China’s human-rights abuses against its own people are no secret. But its abuse of North Korean women who flee to China to escape human-rights violations at home has remained largely hidden. I, however, know the truth, because I am one of those women.Since North Korea’s great famine in the 1990s, human trafficking of North Koreans, especially women, into China has become big business. Women who had watched family members starve to death began to cross the border through brokers, in order to earn

Viewpoints Aug. 21, 2016

President Park Geun-hye is trying to reach a compromise with angry residents in Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province, over the U.S.’s plan to deploy a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery in the county by next year.Park has said the administration is willing to change the site where the THAAD will be stationed if there are other locations the county can recommend. But she has clarified that the new location should be within Seongju.Seongju residents, including lawmakers from the Daegu-North

Editorial Aug. 5, 2016

The Corporate Vitality Enhancement Act will take effect in about a week. The law, which was legislated in February, is designed to revitalize ailing industries, such as shipbuilding and steelmaking, which have been suffering from a glut among global competitors.Policymakers say that the law -- which is better known as the “one-shot” law -- would provide conglomerates with decent opportunities to streamline ailing business segments by merging units with similar functions.The special law is drawin

Editorial Aug. 5, 2016

For students of incomprehensible behavior by otherwise apparently intelligent leaders, Australian politics is the gift that keeps on giving. The latest example is the decision by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s government, just re-elected by a razor-thin margin, to deny former Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd the formal nomination he needed to join the race to be the next U.N. secretary-general.The decision defies not only the merits of the case and well-established precedent, bu

Viewpoints Aug. 5, 2016

Korea is not the only country where corruption in sports often becomes a hot social issue. But match-fixing scandals that hit the nation’s professional sports intermittently show that the issue requires greater attention from law-enforcement authorities, sports governing bodies and managers of pro clubs. The first major match-fixing scandal erupted in soccer in 2011, which resulted in the indictment of 37 players. Since then, similar cases continued to strike professional sports like baseball, b

Editorial July 24, 2016

Every U.S. presidential election matters to the world. This year’s election matters much more than any previous election – due mainly to a man who is calling for drastic changes to American policies, not least those on security and free trade. By now, the whole world knows that the “America First” slogan of Donald Trump, the Republican candidate, is a euphemism for neo-isolationism and protectionism. The populist tycoon-turned-politician firmly believes that the U.S. loses more than it gains in

Editorial July 24, 2016

The ruling Saenuri Party can hardly be seen as a respecter of the law, as its leaders are turning a blind eye to allegations that close aides to President Park Geun-hye illegally intervened in candidate nomination for the April 13 general election.Earlier this week, a local news outlet revealed transcripts of conversations between Kim Sung-hoi, a Saenuri candidate for the Hwaseong C district of Gyeonggi Province, and Reps. Yoon Sang-hyun and Choi Kyung-hwan, who are close aides to Park.  It also

Editorial July 22, 2016

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has come up with a new set of measures to promote Korea’s slumping game industry.Dubbed “A Five-Year Plan to Enhance the Gaming Culture,” the new measures focus more on creating a healthy gaming culture than supporting game developers. The policy shift is based on the realization that the game industry cannot prosper unless people’s negative perceptions toward online games change.The government’s policy toward the game industry has been contradictory.

Editorial July 22, 2016

Spoiler alert, the Republicans went ahead and actually nominated Donald Trump. The theme of the night was “Make America An Adjective Or Verb Again,” and the highlight speaker was Chris Christie, who had the crowd on its feet when he presented DNA evidence linking Hillary Clinton to a 17-state string of bank robberies. The evening ended on an inspirational note with Melania Trump leading the delegates in singing an original song she mostly wrote herself called “This Land Is Your Land.”(I promise

Viewpoints July 22, 2016

An Arbitral Tribunal under Annex VII to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) made its final decision (with the secretarial assistance of the Permanent Court of Arbitration) on 12 July 2016 concerning the South China Sea dispute between the Philippines and China. The Philippines unilaterally addressed its written notification to China under the Annex VII arbitral procedure on 22 January 2013. Although China declared its non-appearance in the proceedings, the absence o

Viewpoints July 22, 2016

Koreans are accustomed to encountering misdeeds committed by public officials — both elected and appointed. But the seemingly endless cases of alleged nepotism involving Rep. Seo Yeong-gyo certainly goes beyond a tolerable level. In short, Seo, a two-term lawmaker from The Minjoo Party of Korea, is quite good at misusing her public office to provide benefits to her own family members.   She has been involved in a long list of cases of notorious nepotism. Three years ago, the lawmaker hired her o

Editorial June 24, 2016