The Korea Herald

[Doyle McManus] Will ‘double haters’ shape US election?

The general election campaign between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, the rematch almost nobody wanted, began ahead of schedule last week. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is still contesting the Republican nomination, but she will need a miracle -- actually, more than one miracle -- to dethrone Trump. The chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, Ronna McDaniel, declared the former president to be her party's presumptive nominee even though only two stat

ViewpointsFeb. 2, 2024

[Doyle McManus] Will ‘double haters’ shape US election?

[Editorial] Rules of the game

With under 70 days left to the general election on April 10, South Korea's two main parties are yet to decide on the rules of the game. As separate splinter parties formed by former leaders of the People Power Party and the Democratic Party of Korea may or may not join forces, the process of setting election rules is likely to drag on until the last minute. The key question is over the method of proportional representation, through which 47 lawmakers are elected to the 300-member National A

EditorialFeb. 2, 2024

[Ana Palacio] The good news from Taiwan

International media are brimming with pronouncements that the West is in decline. The institutions that have formed the foundation of the rules-based international order since World War II are on the brink of collapse, we are warned, and the principles that underpin our open societies have been eroded. These claims are not baseless, and there is plenty of reason to pay attention to them. But it is too soon to write off the West, let alone democracy. At the very least, we should wait to see what

ViewpointsFeb. 1, 2024

[Editorial] Deepfakes pose real threat

Sexually explicit fake images of Taylor Swift, widely believed to have been generated by artificial intelligence tools, spread on social media last week at a dizzying pace, deeply alarming government officials, security experts, actors and many others. The high-profile incident might be blamed on the widely expected side effects of generative AI, which is capable of creating fake photos using real images circulating on the internet. This creates an environment in which "deepfakes," fak

EditorialFeb. 1, 2024

[Mark Jones] Will 2024 be the new 1933?

On Jan. 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany. To his supporters, it was a day of “national revolution” and rebirth. Germany, they believed, needed the restorative force of an authoritarian strongman after 14 years of the liberal-democratic Weimar “system.” That night, Hitler’s torch-bearing brownshirts marched through central Berlin to mark the dawn of a new era. It was also a triumphant moment in the history of popular deception. Since the Wei

ViewpointsFeb. 1, 2024

[Editorial] Rush of retakers

Any change related to college admissions is an issue of paramount interest in South Korea, as it concerns not only pupils in middle and high schools, but also hundreds of thousands of high school graduates who plan to retake the annual state-administered exam. The retakers, known as “jaesusaeng” (second-timers), “samsusaeng” (third-timers) and “N-susaeng” (those sitting for the Suneung for the Nth time), are either already enrolled in colleges or are not regis

EditorialJan. 31, 2024

[Kim Seong-kon] Overcoming the ‘three S words’ in our traits

In the eyes of foreigners, Koreans are often said to have many admirable, charming character traits, but one also hears of a few negative ones as well, such as having a “short memory,” “shortsightedness” and a “short temper.” These are often known as the “three S words.” As for having a “short memory,” it seems generally true that we tend to forget things too easily. For example, we seem to have completely forgotten how we have survived

ViewpointsJan. 31, 2024

[Kim Seong-kon] Overcoming the ‘three S words’ in our traits

[Lisa Jarvis] Post-Roe America’s national shame

It’s now been about a year and a half since the Supreme Court’s decision to revoke the constitutional right to abortion. Over that time, new data has been gradually filling in the picture of what access to reproductive health care looks like in much of the US. And the image forming is increasingly grim. Consider a gut-punch of a research letter published this month in JAMA Internal Medicine, in which researchers estimate that nearly 65,000 pregnancies have resulted from rape in the 1

ViewpointsJan. 31, 2024

[Lisa Jarvis] Post-Roe America’s national shame

[Grace Kao] The appeal of K-pop to Americans

What is the appeal of K-pop to audiences in the United States? I am a fan and researcher of K-pop, so I think and talk to college students and fans of all ages regularly about it. If you do not live in the US, it might be difficult to imagine the level of visibility of K-pop here in the United States. It is not everywhere: We don’t see idols in advertisements and we do not hear K-pop songs in public settings, except perhaps at a Korean restaurant. Still, most Americans have heard of K-pop.

ViewpointsJan. 30, 2024

[Grace Kao] The appeal of K-pop to Americans

[Yvette Wohn] The need to protect intellectual property in K-pop

All able-bodied South Korean men are obliged by law to serve in the military for a minimum of 18 months. The Camp is a commercial Web and mobile application sanctioned by the country’s Ministry of Defense to enable communication between service members and their families, friends, and loved ones. The app provides photos and updates of the soldiers and allows those “waiting on the outside” to send letters to the soldiers and create online communities. Active duty soldiers have l

