[Tobias Bunde, Sophie Eisentraut] Re-envisioning liberal principles

While the world’s powers may not agree on much these days, most recognize that the world is at a critical juncture. US President Joe Biden’s National Security Strategy calls this the “decisive decade” in the contest for the future of the international order. Similarly, Russian President Vladimir Putin argues that the world is entering “the most dangerous, unpredictable, and at the same time most important decade since the end of World War II.” For German Cha

Feb. 17, 2023

ASEAN-Korea Center kicks off annual council meeting

The ASEAN-Korea Center kicked off its annual council meeting in Seoul to review programs hosted in the fiscal year 2022 and discuss the budget for this year. Held after 3 years due to the pandemic, the offline meeting was attended by high level officials from governments, academia and the media of 10 ASEAN member countries. According to the AKC, the annual meeting is significant for ASEAN countries and Korea to bolster international cooperation efforts in the post-COVID era. The center will

Feb. 16, 2023

ASEAN-Korea Center kicks off annual council meeting

The ASEAN-Korea Center kicked off its annual council meeting in Seoul to review programs hosted in the fiscal year 2022 and discuss the budget for this year. Held after 3 years due to the pandemic, the offline meeting was attended by high level officials from governments, academia and the media of 10 ASEAN member countries. According to the AKC, the annual meeting is significant for ASEAN countries and Korea to bolster international cooperation efforts in the post-COVID era. The center will pl

Feb. 16, 2023

Waitingi Day celebrations in Korea

The New Zealand Embassy in Seoul commemorated Waitangi Day at the ambassador’s residence in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, Tuesday. Waitangi Day is celebrated as New Zealand's national day to commemorate the first signing of New Zealand's founding document, known as the Treaty of Waitangi, signed between the British Crown and about 540 Maori rangatira on Feb. 6, 1840. The commemoration was followed by a reception to bid farewell to friends in Seoul for New Zealand ambassador to Korea Phillip Turner.

Feb. 16, 2023

[Lee Kyong-hee] Dokdo still unresolved as urgency mounts

Amid challenges to democracy around the world and military escalation in Asia, the United States, South Korea and Japan are discussing how to strengthen security cooperation. But Koreans have ample reason to feel uneasy. Will they be asked to ignore a territorial infringement that began 118 years ago? On Feb. 22, 1905, Japan arbitrarily “incorporated” Dokdo, a group of rocky islets known as Takeshima in Japan. The annexation supposedly was to ensure the safety of Japanese fishermen.

Feb. 16, 2023

[Nicholas Goldberg] What Oscars tell us about the world

Just what do the Academy Awards tell us about the world we live in? I began thinking about this after I was contacted by Carl Plantinga, a research fellow and professor of film and media studies at Calvin University in Michigan. Plantinga was pushing a theory that, for better or worse, Oscars for best picture tend to honor films with simple, straightforward, morally clear messages and are less likely to go to morally complex or ambiguous films. His argument -- laid out as the Academy of Motion P

Feb. 16, 2023

[Kim Seong-kon] 'Where to?' Which path should we take?

When you take a taxi, the driver will ask, “Where to?” Upon knowing your destination, he will try to figure out the fastest way to reach it, avoiding traffic congestion and wrong turns, so you can arrive safely without any problems. Likewise, your political leaders should know your desired destination and choose the best way to reach it. If they happen to choose the wrong path or become blocked by traffic, if they have made a wrong turn at the intersection or have taken you to the wr

Feb. 15, 2023

[Doyle McManus] Spy balloon deflates US-China detente

The Chinese balloon that floated across the United States this month, apparently on a mission to collect intelligence, began its journey as a curiosity. Then it became a political metaphor: a symbol of US weakness to Republicans, a sign of President Joe Biden’s prudence to Democrats. Now, more than a week after the US Air Force shot it down, the errant balloon is gone, but its impact is still reverberating. The incident, and the larger Chinese program it revealed, is a serious obstacle to

Feb. 15, 2023

[Martin Schram] Massaging the anti-Biden message

Here at the intersection of the news media, policy and politics, the unsubtle destabilizing -- and sometimes deliberate sabotaging -- of our democracy is proceeding on pace. America’s please-lie-to-me voters, who prefer to get their news and their political promises from folks who know how to make them feel good, knew where they could turn on State of the Union night. And all of us who want to understand how our political games are really being played these days need to take the time to wa

Feb. 14, 2023

[Kent Harrington] House Republicans’ absurdities will hurt democracy

Voltaire famously warned that anyone who can make people believe absurdities can make them commit atrocities. Two and a half centuries later, an insurrection at the US Capitol by those who believed Donald Trump’s lies confirmed Voltaire’s point. And now, the new Republican majority in the House of Representatives is doing everything it can to “flood the zone” with even more absurdities. Exhibit A is the new House “Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Fede

Feb. 14, 2023

[Elizabeth Shackelford] Is China really scarier than Zuckerberg?

