Most Popular
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Exports to US reach all-time high, widen gap with China
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Trump rekindles criticism: US forces defending 'wealthy' S. Korea 'free of charge'
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Opposition-led Assembly unilaterally passes bill to probe Marine's death
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[Music in drama] Rekindle a love that slipped through your fingers
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Inflation eases in April, continues bumpy ride
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Golden chance to liquidate babies’ gold rings?
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Seoul Metro to seek legal action against malicious complaints
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[New faces of Assembly] Architect behind ‘audacious initiative’ believes in denuclearized North Korea
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Illit, mired in controversy, remains on Billboard charts for 5th week
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On May Day, labor unions blast Yoon's foreign nanny proposal
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[Wang Son-taek] When ‘misreading’ met ‘misleading’
On the earliest days of the new year of 2024, South and North Korean military forces have conducted artillery drills in the West Sea, causing an anxious atmosphere in which residents must evacuate. Notably, there are concerns over the situation since it was right after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un made hostile remarks against the South at a plenary session of the Workers' Party late last year. As the South has also made violent remarks against the North, a confrontational structure in wh
ViewpointsJan. 11, 2024
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[Editorial] Gap in college education
Education in South Korea has been a contentious area that has only gotten worse over the past few decades. Children in Seoul’s Gangnam go to cram schools, even on Christmas. In the controversial capital of hagwon, the smartest fourth graders are cracking high school math, and others are expected to have learned at least two years ahead of their grade in order to pass “level tests” for admission to a hagwon. Parents agree it’s insane, that it’s as if their kids are l
EditorialJan. 11, 2024
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[Eric Posner] The AI octopus
With long-gestating antitrust cases against Google, Apple and Amazon coming to fruition, many observers think that 2024 could be a turning point for Big Tech. Yet even as authorities press ahead with this litigation, they risk being blindsided by the rise of artificial intelligence, which is likely to reinforce Big Tech’s dominance of the economy. The recent firing and rehiring of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was interpreted as a conflict between cautious board members who worried about the risks
ViewpointsJan. 10, 2024
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[Kim Seong-kon] Liberal democracy will be at stake in 2024
Experts have pointed out that the year 2024 will continue to pose major challenges from many quarters, from the far-reaching devastation of climate change to the negative impact of artificial intelligence, including a massive rise in disinformation and fake news. For these and many other reasons, democracy will continue to be at stake worldwide. Indeed, hosts of specialists and scholars have recently warned of a worldwide crisis and decline of democracy in the international community. In 2016, f
ViewpointsJan. 10, 2024
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[Editorial] Build up space projects
Korea took the first step to establish its own equivalent to the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration. A special bill to create the Korea Aerospace Administration passed in the parliamentary science and judiciary committees Monday and in the National Assembly plenary session Tuesday. The bill's approval came nine months after the government submitted it to the National Assembly in April last year. It is fortunate that it passed, albeit belatedly. The KASA will operate under the
EditorialJan. 10, 2024
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[Andreas Kluth] America has new Axis of Evil
Since Feb. 24, 2022, and especially since Oct. 7, 2023, a specter has haunted the world and worried President Joe Biden in particular: Will Russia’s war against Ukraine, or Israel’s against Hamas, draw in other belligerents, perhaps even culminating in World War III? Biden has therefore done everything in his power to support Ukraine and Israel while also keeping the US and its Western allies out of direct confrontations with Russia, Hamas’ backers in Iran, and their Chinese
ViewpointsJan. 9, 2024
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[Editorial] Wrangling over first lady
South Korea’s two main parties are expected to wrangle over two special investigation bills that were vetoed by President Yoon Suk Yeol on Friday. Unlike three previous vetoes exercised by the president, the latest set is likely to fuel political wrangling in a way that could impact the results of parliamentary elections in April. Under the Constitution, Yoon can exercise his veto rights within 15 days after the National Assembly sends a bill to the government. In the previous cases, he ha
EditorialJan. 9, 2024
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[Shang-Jin Wei] How can the world's growth engine do better?
