[Kim Seong-kon] Seven baffling things in Korea

There are a myriad of enigmatic things happening in Korea these days, whether in the North or the South. For example, North Korea confuses us by showing us a friendly gesture recently, while displaying deadly weapons that can strike the South in a military parade. In South Korea, too, we are witnessing a plethora of sphinxlike things of late One of the inscrutable things in South Korea is the recent tendency of political parties to change their names continually. In fact, this phenomenon of pol

Oct. 21, 2020

[Andreas Kluth] International law can’t solve Greco-Turkish island problem

Kastellorizo is one of those places that might become a cause for war even though most people couldn’t find it on a map. The combatants would be Greece and Turkey, formally NATO “allies” but in reality perennial foes since the sloppy unraveling of the Ottoman Empire. And their war would be less about the island as such than about the Mediterranean waters said to belong to it. That’s because underneath the sea bed, there may be lots of oil and gas. Kastellorizo derives

Oct. 20, 2020

[David Fickling] Lesson in Ardern landslide victory

  For governments facing a growing wave of coronavirus cases as fall turns to winter, there’s a stark lesson in Saturday’s stunning election victory for New Zealand’s incumbent Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern: Voters really want their governments to suppress the pandemic. A landslide victory means Ardern could govern with the first outright majority since her country adopted proportional representation in the 1990s, with her Labour party on track to win the largest share of

Oct. 20, 2020

[H.R. McMaster] US foreign policy took a narcissistic turn after the Cold War. Here’s how to set things right

In 1989 I was a captain in the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment stationed in West Germany. Our regiment patrolled a stretch of the Iron Curtain that divided democracies and dictatorships. That November, the Berlin Wall fell and the Iron Curtain parted. The United States and the free world had triumphed over communist totalitarianism without firing a shot. The Soviet Union soon broke apart. Just over a year later, those same cavalry troopers helped kick Saddam Hussein’s army out of Kuwait. In

Oct. 19, 2020

[Andy Mukherjee] The next China? India must first beat Bangladesh

India’s COVID-19 economic gloom turned into despair last week, on news that its per capita gross domestic product may be lower for 2020 than in neighboring Bangladesh. “Any emerging economy doing well is good news,” Kaushik Basu, a former World Bank chief economist, tweeted after the International Monetary Fund updated its World Economic Outlook. “But it’s shocking that India, which had a lead of 25 percent five years ago, is now trailing.” Ever since it beg

Oct. 19, 2020

[Serendipity] Magical evening at the palace

An unseasonal cold snap did little to deter hundreds of people, young and old, from taking in the enchanting view of Gyeongbokgung at night on Wednesday. The colorful dancheong that decorate the palace buildings seemed to shimmer in the warm glow of the lights and the trees that have weathered numerous changes of seasons, illuminated from below, seemed to come to life. “This is the first time in my life that I am here at night,” I overheard a woman tell her friend as they kept thei

Oct. 16, 2020

[David Fickling] China’s coal import ban has more bark than bite

Remember in June when China called a halt to purchases of US soybeans and then stopped buying US soybeans? Or last year, when China blocked imports of Australian coal and then stopped buying Australian coal? Yeah, me neither. That’s the way to think about Beijing’s latest “ban” on Australian coal. China has suspended purchases and told power stations and steel mills to stop using product sourced from its trading partner, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg New

Oct. 16, 2020

[Lee Kyong-hee] Legacy of a pioneer feminist thinker and activist

The news of the death of famed feminist scholar and activist Lee Hyo-jae last week brought back a memory from the early 1980s. I met her briefly at the house of a friend of mine, where she was hiding, in the wake of the civil uprising in Gwangju. She was among the pro-democracy intellectuals wanted by the Chun Doo-hwan regime, which had concocted a case against them for supporting the then opposition politician Kim Dae-jung’s “sedition and conspiracy.” It was a precarious tim

Oct. 15, 2020

[Kim Seong-kon] South Korea through the eyes of a doctor and an AI prophet

Recently, a friend of mine sent me a summary of Dr. In Yohan’s speech on the current situation of South Korea. Dr. In, also known as John Linton, is the son of an American missionary who built churches, schools and hospitals here before South Korea began its modernization. Dr. In is a renowned medical doctor and professor who loves South Korea so much that he has lived here all his life. According to the summary, Dr. In visited North Korea some time ago. In the car headed for Pyongyang, h

Oct. 14, 2020

[Clara Ferreira Marques] 'Korean Beatles' can’t buy stock market’s love

Shares of Big Hit Entertainment, the company behind South Korean boy band BTS, begin trading this week. A top-of-the-range IPO valuation of $4.2 billion implies rock-star earnings multiples. Institutional investors have piled in anyway, displaying impressive confidence in the staying power of ultra-groomed youths and their obsessive followers. To live up to the hype, billionaire founder Bang Si-hyuk needs to turn a one-band wonder into something closer to Universal Music Group, adding artists a

