[Lim Woong] Down with the single pathway to teaching certification: Korea needs a diverse teacher workforce

Teaching as a profession holds a special place in the modern Korean history of rapid economic and social development. During the 1950s and 60s, many young elites of diverse backgrounds and talents joined the patriotic call to teach in public schools across the country. During the aftermath of the Korean War (1950-1953), which wreaked havoc on the economy and infrastructure, the Korean government used public school teachers as a human resource to rebuild the country’s education system and e

Oct. 1, 2021

[Celine-Marie Pascale] Account for the unaccounted poor

Recently released Census Bureau data show that more than 37 million people in America lived at or below the federal poverty line in 2020. That’s 11.4 percent of the population, and a full percentage point higher than what it was in 2019. But the federal poverty line doesn’t begin to tell the story of poverty in the US. Half of US families struggle to make ends meet. They are part of what I call the “uncounted majority,” people who have trouble paying basic bills even th

Oct. 1, 2021

[Doyle McManus] US-China faceoff is looking like Cold War

President Joe Biden hosted a summit Friday that could turn out to be a watershed -- but if you weren’t watching, you might have missed it. The meeting brought together the leaders of a deliberately low-key group called “the Quad”: the United States, Japan, India and Australia. US officials downplayed the session, describing it as “an informal gathering of leading democracies in the Indo-Pacific.” China wasn’t fooled. Its diplomats have spent months denounci

Sept. 30, 2021

[Lee Kyong-hee] Afghan crisis bares Korean notion of refugees

I had a brief brush with Afghanistan during my visit to Islamabad, Pakistan, in the early 2000s. Outside a downtown shopping arcade, I found street vendors displaying finely crafted bracelets, necklaces and earrings. They were beautiful, and even could be called classic and archaic. The pieces supposedly came from neighboring Afghanistan. The real surprise was the prices: astonishingly cheap. I picked several items, feeling somewhat guilty. I thought the prices amplified the desperate desire o

Sept. 30, 2021

[Rachel Greszler] Strings attached to government spending

“Give me a one-handed economist,” Harry Truman once famously demanded. “All my economists say, ‘On the one hand … but on the other’.” His frustration was understandable. But when it comes to legislation that can affect the well-being of all Americans, it’s vital to weigh all the pros and cons. Consider the radical $3.5 trillion spending package now before Congress. Some lawmakers are demanding passage based on a one-sided assessment of the impac

Sept. 29, 2021

[Kim Seong-kon] Watching “D.P.”

The Netflix television series “D.P.” is the talk of the town lately. As the title “D.P.,” which stands for “Deserter Pursuit,” suggests, the drama is about the military police’s pursuit of deserters. At the same time, the drama vividly depicts the violence within the ROK Army, which is one of the main reasons for soldiers’ desertion. Violence is so rampant that even the protagonist, who is in the military police D.P. unit, faces periodic physical v

Sept. 29, 2021

[Elizabeth Shackelford] Biden says America is back at the table. Is it?

At the UN General Assembly last week, President Joe Biden told the world again that America is back at the table. He championed global cooperation as the only way to address today’s global challenges, making clear that it not only benefits the international community but is essential for American interests and national security too. It was a direct repudiation of the nationalist “America First” approach taken by then-President Donald Trump at the same assembly four years ago.

Sept. 28, 2021

[Daniel Russel] Biden‘s collaborative containment strategy

Following the news that US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping talked by phone on Sept. 9, there has been much speculation about what the two discussed. Biden has denied a report that Xi turned down a proposed summit, and China’s government spokesman has said only that both sides “agreed to maintain regular contact through various means.” Still, it is clear that the Biden administration is seeking a relationship that manages, if not resolves, areas of diverge

Sept. 27, 2021

[Lee In-hyun] Franz Schubert a Van Gogh in classical music

Two weeks ago, I went to the Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit with my mother in Los Angeles. Because she majored in art in college, she knew a lot about Van Gogh. Van Gogh certainly had amazing artistic talent; however, he did not get recognition and respect he deserved. He was poor and relied heavily on his brother for financial assistance. He did not gain reputation and fame during his lifetime. Many years after his death, he was at last recognized for his artistic talent. His paintings are now pric

Sept. 26, 2021

[Digital Simplicity] Gadget-upgrade fever during pandemic era

The coronavirus pandemic makes it a new normal to stay home rather than venture out to meet with people. Consequently, a wide variety of indoor activities ranging from home renovation to binge-watching videos on streaming services are booming. The trend offers a unique chance for those who want to upgrade their outdated gadgets in the name of improving the quality of life at home. Of course, I proudly belong to the group keen on justifying spending on new gadgets. The item that has kept me read