The global economy demonstrated remarkable resilience in 2023, as the United States defied expectations and managed to avoid a recession. India, Vietnam, and Japan also achieved impressive economic performance given the circumstances. But while these countries have good reasons to be optimistic about 2024, China will most likely be the single largest contributor to global GDP growth this year. This may come as a surprise to many, given the wave of increasingly gloomy forecasts for the Chinese
ViewpointsJan. 9, 2024
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[Peter Singer] Killing innocents in Israel and Gaza
Last year, I was invited to join other Princeton University academics in viewing a compilation of raw footage from GoPro cameras carried by Hamas gunmen killing civilians in Israel on Oct. 7. Additional video and audio material came from dashboard cameras, traffic cameras, phone intercepts and victims’ phones. The invitation carried a warning that the footage would show horrific violence and murder. I avoid violent movies, so my instinctive response was to decline the invitation. But as so
ViewpointsJan. 8, 2024
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[Editorial] Pyongyang's intentions
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea fired some 200 artillery shells into waters near the western sea border on Friday morning, prompting the South to order civilians on the nearby islands of Yeonpyeongdo and Baengnyeongdo to take shelter. The North fired another 60 rounds Saturday afternoon, and over 90 rounds Sunday afternoon. As the shells fell into the maritime buffer zone north of the Northern Limit Line, no damage was done to South Korean civilians or military. On Frid
EditorialJan. 8, 2024
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[Jean Guerrero] How to converse with your MAGA dad
Lately, I avoid conversations with my father because of his passion for lecturing me about politics from a hard-right perspective. It began during COVID lockdowns. Not long ago, he told me he sees Tucker Carlson as a hero. Exasperated, I told him he was idolizing a guy who had mocked his daughter's reporting on national TV. He shook his head as if I were lying or whining, then soliloquized about Carlson's defense of traditional masculinity. "Tucker has balls down to the floor,&quo
ViewpointsJan. 5, 2024
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[Editorial] Changing trade dynamics
Korea recorded a trade deficit with China last year for the first time since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1992. It continued to fall from a surplus of $55.6 billion in 2018 and dived into a deficit of $18 billion in 2023. It is also 1.8 times as much as Korea's overall trade deficit last year. China was the country with which Korea had its largest trade deficit, except for Saudi Arabia, from which Korea imports crude oil. Meanwhile, Korea had a trade surplus of $45.
EditorialJan. 5, 2024
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[Serendipity] Golden Rule
It was a hectic year-end. Flying 13 hours for a family reunion, doing last-minute gift shopping and getting together with extended family for Christmas dinner kept me busy with scarcely any time to think about the coming year, much less the requisite New Year’s resolutions. Coming up with New Year’s resolutions, as perfunctory as they may be, for me is an opportunity to ruminate on how I want to live the next 12 months. Of course, by February, I would come to realize that I had bit
ViewpointsJan. 4, 2024
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[Andreas Kluth] Only patriotism can save the US from nationalism
It’s patriotism when love of your own people comes first; it’s nationalism when hate for people other than your own comes first. That definition comes from Charles de Gaulle, a former national hero and president of France. It’s worth keeping in mind as we enter an election year in the US where these two deceptively similar and yet utterly contrary forces will clash. De Gaulle was onto something subtle but big. Patriotism, when you observe that warm feeling welling up inside of
ViewpointsJan. 4, 2024
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[Editorial] No tolerance for violence
South Korea’s political scene hit turbulence when Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, was stabbed in the neck during a visit to the southeastern port city of Busan on Tuesday, a shocking physical attack that sparked a chorus of condemnation from the public as well as political figures. The Democratic Party chair was stabbed on the left side of his neck by a man who disguised himself as an autograph-seeking supporter Tuesday morning. The suspect, who was
EditorialJan. 4, 2024
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[Karin Klein] Holiday travel darkens climate picture
The jetliner was packed so tight that I couldn’t even work on my laptop. The tray table was too low and the seat in front too far back. The screen on the seat in front was too close for my eyes to focus on a movie. I’ve opened cans of sardines that seemed to have more room. My partner, Rick, and I were among the 7.5 million estimated US air travelers this holiday season, a record number since the American Automobile Association started tracking numbers in 2000. We headed from LAX to
ViewpointsJan. 4, 2024
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[Kim Seong-kon] What we wish for in the Year of the Dragon
According to the Chinese zodiac, 2024 is the Year of the Dragon. In classical Western mythology, dragons are hideous monsters to be slain by valiant warriors. Thus, dragon-slaying was an initiation ritual for would-be heroes. For example, Beowulf, Siegfried and Tristan were among the famous dragon slayers of medieval and early modern legends. In classical Chinese mythology, however, a dragon is a pious and auspicious creature that soars into the sky. A python has to wait a thousand years to beco
ViewpointsJan. 3, 2024
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[Noah Feldman] NYT’s edge in suit against OpenAI
The lawsuit filed by the New York Times against OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement pits one of the great establishment media institutions against the purveyor of a transformative new technology. Symbolically, the case promises a clash of the titans: labor-intensive human newsgathering against pushbutton information produced by artificial intelligence. But legally, the case represents something different: a classic instance of the lag between established law and emerging technology.
ViewpointsJan. 3, 2024
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[Editorial] The right not to know
The tragic death of actor Lee Sun-kyun last week has ignited criticism against the police for not complying with its own press guidelines, and the media for reckless coverage of private details that most people do not want to, or need to, know. Since October, Lee stood in front of hundreds of flashing cameras on three different occasions and apologized to the public for “causing concern” before he entered the police building for questioning on his alleged use of prohibited substances
EditorialJan. 3, 2024
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[Editorial] Security void
Starting this year, the National Intelligence Service has taken its hands off anticommunist investigations entirely, handing the job to the police, who have taken full charge. Anticommunist investigations target violations of the National Security Law, such as espionage and anti-government activities. It was one of the main duties of the intelligence agency. The police say they are well prepared to assume the role, but public concern is still great. The previous Moon Jae-in administration pushed
EditorialJan. 2, 2024