Most Popular
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Samsung under pressure after Intel's foundry spin-off: analysts
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Yoon leaves for Prague to cement nuclear energy push
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Heavy rain to fall nationwide over weekend, but warmer fall expected
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Seoul chastises predatory pricing claims over Czech nuclear export deal
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YouTuber under fire for consoling former singer accused of bullying
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NK newspaper 'unusually' silent on new missile tests: Seoul
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Samsung CEO introduces ‘bold growth’ as new target
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Bank of Korea eyes rate cut after US Fed's historic pivot
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3 suspects apprehended for selling celebrity deepfake porn: police
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Hyundai Motor officially becomes KT’s largest shareholder
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[Chung Chan-seung] The collapse of trust: South Korea's true health care crisis
"Doctor, are you going on a strike too? Then how should I receive treatment from now on? I have respected doctors all this time, but I was so surprised and disappointed to see doctors leaving their patients behind to strike," a patient receiving treatment for panic disorder asked me. Up until now, the patient and I have had a solid mutual trust relationship. If the task were merely about fixing machines, knowledge and skills would suffice. However, the subject of medical art is not a m
Feb. 29, 2024
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[Takatoshi Ito] Japan as No. 4: Wake-up call for Tokyo
Harvard Professor Ezra Vogel’s 1979 book, "Japan as Number One: Lessons for America," became an instant bestseller in Japan. The flattering title certainly helped sales, but it was the book’s central argument – that the Japanese approach to governance and business were superior to others – that really made a splash. At the time, Japan was riding high. Its GDP had grown by about 10 percent annually for most of the 1950s and 1960s, and 4-5 percent during the sec
Feb. 29, 2024
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[Kim Seong-kon] Why is ‘The Birth of Korea’ in cinemas now?
A Korean documentary film entitled “The Birth of Korea,” directed by Kim Deog-young, has been the talk of the town lately. The film, which portrays our first president, Syngman Rhee, has reportedly been seen by about 1 million people so far. Especially considering the fact that it is a documentary, not a blockbuster Hollywood film, such a high number of viewers indicates that the film is indeed a huge success. Since Korea’s liberation from Japan in 1945, Korean left-wing poli
Feb. 28, 2024
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[Natalie Dunleavy Campbell, Stan Adams] US jeopardizing the open internet
Last October, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) abandoned its longstanding demand for World Trade Organization provisions to protect cross-border data flows, prevent forced data localization, safeguard source codes, and prohibit countries from discriminating against digital products based on nationality. It was a shocking shift: one that jeopardizes the very survival of the open internet, with all the knowledge-sharing, global collaboration, and cross-border commerce that it enables.
Feb. 28, 2024
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[Jeffrey Frankel] Americans' pessimism about a strong economy
The United States is in unusually good economic shape nowadays -- no recession in sight. But it seems to be enduring a “vibecession”: public-opinion surveys show broad dissatisfaction with the economy and US President Joe Biden’s stewardship. What explains this disconnect between performance and perception? At least six answers -- some far more credible than others -- have been advanced. The first is that there is no disconnect at all; the positive economic indicators are wro
Feb. 27, 2024
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[Grace Kao] The manifold groups of 'Boys Planet'
Even in the world of K-pop, there are second chances. The Mnet idol audition show “Boys Planet” aired from Feb. 2 to April 20, 2023. It featured 98 male trainees (49 from Korea or the “K Group” and 49 non-Koreans/global trainees or the “G Group”) who would compete for praise from celebrity judges and votes from the viewers in Korea and abroad. The top-ranked nine contestants would debut in a new boy group. Audience members could vote for a limited number of
Feb. 27, 2024
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[Andrew Sheng] Is Asia prepared for deglobalization?
