[Digital Simplicity] Prejudice runs deep against gaming in Korea

Games are like an “electronic fungus” that spreads around the country, posing problems for the education of children. Games are so addictive that they hinder the healthy formation of character and even increase youth crime. In short, gaming is a “hotbed for the derailment of youth.” Those are just a few of the supposedly harmful effects of gaming on children, as described by a local newspaper in 1980. The deeply negative perception about games and their impact on youth

Aug. 28, 2021

[Robert J. Fouser] Why Barbara Lee Matters

To Koreans, Aug. 15 marks the end of Japanese colonial rule from 1910 to 1945. It is celebrated as a national holiday in South and North Korea alike. As South Koreans were enjoying a three-day weekend in the middle of summer, news spread quickly that Taliban soldiers had captured Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, and had overthrown the government. The sudden collapse caught the US government off guard and caused sharp criticism, both in the US and around the world, of President Joe Biden&rsquo

Aug. 27, 2021

[Jeffrey Frankel] The G-20’s COVID agenda

Finance ministers, central bank governors, and political leaders are hard at work preparing for the 2021 G-20 Heads of State and Government Summit in Rome on Oct. 30-31. With the COVID-19 pandemic stretching well into its second year, the meeting will come at a time of heightened uncertainty about public health and the global economy. And though the mechanisms of international cooperation have been weakened by the pandemic and remain bruised by former US President Donald Trump’s legacy, th

Aug. 26, 2021

[Kim Myong-sik] Elusive prospect of a change of power

With the next presidential election in South Korea about six months away, whoever wants a change of power from the left to the right must find his or her confidence thinning day by day. Opinion surveys reveal that more than half of the population does not approve of what the present administration has done during its five-year tenure. But pollsters and analysts warn that 50-plus percentage figures in favor of a change of power do not necessarily mean that an opposition victory is assured next s

Aug. 26, 2021

[Tyler Cowen] Governments immobilize us now

One of my great concerns about the pandemic was that it would hinder the global mobility of people and labor, perhaps permanently. Unfortunately, my worst fears are being realized: As COVID mutates, it is affecting not only tourism and business travel but migration more generally. Consider that after the end of the Vietnam War, the US took in more than 1 million Vietnamese migrants over a 20-year period. After the Soviet Union withdrew its troops in Afghanistan, the US also took in many Afghani

Aug. 25, 2021

[Kim Seong-kon] What it means to be a developed country

The news that the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development recently upgraded South Korea from a “developing country” to a “developed country” elated the Korean people greatly. Although the new title may not sound particularly fancy and South Korea may have been a developed country for some time already, Koreans still appreciate the official recognition by the UNCTAD and take it as more than a friendly gesture. Indeed, South Korea has come a long way to earn the

Aug. 25, 2021

[Bobby Ghosh] Taliban 2.0 vs Afghanistan 2.0

Is there really a Taliban 2.0? At the triumphant insurgent group’s first press conference in Kabul, a spokesman promised something akin to sweet reasonableness, in turn prompting something akin to optimism that the militia’s mindset has changed over the past 20 years. Listen! They’re talking about allowing women to work! But the reassurances of Zabiullah Mujahid about the new, improved Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan should be treated with caution. There is every chance that th

Aug. 24, 2021

[Tim Culpan] The Taliban‘s return powered by technology revolution

When the Taliban was last in control of Afghanistan, the world used cellphones for voice calls, the Internet was accessed from desktop computers over copper phone lines, and digital photography was in its infancy. But within a few years of defeat by the US military in 2001, the militant Islamists who’d once eschewed technology were deploying makeshift surveillance drones and coordinating their political and operational messaging through a network of mobile handsets. The decision to embrac

Aug. 24, 2021

[Lee In-hyun] Shall we dance? To Piazzolla’s tango tunes

A few days ago, I watched a travel documentary. I love to travel because I can learn about new cultures, meet various people and feel a new vibe. Moreover, traveling is the way for me to relieve stress and get refreshed. From the moment I make travel plans, I get excited. However, because of COVID-19, I have not been able to go anywhere anymore. If I want to feel the vacation vibe, the only thing I can do is watch YouTube for places I want to go. Sadly, this is the only way to satisfy my hun

Aug. 23, 2021

[Therese Raphael] What Afghanistan’s fall means for Britain and Europe

The rapid fall of Afghanistan to Taliban control presents the UK and its NATO allies with two primary dilemmas -- the first is immediately pressing, and the second has longer-term implications. The urgent task is to determine a policy for Afghans seeking refuge. Although there are many calls, from lawmakers and the media, to offer more support, asylum policy has been fraught political ground in both the UK and Europe for years. It doesn’t take much for the magnanimity that surfaces in the

Aug. 23, 2021

[Digital Simplicity] Time to rethink the privacy of personal data on mobile devices

