[Lee Jae-min] What went wrong? It’s time to look at the military’s security posture

The poor police officer who got the call may have scoffed, thinking it was a prank. Imagine the caller saying something like this: “I have just talked to four people claiming to have come from the North. They are standing on the quay.” Then imagine the startled police officers rushing to the scene. Recent media photos of South Korean police officers talking to the crew of a North Korean boat that apparently strayed into South Korean waters captured exactly this bizarre encounter. The

June 25, 2019

[Ana Palacio] American power without wisdom

In Greek mythology, it was prophesied that Zeus’s first wife Metis, the goddess of wisdom, would bear a son who, equipped with his mother’s cunning and his father’s power, would eventually overthrow the king of the gods. To protect his position, Zeus swallowed the pregnant Metis whole. The prophesied usurper-son was never born.The qualities of metis (cunning wisdom) and bie (raw power) fascinated the ancient Greeks. At some moments, they revered the former, embodied by Odysseus

June 24, 2019

[Andrew Sheng] Measures against Huawei signal digital ‘divorce’

It is a cliche to say that we live in a digital age, with many countries upgrading to become knowledge economies. There is supposedly a digital divide, between those who have access to digital knowledge and skills, and those who don’t. But what has emerged with recent action against Huawei Technologies suggests that the World Wide Web may be splintered into four or more digital networks that are firewalled against each other. This situation stems from geopolitical rivalry, mixed up with te

June 24, 2019

[Slawomir Sierakowski] Teflon populism

Populist rule is invariably associated with corruption, nepotism and incompetence. Why, then, do populists appear immune to scandal? Revelations that would have shocked electorates just a few years ago leave nary a mark on populist leaders and government ministers. And, sometimes, what doesn’t kill them even seems to make them stronger.Examples are legion. When Der Spiegel reported that the far-right Alternative fur Deutschland had misappropriated funds, the party’s supporters could

June 23, 2019

[David Ignatius] Iran is trying to fight its way out

The most important variable in the current Persian Gulf confrontation is time. The Trump administration wants to play a long game, to draw the sanctions tourniquet ever tighter. Iran needs to play a short game, to escape the American chokehold before it becomes fatal. This inner dynamic helps explain this past month’s events in the Gulf -- Iran’s steady escalation of deniable strikes and President Trump’s relatively restrained military response. Each side has a different playbo

June 23, 2019

[David Ignatius] Shanahan’s departure ill-timed

President Trump has a credibility problem at a time when his confrontation with Iran is moving toward a dangerous test. “There is no capital in the bank” in terms of trust with major European and Asian allies, said one former senior defense official. “We’ve managed to isolate ourselves, rather than Iran. This is a strategy-free zone.”Adding to the sense of vertigo surrounding US defense policy was the withdrawal Tuesday of Patrick Shanahan as Trump’s selection

June 20, 2019

[Kim Myong-sik] Nation at a crossroads

As we approach the midpoint in the Moon Jae-in presidency, let us make a brief rundown of the leftist administration’s major policies. First is the denuclearization of North Korea. Moon has chosen a basically reconciliatory stance toward Pyongyang, favoring a step-by-step approach to peace that involves bartering with the North. This approach accepts the phased elimination of the North’s nuclear and rocket programs, rather than President Trump’s instant disarmament deal.Second

June 19, 2019

[Trudy Rubin] Campaign help from Russia?

 What do Queen Elizabeth II and Vladimir Putin have in common?Well, according to President Donald Trump, there is no difference between having a chat with Britain’s queen and accepting dirt about a political opponent from the Kremlin.When asked, in an astonishing interview with ABC News, whether he would welcome campaign help from an adversary like Russia or China, Trump said, “I’d take it.” He denied this amounted to election interference.More to the dangerous point

June 19, 2019

[Robert J. Fouser] Japan’s quiet moves toward accepting immigrants

The Olympics are no longer the big global moment that they were in the late 20th century, but, as events surrounding the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang showed, they still have symbolic power. The Summer Olympics in 2020 will be held in Tokyo, and a short visit on the way back to the US from South Korea reveals the effects of the symbolic power of the Olympics.As expected, the city is investing heavily in infrastructure. Many train and subway stations are being upgraded. New hotels are going up a

