Most Popular
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Seoul vows action over Naver's Line, Yahoo dispute
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[KH Explains] Hyundai Motor’s plan for new landmark keeps hitting bumps
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[Grace Kao] American racism against Stray Kids
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Key S. Korean, USFK special operations officials to hold rare meeting amid NK threats
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Samsung doubles down on Vietnam
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In Beijing, S. Korean top diplomat aims to jumpstart ties with China
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NewJeans' members' parents complained to Hybe, email shows
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Controversy brews over shakeup of prosecutors amid probe of first lady
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Suspect behind murder of Korean tourist in Pattaya arrested
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Prosecutors summon pastor involved in Dior bag scandal
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[Daniel DePetris] Strikes on Houthis yet another example of Congress sidelined
President Joe Biden’s decision on Thursday to order a wave of strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen was inevitable the moment the Yemeni militia disregarded Washington’s warnings a week earlier and sent a swarm of 18 drones and three anti-ship ballistic missiles in the direction of US warships. Last week’s strikes, which took place with the cooperation of the United Kingdom and were aimed at 60 locations, were designed to degrade the Houthis’ capabilities and hopefully
Jan. 18, 2024
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[Andreas Kluth] World is feeling angst of liminality
The crisis of 2024 “consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear.” Symptoms such as extreme polarization, democratic corrosion and neo-fascism in the US and elsewhere, in turn boding conflict, serfdom and war. Oh, wait. That line above was meant to describe the year 1930. That’s when it appeared in prison notebook number 3, written by Antonio Gramsci, a Marxist philosopher in Beni
Jan. 18, 2024
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[Kim Seong-kon] If America chooses to 'leave the world behind'
Currently, the United States of America is experiencing a plethora of domestic and overseas crises. Internally, there is unprecedented political bipolarity, severe inflation and the surge of a COVID-19 variant called JN 1 that have caused widespread deaths. Externally, the Ukraine war, the South China Sea dispute and North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missile launches threatening mainland America come to mind. Under the circumstances, many Americans no longer want their country to in
Jan. 17, 2024
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[Claudia Sahm] Don't worry about US debt. Seriously
US federal government debt ended 2023 at a record $34 trillion. The worries are bipartisan, with both Republicans and Democrats hearing about out-of-control borrowing from their constituents. In fact, almost six in 10 Americans say reducing it should be a top priority, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center. So, it’s not a surprise that Congress is moving closer to passing a budget for fiscal year 2024 that would cap spending at $1.59 trillion which is a bit less than the $1.7 tr
Jan. 17, 2024
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[Lara Williams] Prod people into acting more greenly
If there’s a month dedicated to self-betterment, it’s dark and dreary January. The gyms are full, the pubs are empty and green juices are flying off the shelves. At least for now. Even with the best of intentions, the vast majority of New Year’s resolutions don’t last very long at all. Many goal-setters give up on their commitments within just three months. We’re now in the second week of January, and some of you may have already slipped up on your promises. There&r
Jan. 16, 2024
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[Dr. Joannes Ekaprasetya Tandjung] Let creativity be core of Indonesia-Korea relations
“If there is one thing that unites us, it is our never-ending creativity. The world salutes the power of individuals to remain creative, to put forward our most thought-provoking ideas and turn those ideas into real events and sellable products,” Gandi Sulistiyanto, Indonesia’s ambassador to South Korea, said at the opening of the Korea-Indonesia Cooperation Forum in Jakarta on Nov. 30 last year. Launched by The Korea Herald CEO Choi Jin-young, the Korea-Indonesia Cooperation F
Jan. 16, 2024
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[Thitinan Pongsudhirak] Myanmar's military junta is losing power
As autocratic leaders gain influence, if not power, in more countries than proponents of democracy care to count, Myanmar is a remarkable exception: its military junta appears untenable. In fact, Myanmar’s people are putting their lives on the line to break the generals’ grip on power and reclaim their future. After nearly a half-century of military dictatorship, starting in 1962, a decade of political liberalization, economic reform and development progress followed, lasting from 20
Jan. 15, 2024
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[Jieun Kiaer] Hangeul should be at the heart of Hallyu
"I want my country to be the most beautiful country in the world. I don't want it to be the richest country. I don't want my country to invade other countries because I've been heartbroken by invasions. I’m satisfied if we have enough wealth to provide for ourselves and enough strength to keep us safe from invasion. Yet one thing that I deeply wish to have is a culture that has lasting legacy and power." ("My Wish" from Kim Ku, 1876-1949) As I start a new
Jan. 15, 2024
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[Media Art Now] TZUSOO engenders new cybernetic imagination
When advanced technologies bring about radical changes in society, there is always a collision of utopian and dystopian views. The heated debate last year over generative AI is one example. If you want to learn how to have your own point of view, why not turn to artists of our time, to their “anthropologically” attentive exploration of the contemporary conditions of the world? A group of young, free-spirited Korean artists stands out in this respect. Born digitally and technologica
Jan. 12, 2024
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[Robert J. Fouser] A visit to Osaka’s Koreatown
For the first time in years, I spent the holidays in Japan. One of the highlights of my visit was a long afternoon walk through Osaka’s Koreatown. The area has changed dramatically since my first visit in the mid-1990s. As I walked around, I thought about what the many changes mean and about how the area might change in the future. Located near Tsuruhashi Station in south-central Osaka, the Koreatown here had historically been the largest in Japan. An influx of people from South Korea in t
Jan. 12, 2024
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[Takatoshi Ito] When will Japan normalize its monetary policy?
