With Pyongyang escalating its nuclear brinksmanship, support for consensual unification between South Korea and North Korea is losing ground, while the belief in absorption is gaining traction. Approaches to the nationally cherished goal have been dichotomized between the country’s liberals and conservatives, with the former advocating cooperation and engagement with the North and the latter backing high-handed diplomatic and military actions. While most experts have preferred gradual unificatio

Jan. 10, 2016

North Korea’s impetuous testing of its nuclear arsenal last Wednesday was a sign of a desperately isolated regime that calculates survival ahead of all other factors, experts noted. Known as the “byungjin line,” the dual-track policy aims to bolster deterrence against outside attack while simultaneously developing the economy. Adopted in the early 1960s, the strategy has effectively buffered the sustainability of the regime. The fourth nuclear detonation in North Hamgyeong Province, purported to

Jan. 10, 2016

Ethiopia is a country with a long history and diverse cultures. We are the oldest independent nation in the world with deep roots in our ancient civilizations. As Africa’s second-most populous country with 90 million people, Ethiopia is becoming a continental hub with capital Addis Ababa housing the African Union. Our government is a federal republic founded in August 1995, following a transitional government that ended 17 years of Marxist dictatorship of the Derg (the Coordinating Committee of

Jan. 10, 2016

Seoul and Tokyo will make efforts to harness the positive momentum created by the agreement on wartime sexual slavery for this year and onward, to strengthen trilateral economic cooperation with China and the tripartite alliance involving the U.S, a political scientist highlighted. The landmark accord reached at the tail end of last year to resolve the euphemistically described “comfort women” issue, involving women forced into sexual service for the imperial Japanese army, was “a clear diplomat

Jan. 3, 2016

Korea’s anticipated membership in the Trans-Pacific Partnership will help the country’s small and medium-sized firms capitalize on overseas markets and will exert pressure on North Korea to open its doors, a respected economist highlighted. Despite Seoul’s belated decision to join the multinational free trade scheme, announced in mid-October, the mega-sized agreement presents myriad opportunities, encompassing goods and services, rules of origin, trade remedies, government procurement, the envir

Jan. 3, 2016

A true reconciliation with neighboring nations takes forgiveness and remembrance from the whole of society, Polish Ambassador Krzysztof Ignacy Majka said in an interview last week. Referring to Poland’s postwar rapprochement with Germany, Majka stressed that the majority of a national community, from top to bottom and across the political spectrum, must be involved to keep the conciliatory momentum alive. “Real reconciliation does not have to take place at the high political level. It can come f

Jan. 3, 2016

The main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea on Thursday declared the results of South Korea and Japan‘s agreement on wartime sex slavery issue “invalid,” urging renegotiation and the dismissal of Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se.The epochal agreement Monday, in which Japan apologized for victims of sexual slavery during World War II, in addition to funding a 1 billion yen ($8.3 million) project to support the surviving “comfort women.” But the surviving victims, along with the nongovernmental organiz

Dec. 31, 2015

A former Korean journalist has published a book that traces the holy grails of rock ‘n’ roll based on his journey across the musical heartlands of the U.S.“In Search of Rock ‘n’ Roll Heritage: American Rock Music Landmarks” is a travelogue highlighting the cultural and economic power of museums, monuments and memorials. The book was written by Cho Hyun-jin, a distinguished professor at Kookmin University and former journalist for YTN, Arirang TV and Billboard magazine, who is also credited with

Dec. 28, 2015

When the world mourned over dead Syrian toddler Aylan Kurdi, who washed up on a Turkish beach in early September, one Syrian man was not tormented. He had lost three children in an air strike some time before. “The boy looked like a sleeping angel. I wish my children had died like that,” the grief-stricken father told Abdul Wahab Almohammad Agha, the director of humanitarian organization Help Syria, at a refugee camp in Jordan in September. “Aylan’s father is a lucky guy compared to me. I died e

Dec. 28, 2015

The Danish Embassy teamed up with communications company Jabra to hold a concert Tuesday to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Danish composer Carl Nielsen. The event at the Seoul National University Museum of Art attracted 150 guests from diplomatic missions, cultural industries, educational institutions and business communities, part of worldwide performances celebrating the occasion. Danish-Korean group “Trio con Brio Copenhagen” ― comprised of Korean sisters, violinist Hong Soo-jin and cell

Dec. 20, 2015

The International Organization of the Francophonie (OIF), an agency dedicated to popularizing French language and culture worldwide, launched a support group in Seoul last week to widen collaboration with Korea.The Council of Promotion of Francophonie in Korea is comprised of diplomats with networks in Tokyo, Hanoi, Bangkok and Jakarta. The agency will support cultural events, academic conferences and business partnerships, meeting once or twice a year.“We are here to celebrate Francophonie’s es

Dec. 20, 2015

The Tunisian Embassy on Tuesday held a reception to commemorate the awarding of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize to the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet, a coalition of unionists, employers, lawyers and human rights activists that brokered peace and forestalled a civil war.The quartet is credited with preventing violence in 2013, following the Jasmine Revolution that overthrew longtime president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and ended six decades of dictatorship. By facilitating compromise between dive

Dec. 20, 2015