June 18, 2019

[Kim Seong-kon] The best-case scenario vs. the worst-case scenario

We still remember that in the past our military dictators vastly exaggerated the threat from North Korea to justify tyranny, intimidating people with the fear of imminent war. Ex-military generals frequently triggered that fear so they could suppress the general public. At that time, the right-wing dictators bragged, “We are the only ones who can prevent war from breaking out on this peninsula.”Today, the situation is reversed. Now, the left-wing politicians who fought against the mi

June 18, 2019

[Jeffrey Frankel] US recovery turns 10

This month marks the 10th full year of the US economic recovery that began in June 2009. Back then, a “trough” in business activity signified the end of the Great Recession that followed the 2007-08 global financial crisis. The current expansion has continued, uninterrupted, ever since.The best explanation for the length of this recovery is disappointingly simple: The Great Recession was the United States’ worst downturn since the 1930s. The deeper the hole, the longer it

June 17, 2019

[Cass R. Sunstein] We are living in historic times. Or are we?

If we are living through historic events, would we know?In 1965, Arthur Danto, a philosopher at Columbia University, argued that it is impossible to tell, when you’re in the midst of things, whether an event is going to be deemed “historic” by future historians. If something happens -- Russia successfully reclaims Crimea, for example, or Pete Buttigieg declares that he’s running for president -- its ultimate significance will be determined by causal chains that cannot pos

June 17, 2019

[Kasia Malinowska] How US drug war victimizes women

It has been two years since Cecilia’s son, Carlos, set sail from the coast of Ecuador on an ordinary day’s fishing voyage. She has not heard from him since. At first, she feared that his fishing trawler had sunk or been attacked by pirates. But the fate Carlos turned out to have met was more surreal than that, and in a way, even more harrowing: deep in international waters, thousands of miles from the United States, he was detained by the US coast guard. He has been locked away i

June 16, 2019

[David Ignatius] Is the Iran-US tinderbox about to ignite?

As Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Iran of “unprovoked attacks” near the Strait of Hormuz, video screens behind him showed thick black smoke billowing from the two tankers that were struck Thursday. It was the dramatic imagery that sometimes precedes armed conflict. Pompeo didn’t offer hard evidence, and Iran denied the attacks.The US response in the escalating confrontation with Iran, for now, seems to be continued pressure short of war. “Our policy remains an eco

June 16, 2019

[Hong Seok-in] What’s so public about Korea’s Public Diplomacy?

Listed among Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in 2019, Korea’s seven-member boy band BTS can count 19 music videos with more than 1 million views on YouTube and three hit songs ranked No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart as just a few of its accomplishments. When BTS releases a new single, fans immediately translate their lyrics into various languages. Some take it a step further, learning Korean to understand the song in its original form. In September 2018, BTS spoke

June 13, 2019

[Min Gab-ryong] Brave new world requires brave new answers

Universal usage of the internet has allowed humanity to venture into a domain our ancestors would have never dreamed of: cyberspace. The extensive freedom and convenience brought by the development of information and communication technology makes it very difficult to recall the days that lacked the fancy tools and services we relish today. Can modern man’s life be described well without referring to cyberspace and the connectivity it brings? Most would say otherwise. This shift towar

June 12, 2019

[Kim Hoo-ran] Lee Hee-ho’s legacy as activist, first lady offers lesson for all

When former first lady Lee Hee-ho, who passed away Monday night aged 96, and Kim Dae-jung tied the knot in 1962, they entered into a lifelong partnership that would endure numerous hardships and tribulations.By all accounts, most people on Lee’s side opposed the marriage. She was a well-educated woman who had studied sociology in the US and was playing an active role in the country’s nascent women’s rights movement. Her colleagues and family thought that marriage to Kim, an opp

June 12, 2019