Most Popular
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Opposition-led Assembly unilaterally passes bill to probe Marine's death
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Golden chance to liquidate babies’ gold rings?
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Inflation eases in April, continues bumpy ride
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Russia sent more than 165,000 barrels of refined petroleum to N. Korea in March: White House
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Seoul to more than double military drones by 2026 to counter NK threats
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Seoul alerts overseas missions to NK terror threats
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Key suspects grilled over alleged abuse of power in Marine death inquiry
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Over 60% of S. Koreans support W100m childbirth incentive: survey
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‘Inside Out 2’ adds four new emotions, explores teenage life
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Questions raised over fair promotion of RM, NewJeans
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[Eric Posner] The monopolists fight back
As the Google antitrust trial winds down, corporate opposition to antitrust reform in the United States is winding up -- and not by coincidence. With the trial having once again revealed the prevalence of anticompetitive behavior in the tech industry, big corporations are turning to the US Congress to block the two federal agencies tasked with antitrust enforcement, the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, from ramping up their efforts after decades of neglect. In the Google t
ViewpointsNov. 27, 2023
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[Editorial] Unshackle security
North Korea ripped up the Sept. 19, 2018, military confidence-building deal with South Korea on Thursday. It was a reaction to South Korea’s partial retreat from the accord in response to the North’s launch of a spy satellite. Seoul had said it would suspend some of the measures in the accord and step up surveillance along the military demarcation line after the North launched its first satellite whose apparent use was military reconnaissance. The North said that it would restore all
EditorialNov. 27, 2023
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[Ron Grossman] A long history of anti-Jewish hatred
At the first reports of a massacre of Israeli civilians, I shuddered, fearing the worst was yet to come. Sadly, I was right. Before sundown on Oct. 7, Israel was being blamed for Hamas’ killings, mutilations and kidnappings of Israeli civilians. As a historian, I know only too well the common denominator of thousands of years of my people’s experience: Jews are blamed for whatever calamity humanity suffers. That is true even when Jews are the victims. Eighty-five years ago, Nazi mobs
ViewpointsNov. 24, 2023
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[Editorial] Quota dispute intensifies
The Yoon Suk Yeol administration’s plan to increase the annual enrollment quota for medical schools to deal with a chronic shortage of doctors is a hot-button issue, particularly for doctors who fiercely oppose such a change. In the battle over the quota that involves a host of stakeholders and vested interests, the government has secured an important ally: universities calling for an increase in the quota for their medical schools. Even with the help of universities in favor of a quota hi
EditorialNov. 24, 2023
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[Takatoshi Ito] China’s self-inflicted economic wounds
At their recent summit in San Francisco, US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping made progress in a few key areas. Notably, they agreed to resume direct military-to-military communications -- which China had suspended last year, following a visit by then-Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan -- in order to reduce the chances of accidental conflict. But neither leader was negotiating from a particularly strong position: as Biden struggles with low approval
ViewpointsNov. 23, 2023
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[James Stavridis] Send US’ floating hospitals to Gaza
In my military career, I was frequently deployed on the US Navy’s massive nuclear-powered aircraft carriers into combat and on more routine peacetime missions. I embarked in the USS Abraham Lincoln as a commodore in the late 1990s, and I sailed around South America in the USS Eisenhower as a four-star admiral in command of US Southern Command in 2009. These are fearsome machines of war, apex predators at sea with significant land-attack powers as well. But in many ways, the most satisfying
ViewpointsNov. 23, 2023
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[Editorial] Budget abuse
The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea eliminated the entire government budget to build the nation's nuclear power ecosystem in a related standing committee on Monday. The Yoon Suk Yeol administration planned to run seven programs on a budget of 181.4 billion won ($140 million) next year. The party removed all of them. There is no reason for this other than the fact that the Yoon administration placed a high priority on the revival of nuclear power industry. The party's removal
EditorialNov. 23, 2023
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[Doyle McManus] Xi and Biden agreed on easy steps
In a world beset by wars in Gaza and Ukraine, it's good news when two superpowers step back from frictions that increased the danger of another war in Asia. That's what happened last week when President Joe Biden met with China's Xi Jinping at a country estate in the ridges west of Silicon Valley. The two presidents met after a year of frosty noncommunication, touched off by China's suspected espionage balloon that wandered across US airspace last winter, by aggressive Chines
ViewpointsNov. 22, 2023
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[Kim Seong-kon] Korea in the eyes of a Generation MZ philosopher
Recently, a Korean intellectual sent me a reporter’s interview with a well-known Korean scholar of East Asian philosophy, Im Gun-soon. Reading the intriguing interview, I found he rightly diagnosed the current maladies of our society and prescribed the remedies we urgently needed in order to survive and thrive in this era of global disruptions. As a Generation MZ philosopher, I believe he could not possibly be a conservative. Thus, I believe that his observations and opinions were those of
ViewpointsNov. 22, 2023
