Most Popular
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N. Korea fires multiple short-range ballistic missiles toward East Sea
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Samsung’s yearly dilemma looms: Exynos vs. Snapdragon
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Yoon to visit Prague next week to forge 'nuclear energy alliance'
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Is NewJeans leaving Hybe?
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1 in 4 Korean workers extend Chuseok holiday with paid leave: survey
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Life sentence finalized for killer in Sillim rampage
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Hit with lifetime ban, football player Son Jun-ho claims innocence, says China forced him to admit fake charges
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What comes after love? Ex-lovers cross paths in new Coupang Play series
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Hyundai Motor, GM join hands to shake up EV landscape
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Why is NK back to firing missiles after monthslong hiatus?
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[Editorial] Prepare against threats
North Korea has been ratcheting up its threatening moves in recent weeks, a development that should alarm South Korea’s officials in charge of security, defense and inter-Korean relations. On Thursday, the North fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The missiles were launched from the Pyongyang area at 7:10 a.m., but other details were not disclosed. South Korea’s military condemned the latest launch, which tested m
EditorialSept. 13, 2024
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[Editorial] Outdated custom
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced Tuesday the interim results of its ongoing investigation into the operation of the Badminton Korea Association. The probe was prompted by a severe criticism by An Se-young in an interview with reporters after winning a gold medal in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Some management practices and regulations of the association are found to be outdated or opaque. Many regulation violations were also uncovered. A regulation bans players from partici
EditorialSept. 12, 2024
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[Christophe Andre] Will AI hit employment, raise productivity, and increase inequality?
The release of ChatGPT in November 2022 has raised great hopes that artificial intelligence (AI) can contribute to solving problems in many fields and lift productivity, but also fears that many jobs may disappear, and that income inequality could rise further. AI is commonly seen as a general-purpose technology, like the internal combustion engine, early electricity-based technologies, and computers. Such technologies have the potential to disrupt large parts of the economy, displacing many w
ViewpointsSept. 11, 2024
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[Kim Seong-kon] 'Total Recall': Three questions we should ask
The 2012 Hollywood science fiction film “Total Recall” is a remake of the 1990 film of the same title, based on Philip K. Dick’s 1966 short story, “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale.” Set on a dystopian Earth devastated by chemical warfare at the end of the 21st century, this movie depicts a grim future that we might very well have to encounter soon. In the movie, the only habitable places on Earth are the United Federation of Britain, or UFB, and the Colony. The
ViewpointsSept. 11, 2024
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[Editorial] Dispute-laden tax scheme
The “Korea discount” generally refers to the idea that South Korean stocks remain undervalued. This perception is universally shared among both policymakers and investors, but identifying the reasons behind the lower-than-expected stock performances is tricky largely because individuals point to different factors. In recent weeks, however, there seems to be a consensus about one of the factors that strongly resonate among government officials, ruling party members and some members of
EditorialSept. 11, 2024
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[Grace Kao] American redemption vs. Korean punishment for BTS’ Suga
I am a fan of BTS and know many American fans in the BTS Army, as the fan group calls itself. I am also in contact with many K-pop professionals and Korean fans of K-pop. I was in Korea a couple of weeks ago, and it really struck me how different American and Korean perceptions of Suga’s recent drunk-driving controversy were. The bottom line comes down to American beliefs about redemption for past personal transgressions versus Korean beliefs about equity in punishment for celebrities, at
ViewpointsSept. 10, 2024
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[Robert Burgess] Trump goes revisionist on economy
Listening to former US President Donald Trump speak to the Economic Club of New York, you could be forgiven for thinking that the economy has been such a disaster since he left office that the stock market is in a perpetual free fall. And yet, the benchmark S&P 500 Index is up 64 percent since the 2020 election through Wednesday, topping the 60 percent gain at the same point in the Trump administration. There’s an old saying that the stock market is not the economy, and that’s true
ViewpointsSept. 10, 2024
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[Editorial] Sustain friendly ties
