September is moving time in university cities and college towns across Europe and North America as students get settled for the new academic year. For many young people, the move from home to university housing is a rite of passage.A look at the universities that students are moving to reveals the great diversity of universities. The media, particularly in Korea, focuses on old elite universities such as Harvard or Oxford, but only a tiny percentage of universities fit this category. Europe has

Viewpoints Sept. 11, 2018

In recent years, urban regeneration -- or reviving old, rundown neighborhoods -- has become a hot topic among architects and city planners in Korea. Instead of demolishing large areas of a city to make way for apartment complexes, planners have begun to focus on improving existing neighborhoods. The problem, of course, is how. It is also a new question in the Korean context.From the beginning of the 20th century to the present, two waves of change remade Korean cities. The first was during the J

Viewpoints Aug. 28, 2018

Thursday is “malbok,” the day that traditionally marks the end of the summer heat. Temperatures at night will soon drop and fall will be in the air. Vacations will end, and schools will start; people will get busy again.　The end of summer also means a start in the next phase of diplomacy between South Korea, North Korea, and the United States. Plans are going forward for a third summit, this time in Pyongyang, between President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. There is also talk

Viewpoints Aug. 14, 2018

The recent announcement that the government plans to raise the minimum wage by 11 percent to 8,350 won ($7.40) next year has sent shock waves through the business community. Small business rallied to protest the move, saying that it would put them out of business. The government plans to raise the minimum wage to 10,000 won an hour by 2020 in the hopes of promoting economic equality and stimulating consumption.　Korea is not the only country to face a debate over the minimum wage. In the 2016 US

Viewpoints July 17, 2018

One of my hobbies is visiting collections of Korean art in museums overseas. My most recent visit was the small collection of Korean art in the Art Institute of Chicago, one of the most popular art museums in the US. The display shares a gallery with Chinese art, allowing space for only a few objects. Almost all the objects are Goryeo celadon stoneware from the 12th and 13th centuries. This is typical because Goryeo celadon and Joseon-period pottery dominate collections of Korean art overseas.Th

Viewpoints July 3, 2018

Reactions to the June 12 summit in Singapore between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un reminded me of a popular TV public service announcement in the US in the 1980s. The 15-second video showed a raw egg being dropped onto a sizzling fry pan. The egg began to sizzle as it hit the pan and the narrator said, “This is your brain on drugs.” Trump is the sizzling fry pan that causes politicians and mainstream media to sizzle and crackle. The process jumbles conventional wi

Viewpoints June 19, 2018

The news that President Donald Trump had canceled the June summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un shocked South Korea as it was getting ready for bed on May 24. The US leader’s sudden change of heart came two days after a summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. The news left South Koreans unsettled and searching for answers.The news that President Moon Jae-in held a sudden summit with Kim Jong-un in Panmunjom on Saturday May 26 surprised the nation and raised hopes that diplomacy an

Viewpoints June 1, 2018

The sight of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un walking across the formal dividing line in Panmunjom to greet President Moon Jae-in amazed the tension-weary South Korean public. After a long day of talks, the summit produced the Panmunjeom Declaration in which both leaders pledged to end the Korean War by the end of this year and rid the Korean Peninsula of nuclear weapons. The two leaders pledged to work together to implement agreements from earlier inter-Korean summits that did not come to fruiti

Viewpoints May 8, 2018

This Friday President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will meet for the first time. Expectations are running high that the summit will start a process that leads to peace and eventual reunification of the divided people. These high expectations come after years of tension that escalated sharply in 2017 after a series of North Korean nuclear and ballistic missile tests. Expectations are also running high that the proposed meeting between Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump w

Viewpoints April 24, 2018

The year 2008 is remembered most around the world for the financial crisis that brought on the worst economic downturn since the 1930s. In South Korea, 2008 is remembered as the first year of recently jailed Lee Myung-bak’s presidency. In spring, only months after his inauguration, massive demonstrations against the resumption of US beef imports caused Lee’s popularity to dip. In fall, the spreading financial crisis raised the specter of another 1997-style collapse, but Lee moved quickly, and Ko

Viewpoints April 10, 2018

The announcement of a summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un offers hope for peace on the Korean Peninsula. The summit will follow a meeting in April between President Moon Jae-in and Kim. That meeting, which has been overlooked in the mainstream Western media, will offer insight into what to expect from the Trump-Kim meeting to follow. The summits are major victories for Moon, who was instrumental in bring the two leaders together.　Since the announcement, t

Viewpoints March 13, 2018

Tomorrow marks the 99th anniversary of the March 1 Movement during the darkest hours of Japanese colonial rule. On the afternoon of that day, 33 leaders of the independence movement gathered in Jongno in Seoul and proclaimed Korea’s independence from Japan. The movement quickly spread to cities and town across the peninsula. About 2 million people took part in the movement, making up 10 percent of the Korean population at the time. Overwhelmed by the size of protests, Japanese authorities used m

Viewpoints Feb. 27, 2018

North Korea stirs complex emotions, as coverage of the Winter Olympic opening ceremony shows. Most of the coverage naturally focused on Kim Yo-jong, the younger sister of North Korean ruler Kim Jong-un and the first member of the ruling Kim family to set foot in South Korea. Of all the VIPs who attended the opening ceremony, she received the most attention and was even designated “the star” of the Olympics.　US Vice President Mike Pence and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, meanwhile, were the

Viewpoints Feb. 13, 2018

One of the best things about teaching in a university in Korea was getting to know the students and learning to see the world through their eyes. My first university teaching experience was from 1987 to 1993; my second was from 2008 to 2014. These experiences gave me insight into the formative years of the two generations that have been in the news recently: the “386 Generation” and the “2030 Generation.”The 386 Generation refers to people who were born in the 1960s and went to university in the

Viewpoints Jan. 30, 2018