[Wang Son-taek] Were they not Koreans?

A nasty specter of historical revisionism has again shaken the Republic of Korea. This time, a comment in question came from Kim Moon-soo, the labor minister nominee. During his confirmation hearing in parliament, he denied the nationality of Koreans in the Japanese occupation period from 1910 to 1945. He asserted, “Our country was completely taken over and forcibly incorporated in Japan. How could there be such a thing as (Korean) nationality?” Shockingly, there exists a faction in

Aug. 29, 2024

[Takatoshi Ito] Japan after Kishida

On Aug. 14, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced that he would step down as leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in September. Soon after, the LDP will select Kishida’s replacement -- who will serve as prime minister, given the LDP-led coalition’s control of the Diet (the lower house of parliament). The new government is then likely to call a snap election, in the hopes that the “honeymoon effect” will help it increase its majority. What the LDP must f

Aug. 29, 2024

[Tony McAleer] How language enables the extremes

When I was a white supremacist who had infiltrated the Canadian military reserves, an officer who had spent two tours of Northern Ireland embedded in a British unit told me that the Irish Republican Army had only 75 active personnel who pulled triggers and planted bombs. Behind those combatants were 3,500 people who offered them safe houses and storage for their ammunition. Bolstering them was a much broader community of people who endorsed their efforts. Ultimately, decades of sectarian violenc

Aug. 28, 2024

[Kim Seong-kon] How to replenish our exhausted political parties

We Koreans are very proud of the outstanding young athletes and charming K-pop singers who made South Korea internationally famous. On the other hand, we are not so proud of our politicians, who have seriously damaged the reputation of our country in the international community lately. Some political analysts have observed that the two representative political parties of South Korea seem to have exhausted their possibilities. Others have diagnosed that the Korean political parties are now suffer

Aug. 28, 2024

[Zaki Laidi] The geopolitics of Olympic medals

Why do certain countries dominate the Olympics? The answer may lie in the correlation between athletic performance and gross domestic product. The 2024 Paris Olympic Games were a case in point: the top seven medal winners -- the United States, China, Japan, Australia, France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom -- are all among the world’s 20 largest economies. This can be partly attributed to demographics: a larger population provides a deeper pool of athletic talent from which to draw

Aug. 27, 2024

[Jeffrey Frankel] Finance goes to Hollywood

Over the years, Hollywood films have had much to say about financial markets and institutions -- often reflecting a distinctly populist perspective. At a time when both populism and financial volatility are much in evidence, what lessons might these films hold about regulation? Start with the 1939 classic “The Wizard of Oz,” in which Dorothy and her cohort -- the Cowardly Lion, the Scarecrow and the Tin Man -- travel along the “yellow brick road,” in order to reach the ma

Aug. 27, 2024

[Contribution] Misconceptions and truths about earthquakes

By Chang Dong-eon Administrator of the Korea Meteorological Administration Bullfighting, a Spanish cultural tradition, has three main elements: the bullfighter, or matador, the bull and a red cloth called the muleta. When we think of bullfighting, a classic image that comes to mind is a bull charging at the muleta. Many people believe that the red color of the muleta excites the bull. However, this belief is a misconception. Bulls are actually colorblind, so they can’t distinguish betwee

Aug. 26, 2024

[Lee Kyong-hee] Yoon’s dangerous spin on history

Saburo Ienaga, arguably the most famous historian in 20th-century Japan, waged a more than 30-year fight against his government’s efforts to omit wartime atrocities from school textbooks. “Even if you hide from the Japanese,” he declared, “the people in other countries know about them. The side that inflicted sufferings forgets, but the side that suffered doesn’t forget.” Not necessarily so, one may say, when it comes to the current Korean administration. Ad

Aug. 26, 2024

[Jackie Payne] Tipping point in US presidential election

After a wild few weeks, the top of the ticket is once again set for Democrats and Republicans. Polls show US Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are neck and neck. Over the last several years, we’ve seen presidential elections decided by slimmer and slimmer margins, and 2024 will likely be no different. There’s one thing that links these historically close election results in recent years -- and that’s the voting behavior of America’s moderate w

Aug. 26, 2024

Welcome to the Pride Parade

The sun shone brightly on June 1, as the street between Jonggak and Euljiro 1-ga Stations in Seoul lit up with the colors of the rainbow. Dozens of tents lined the street as thousands of people waved brightly colored signs and celebrated the 25th Seoul Queer Culture Festival. From the smiling faces and exuberant atmosphere, you wouldn’t think such an event would be a wellspring of political controversy. However, despite its quarter-century history in South Korea, the Queer Festival and L

Aug. 23, 2024

Idolization of English pronunciation

Heated debates ensue in Korea whenever K-pop idols like Jang Won-young introduce themselves in English or South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol delivers an English speech. The discussion is around an element that supposedly has a large influence in determining the speaker's English proficiency — the public figures’ English pronunciation. Praised are the ones who imitate the smooth American intonation or posh British accent; those who fail to do so are viewed as terrible English s

Aug. 23, 2024

From Manila and Seoul: Have you heard of Kopinos?