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who is set to retire at the end of this month, returned to Japan Saturday after wrapping up a two-day trip to South Korea for a summit with President Yoon Suk Yeol. The summit was significant in that the leaders affirmed the possibility of sustaining "shuttle diplomacy" between Korea and Japan. The bilateral ties of the two countries were tense under former President Moon Jae-in, then Yoon restored them considerably by resolving a historical issue
EditorialSept. 10, 2024
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[Lee Kyong-hee] Yoon’s flawed unification road map
President Yoon Suk Yeol’s newly unveiled “Aug. 15 Unification Doctrine” is loaded with lofty goals for “freedom-based unification” without any acknowledgement of the formidable challenges ahead. Unfortunately, it is more arbitrariness from a leader wanting in analysis and foresight. What the nation has heard lacks feasible action plans and consideration for regional geopolitics conducive to inter-Korean peace and reconciliation, let alone his would-be counterpart in
ViewpointsSept. 9, 2024
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[J. Bradford DeLong] US must pursue industrial policy
By the end of the 1970s, the US economy appeared to be in serious trouble. Years of inflation had caused deep discontent; measured productivity growth had fallen from its post-World War II pace of 2 percent per year to almost zero; and America’s resilience in the face of geopolitical and geoeconomic shocks seemed to be waning. The proposed solutions to these problems fell into two categories: neoliberalism and activist industrial policy. The neoliberals won. Neoliberalism called for shrink
ViewpointsSept. 9, 2024
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[Editorial] Seek breakthrough
The South Korean government now holds the position that it can discuss the option of adjusting the medical school admissions quota for 2026, a desperate move aimed at getting interns and residents back to hospitals, many of which are struggling with severe staff shortages. The deepening medical service crisis was sparked in February by the Yoon Suk Yeol administration’s plan to increase the medical school admission quota as part of its overall medical reform plan. The quota increase result
EditorialSept. 9, 2024
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[Robert Fouser] Learning Korean and Chinese characters
Learning Korean continues to grow in popularity around the world, but the speed of growth may be slowing as the popularity of K-pop has plateaued. Universities in many countries have seen a decline in second language learning as part of a broader shift away from the humanities. Over time, this could result in a weakening of important institutional support for Korean classes. According to the “2023 Duolingo Language Report,” an annual report produced by the popular language learning p
ViewpointsSept. 6, 2024
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[Editorial] A bitter pill
The government's national pension reform plan unveiled Wednesday is focused more on the financial stability of the pension fund than on retirees' welfare. The point of the plan is increasing pension contribution and income replacement rates simultaneously. Employees contribute part of their wages to the national pension fund, with their employers bearing the cost of half of their contributions. Upon retirement, retired workers then receive a certain percentage of their preretirement in
EditorialSept. 6, 2024
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[Peter Singer, Martin Skladany] Protesting ethically
Climate protesters have disrupted the tennis at Wimbledon, thrown tomato soup at the glass protecting famous paintings, sprayed orange powder on Stonehenge and blocked traffic. In response, European governments have been cracking down on environmental protesters with detentions and fines, and, in one case, with a five-year prison sentence for advocating civil disobedience in a Zoom call. Whether a protest is ethical is distinct from whether it is legal. As Martin Luther King, Jr., argued in his
ViewpointsSept. 5, 2024
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[Wang Son-taek] Roots of the dispute over martial law
The scorching summer of 2024 has finally passed, and South Korea is now entering the autumn season. While the weather has cooled down, the heated political fight continues unabated. A fierce debate revolves around allegations that the Yoon Suk Yeol administration is preparing for martial law. The opposition has raised suspicions, claiming that the government's recent actions suggest preparations for martial law. In contrast, the government and ruling party vehemently deny these allegations,
ViewpointsSept. 5, 2024
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[Editorial] Keep inflation low
It is fortunate for South Korea to see inflation fall to its intended level last month. The consumer price index, a broad-based measure of prices for goods and services, rose 2 percent on-year in August, according to Statistics Korea, Tuesday. It was the lowest increase in 41 months since March 2021 when it edged up 1.9 percent. The Bank of Korea finally met its inflation target of 2 percent. Above all, it is encouraging that Korea reached the 2-percent mark earlier than the US and eurozone, who
EditorialSept. 5, 2024
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[Kim Seong-kon] No more specter of Marx hovering over Korea
Recently, newspaper reports said that Seoul National University canceled an undergraduate course on Marxist economics due to the lack of registered students. It is only natural in this era of the global economy. In fact, Marxist economic theory became extinct as a failed experiment in the early 1990s when communist countries in Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union, and China gave up on it and adopted free market principles. In that sense, canceling a course on Marxist economics was a much-belated me
ViewpointsSept. 4, 2024