The Korea Herald

Articles by Kim Seong-kon

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September 19, 2017 Columnists

[Kim Seong-kon] Vanishing Korean Diaspora and their writings

Last week, I attended the third International Congress of Writers Writing in Korea held at Gyeongju under the auspices of the international P.E.N. Korea Centre. The conference, which brought together...

[Kim Seong-kon] We need good professionals and wise men

Koreans are known to be extremely proud of themselves. Perhaps they are too proud to know their place in the world or even in East Asia. Many are so proud of themselves that they have delusions of gr...

September 12, 2017
Columnists
[Kim Seong-kon] Where have all the great men gone in times of crisis?

In his monumental essay, “the American Scholar,” Emerson wrote, “To be great is to be misunderstood.” Indeed, a truly great man can easily be misunderstood by his contemporaries. In English, there is...

September 5, 2017
Columnists
[Kim Seong-kon] What we can learn from ‘Mockingjay’

Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games trilogy is a powerful criticism of contemporary society that is seriously plagued by hate and divided by ideological differences. “Mockingjay,” the last installment...

August 29, 2017
Viewpoints
[Kim Seong-kon] Declaration of independence from Confucianism

Recently, I read the controversial book “Confucius Must Die for This Nation to Live” by Professor Kim Kyung-il. The book is a de-facto declaration of independence from Confucianism, which has been th...

August 22, 2017
Columnists
[Kim Seong-kon] Korea caught between Scylla and Charybdis

Recently foreign readers wrote me that they would like to know what young Koreans think of the current political climate of the Korean Peninsula and what South Korea can and should do under the circu...

August 15, 2017
Columnists
[Kim Seong-kon] Waiting for the autumn and spring

These days, Korea is roasting under the scorching sun. During the day, Koreans seek refuge in air-conditioned buildings and at night, they toss and turn because of the unbearably high temperature and...

August 8, 2017
Viewpoints
[Kim Seong-kon] A colorless man is a colorful man

Generally speaking, Koreans like to belong somewhere and tend to flock together. Perhaps that is why there are so many groups, societies and associations in Korean society. Koreans seem to feel comf...

August 1, 2017
Viewpoints
[Kim Seong-kon] SJWs rampant in South Korea

Haruki Murakami lamented the lack of decency and common sense among the extreme right wing in Japan, in a recent email interview with his Korean publisher, Munhakdongne. He mentioned this while refe...

July 25, 2017
Viewpoints
[Kim Seong-kon] Be lost in Pastland or prosper in Tomorrowland?

If you ask a scientist, “What is a star?” he will probably answer, “It is a gigantic mass of dust located in the universe far away from Earth.” How unromantic! Yet it is the undeniable truth. In the ...

July 18, 2017
Viewpoints
[Kim Seong-kon] What to do with Korea’s future

Recently I read two books that deal with the future of Korea. One was “For Whom This Nation Exists” by Kim Hyong-o, a former National Assemblyman and house speaker. The other was “Korea 4.0 Now” by K...

July 11, 2017
Viewpoints
[Kim Seong-kon] Certain endings and new beginnings

Last week, the LTI Korea Translation Academy held the commencement ceremony for our graduates of 2017. As president of the academy, I was so proud of the students from different nations who wore gorg...

July 4, 2017
Viewpoints
[Kim Seong-kon] Would you fight change and be left behind?

This is the National Assembly Hearing season in Korea for Cabinet minister-designates proposed by the new administration. Every day, newspaper reporters thoroughly examine every nook and cranny of th...

June 27, 2017
Viewpoints
[Kim Seong-kon] Do Koreans properly appreciate favors?

Foreigners have often pointed out that Koreans do not seem to be appreciative and seem to take everything for granted. In the 19th century, a foreigner, after living in Korea for two years, wrote, “W...

June 20, 2017
Viewpoints
[Kim Seong-kon] Waiting for our Maxwell’s Demon

In his short story “Entropy” and his celebrated novel “The Crying of Lot 49,” Thomas Pynchon warns us of the possible annihilation of human civilization, using the second law of thermodynamics, also ...

June 13, 2017
Viewpoints

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