As borders become more open around the world, the possibilities for creating connections with people from different countries increase. In this generation, there are a growing number of children with mixed heritage and multiple nationalities. Among these, the term "Kopino" has been coined, combining "Korean" and "Filipino." A moment that has stuck with me my whole life was the first time a complete stranger called me a “Kopino.” At age 12, I had no idea

Aug. 23, 2024

[Robert Fouser] 'Dynamic USA' and 'Welcoming Korea'

The switch from President Joe Biden to Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic candidate for US president brought an instant change in atmosphere to the campaign for the White House. Former President Donald Trump, who had previously looked younger compared to Biden, suddenly looked old and has struggled to regain his postconvention dominance. Harris, meanwhile, has pulled ahead in the national polls and will get another bounce from this week’s Democratic convention. The change at th

Aug. 23, 2024

[Wang Son-taek] National interest and diplomatic messages

Remarks by President Yoon Suk Yeol and Kim Tae-hyo, the first deputy director of the National Security Office, on foreign policy have sparked controversies recently. In his Liberation Day speech on Aug. 15, Yoon stressed the importance of unification, saying Korea's independence is incomplete as long as the division continues. The problem is that he said, "The freedom that we enjoy should be expanded to the North Korean region," thus making it clear that he aims for unification by

Aug. 22, 2024

[Dmytro Ponomarenko] Ukraine celebrates 33rd anniversary of independence.

On Aug. 24, Ukraine is going to celebrate the 33rd anniversary of its independence. Although independent Ukraine appeared on the political map of the world relatively recently, the history of the Ukrainian nation goes back more than a thousand years. Deeply rooted in the traditions of the medieval Kievan Rus and later of the Cossack republic, the Ukrainians throughout their long history strived for their own state, free from occupation or colonization by a neighboring people. Nowadays, as Ukrain

Aug. 21, 2024

[Robin Abcarian] JD Vance’s ‘cringey’ view on women

I was minding my own business, living my grandbaby-free postmenopausal life, when I was suddenly confronted with an existential question: What -- to borrow Barbie‘s lament -- was I made for? And why should I care what Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance thinks? Normally, I don‘t engage in evolutionary biology-based navel-gazing. I’ve heard too many sophomoric arguments about how men are biologically programmed to be unfaithful, blah blah blah. I‘m too busy worki

Aug. 21, 2024

[Contribution] Tracking international fugitives: Commitment to global cooperation against cross-border crimes

By Kim Dong-kwon With the increasing globalization of crime and the ease of moving across borders, more criminals are absconding to other countries immediately after committing offenses. Furthermore, criminal organizations operate across multiple nations and quickly move their operation between countries with the intention to disrupt police investigations. In response, the Korean National Police Agency has made significant strides in apprehending and repatriating fugitives. Following the repatri

Aug. 21, 2024

[Kim Seong-kon] The older generation in the eyes of the young

With every generation, we see older people lament that younger people are rude and undisciplined. In the eyes of the old, young people are impudent and insolent, impetuous and impulsive, in short: “enfants terribles.” Historians say that older people have been critical of younger people for the past 2,500 years or so of human history. Nevertheless, what about the image of the older generation in the eyes of the young? To young people, older people may look hopelessly pathetic and dep

Aug. 21, 2024

[James Coltella] Way to fruitful political discourse

My accent as an Englishman in America hasn’t protected me from the whiplash of dating and ghosting. It strikes me that many people prefer to leave silence to do the talking, rather than express an opinion that might not be well received. Yet ghosting is the epitome of bad manners. Surely as a society, we owe it to each other to be honest, giving closure rather than adding confusion? Unfortunately, it appears that ghosting isn’t just a phenomenon in dating. It’s everywhere, incl

Aug. 21, 2024

[Jan-Werner Mueller] Populism‘s lost summer

Think back to late June and early July. The French far right was favored to win a snap parliamentary election. Trumpist judges in the United States were conveniently resolving the legal woes of the former president, who seemed to be gliding to victory after President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance. And while Britain was getting a Labor government, a new anti-immigration party led by the chief Brexiteer, Nigel Farage, had made unprecedented gains. Faced with it all, pundits warne

Aug. 20, 2024