Sept. 25, 2021

[Robert J. Fouser] The post-2020 search for stability

Last Monday, Canada held an election to choose a new House of Commons. Next Sunday, Germany will hold an election to choose a new Bundestag. And sometime in October, Japan will hold an election to choose a new House of Representatives. Rarely have major elections in G-7 powers taken place close together. Last August, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called a snap election in the hope of strengthening his hand, but results yielded almost no change. Trudeau’s Liberal Party emerged wit

Sept. 24, 2021

[Jeffrey D. Sachs] Vaccine producers must step up

The world stands at a critical juncture of the COVID-19 pandemic. Countries that lack the first round of vaccine coverage are extraordinarily vulnerable to the highly infectious delta variant, and are also seedbeds for new variants that could quickly spread worldwide. The Lancet COVID-19 Commission, which I chair, is working urgently with the United Nations system to strengthen the multilateral response. Governments of countries where vaccines are being produced -- the United States, European Un

Sept. 23, 2021

[Kim Myong-sik] The still-murky role of South Korea’s state intelligence chief

When the head of South Korea’s main intelligence agency meets a young woman in an exclusive hotel restaurant on a weekday, common sense has it that they must either have serious business of public importance or an intimate relationship. But National Intelligence Service Director Park Jie-won and Cho Sung-eun, a 33-year-old former staffer with the main opposition People Power Party, deny either possibility and call it a simple social event. The Hotel Lotte luncheon on Aug. 11 has become a

Sept. 23, 2021

[Serendipity] Getting together, finally

When I heard a friend who is a few years older say that she missed the chaos of the kitchen before “jesa,” or ancestral rite, I was incredulous. She described how the women of her family would line the kitchen floor with layers of old newspaper to prevent the cooking oil from splattering and set up an electric griddle on top of it. “I miss the sound of sizzling jeon and the smell of cooking oil that wafted through the house,” she said. The kitchen countertop was not lar

Sept. 18, 2021

[David Fickling] COVID-19 becoming just another virus

In the days before COVID-19, I’d often get frustrated by the response that doctors would give when I turned up at their clinics with some infection or other: “It’s just a virus,” they’d say. As someone who’s long been fascinated by the detective work that goes into tracing the origins and history of infections, the answer always seemed too perfunctory. Which virus was it? Where and when did this strain emerge? How many other people were getting infected wit

Sept. 17, 2021

[Conor Sen] Amazon, Walmart winning labor market wars

Most of the talk this year about the labor market recovery has focused on leisure and hospitality, and the struggles that restaurant and hotel owners have had trying to staff up. Under the radar, it’s a different industry -- manufacturing – that’s having even more difficulty finding the workers it needs. And that’s what this week’s job openings report hammered home. Despite its reputation for high wages, the manufacturing sector is falling behind on the compensatio

Sept. 16, 2021

[Lee Kyong-hee] Tears of a young pilgrim shed on Afghan soil

The cascading events that followed the US exit from Afghanistan reminded me of a poem written by a young Buddhist monk of the eighth century. Hyecho, from the Silla Kingdom, upon meeting a fellow traveler from China in Fayzabad, in present-day northeast Afghanistan, wrote:  You bemoan the distance to the western frontier. I lament the long road east. Rugged roads cross colossal snow ridges, Dangerous ravines where bandits wander. Even birds in flight fear the soaring cliffs. Travelers

Sept. 16, 2021

[Kim Seong-kon] From ‘Gold medal or death!’ to ‘Freedom or death!’

When Seoul hosted the 1988 Summer Games, a reporter asked a famous Japanese judoka if he expected to win gold. The former gold medalist answered, smiling pleasantly, “I’m working at a bank. That is my job. Judo is merely my hobby. I will just do my best, but a gold medal is not my primary concern.” His answer was cool and impressive. Then, the same reporter turned to a Korean judoka who was also a strong candidate for the gold medal and asked the same question. The Korean ath

Sept. 15, 2021

[Justin Fox] No perfect time to return to work

The planned fall 2021 return to the office is being delayed. Until January, purportedly. That’s when Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and some other major employers of knowledge workers now say they expect people back at their desks, 22 months after sending everybody home at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Given the current high US levels of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and in some places deaths, it’s understandable that companies don’t want to do a big ret

Sept. 14, 2021

[Trudy Rubin] After Afghan failure, what is America prepared to fight for now?

As the news shifts, many Americans may think the Afghan war is over. Not so. The searing scenes of Kabul’s fall are having a powerful impact on America’s global image, including the abandonment of Afghan allies. Chinese and Russian propaganda outlets are gleefully trumpeting scenes of America’s “defeat.” NATO allies who had troops in Afghanistan are bitter that they were forced to leave Afghan staff and their own nationals -- because President Joe Biden didn&rsquo

Sept. 14, 2021