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[Editorial] Debt debacle deepens
South Korea’s major parties are now engaged in a fierce competition to put forward as many populist pledges as possible for the 2024 budget in a bid to win more votes ahead of next year's general election. The problem is that rival parties are so focused on their own political survival and vested interests that they seem too busy to heed serious warnings from international experts about the need for structural reforms to grapple with festering economic risks. Among a flurry of warning
EditorialNov. 22, 2023
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[Ana Palacio] The case for energy realism at COP28
At this year’s upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai, world leaders will, for the first time, officially take stock of global progress toward the goals set out in the Paris climate agreement in 2015. The growing frequency of extreme-weather events makes this a decisive moment for climate action, and it is no secret that countries are falling short of their Paris commitments. The question is whether the assembled leaders -- whose ranks will include Pope Franc
ViewpointsNov. 21, 2023
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[Editorial] Don't bulldoze the bill
The ruling and opposition parties are together pushing a project worth more than 11 trillion won ($8.54 billion) to build a high-speed rail connecting Daegu to Gwangju without a preliminary feasibility study. Daegu and Gwangju are southeastern and southwestern metropolitan cities where voters vote predominantly for the conservative People Power Party and the liberal Democratic Party of Korea, respectively. Hong Ihk-pyo, floor leader of the majority opposition Democratic Party, met with Daegu May
EditorialNov. 21, 2023
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[Joseph E. Stiglitz] A victory lap for the transitory inflation team
As the world was recovering from the pandemic, inflation shot up, owing to widespread disruptions to global supply chains and sudden changes in patterns of demand. While the demand shifts might have posed a challenge to price stability even in the best of times, the breakdown in supply chains made matters worse. The market could not respond immediately to the new demand patterns, so prices increased. Recall that we initially experienced a car shortage, simply because there was a shortage of comp
ViewpointsNov. 21, 2023
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[Jerome H Kim] Rebuilding trust in vaccines amidst declining confidence
Today (Nov. 20) is World Children’s Day, and as we reflect on the future these young lives represent we are confronted by an insidious, but ultimately lethal, trend. Confidence in childhood vaccinations has fallen. According to the UNICEF report, "The State of the World’s Children 2023: For Every Child, Vaccination," there was a marked drop in the perception of the importance of vaccines for children in 52 out of 55 countries studied. This is an issue that demands immediate
ViewpointsNov. 20, 2023
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[Martin Schram] Show-and-tell, Bibi and Joe
It happens occasionally, but only rarely. All the good options suddenly seem to have failed at once. The only thing left is to just spread your cards across the table -- and play this hand faceup. The truth is, this happens far more at a negotiation table than a card table. Another truth is it has just happened to Israel -- and Israel’s forever kibitzer and guarantor, the United States – in yet another cruel crisis in Gaza. Israel and its staunchest ally must now show their most conv
ViewpointsNov. 20, 2023
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[Editorial] Embarrassing disruption
A system breakdown hit the South Korean government’s major administrative network on Friday, resulting in massive disruptions at civil services across the nation over the weekend and revealing a loophole in the network security of the country’s critical services. The government’s electronic administrative network for public workers, called Saeol, went down Friday morning, and the civil service portal, Government24, also suffered an outage in the afternoon. The network breakdown
EditorialNov. 20, 2023
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[Editorial] Collective response
The United Nations Command was established under United Nations Security Council resolutions following North Korea’s invasion into South Korea in 1950. It is still stationed in South Korea, because the Korean War has not ended yet, though 70 years have passed after the signing of an armistice agreement. The US-led UNC has played a major role in protecting the liberal democracy of South Korea from communist North Korean aggressors. It commanded UN Forces during the war and its commander sig
EditorialNov. 17, 2023
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[Robert J. Fouser] The shifting conversation about cities
As we move deeper into the 2020s, it feels like the 2010s are fading into history. Among the many trends of the 2010s, interest in cities boomed, sparking an “urban rediscovery” in much of the developed world. Slick magazines like Monocle and Kinfolk portrayed cities as hip playgrounds for in-the-know youth. In South Korea, conversational walks in older neighborhoods became a trend just as social media took off. Social media posts of retro streetscapes dotted with new cafes suddenly
ViewpointsNov. 17, 2023
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[Jude Dumfeh] Is nuance possible in polarized world?
We humans are tempted to attack anything that appears foreign to us. As psychologist Abraham Maslow observed, when you have only a hammer, you’re inclined to look at everything as if it’s a nail. This unfortunate tendency often stems from a lack of nuance. Our world has become more polarized. We tend to see things in black or white, with little ability to handle shades of gray. It seems easy to stay in our silos and hurl attacks in other directions. An ability to see nuance, on the
ViewpointsNov. 16, 2023
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[Editorial] Supporting content industry
South Korea’s video content market is thriving, at least in the video streaming service market, where streaming giants like Netflix continue to produce and distribute globally acclaimed Korean productions such as “Squid Game.” But the boom has also led to unintended developments, including the monopolization of content rights by global streaming firms and deepening financial strains on local platforms, broadcasters and production houses. To find a breakthrough, the government o
EditorialNov. 16, 2023