With the World Health Organization predicting that the coronavirus will not dissipate anytime soon, we are left to grapple with the stark reality of living with a highly contagious, still largely unknown virus with no known cure as of yet. The COVID-19 pandemic has infected nearly 2.6 million people and killed more than 180,000 people around the world since the first case of the acute respirator...

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” So it feels today, the 10th day of voluntary self-isolation at home. Much to my relief, my younger child and husband returned home from the UK safe and in good health at the end of March, their plans disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The two are following the government’s orders for returnees to immediately go into self-isolation at home ...

Reading the news on secret chat rooms on Telegram where videos of sexual exploitation were traded feels like wading through filth. So much so, I consciously stayed away from it as much as possible until Wednesday, when it was no longer possible. Leaving Jongno Police Station in Seoul on Wednesday, Cho Ju-bin stood in front of a photo line for the press. Without a mask or cap to cover his face, t...

The novel coronavirus has landed at my doorsteps. Literally. Almost 60 days into the COVID-19 outbreak, my mobile phone screeched an alert with a message that two people in my neighborhood were confirmed with the respiratory illness. My mind raced, trying to retrace my steps over the past several days hoping that our paths did not cross. Following the patients’ movements posted on my district’s ...

The entire country, and increasingly the world, is gripped by the fear of a possible viral pandemic. In South Korea, what seemed at first controllable is now virtually out of control, with new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infections growing by the hundreds every day and the number of deaths -- most of patients already in poor health with preexisting conditions -- climbing as well. The g...

Yes, I have finally found someone who understands what it is like to live with a heightened sense of smell, I thought, watching Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite.” I felt vindicated about my irritation at being hit with the sharp, pungent smell of kimchi upon opening the fridge, the boxes of odor-absorbing baking soda apparently past their expiration date. The agitation of waking up to the acrid smell of...

In October 2005, I visited Pyongyang and Myohyangsan with a small group of South Korean travel journalists. This was the time of the Roh Moo-hyun administration when there were robust inter-Korean exchanges. A year earlier, I had traveled to the Kumgangsan resort and attended the groundbreaking ceremony for a South Korean company-invested 18-hole golf course. I also visited Singyesa Temple, wher...

This sounds rather silly. For a couple of years, I had seen copies of “A Gentleman in Moscow” by Amor Towles on prominent display at the Kyobo Book Center. On the cover was a black-and-white photo of an elderly man in a suit and a hat leaning ever so slightly over a balcony, appearing to be peering down into the city streets, his back to the viewer. Convinced that it was a spy thriller -- anythi...

The first day of the new year is perhaps one of the most optimistic days of any year, bringing with it a host of new possibilities. “Out with the old, in with the new,” we intone. In this age of befuddlement marked by growing confusion and mounting uncertainties, clarity has become a much-sought-after commodity. The year 2020 rings hopeful -- the very sound of “twenty-twenty” conjures up an imag...

What is the relevance of a women’s college today? “The world is still a place where males have tremendous privileges. Smith is an intervention,” said Kathleen McCartney, president of Smith College, a private women’s liberal arts college in Massachusetts, in an interview with The Korea Herald in Seoul on Nov. 22. “What I hear from alumnae is that they found their voice at Smith,” said McCartney,...

The long-brewing dispute between Seoul and Tokyo over history has come to a head, spilling over into the economic realm, with Japan restricting the exports of key materials for manufacturing chips and displays to South Korea and removing it from its whitelist of trade partners. While the Korean government has responded with retaliatory measures of its own and citizens here are boycotting Japanes...

A desk with an old computer, a chair and a potted plant -- the room installation by Hwang Moon-jung does not require any sophisticated jargon to explain. You just need to sit and play the game installed on the computer: “Great Artist Maker” -- a remake of famous 1990s Japanese simulation game “Princess Maker.” “Great Artist Maker” (2019) by Hwang Moon-jung (SongEun Art and Cultural Foundation) ...

When former first lady Lee Hee-ho, who passed away Monday night aged 96, and Kim Dae-jung tied the knot in 1962, they entered into a lifelong partnership that would endure numerous hardships and tribulations. By all accounts, most people on Lee’s side opposed the marriage. She was a well-educated woman who had studied sociology in the US and was playing an active role in the country’s nascent wo...

Dulwich College Seoul students pose for a photo at the Dulwich College campus in London on March 24. Some 60 students and teachers from Seoul participated in the Dulwich Olympiad London 2019. (Dulwich College Seoul) The Olympiad, which took place March 24-29, included sports, music and drama events marking the 400th anniversary of the college’s founding. More than 900 students from 11 Dulwich...

The largest-ever David Hockney exhibition in South Korea is underway at the Seoul Museum of Art, featuring some of the artist’s iconic paintings such as “The Bigger Splash” (1967) and “A Bigger Grand Canyon” (1998) -- as well as “In the Studio, December 2017,” which is being shown to the general public for the first time. David Hockney’s double portraits are on exhibit at the Seoul Museum of Art...