In 2021, the US Director of National Intelligence Report 2040 saw five future scenarios by 2040: shared global challenges, fragmentation, disequilibrium, contestation and adaptation. These five possible outcomes from different structural forces and emerging dynamics comprise (i) a renaissance of democracies (ii) a world adrift (iii) competitive coexistence, (iv) separate silos and (v) tragedy and mobilization. In the post-pandemic condition, which saw a Vaccine Divide and Digital Divide along We
Feb. 27, 2024
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[Yoo Choon-sik] Election a test over growth woes
Events regarding central bank policy meetings attract huge attention not only from professional investors but also from many others outside the financial industry in most countries, including South Korea. This attention is understandable, as their policy decisions -- usually concerning short-term interest rates -- impact everyday economic activities across the country indiscriminately. In addition to the policy decision and its underlying factors, the head of the central bank frequently comments
Feb. 27, 2024
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[Robert J. Fouser] Turning Seoul’s dead streams into parks
Ask former residents of Seoul, Korean and foreign alike, what they miss most about the city, many will cite the mountains in and around the city. Indeed, few major cities of Seoul’s size have as many accessible mountains as Seoul. But Seoul has another important natural feature: streams. The streams may not be as flashy as the mountains, but in recent years they have played an important role in improving the quality of life in the city. One of the most accessible and popular streams is t
Feb. 23, 2024
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[Wang Son-taek] Pyongyang-Tokyo talks a two-edged sword
North Korea and Japan are not hiding signs that they recently had behind-the-scenes talks on a possible summit. While the so-called new Cold War structure is being discussed and worries about the potential war breaking are spreading, interest is increasing rapidly in whether the contact between North Korea and Japan could be a critical event that can change the dynamics of Northeast Asia. It remains to be seen whether the two parties can hold a summit, as there are many obstacles. The most signi
Feb. 22, 2024
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[Martin Schram] A week of Valentines and courtship
One way or another, Valentine’s Day week seemed mostly consumed with the complicated courtships of Donald Trump. Anchors with famous faces spent most of the week pinballing between Trump’s criminal and civil cases in courthouses in New York City, Washington, DC, Atlanta and south Florida. They kept us up-to-the-minute on the maneuverings involving 91 charges contained in the four indictments involving America’s 45th president. They include criminal cases focusing on Trump&rsquo
Feb. 22, 2024
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[Kim Seong-kon] We should prepare for the worst-case scenario
Watching the deplorable, childish skirmishes between our politicians these days, experts on the Korean Peninsula wonder if South Koreans are sufficiently aware of their precarious situation in the vortex of unparalleled international crises. If they were, our politicians would not indulge in such pathetic political scuffles, while the future of their country is nebulous at best. In the late 19th century, our ancestors were neither good at reading international change nor at foreseeing what lay a
Feb. 21, 2024
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[Nabil Ahmed] Cracks in the New Gilded Age
The past 12 years have been extremely good for the ultra-rich. The fortunes of billionaires -- a group comprising the 2,640 wealthiest people on the planet, most of whom are men -- has more than doubled. The wealth gap between the top 0.01 percent and the bottom half of the world’s population has increased by 50 percent since the 2008 global financial crisis. The aftermath of COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine have been particularly lucrative for the ultra-wealthy as they reaped an enormous w
Feb. 20, 2024
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[Harry Litman] How verdict will hit Trump empire
Over the course of an 11-week fraud trial before New York Justice Arthur Engoron, Donald Trump practically begged for a harsh verdict. On Friday, he got his wish and then some. Engoron issued a scathing 92-page decision that ordered Trump and his co-defendants to pay $364 million for defrauding the people of New York. And that gargantuan figure actually understates the price tag: With the addition of prejudgment interest required under New York law, Trump is looking at closer to $500 million. Co
Feb. 20, 2024
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[Jieun Kiaer] Will translation still be necessary in the AI age?
"Once you overcome the one-inch-tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films." At the 2020 Golden Globes award ceremony, Bong Joon-ho, director of the internationally successful film Parasite, spoke of the one-inch barrier. The one-inch barrier refers to the hurdle of Western, English-speaking audiences when they are faced with watching foreign language films. However, the one-inch barrier that Bong talks about might already belong to the past, now th
Feb. 19, 2024
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[Yoo Choon-sik] South Korea’s value-up program and its true goals
South Korean stock prices have been on an unexpectedly strong rally in the past several weeks, even without any significant changes to the generally bleak macroeconomic and corporate earnings prospects, and despite the global geopolitical situation deteriorating further. Market players and commentators broadly attribute the rally to growing hopes among investors that the Yoon Suk Yeol administration’s so-called corporate value-up program, centering around possible requirements on companies
Feb. 19, 2024
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[Andreas Kluth] Ditch the ‘Rules-Based International Order’
People have laid down their lives for love, freedom, justice, the fatherland and more. But nobody has ever died clutching the banner of the Rules-Based International Order. It’s time to junk that cliche, and replace it with something more fitting. That’s not only because the term is an Orwellian linguistic atrocity with all the emotive oomph of a Powerpoint slide. It’s also a shibboleth that, when used by American diplomats in particular, makes US foreign policy look hypocritic
Feb. 16, 2024
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[Tobias Bunde, Sophie Eisentraut] No one wins in a lose-lose world
If the international community was ever on track toward a more peaceful and just global order, it was during the early post-Cold War years. While global governance was not free of flaws, the risk of a great-power war seemed low, and poverty was declining. Moreover, the initial results of summits dedicated to promoting development and safeguarding the environment raised hopes for breakthrough solutions to humanity’s most pressing problems. But geopolitical tensions and economic uncertainty
Feb. 15, 2024
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[Kim Seong-kon] ‘If I were born in the 1930s’
There is a trend in Korean social media lately, called “If I were born in the 1930s,” which has tremendous popularity among young people. Artificial intelligence draws your portrait in elegant 1930s-style suits or dresses with stylish hairdos and hats, which obviously appeals to Korean young men and women who are fond of fashionable trends. Ostensibly, nothing seems to be wrong with it. Yet, Koreans in their eighties and nineties may frown because of what the 1930s means in our his
Feb. 14, 2024
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[Peter Singer] The competitive edge of doing good
It seems counterintuitive, but in a capitalist economy, doing the most good can provide a competitive edge. I am not referring to businesses that donate a tiny percentage of their profits to charities or tell you that they are reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. I am talking about businesses that donate 100 percent of their profits -- or close to it -- to effective charities that do a lot of good. Newman’s Own, the American food company founded in 1982 by the actor Paul Newman and author A.
Feb. 14, 2024