Most Popular
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Controversial US YouTuber faces travel ban, police investigation
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Pyongyang to bolster readiness against nuclear retaliation: Choe
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SK Innovation becomes Asia-Pacific's largest energy firm after merger
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Korean serial killer 'haunted by victims' ghosts' in prison, TV show reveals
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Yoon's approval rating falls to 19%, all-time low: survey
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No typhoons recorded in S. Korea for the first time in 7 years
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[Robert Fouser] Accepting migrants in South Korea
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Samsung CEO calls for unrivaled technological leadership
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Allies say 1953 mutual defense treaty extends to cyber, space threats
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Babymonster showcases YG-style hip hop with 1st LP ‘Drip’
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[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
ViewpointsAug. 5, 2024
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[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
ViewpointsAug. 2, 2024
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[Editorial] Oversight on e-commerce
The liquidity crisis that has slammed embattled e-commerce platforms Tmon and WeMakePrice, affiliated with Singapore-based Qoo10 Group, has taken a distressing turn that raises questions about the failed oversight of authorities and the lack of proper regulations over irresponsible online trade. The major e-commerce debacle in South Korea, which hit both vendors and customers, is now snowballing in scale and depth over how the two e-commerce players have failed to pay vendors and used up custome
EditorialAug. 2, 2024
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[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
ViewpointsAug. 1, 2024
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[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
ViewpointsAug. 1, 2024
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[Editorial] Speed up construction
The government on Tuesday announced 14 candidate sites for dams to be built or redeveloped. Four are in the Han River area, six in the Nakdong River area, one in the Geum River area, and three in the Yeongsan and Seomjin Rivers area. The decision has overturned the declaration by the Moon Jae-in administration six years ago that it would no longer build government-initiated large dams. Three of the 14 envisioned dams are multipurpose dams, seven are for flood control and four are for water suppl
EditorialAug. 1, 2024
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[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
ViewpointsJuly 31, 2024
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[Editorial] Aging population
South Korea’s total population bounced back in 2023 after falling for two years in a row, but a closer look at the details in the latest data reveals that the government faces deepening demographic challenges on multiple fronts, especially the rapidly aging population. The country’s total population -- which compiles data on childbirth, death and cross-border movements -- reached 51.77 million as of Nov. 1 last year, up 0.2 percent, or 82,000, from a year earlier, the 2023 census by
EditorialJuly 31, 2024
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[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
ViewpointsJuly 30, 2024
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[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
ViewpointsJuly 30, 2024
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[Editorial] Intelligence crisis
Military authorities are reportedly investigating the circumstances in which personal data on overseas South Korean agents was handed over to the North. About a month ago, the Defense Counterintelligence Command found a leak of classified personal information on overseas agents belonging to the Korea Defense Intelligence Command. The leaked data is said to concern not only agents acting publicly as diplomats stationed at embassies but also undercover agents doing spy work with their identities c
EditorialJuly 30, 2024
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[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
ViewpointsJuly 29, 2024
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[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
ViewpointsJuly 29, 2024
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[Editorial] E-commerce troubles
Last week, South Korea’s e-commerce industry plunged into turmoil as two well-known platforms affiliated with Singapore-based Qoo10 Group failed to make payments to sellers, reportedly due to liquidity issues, amid mounting concerns over an industrywide impact. As the crisis deepened over deferred payments, retail vendors and travel agents suspended services or terminated contracts with Tmon and WeMakePrice. Thousands of customers rushed to the two companies’ headquarters to demand r
EditorialJuly 29, 2024
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[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
ViewpointsJuly 26, 2024
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[Editorial] Kakao’s woes
Kakao Corp., South Korea’s biggest messenger operator, is confronting a major crisis after founder Kim Beom-su’s arrest Tuesday for alleged stock price manipulation related to last year’s takeover of K-pop powerhouse SM Entertainment. The incident opens up the potential of a leadership vacuum at Kakao, raising concerns about the impact on its sprawling affiliates as well as its restructuring and growth plans in the tech sector amid intensifying competition in artificial intelli
EditorialJuly 26, 2024
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[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,
ViewpointsJuly 25, 2024
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[Editorial] Challenges ahead of Han
Han Dong-hoon won a fierce fight to be elected as the new leader of the People Power Party, but he faces another tough challenge. He has to fight the gigantic opposition forces which dominate the National Assembly. He also has to resolve internal party conflict with loyalists of President Yoon Suk Yeol who are critical of him. Above all, it is important to restore trust from those who are disappointed with the current performance of the Yoon government and the governing party. Expectations for s
EditorialJuly 25, 2024
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[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
ViewpointsJuly 25, 2024
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[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
ViewpointsJuly 24, 2024