A visit to Seoul is not complete without a walk in Bukchon. For all the talk of commercialization and the heavy tourist impact, the rows of traditional Korean-style houses make it one of Seoul’s most unique cityscapes. On a recent visit to the Bukchon Traditional Culture Center near Exit 3 of Anguk Station, I noticed a small but interesting change. The sign in front of the building explaining Bukchon now has the explanation in five languages: Korean, English, Chinese, Japanese and Thai.

ViewpointsJune 16, 2023

In the wake of Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Xing Haiming's "betting" remarks, relations between South Korea and China have soured in just a few days, creating a diplomatic crisis. Ambassador Xing said on June 8 that somebody who would bet against China in the Sino-US competition should regret it. In response, the South Korean government summoned him the next day to issue the warning that he had violated the Vienna Convention, which stipulates the duty of diplomats. The Foreig

ViewpointsJune 15, 2023

In recent weeks, I have been touring the United States and the United Kingdom, promoting "Animal Liberation Now," my new book on the ways in which we are inflicting suffering on hundreds of billions of nonhuman animals, especially in factory farms. The persistence of this vast, entirely unnecessary suffering is one of the great moral issues of our time. Some people doubt this claim because they think that humans matter incomparably more than animals. But it is increasingly accepted, am

ViewpointsJune 15, 2023

Recently, in a school zone in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, a bus hit and killed a second grader who was crossing the street with the “Walk” signal. The bus driver did not come to a full stop while making a right turn at the red light. The little boy’s father witnessed the tragic scene while waiting for his young son from the other side of the street. This kind of traffic accident is rare in advanced countries. In the US, for example, in states where turning on red lights is al

ViewpointsJune 14, 2023

Neha is a young Nepali woman, born in Nepal to a Nepali mother. She grew up there and had dreams of becoming a doctor. But, despite being an extremely bright student and at the top of her class, Neha could not take the entrance exam for medical school. Her ambition went unfulfilled, because she was not recognized as a citizen of Nepal. Nepal is one of the 24 countries that deny women the right to pass their nationality to their children. It is also one of almost 50 states where women do not enjo

ViewpointsJune 14, 2023

The Swedish Embassy highlighted the growing bilateral cooperation between the European country with Korea as it celebrated Sweden Day 2023 on Friday. Sweden Day, a national holiday, is observed on June 6. This year marks a double jubilee celebration for Sweden. It commemorates 500 years of independence since the election of King Gustav Vasa in 1523 and the 50th year on the throne for Carl XVI Gustaf, Sweden’s current and longest-reigning monarch. Delivering remarks at the event, Swedish Am

Foreign AffairsJune 13, 2023

When Ukraine’s UN Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya addressed a special Security Council session on Tuesday about the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam, he confronted his Russian counterpart as “the representative of Putin’s terrorist regime ... that has detonated a bomb of mass environmental destruction.” That says it all. Who can doubt that it was Moscow that unleashed the largest man-made disaster in Europe since the 1986 nuclear meltdown in Chernobyl? But Chernobyl -- an

ViewpointsJune 13, 2023

In one sense, it was breathtaking: The first ever indictment of a former president by the Department of Justice he once oversaw -- and therefore the most important federal charges in US history. In another, it was expected. Once Donald Trump had received a formal target letter from the department, his fate was effectively sealed. But that was only the latest in a series of recent signs that charges were inevitable. The months and years of questions about whether the Biden administration should

ViewpointsJune 13, 2023

The International Institute for Strategic Studies’ Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s largest security conference, has wrapped up its 2023 meeting in Singapore. The context for this year’s summit was not propitious: Russia’s bloody invasion of Ukraine grinds on, while Chinese President Xi Jinping continues his uncompromising approach to global affairs. If one thing was obvious during the two days of defense diplomacy, it is that the Sino-American competition is far from being ma

ViewpointsJune 12, 2023

Human rights and golf were rarely mentioned in the same breath until the launch last year of LIV Golf, the Saudi-backed tour organized to challenge the PGA. Fans, sponsors, players and PGA executives claimed to be appalled at the involvement of a country connected to 9/11 and the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, among other long-standing human rights concerns. Predictably, then, the news on Tuesday that the PGA Tour and LIV Golf have agreed to a merger largely backed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereig

ViewpointsJune 12, 2023

Whether as innocent as a young child moving to her favorite Disney tune or as highly choreographed and tightly executed as the moves of a K-pop band, dancing is an elemental expression of the self and a universal form of communication. At the Busan International Dance Festival, which took place from June 2-4 in the southern port city, 40 dance teams from around the world communicated pure joy, whimsical caprice, despair and hope, human struggles and victory. Watching the dancers perform on an ou

ViewpointsJune 9, 2023

Some of us are more optimistic than others about the future. We optimists recognize that it is still possible to escape from the traps that America’s Second Gilded Age has laid. During a gilded age, productive capabilities are directed away from providing most people with necessities and conveniences, and toward exorbitant spending on status-seeking and other worthless activities. Inherited wealth typically plays a major role, and it is often deployed to block and delay any transformation

ViewpointsJune 8, 2023