No matter how Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine ends, it already marks a turning point in history: the end of a 30-year period of relative peace in Europe and a return to hostility between Russia and its neighbors -- a kind of Cold War 2.0. If we’re lucky. The first Cold War, from 1947 until 1991, divided the world between two hostile blocs. The United States and the Soviet Union reached the...

When professor Lee O-young sadly passed away last week, Korea lost its precious Polaris, the North Star that has guided her people in the darkest hours of the night. When he was with us, we were already praising him as a legendary person so rarely and extraordinarily gifted that someone like him could appear only once in a century. Now leaving this world after 89 years, he has become a legend aga...

A decade ago, I was a US diplomat serving in Warsaw, Poland. I had a close group of Polish friends who, while not in the field of foreign affairs, had a strong fear of Putin’s Russia. They were concerned his aggression and resentment would lead him one day to launch war again in Europe. I dismissed their concerns as a Cold War hangover. Poland then seemed so prosperous and at peace, and Russia s...

In 1955, then-US Federal Reserve Chair William McChesney Martin famously said that the Fed’s job was to take away the punch bowl “just when the party was really warming up,” rather than waiting until the revelers were drunk and raucous. Decades later, in the aftermath of the 1970s inflation, it became an article of faith among monetary policymakers that they should not wait until elevated inflati...

The US investigation into mysterious symptoms known as the “Havana syndrome” could provide Americans with long-overdue insights into the emerging threats of directed-energy devices. Hundreds of US government personnel -- mostly spies and diplomats abroad -- have reported piercing pain, unexplained sounds, vertigo, vision loss, memory loss, insomnia and signs of brain damage since 2016, when doze...

“Sado Kinzan Gold Mine, located in Niigata Prefecture, Japan, is a collection of historic relics depicting the 400-year history of Sado‘s gold and silver mines. A guided tour, which includes facilities such as ‘the Best Gold Processing Plant in Asia’ and ‘Japan‘s First Western-Style Vertical Tunnel,’ will cause visitors to marvel at the impressive scale.” The introduction of the tourist site, wh...

As the presidential election gets closer, candidates have picked up the pace of campaigning in the hope of reaching out to a dwindling pool of malleable voters. Polls continue to show a tight race between Lee Jae-myung and Yoon Suk-yeol, with Ahn Cheol-soo and Sim Sang-jung far behind. Since Lee and Yoon received their nominations, polls have been remarkably stable. As of this writing, Yoon has a...

When Gimpo, right outside of Seoul in Gyeonggi Province, began a “new town” project in cooperation with the Land and Housing Corp. about 10 years ago, it conceived an eco-friendly community where residents could enjoy the spectacle of migratory birds flying over and resting in the wetland along the Han River estuary. The Gimpo delta is on the migration route of birds from Siberia and Alaska to J...

Recent weeks have confirmed that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson poses a dire risk to the moral health of UK society. His canard, borrowed from far-right conspiracists, that Labour Party leader Keir Starmer failed in his previous role as prosecutor to put a notorious pedophile behind bars prompted a mob to assault Starmer in the street. London’s Metropolitan Police are now investigating deat...

The Japanese government’s newly launched effort to place a gold mine complex on the UNESCO World Heritage List plunges it into another unseemly historical and diplomatic quagmire. In December, Japan’s Council for Cultural Affairs approved the candidacy of the complex on the island of Sado, 32 km from the Japanese mainland. The Korean Foreign Ministry quickly protested and public concerns mounted...

I recently came across Oh Yoon-hee’s intriguing novel, “The Eerie Story Club at Samgae Tavern & Inn.” The novel is set in the 18th century in the Joseon Kingdom, at a tavern & inn in Samgae Ferry -- modern day Mapo -- where all sorts of vendors come and go with lurid and strange stories to tell. Part One unfolds with various bizarre stories that the protagonist, Seonnomi overheard from vendors w...

We begin today’s respite with an easy, one-question pop quiz: QUESTION: At the end of the 20th century’s Cold War, the three nations with the largest nuclear arsenals were: the United States, Russia, and -- (A) Britain, (B) France, (C) China, (D) none of the above? And the correct answer, as you probably know, is: (D). When the Soviet Union collapsed, about one-third of the former Soviet nucl...

On Feb. 21, 1972, US President Richard Nixon arrived in China for what would become a transformative weeklong visit. Beyond establishing diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic, Nixon’s trip deepened the estrangement between China and the Soviet Union, thereby laying the foundations for a new world order. But, 50 years later, China and Russia are pursuing their own entente, with far-reach...

There is a romantic and lovely event in February. Someone confesses one’s love or goes out on a date with a special someone or even remembers past loves. Do you know which day I am talking about? Valentine’s Day in the past was a day only for lovers, but now it is a day for exchanging chocolates regardless if between lovers, friends or family. Some say it is a day established by the chocolate bu...

On Feb. 21, 1972, Richard Nixon became the first US president to visit the People’s Republic of China, setting in motion a process that would end China’s decadeslong isolation and kick-start the emergence of a modern, dynamic economy. But, despite the seismic economic changes in China in the intervening half-century, many in the West regard today’s People’s Republic as an unreformed communist cou...