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

Viewpoints Oct. 9, 2020

On Monday this week, President Moon Jae-in addressed world leaders by satellite in a special event to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the United Nations. In his address, Moon focused on the multilateral efforts among the MIKTA countries -- Mexico, Indonesia, Korea, Turkey and Australia -- to address the COVID-19 pandemic and other pressing global issues. He stressed that nations and international organizations should work together to ensure that developing countries have access to COVID-19 v

Viewpoints Sept. 25, 2020

Nineteen years ago today, terrorists hijacked two planes and flew them into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, killing thousands. George W. Bush, the US president at the time declared a “War on Terror” that led to the US military action in Afghanistan and Iraq. At home, wide-reaching reforms were adopted to secure air travel and prevent another terrorist attack. Shortly after the attacks, the media was full of stories about how the attacks would “chang

Viewpoints Sept. 11, 2020

South Korea’s battle with COVID-19 took a turn for the worse as cases started to jump in the middle of August. Unlike the first wave, which centered on Daegu, the recent spike in cases has been nationwide. The government has strengthened rules on social distancing and is considering a national shutdown if the situation worsens. After its success in squelching the Daegu-centered outbreak in the spring, many nations looked to Korea as a model of how to deal with COVID-19. In the US, major n

Viewpoints Aug. 28, 2020

A month ago, on July 14, President Moon Jae-in gave a speech outlining the “Korean New Deal.” The term takes its name from US President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s sweeping response to the Great Depression in 1933. The Korean New Deal has three main pillars: the Digital New Deal, Green New Deal, and a strengthening the social safety net. The proposals are designed to speed economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and promote sustained economic and social development. Though t

Viewpoints Aug. 14, 2020

Sejong City is back in the limelight. Politicians of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, are rallying behind a proposal to move the president, the National Assembly, and government ministries from Seoul to Sejong. Named after King Sejong, whose epithet is “the Great,” the city grew out of former President Roh Moo-hyun’s plans to encourage balanced regional development by moving the capital from Seoul to the center of the country. The city was founded in 2007 and parts of th

Viewpoints July 31, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically changed the presidential campaign in the US. In a normal election year July, the party out of power crowns its nominee, and the party in power does so a few weeks later. The conventions give the candidates a chance to introduce themselves and their choice for vice president. They hope to get a bounce from the convention that will help build momentum for the fall campaign. Because of the pandemic this year, the Democrats moved their convention to August and

Viewpoints July 17, 2020

North Korea’s recent demolition of the South Korean liaison office in Kaesong is a sharp reminder that tension remains the norm on the Korean Peninsula. More recently, Prime Minister Abe of Japan came out against the idea of including South Korea in an expanded G-7 meeting. These events are reminders that tension remains the norm in relations between South Korea and Japan. China has been quiet recently but attempts in 2017 to bully South Korea into rejecting the US Terminal High-Altitude A

Viewpoints July 3, 2020

As the COVID-19 pandemic gripped New York City in March, articles discussing the future of cities came into vogue. Most articles predicted that the pandemic would change cities “forever” and that large, dense cities like New York would enter a period of protracted decline as people escaped to the suburbs. Pandemic-enforced working from home, it was argued, would free people to live in cheaper places and spare them the grind of a daily commute. In the rush of covering the pandemic,

Viewpoints June 19, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated many trends that have been gathering force slowly. The pandemic transformed the tense competition between the US and China into a nascent Cold War. To isolate China, US President Donald Trump has proposed expanding the annual G-7 summit to include South Korea, along with Australia, India, Russia, and possibly Brazil. The goal of the strategy is to surround China with major powers that cooperate on global economic issues. South Korea’s participation

Viewpoints June 5, 2020

South Korea continues its steady march back to normal life as the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic recedes. The nation continues to earn international praise for its effective response to the pandemic. As most nations begin to emerge from emergency measures, attention has turned to rebuilding economies reeling from lockdowns. Though Korea managed to escape lockdowns, deteriorating economic conditions are creating new challenges. In the first quarter of 2020, gross domestic product declined by a

Viewpoints May 22, 2020

Amid the global COVID-19 pandemic, South Korean voters went to the polls to choose a new National Assembly for the next four years. The ruling Democratic Party won a landslide victory, giving it an outright majority for the first time since 2004. The ruling party and its allied Together Citizens’ Party now hold 180 seats, or 60 percent, of the total 300 seats. This will make it easier for President Moon Jae-in to push his legislative agenda. As the election cycle approached, conservativ

Viewpoints April 23, 2020

As the COVID-19 pandemic tightened its grip on the world, the focus has remained on slowing the spread to save lives and reduce the burden on strained medical systems. Nearly half the population of the world is under some sort of lockdown as governments adopt social distancing as the primary defense against the disease. This has caused a sharp contraction in economic activity that threatens the livelihoods of many. Amid the dire news, pundits have begun to turn their attention to a post-pandemi

Viewpoints April 8, 2020

Since March began, the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19, has spread rapidly around the world, causing broad disruption in its wake. The speed of the spread has caught leaders and public health officials off guard and has forced them to scramble to contain the spread of the disease. Fear has set in as the public search for answers amid conflicting messages from leaders and the media. The world has been through global pandemics before. The worst on record remains the Spanish flu from early 19

Viewpoints March 10, 2020

As news of the surge in coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in Daegu spread, The Drudge Report, a sensationalist site run by investigative reporter Matt Drudge, ran a photo of a thermal imaging device monitoring people at Seoul Station. A few weeks earlier, the same site had a photo of a group of demonstrators in Seoul calling for a ban on travel from China. The linked to an article on the spread of “Sinophobia” worldwide. These images touch on an important question that has been

Viewpoints Feb. 25, 2020