The much anticipated walkway over Seoul Station has opened. Called “Seoullo 7017,” the walkway fills the old overpass with greenery and offers sweeping views of the city. The name comes from the year, 1970, that the overpass was built, and the year, 2017, that the “sky garden” opened. Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon decided to turn the aging overpass into a park-like walkway to connect areas of the city around Seoul Station. The city sponsored an international competition and awarded the contract to t

Viewpoints June 6, 2017

Last week, people in Korea and Japan enjoyed a series of holidays and major tourist sites were crowded. The holidays overlapped with my visit to Kyoto, so I could experience the effects of hypertourism first hand. I lived in Kyoto for seven years at various points during the 1990s and 2000s and spent most of my time at secondary sites off the beaten path. Kyoto is a city of 1.46 million people so it is big enough to get lost in.The full extent of the tourist impact hit during transit and during

Viewpoints May 9, 2017

With less than a month to go, the presidential campaign in Korea is heating up fast. After the impeachment of Park Geun-hye, the parties focused on choosing candidates and media attention focused on the former president’s arrest. By the first week of April, all five parties represented in the National Assembly had chosen their candidates, and the media turned its attention to the presidential race. Where does the race stand now and how will it unfold?Because of the impeachment, this is an unusua

Viewpoints April 11, 2017

On Aug. 9, 1974, Vice President Gerald Ford was sworn in as president of the United States after Richard Nixon resigned amid the threat of certain impeachment. In brief remarks Ford said, “My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over. Our Constitution works; our great Republic is a government of laws and not of men. Here the people rule.”In its verdict on the impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye, the Constitutional Court echoed Ford’s words and ruled that Park had failed to

Viewpoints March 14, 2017