The Korea Herald

Articles by Kim Seong-kon

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July 16, 2019 Columnists

[Kim Seong-kon] Five things we should do to overcome crisis

Watching Korea helplessly caught in the vortex of international crises and domestic turbulence these days, one cannot but ponder how Korea can survive in these difficult times. Of course, it will not...

[Kim Seong-kon] Why do we need common sense?

When a society lacks common sense, absurd and irrational things can happen and, as a result, chaos and social disruption will prevail. What, then, is common sense? Common sense is widely known as “go...

July 9, 2019
Columnists
[Kim Seong-kon] Different flags on Korean Peninsula

Last week was the 69th anniversary of the Korean War. Although it was such a tragic war in which the Korean Peninsula suffered the annihilation of millions of lives, few people seem to remember it no...

July 2, 2019
Columnists
[Kim Seong-kon] In the name of harmony and unity

Jealousy is a universal phenomenon. For example, a star player in a sports team can easily become an object of jealousy for other players. So, too, can a famous movie star whose popularity is sensati...

June 25, 2019
Columnists
[Kim Seong-kon] The best-case scenario vs. the worst-case scenario

We still remember that in the past our military dictators vastly exaggerated the threat from North Korea to justify tyranny, intimidating people with the fear of imminent war. Ex-military generals fr...

June 18, 2019
Columnists
[Kim Seong-kon] Reading Zack Rogow's poems in this harsh world

When I first heard Zack Rogow reading from his deeply moving poem, “Skating Lessons” at a poetry reading in San Francisco in 2006, I was mesmerized by his exquisite poetic sensitivity in the way he r...

June 11, 2019
Columnists
[Kim Seong-kon] New world order without the US

In his internationally acclaimed dystopian novel “Nineteen Eighty-four,” George Orwell portrayed the world as divided into three regions: Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia. According to Orwell, Oceania w...

May 28, 2019
Columnists
[Kim Seong-kon] Korea and karaoke rooms

Traditionally, Koreans are known to enjoy singing and dancing tremendously. Perhaps singing and dancing was our ancestors’ daily ritual and thus runs in our blood. Watching K-pop singers dazzle on t...

May 21, 2019
Columnists
[Kim Seong-kon] Why Borges became apolitical

Recently, I saw an interesting diagram on the internet about the left and the right. The drawing indicates that as you go further to the right, you will get bad outcomes such as libertarianism, corru...

May 14, 2019
Columnists
[Kim Seong-kon] Elegy for the humanities

Recently, I read a perceptive article that the famous basketball player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar wrote for the Guardian. It was entitled, “The way Americans regard sports heroes versus intellectuals speak...

May 7, 2019
Columnists
[Kim Seong-kon] Spiritual exiles “against the grain”

What is the role of an intellectual or a writer in a turbulent society? In his monumental book, “Representations of the Intellectual,” Edward W. Said eloquently illustrates what it means to be an int...

April 30, 2019
Columnists
[Kim Seong-kon] ‘I am legend’ and have to fade away

Throughout human history, there has always been a generation gap between the young and old. In the eyes of the old, young people are frolicsome and reckless, and do not want to learn from the past. I...

April 23, 2019
Columnists
[Kim Seong-kon] Pleasure of reading Mendoza and Molina

Recently, I read “The Truth About the Savolta Case” by celebrated Spanish writer Eduardo Mendoza. In his intriguing novel, Mendoza depicts the turbulent social milieu of early 20th century Barcelona,...

April 16, 2019
Columnists
[Kim Seong-kon] The States, Spain and South Korea

I have always thought that I spent the best years of my life in the United States. Living in the States as a young man was truly an inspiration to me because I was exposed to the great American herit...

April 9, 2019
Columnists
[Kim Seong-kon] Apologies for denture-chattering bugs

Dear young Koreans, you deride old people these days by calling us “teultakchung” or “denture-chattering bugs.” We are appalled at such a derogatory nickname because we think we are still young -- at...

April 2, 2019
Columnists

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