Two disturbing incidents roiled the cyber seas last week, one foreign and one domestic. They both strengthen the case -- which was already convincing, and which I have been making for almost a decade now -- for the creation of a US Cyber Force. The first incident was yet another cyberattack on a NATO member, Albania, by Iran. It was part of an ongoing Iranian campaign to attack Albania, a small Muslim nation of only about 3 million in the Balkans. The attacks have included zeroing out personal b

ViewpointsMarch 13, 2023

When I write critical columns about US policies and politics, I occasionally strike a nerve and get enraged letters from readers denouncing me as a traitor or suggesting I am providing grist for our nation's enemies. I've been told, for instance, that I should move to China because I'm anti-American. And when I raised the possibility of negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, I was accused of being Vladimir Putin's lapdog. I've never taken such accusations seriously beca

ViewpointsMarch 13, 2023

The 21st century has seen a boom in learning Korean around the world. The wave began in the early 2000s as hallyu gained popularity in Asia and grew in the 2010s as K-pop swept the world. Universities around the world have started and expanded Korean language classes, online classes have boomed, and K-pop fans have created informal learning networks spanning the globe. Meanwhile, the number of foreign students studying in South Korea grew rapidly, only to be cut short by travel restrictions duri

ViewpointsMarch 10, 2023

Jordan's new ambassador to Korea, Asal Al-Tal, and The Korea Herald CEO Choi Jin-young agreed to seek ways to expand bilateral exchanges between South Korea and Jordan during her visit to the company in Seoul on Wednesday. Al-Tal expressed optimism on fostering a positive image of Jordan among Koreans and of Korea among Jordanians. She pointed to increasing economic cooperation and interpersonal exchanges between the two countries as reasons for hope. The operations of Korean companies such

Foreign AffairsMarch 9, 2023

“AI passes US medical licensing exam.” “ChatGPT passes law school exams despite ‘mediocre’ performance.” “Would ChatGPT get a Wharton MBA?” Headlines such as these have recently touted (and often exaggerated) the successes of ChatGPT. These successes follow a long tradition of comparing AI‘s abilities to those of human experts, such as Deep Blue’s chess victory over Garry Kasparov in 1997, IBM Watson’s “Jeopardy!” vict

ViewpointsMarch 9, 2023

On Monday, the South Korean government announced solutions regarding the issue of forced labor, one of the sources of diplomatic friction between South Korea and Japan. If Korea-Japan relations improve, Seoul can expect to have a positive impact on responding to the North Korean nuclear threat and expanding diplomatic space toward a global theater. However, whether the situation will unfold as the Yoon Suk Yeol government wishes is unclear. This is because the Yoon administration announced solut

ViewpointsMarch 9, 2023

Recently, two of my friends sent me two radically different articles on the MZ generations. A Korean friend of mine sent me an interesting piece of writing that presumably someone had posted on the internet. The title was “An Era of Super-reversal and Reverse Mentoring.” An American friend of mine sent me an article titled, “Gen Z Is Apparently Baffled by Basic Technology” by Victor Tangermann. The article on reverse mentoring solemnly announces, “We are now living

ViewpointsMarch 8, 2023

Nowhere is the competition in developing artificial intelligence fiercer than in the accelerating rivalry between the United States and China. At stake in this competition is not just who leads in AI but who sets the rules for how it is used. China is forging a new model of digital authoritarianism at home and is actively exporting it abroad. It has launched a national-level AI development plan with the intent to be the global leader by 2030. And it is spending billions on AI deployment, trainin

ViewpointsMarch 7, 2023

Tweets and texts were popping all over the place on Wednesday. Not only were China’s economic experts surprised -- but their leaders were actually satisfied. China’s economy had just rebounded quite strongly, as the country reopened after its full-stop COVID shutdown. February’s numbers showed China’s manufacturing sector registered its largest growth in a decade. So, this may be a good time to remind China’s President Xi Jinping of something I warned him about just

ViewpointsMarch 7, 2023

In recent years, McKinsey & Company has become a household name -- but for all the wrong reasons. One of the “Big Three” consulting firms, its work for major corporations and governments has increasingly become a source of scandal and intrigue around the world. In the United States, for example, McKinsey agreed to pay nearly $600 million for its role in the deadly opioid epidemic, following allegations that it had advised Purdue Pharma on how to “turbocharge” sales of Oxy

ViewpointsMarch 6, 2023

Increasing the share of nuclear energy to replace renewable energy is considered a move against carbon neutrality. Whenever the current South Korean government insists on the legitimacy of its pro-nuclear energy policy, France, a powerhouse in nuclear energy, is cited as a successful case. However, a closer look at France’s nuclear power policy within the framework of its energy mix shows that Korea and France are quite different in many aspects. The two nations' energy policies share

ViewpointsMarch 6, 2023

The Bulgarian Embassy celebrated its National Day on March 3, marking the nation's liberation from the Ottoman Dominion. Bulgarian Embassy commemorated Bulgarian volunteers who fought and liberated Bulgaria during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, leading to the re-establishment of Bulgarian statehood. Delivering welcome remarks at the ceremony, Bulgarian Ambassador Petko Draganov recalled his country’s diplomatic relationship with Korea forged 33 years ago in acknowledgment o

Foreign AffairsMarch 3, 2023

As democracy has receded in many parts of the world, “human rights” -- and the language, institutions, and framework of laws to which the concept has given rise over the past 75 years -- have increasingly attracted criticism. Of course, realities on the ground have always fallen short of the lofty aspirations enshrined in our patchwork global human-rights system, from the first initiatives under the League of Nations to the 1945 United Nations Charter and the treaties subsequently

ViewpointsMarch 3, 2023