Battles are underway on multiple fronts ahead of the general election this spring. Of course, noisiest are the demonstrations at Gwanghwamun and those in Seocho-dong, Seoul, by anti- and pro-government groups alike, though they are still abstaining from violence. Amazing yet saddening is the vehement contest between the two top authorities of law enforcement. When President Moon Jae-in appointed Choo Mi-ae as justice minister, the new minister wasted little time before transferring senior a

Viewpoints Jan. 29, 2020

South Korea is a safe place to live. Walking home alone through a back alley at night, one does not have to be too scared, although there’s the chance of confronting a drunkard -- who usually is harmless, however. In daytime, the incidence of pickpocketing or taxi robbery has been remarkably reduced compared with a few decades ago. The ubiquitous CCTV in all parts of the country may have discouraged petty criminals from grabbing money directly but pushed them toward more sophisticated mean

Viewpoints Jan. 1, 2020

South Korea’s political leaders are neither too old nor too young. Out of some 18 people so far mentioned in the media as presidential aspirants, 10 are in their 60s, seven are in the 50s and the oldest, Sohn Hak-kyu of the Bareunmirae Party, is 71. Lee Hae-chan of the ruling Democratic Party, not a serious contender, is 67 years old.Sorry to say this, but the news of Sanna Marin, 34, being installed as the new prime minister of Finland made the power contestants here, who are almost twice

Viewpoints Dec. 18, 2019

Passing the halfway point in his five-year tenure, President Moon Jae-in’s approval rate hovers just above the 40 percent mark, half the level immediately after his election in May 2017. Woes grow among manufacturers, traders and consumers, security threats loom large and political groups are sharpening hostility. Amid rising discontent, the energy denuclearization policy has emerged as a top destabilizing issue.University students at nuclear science departments see no future in their chos

Viewpoints Nov. 20, 2019

This article is based on recent writings by three respectable South Koreans on relations between Korea and Japan that I happened to read last week. The writers were Hwang Kyung-choon, former chief correspondent in Seoul for the Associated Press; Im Jong-kun, former president of the Seoul Kyungje business daily; and poet/essayist Lee Seung-shin, daughter of the late Sohn Ho-yeon, well known in Japan for her devotion to “tanka” short poems.“The ardent wish that I have is nation a

Viewpoints Nov. 6, 2019

Concerns are growing here over the future of the seven-decade-old military alliance between the Republic of Korea and the United States that is apparently weakening. Signs causing such concerns are abundant.Annual joint exercises of the allied forces, some involving trans-Pacific deployment of troops from the continental US to any part of the Korean Peninsula, have been reduced in scale and duration or outright cancelled. US President Trump called them “provocative” and “waste

Viewpoints Oct. 23, 2019

On a tour of Mokpo and islands off the southwestern port last week, I paid a visit to the Kim Dae-jung Nobel Peace Prize Memorial located in Samhakdo islet. Most impressive there was a picture on the wall showing the former president standing side by side with four of his predecessors during a reception in the Blue House. Roh Tae-woo, Choi Kyu-hah, Kim Dae-jung, Chun Doo-hwan and Kim Young-sam were posing comfortably accompanied by their wives. The photograph was taken right after Kim Dae-jung&r

Viewpoints Oct. 9, 2019

The fall of President Moon Jae-in’s approval rating down to the 40 percent mark made headlines last week. The Korea Gallup figure was the lowest since the May 2017 election, which he won with 41 percent support in a five-way race with two conservative contenders, one centrist and one progressive. The rating had been over 60 percent after the dramatic summit talks with North Korean chief Kim Jong-un in the border village of Panmunjom and the North’s capital of Pyongyang last year. A s

Viewpoints Sept. 25, 2019

The air over the Republic of Korea remained clear through this summer, thanks to the southeasterly winds blowing from the Pacific Ocean. As the cooler season approaches, we are again worried about seeing gray skies full of fine dust from China -- in addition to the political, economic and security problems that are already affecting the nation and seem unlikely to go away anytime soon. Externally, relations between Seoul and Tokyo have sunk to their worst level since normalization of ties in 196

Viewpoints Aug. 28, 2019

A star is born, one too bright to behold without wondering how long it could burn. Yoon Seok-yeol, South Korea’s new prosecutor-general, has already led investigations into “past evils” for two years as head of the Seoul Prosecutors’ Office amid claims that President Moon Jae-in was carrying out a political vendetta. Until the meteoric rise of his career, one rarely seen in the nation’s history of law enforcement, he had moved from one remote provincial prosecutors&

Viewpoints July 31, 2019

South Korea currently ranks 12th in terms of economic power of nations. It ranks a little higher in international researchers’ comparison of military strength. The oft-quoted Global Fire Power website listed the Republic of Korea as seventh in the world in its 2019 report. Based on a total of 55 metrics -- including weapons diversity, total population, military manpower and financial capabilities -- the GFP index covering 137 countries put South Korea below the US, Russia, China, India, Fr

Viewpoints July 17, 2019

Korea has many problems in politics, economy and national security. In addition, the media world of this country is in crisis under a new environment created by the emergence of the internet. It is a global phenomenon, but Korea perhaps suffers more greatly because it is better wired than other places. Besides, ideological divisions here into the left, right and cynical center have rapidly lowered public trust in the mass media, which have mostly chosen to pursue a specific direction amid the to

Viewpoints July 3, 2019

As we approach the midpoint in the Moon Jae-in presidency, let us make a brief rundown of the leftist administration’s major policies. First is the denuclearization of North Korea. Moon has chosen a basically reconciliatory stance toward Pyongyang, favoring a step-by-step approach to peace that involves bartering with the North. This approach accepts the phased elimination of the North’s nuclear and rocket programs, rather than President Trump’s instant disarmament deal.Second

Viewpoints June 19, 2019

Let me ask our readers a question: Do you think it was appropriate for our minister of foreign affairs to go to Budapest, Hungary, to join rescue operations for Korean tourists missing when their boat sank in the Danube River? I expect a negative answer, but President Moon Jae-in and his aides thought it was necessary. These days, many are concerned that Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-hwa is somewhat off the line of the denuclearization business against North Korea. Yet, she is responsible for the

Viewpoints June 5, 2019

Korea today has an abundant supply of photo artists, poets and historians. New smartphones are equipped with high-definition cameras of 12 to 16 megapixels, which can produce great pictures. But our amateur photographers, many of whom are old, need something different. They go about on city streets, mountains and seashores carrying branded cameras -- the digital version -- with long lenses and even tripods to take thousands of shots of anything within their sight. Poets, of course self-styled, m

Viewpoints May 22, 2019