Oct. 14, 2020

[Hal Brands] Little war in Caucasus has big lessons for US and Russia

Small wars can tell you a lot about the biggest geopolitical and military issues of the day. Consider the present conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh. Most Americans have probably never heard of that disputed region in the Caucasus. But the fighting there reveals key fault lines in an increasingly disordered global environment, and it underscores crucial trends in the evolution of modern warfare. In some ways, there is nothing new about what is happening in Nagorno-Ka

Oct. 13, 2020

[Mac Margolis] Bolsonaro’s COVID cash could make Brazil go bust

Latin America responded ambitiously, if not always efficiently, to the coronavirus pandemic, with many countries spreading cash, credit and tax deferrals to vulnerable companies and households. The emergency stimulus has injected bountiful resources into listing economies -- 12 percent of gross domestic product for Peru, 18 percent in Brazil, 5 percent in Argentina -- and helped those who were already struggling as well as 45 million more at risk of falling back into poverty. It has reduced job

Oct. 12, 2020

[Francis Wilkinson] Republicans have no plan for the future

When the coherent half of the Republican ticket participated in the vice presidential debate in the US this week, it was an opportunity for viewers to learn what the future holds. Yes, Vice President Mike Pence may be a talking-point machine, but to a debate audience that’s a more useful device than a random-lie generator. You can learn things from talking points. There’s only one problem: Republicans have no points to talk about. If elections are about the future, the GOP plans ar

Oct. 12, 2020

[Digital Simplicity] Crossing the fine line between originality and plagiarism

Genshin Impact, a free-to-play action role-playing game, is evoking a slew of intriguing questions involving plagiarism in game development and the protection of user data. Since the Sept. 28 global release, Genshin Impact has quickly gained a sizable user base in South Korea, thanks to its cute anime characters as well as the beautifully rendered backgrounds and intricate battle system. The game, developed and published by China-based miHoYo, is available on mobile phones, PC and the Play

Oct. 9, 2020

[Robert J. Fouser] Hangeul Day beyond South Korea

Today, Oct. 9, is Hangeul Day, a national holiday in South Korea that honors Korea’s unique writing system. Hangeul Day was celebrated as a national holiday from 1949 to 1990 and again from 2013 to the present. From 1991 to 2012, Hangeul Day was a day of commemoration, but not a national holiday. The 23-year gap says much about Korea in the late 1980s and 2010s. The late 1980s are known most for the democratization and the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games. The dictatorial government of Chun Doo-h

Oct. 9, 2020

[Kim Myong-sik] Virus of deceit infects both government, governed

Disease control authorities complain that their fight against the coronavirus is most seriously disrupted when people conceal their contact with the sources of infection. These cheaters want to avoid the trouble of a two-week quarantine because they need to continue to work and earn a living. About a quarter of total infections cannot be traced to their origins. In the early days of the pandemic in this country, members of a heavily infected Christian sect in Daegu were blamed for failing to r

Oct. 8, 2020

[Jeffrey D. Sachs] The lies that infected Trump

Unlike tens of millions of people around the world who have contracted COVID-19 because of their poverty, bad luck, vulnerability as essential workers or poor decisions by policymakers, US President Donald Trump’s infection is of his own making. Trump’s disdain for science and his brazen disregard for public-health advice led directly to his own illness; far worse, they have fueled America’s soaring COVID-19 death toll -- now at more than 214,000. Since the pandemic began, pub

Oct. 8, 2020

[Mohamed A. El-Erian] Trump illness exposes underlying market tension

Losses in the main US stock indexes on Friday will go down in history simply as small ones in an otherwise choppy week. But assessed in more detail, they provide a remarkable example of the intense tug-of-war that now grips markets and will most likely persist, if not intensify, in the weeks ahead. Two news developments dominated the runup to the US market opening Friday. First and foremost was the middle-of-the-night tweet from President Donald Trump confirming that he and his wife had tested

Oct. 7, 2020

[Kim Seong-kon] Things that make us ashamed these days

Shame, though painful or unpleasant, is an integral virtue of human beings. Human decency and integrity stem from a sense of shame. If we are shameless and brazen, we are no longer human and reduced to animal-like creatures. In fact, the spectacle of shameless people makes us feel ashamed on their behalf. Unfortunately, we encounter so many unabashed people and things that make us feel ashamed these days. Recently, we were appalled at North Korea’s brutal shooting and presumed burning of

Oct. 7, 2020

[Elizabeth Drew] Is US facing next civil war?

America’s capital is more on edge now than at perhaps any other time since the eve of the US Civil War in 1860. The city was tense during Watergate, of course. But as much as Richard Nixon tested the constitutional system as a lawyer who had served in government for decades, he recognized that there are limits that even a president dares not transgress. And now, with President Donald Trump, the first lady and a top aide among those testing positive for COVID-19, there is more uncertainty i

Oct. 6, 2020