Articles by Kim Seong-kon
Kim Seong-kon
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[Kim Seong-kon] The moment we become emotional, we lose the battle
Regardless of our nationality, we all have merits and flaws. Of course, it all depends on people, but sometimes we unwittingly exhibit collective characteristics that contribute to the public image of a country. Living in America, for example, one can be impressed by Americans’ good-natured personality. Generally speaking, Americans are exceptionally nice and friendly. Look at their smiling faces, and you are compelled to smile back. You do not see any sign of malicious intention to hurt o
Viewpoints Aug. 6, 2019
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[Kim Seong-kon] Rereading Richard Kim’s ‘The Martyred’ in 2019
When I first came across Richard Kim’s “The Martyred” in 1967, I was an intellectually adventurous and emotionally vulnerable college freshman. At the time, I was intrigued and mesmerized by the novels of Albert Camus and Fyodor Dostoevsky. “The Martyred,” too, was a thought-provoking novel that resonates with Camus’s nihilistic existentialism and saturated with a philosophical rigor comparable to Dostoevsky.The story of is set in Pyongyang, the capital city o
Viewpoints July 30, 2019
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[Kim Seong-kon] Ultra-nationalism in the era of globalism
We are now living in the era of globalism when the whole world has become a global village. The boundaries between nations are rapidly collapsing and people are experiencing crossovers everywhere. Take the EU, for example. Practically the whole continent of Europe has become a global village already and Europeans are freely crossing borders without an entry visa, using the same currency and their mobile phone with no extra charge. Why, then, are we witnessing such sudden unprecedented change in
Viewpoints July 23, 2019
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[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 be easy to overcome the hardship, and yet we should try hard to survive and even thrive, turning the crisis into an opportunity. What, then, should we do? First, we should promote and maintain good relationships with neighboring countries and allies, especially with Japan and the United States. This
Viewpoints July 16, 2019
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[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 “good sense and sound judgment in practical matters.” If so, we need to ask ourselves, “Do we have good sense and sound judgment? Are we practical?” Unfortunately, the answer is “No.” Oftentimes, Koreans seem to have neither good sense nor sound judgment not only in d
Viewpoints July 9, 2019
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[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 now. Many of those who experienced the war have long since died of old age and those who were babies or young children during the war are now in their 70s. When it comes to the Korean War, most Koreans do not know or care about it at all, except for the ambiguous descriptions in secondary school histor
Viewpoints July 2, 2019
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[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 sensational or one who has received an important award at an international film festival. Likewise, a celebrity writer whose book becomes a bestseller or a scholar who achieves international acclaim can evoke jealousy among colleagues, even when his fame makes his whole country glitter. Such a phenomenon ca
Viewpoints June 25, 2019
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[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 frequently triggered that fear so they could suppress the general public. At that time, the right-wing dictators bragged, “We are the only ones who can prevent war from breaking out on this peninsula.”Today, the situation is reversed. Now, the left-wing politicians who fought against the mi
Viewpoints June 18, 2019
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[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 rendered a little girl’s painful initiation into adulthood on an ice rink and her father’s sad feelings of parting with her. The poem beautifully captured the moment of a father’s last skating lessons for his daughter: “I tugged my six-year-old around the rink/ shoc
Viewpoints June 11, 2019
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[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 was composed of the United Kingdom and the United States, and Eurasia, which constituted the rest of Europe and Central Asia, was controlled by the Soviet Union. As for Eastasia, Orwell did not mention a specific country that either represented or ruled the region. Yet, at the time he was
Viewpoints May 28, 2019
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[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 the stage, it seems Koreans’ superb performance skills are part of our DNA. Indeed, when it comes to singing and dancing, Koreans seem invincible. It is no wonder that the K-pop vocal group BTS is enchanting the world with their charming voices and stunning choreography. Foreigners say that drinking is
Viewpoints May 21, 2019
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[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, corrupt capitalism and then anarchy. On the contrary, if you go further to the left, you will end up with equally undesirable results such as fascism, socialism and communism. Then finally you will find totalitarianism and enslavement at the far end of the left. It is intriguing that the illustration puts
Viewpoints May 14, 2019
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[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 speaks volumes.” In this insightful article, Abdul-Jabbar defended the hopelessly waning humanities, lamenting Americans’ infatuation with famous athletes and disrespect for intellectual giants. It was a pleasant surprise that an internationally well-known athlete emphasized the importance of the humaniti
Viewpoints May 7, 2019
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[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 intellectual in times of social and political turmoil. He contends that the intellectual should be a spiritual exile in his own society, who can “speak the truth to power” despite the threats of ostracism and even imprisonment. Said maintains that the intellectual should say “No!” not only to power-wiel
Viewpoints April 30, 2019
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[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. In the eyes of the young, older people are hopelessly stubborn and conservative; constantly nagging about war, past poverty, and those turbulent days when they were young. “Which war?” Young people want to yell back, “Don’t you know those things are no longer our concern?” That was why Robert A. Heinl
Viewpoints April 23, 2019
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