kao] Asian Americans in US Census counts

The United States is a land of immigrants, with many racial and ethnic groups. How the US government counts them changes regularly, and the latest revisions affect all minority groups, including Asian Americans. For immigrants to the US, including those from South Korea, it is often a shocking transition for them as they are identified via the racial categories in the US. Certainly, for new arrivals from Korea, China, India, the Philippines and other countries in Asia, it’s not obvious why

July 30, 2024

[Heidi Boghosian] Perilous to rely on tech overloads

Starting Thursday of last week with ripple effects for days afterward, a routine software update caused a record-breaking freeze across much of the world. CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity vendor deployed by Microsoft systems, installed an update that analysts say probably skipped quality testing. The result disabled an estimated 8.5 million computers in perhaps the largest cyber event in history. Affected were Microsoft-powered systems critical to the online operations of banks, hospitals, police fo

July 29, 2024

[Lee Kyong-hee] Fake peace or path to real peace?

Addressing the Republican National Convention on July 18, a few days after surviving an assassination attempt, Donald Trump said that “it’s nice to get along with someone who has a lot of nuclear weapons.” He said he got along very well with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un. “He’d like to see me back too. I think he misses me, if you want to know the truth.” Trump’s attempt to reach a breakthrough on North Korea’s nuclear arms failed to yield substa

July 29, 2024

[Robert Fouser] President Kamala Harris?

On July 21, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the presidential race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to become the Democratic Party's nominee. The announcement came after weeks of turmoil following his disastrous debate performance at the end of June. Biden tried to resist calls for his withdrawal but bowed to reality as support for his candidacy collapsed in the Democratic Party amid weakening poll numbers in the race against former President Donald Trump. Trump

July 26, 2024

[Wang Son-taek] Problems beneath political polarization

Political violence and unprecedented upheavals are taking place around the world, and the level of anxiety is also being raised. Former US President Donald Trump was shot, but saving his life with some millimeters of margin escape was enough to shake the global community. About a week later, President Joe Biden said he was stepping aside as the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party. Earlier in May, Prime Minister of Slovakia Roberto Pizzo was shot and almost killed by a gunman. In June,

July 25, 2024

[Lisa Jarvis] Biden's COVID and summer surge

Last week the White House announced that President Joe Biden had tested positive for COVID-19, making him the most prominent example of this summer’s mini-surge. Each summer, COVID-19 seems to catch people in the US off guard by defying our assumptions about how viruses ought to behave in warm weather. The flu, for example, typically goes underground until the winter holidays. But COVID-19 burbles back up to ruin our vacation plans and force us to offload summer concert tickets. Based on w

July 25, 2024

[Kim Seong-kon] To have or not to have children, that is the question

These days, one of the primary questions of young couples in South Korea is “Shall we have children or not?” In the past, however, Koreans not only took having children for granted but many customarily raised five to six children per home. At that time, Korean parents’ primary concern at childbirth was, “Is it a boy or a girl?” In the past, Koreans preferred sons to daughters. When a mother gave birth to a baby girl, therefore, she felt ashamed as if she had committ

July 24, 2024

[Robin Epley] Avoid all-female Democratic ticket

The question everyone has been asking in hushed tones now grows to a roar: Does Kamala Harris have what it takes to beat Donald Trump? God, I hope so. The future of American democracy might depend on it. Harris’ sudden candidacy represents hope that is desperately needed among the centrist and left-leaning American electorate, many of whom could not imagine President Joe Biden beating Trump. Now that the party has listened to voters and Biden has been convinced to step aside, it’s

July 24, 2024

[Grace Kao] Webtoons in college classrooms

While TV dramas may portray college classes with assigned readings, essays and tests, the truth is that professors also must adapt to technological shifts, especially in terms of media consumption. Webtoons are an important medium through which the Korean Wave flows. For those of you who are unfamiliar, webtoons are vertical “scrolling comics” built for viewing on a cellphone. They originated from and were developed in Korea. They enjoy a large fan base. For some people outside Korea

July 23, 2024

[Yoo Choon-sik] Safe choice not always best policy

The Bank of Korea governor’s news conference on its monetary policy, held early this month, was largely successful by signaling to the markets that it would not rush to begin lowering interest rates despite a slump in domestic demand. However, it was less successful in providing clear guidance on conditions under which it might begin doing so. There is nothing wrong with the long-standing practice of South Korea’s central bank avoiding making explicit promises about the future course

July 22, 2024

[Lee Byung-jong] NATO: Far, yet close to Korea

On the surface, President Yoon Suk Yeol’s visit to the US last week for the NATO summit may seem difficult to understand. An Asian leader attending a meeting of the trans-Atlantic defense alliance? The two regions are far apart physically with very little in common in terms of geopolitics. Did Yoon make the long 15-hour flight to Washington just to forget about the messy domestic politics? The answer should be no. In this age of ever-entangling, super-connected global security environment,

July 19, 2024

[Wang Son-taek] Dreaming of new Trump after assassination attempt

On the evening of July 13 in Butler, a small town in western Pennsylvania, a shocking incident erupted. Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old man known to be from a town near the scene, tried to kill former US President Donald Trump with a semi-automatic AR-15 rifle but failed. The former president suffered a penetrating right ear injury but survived without danger to his life. The gunman was killed at the scene by a special security team. Amid various kinds of bustling, the Republican Party offi

July 18, 2024

[Jean Pisani-Ferry] Finding a new French majority

French President Emmanuel Macron was first elected in 2017 on a promise to end the often-artificial divisions between left and right. France had become tired of theatrical posturing between adversaries who overplayed their differences during electoral campaigns, only to end up, once in power, governing in fairly similar ways. Macron’s brand of radical centrism was meant to end the grandstanding, draw on good ideas from both sides of the political spectrum and govern accordingly. It intende

July 17, 2024

[Kim Seong-kon] Our precious things can be 'Gone With the Wind'

Today, South Korea is enjoying worldwide popularity thanks to the Korean Wave and its reputation as a country of economic success and democratization, all of which it has accomplished in a relatively short span of time. In addition, South Korea is also a global center of cutting-edge technology, represented by Samsung, LG and Hyundai. For these reasons, the people of South Korea are now well off and living comfortably in “a fully developed, advanced country.” Therefore, few Koreans

July 17, 2024