ViewpointsJan. 30, 2024

[Yvette Wohn] The need to protect intellectual property in K-pop

[Editorial] Slow growth concerns

When the Bank of Korea announced last week that the country’s real gross domestic product inched up just 1.4 percent in 2023, the reaction from policymakers and the media remained largely the same: dismay and concern. Although the figure is technically in line with earlier projections from the government and the central bank, it is disappointing that Korea’s economic growth hit the lowest level in three years -- even though there was no profound crisis like the pandemic. The key econ

EditorialJan. 30, 2024

[Editorial] Politics of hatred

It is certainly one of the most harrowing beginnings to a year. Just 23 days after main opposition Democratic Party of Korea leader Lee Jae-myung was stabbed in the neck by a man who approached him asking for an autograph, Rep. Bae Hyun-jin of the ruling People Power Party was struck on the head multiple times by a 14-year-old boy on Thursday. The boy, born in 2009, reportedly said he was a criminal minor, but he is not, as the Criminal Act exempts only those under 14 years of age from punishmen

EditorialJan. 29, 2024

[Yoo Choon-sik] More money to boost child births? Ask babies, not politicians

The phrase “it takes a village to raise a child” is generally recognized for emphasizing the significant effort required to ensure a child’s upbringing in a safe environment, but the proverb holds particular relevance for South Korea as it grapples with a desperate battle to halt or, at the very least, slow the decline in birth rates. In a race against time, the South Korean government and provincial administrations are rolling out a range of financial incentives and benefits t

ViewpointsJan. 29, 2024

[Yoo Choon-sik] More money to boost child births? Ask babies, not politicians

[Jieun Kiaer] AI natives: How children should read in our time

The term digital native was coined in 2001 by Marc Prensky. In his article "Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants," Prensky applied the term to young people who grew up surrounded by computers, mobile phones and other tools of the digital age. The devices and technologies that Prensky was referring to were greatly different to those we use now. We no longer have dial-up internet connections or clunky computers. Our digital experience has undergone dramatic changes. ChatGPT was released t

ViewpointsJan. 29, 2024

[Jieun Kiaer] AI natives: How children should read in our time

[Editorial] Scrapping outdated rules

The Yoon Suk Yeol administration on Monday announced it would push for a set of reform measures designed to lift regulations that hinder people’s livelihoods or cause inconvenience. Among the measures, two plans stand out: scrapping a handset subsidy ban and doing away with big retailers’ mandatory Sunday closures. These regulations have long been criticized for their questionable effects while placing extra burden on the public. Behind the government's attempt to abolish the Mo

EditorialJan. 26, 2024

[Robert J. Fouser] The 'local' bookstore boom

For much of January, I had the privilege of being invited to give talks on two books that I wrote in Korean. “Why Do Cities Preserve History” is a new book, while “How to Read Cities” is a revised edition of a 2019 book. As I met readers and signed books, I thought about the meaning of bookstores in South Korea in 2024. Bookstores have a prominent place in the history of South Korea. For decades after the Korean War, bookstores, both new and used, were an important center

ViewpointsJan. 26, 2024

[Robert J. Fouser] The 'local' bookstore boom

[Editorial] The handbag quandary

First lady Kim Keon Hee’s alleged acceptance of a designer handbag from a Korean American pastor in September 2022, caught on spy cam, has become something the presidential office must address. The pastor, Choi Jae-young, conspired with a YouTube channel called Voice of Seoul to film his meeting with Kim using a camera on his watch, without informing Kim that she was being filmed. Choi said in a press conference at the National Assembly on Monday that he decided to “collect evidence&

EditorialJan. 25, 2024

[Michael Bröning] Should Germany’s AfD be banned?

The recent revelation that politicians from Germany’s far-right Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) met with right-wing activists last November to discuss an extremist “re-migration” plot has brought the debate over banning the party to a fever pitch. The clandestine meeting, held at a lakeside hotel near Potsdam, reportedly centered on the possibility of mass deportations of non-ethnic Germans if the far-right were to come to power. Alarmed by this horrifying vision, leaders fro

ViewpointsJan. 25, 2024

[Michael Bröning] Should Germany’s AfD be banned?

[Wang Son-taek] Is war coming on the Korean Peninsula?

These days, Seoul is very confused about the possibility of war breaking out. There is a hard, cold warning that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has decided to go to war, and that the Korean Peninsula is seriously in danger. On the other side, there is fierce opposition that the threats from Kim are only psychological warfare. The two voices contain different assumptions and premises, leading to different responses. If the former "war decision" argument is correct, half a million regul

ViewpointsJan. 25, 2024

[Wang Son-taek] Is war coming on the Korean Peninsula?

[John M. Crisp] Our dangerous failure of imagination

Generally, comparisons between Donald Trump and Adolph Hitler aren’t particularly persuasive. They often reflect an over-the-top, sky-is-falling semi-hysteria. Trump and Hitler? Let’s not get carried away. On the other hand, do we have something to fear from a too-casual complacency engendered by a failure of imagination? I was thinking about this last week as I read an op-ed entitled “American democratic system will endure,” by Jonathan Turley, a commentator and law prof

ViewpointsJan. 24, 2024

[John M. Crisp] Our dangerous failure of imagination