Stop to think before you act. This is an incredibly useful advice that can be applied to a number of situations. In an era of ubiquitous mobile devices and platforms, the timeless advice should be modified into a longer, more complex version: Stop to think before you put any “too personal” photos on your phone and cloud storage. Apple, a self-styled champion of privacy, recently surprised many security experts and ordinary users by announcing a software update that is feared to set

Aug. 21, 2021

[Fawaz A. Gerges] Taliban less likely to back al-Qaida

By hastily withdrawing American troops from Afghanistan, US President Joe Biden has made a grave mistake, or so many argue. US Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, for example, has called the Taliban’s swift takeover of the country an “even worse sequel to the humiliating fall of Saigon in 1975.” That sequel, top US generals, conservatives and even some liberals predict, will be characterized by the resurgence of transnational terrorism. The prediction is straightforward.

Aug. 20, 2021

[Tyler Cowen] Untenable views of Afghan pullout

As the Taliban seize control of Kabul and indeed all of Afghanistan, it is worth pondering the less obvious lessons of this 20-year episode. It is a reminder of why I cannot bring myself to be a foreign policy hawk, even though I largely accept the hawks’ worldview and underlying values. Let’s put aside whether or not you favor President Joe Biden’s withdrawal, and note that sooner or later it was likely to happen. Former President Donald Trump had favored withdrawal, too, as

Aug. 19, 2021

[Lee Kyong-hee] Despite bickering, feminism remains relevant

“Is feminism such a problematic word that we should avoid using it?” I asked my staff at Koreana. I suggested “Feminist Narratives” as the title of the magazine’s special focus on acclaimed female film directors. To me, reframing the title to avoid poking a small number of misogynists was not justified. I believed the filmmakers’ projects have had the same objective: to delve into subjects that have always been ignored, overlooked or understated in a deeply p

Aug. 19, 2021

[Kim Seong-kon] “The odd couple” in our time

“The Odd Couple” is a 1968 American comedy film, starring Jack Lemon and Walter Matthau, based on Neil Simon’s 1965 play. It is a comic story of two divorced men, Felix Unger and Oscar Madison, who decide to live together in a New York City apartment. Soon they become an “odd couple” because one is almost a “neurotic neat freak” and the other is a messy, “fun-loving slob.” Actually, their ex-wives dumped them because they could not stand thei

Aug. 18, 2021

[Charles A. Kupchan] Afghan pullout a right decision

It has been excruciating to watch the Taliban roll across Afghanistan, undoing in a matter of months two decades of efforts by the Afghan people and the international community to build a decent, secure and functioning state. The Taliban effectively wrapped up its stunning sweep of the country on Sunday, moving into Kabul and prompting President Ashraf Ghani to flee. The Taliban’s virtually uncontested takeover over Afghanistan raises obvious questions about the wisdom of US President Joe

Aug. 18, 2021

[Tyler Cowen] Three reasons to be worried about Africa’s progress

One of the saddest stories of the year has gone largely unreported: the slowdown of political and economic progress in sub-Saharan Africa. There is no longer a clear path to be seen, or a simple story to be told, about how the world’s poorest continent might claw its way up to middle-income status. Africa has amazing human talent and brilliant cultural heritages, but its major political centers are, to put it bluntly, falling apart. Three countries are more geopolitically central than the

Aug. 17, 2021

[Clara Ferreira Marques] Reality is dragging Russia toward climate acceptance

Could climate alarm bells be ringing in the Kremlin? Official pronouncements and a newfound urgency suggest the reality of greener global demand may finally force a fossil fuel behemoth to accept the inevitable. Last week, in a ministerial meeting that touched on environmental monitoring, President Vladimir Putin warned officials that over the past four decades or so, temperatures increased in Russia nearly three times faster than the global average. He noted climate change was behind wildfires

Aug. 17, 2021

[Jeffrey D. Sachs] The case for G-21 including African Union

The Group of Twenty has become a pillar of multilateralism. Although the world has many high-level talk shops, the G-20 represents the best kind, actively supporting global dialogue, debate and -- most importantly -- economic problem solving. Fortunately, its biggest limitation -- that it leaves out 96 percent of Africa’s population -- can be easily remedied by including the African Union. To be sure, since the early post-World War II era, multilateralism has worked mainly through the Uni

Aug. 16, 2021

[J. Bradford DeLong] The summer of disaster

The world is facing two disasters that are making the COVID-19 crisis doubly worse than it ought to be. The first is the rise of the delta variant, which is twice as contagious and 1.5-2 times deadlier than the original coronavirus. The second disaster is that global north governments have not committed the resources to increase vaccine production to the scale needed to immunize the global population by the end of this year. Worse, the longer we drag our feet, the more likely that the immunity f

Aug. 16, 2021