Japan has had a difficult year so far. On Jan. 1, as Japanese families gathered to celebrate the new year, a powerful earthquake shook the Noto peninsula, causing buildings to collapse and forcing mass evacuations. More than a week later, the death toll -- already in the dozens -- continues to rise, as road damage, heavy rains, and landslides impede rescuers’ ability to reach affected villages. The next day, a Japan Airlines plane landing at Tokyo’s Haneda airport collided on the run
Jan. 11, 2024
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[Wang Son-taek] When ‘misreading’ met ‘misleading’
On the earliest days of the new year of 2024, South and North Korean military forces have conducted artillery drills in the West Sea, causing an anxious atmosphere in which residents must evacuate. Notably, there are concerns over the situation since it was right after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un made hostile remarks against the South at a plenary session of the Workers' Party late last year. As the South has also made violent remarks against the North, a confrontational structure in wh
Jan. 11, 2024
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[Eric Posner] The AI octopus
With long-gestating antitrust cases against Google, Apple and Amazon coming to fruition, many observers think that 2024 could be a turning point for Big Tech. Yet even as authorities press ahead with this litigation, they risk being blindsided by the rise of artificial intelligence, which is likely to reinforce Big Tech’s dominance of the economy. The recent firing and rehiring of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was interpreted as a conflict between cautious board members who worried about the risks
Jan. 10, 2024
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[Kim Seong-kon] Liberal democracy will be at stake in 2024
Experts have pointed out that the year 2024 will continue to pose major challenges from many quarters, from the far-reaching devastation of climate change to the negative impact of artificial intelligence, including a massive rise in disinformation and fake news. For these and many other reasons, democracy will continue to be at stake worldwide. Indeed, hosts of specialists and scholars have recently warned of a worldwide crisis and decline of democracy in the international community. In 2016, f
Jan. 10, 2024
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[Andreas Kluth] America has new Axis of Evil
Since Feb. 24, 2022, and especially since Oct. 7, 2023, a specter has haunted the world and worried President Joe Biden in particular: Will Russia’s war against Ukraine, or Israel’s against Hamas, draw in other belligerents, perhaps even culminating in World War III? Biden has therefore done everything in his power to support Ukraine and Israel while also keeping the US and its Western allies out of direct confrontations with Russia, Hamas’ backers in Iran, and their Chinese
Jan. 9, 2024
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[Shang-Jin Wei] How can the world's growth engine do better?
The global economy demonstrated remarkable resilience in 2023, as the United States defied expectations and managed to avoid a recession. India, Vietnam, and Japan also achieved impressive economic performance given the circumstances. But while these countries have good reasons to be optimistic about 2024, China will most likely be the single largest contributor to global GDP growth this year. This may come as a surprise to many, given the wave of increasingly gloomy forecasts for the Chinese
Jan. 9, 2024
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[Peter Singer] Killing innocents in Israel and Gaza
Last year, I was invited to join other Princeton University academics in viewing a compilation of raw footage from GoPro cameras carried by Hamas gunmen killing civilians in Israel on Oct. 7. Additional video and audio material came from dashboard cameras, traffic cameras, phone intercepts and victims’ phones. The invitation carried a warning that the footage would show horrific violence and murder. I avoid violent movies, so my instinctive response was to decline the invitation. But as so
Jan. 8, 2024
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[Jean Guerrero] How to converse with your MAGA dad
Lately, I avoid conversations with my father because of his passion for lecturing me about politics from a hard-right perspective. It began during COVID lockdowns. Not long ago, he told me he sees Tucker Carlson as a hero. Exasperated, I told him he was idolizing a guy who had mocked his daughter's reporting on national TV. He shook his head as if I were lying or whining, then soliloquized about Carlson's defense of traditional masculinity. "Tucker has balls down to the floor,&quo
Jan. 5, 2024
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[Serendipity] Golden Rule
It was a hectic year-end. Flying 13 hours for a family reunion, doing last-minute gift shopping and getting together with extended family for Christmas dinner kept me busy with scarcely any time to think about the coming year, much less the requisite New Year’s resolutions. Coming up with New Year’s resolutions, as perfunctory as they may be, for me is an opportunity to ruminate on how I want to live the next 12 months. Of course, by February, I would come to realize that I had bit
Jan. 4, 2024
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[Andreas Kluth] Only patriotism can save the US from nationalism
It’s patriotism when love of your own people comes first; it’s nationalism when hate for people other than your own comes first. That definition comes from Charles de Gaulle, a former national hero and president of France. It’s worth keeping in mind as we enter an election year in the US where these two deceptively similar and yet utterly contrary forces will clash. De Gaulle was onto something subtle but big. Patriotism, when you observe that warm feeling welling up inside of
Jan. 4, 2024