A colleague recently sent me a TikTok she thought I’d find interesting. I clicked the link but immediately regretted it. I quickly cleared my browser history but felt it was too late and that the Chinese government was probably in my phone for good now. As a former US diplomat, I might be unusually sensitive to that possibility, having served in places where we took for granted that foreign state actors were listening in. But the combination of geopolitical rivalry, China’s surveilla

Feb. 13, 2023

[Trudy Rubin] Three leaders partly to blame for earthquake deaths

There are moments, during horrific natural disasters such as the earthquake in Turkey and Syria, when you can witness the best that mankind is capable of -- the noble behavior that often emerges during a crisis. A Greek search and rescue team and Turkish special operations police -- whose members might have been fighting each other in wartime -- worked side by side to rescue a small girl through a narrow gap in a pile of concrete that once was an apartment building near Antakya, Turkey. A group

Feb. 13, 2023

[Robert J. Fouser] Learning from the history of IT in Korea

On my visit to Korea last fall, I was lucky to have enough time for many long walks in Korean cities. On a walk through central Seoul, I passed by Sewoon Arcade, the famous commercial-residential complex across from Jongmyo. In the 2010s, the city of Seoul pushed plans to preserve the complex, but redevelopment of surrounding areas is going forward. Since it was built in 1966, the complex dwarfed its neighbors, but the tall buildings going up nearby make it look strangely small now. As I looked

Feb. 10, 2023

Finnish minister visits Seoul to discuss technology cooperation with S. Korea

The Finnish minister of transport and communication visited Seoul to expand technological exchanges with South Korea in the fields of 6G, quantum computing and space, the Finnish Embassy in Seoul said Tuesday. Minister Timo Harakka, addressing the previous cooperation between the two countries on 5G network development at a roundtable held under the theme of "Building Digital Capability," said Finland has already taken steps toward 6G. The minister joined discussions with representativ

Feb. 9, 2023

[Tyler Cowen] How should you talk to ChatGPT?

About 100 million people used ChatGPT in the month of January, according to one estimate, which would be the fastest-growing user base ever. Yet I often speak to people who are less than impressed with ChatGPT, citing its mistakes and banalities, and they suggest it is a passing fad. In response, allow me to offer a short guide to using ChatGPT. It can do many things for you -- organize your notes, correct your grammar, work with mathematical symbols. But I will focus on the most basic use: quer

Feb. 9, 2023

[Wang Son-taek] Trust necessary for stronger extended deterrence

With the beginning of 2023, unusual diplomacy meetings between South Korea and the US were busily under progress. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who is extremely busy dealing with the Russia-Ukraine war and military cooperation with the Philippines, visited Seoul on Jan. 30. Soon after Mr. Austin’s visit, the US sent F-22 Raptors over the West Sea and participated in combined military drills with the South Korean Air Force twice in three days. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is

Feb. 9, 2023

[Kim Seong-kon] From romance to revenge: A shift in K-drama

Hallyu initially attained popularity with romantic or historical Korean television dramas such as “Winter Sonata” or “Dae Jang Geum.” In those series, young people love each other despite ordeals and obstacles, or strive to accomplish noble goals of becoming the best in their fields of expertise. Such dramas portrayed South Korea as a romantic and historic place foreigners wanted to visit. Recently, however, things have radically changed. These days, revenge K-dramas are

Feb. 8, 2023

Embassies in Korea commemorate Holocaust victims

The German, Israeli and Italian embassies in Korea paid tribute Monday to victims of the Holocaust during World War II. To commemorate the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi concentration and extermination camps 78 years ago in 1945, the German and Israeli embassies co-hosted the International Holocaust Remembrance Day Ceremony in Memory of the victims of the Holocaust at the Goethe Institut Seoul in Yongsan-gu. Not only every German government but also every German citizen has the moral duty

Feb. 7, 2023

Georgia, Korea Herald discuss awareness building

New Georgian Ambassador to Korea, Tarash Papaskua, and The Korea Herald CEO, Choi Jin-young, discussed ways to enhance public awareness on the bilateral relationship between South Korea and Georgia on Tuesday. Highlighting the growing interests in Korean culture and music in Georgia, particularly with regards to the Korean language, Papaskua said he wishes to strengthen the economic and cultural relations of the two countries. He also said that The Korea Herald, South Korea's largest English new

Feb. 7, 2023