Most Popular
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Trump wins US election, foreshadows policy shift
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Allies face test with return of Trump’s transactional diplomacy
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North Korean leader may seek another summit with Trump, but chances for deal seen as slimmer
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South Korean won tumbles after Trump wins US presidential election
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Yoon congratulates Trump
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Korea on alert over reshaped global economy during Trump's 2nd term
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‘Trump may seek surprise NK deal at expense of Seoul’
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Yoon apologizes but denies wife's role in state affairs
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Poster of Kim Jong-un behind bars launches S. Korean groups' anti-NK campaign in Geneva
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Korean auto, battery firms buckle up for second Trump term
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[Robert J. Fouser] The soundscape of Korean cities
One of the most interesting things about visiting a new city is its soundscape. For many people, language defines the way a city sounds, particularly if they do not understand the language or languages spoken around them. The soundscape also includes announcements, digital notifications, music, traffic noise and various sounds of nature. What, then, is the soundscape of major cities in South Korea? The easiest city to start with is Seoul, the largest and most dominant city in the country by far.
ViewpointsSept. 23, 2024
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[Editorial] ER crisis averted
South Korea’s government officials will have been duly relieved to see the result of the five-day Chuseok holiday. Defying dire predictions, the country’s emergency care services continued without massive and paralyzing disruptions. The Health Ministry said the average number of patients who visited emergency rooms across the nation stood at 27,505 per day, down 31 percent from 39,911 last year. In addition, the latest figure is 25 percent down from the lunar New Year holiday period.
EditorialSept. 20, 2024
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[Andrei Hagiu] Why and how all businesses should consider turning their products into platforms
In the current digital era, businesses are constantly seeking ways to innovate, grow, and maintain a competitive edge. One increasingly popular strategy is transforming products into platforms. This approach involves expanding existing products and services to also enable interactions among customers or between customers and external third-parties. With some creative thinking and careful implementation, this strategy can generate new revenue streams and enhance competitive advantage via network
ViewpointsSept. 20, 2024
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[Editorial] Nuclear comeback
The Yoon Suk Yeol administration has ushered in a nuclear energy renaissance as it permitted the long-suspended construction of two nuclear reactors last week. The Nuclear Safety and Security Commission approved the building of Shin Hanul reactors No. 3 and 4 in Uljin, North Gyeongsang Province, Thursday. They are the first new nuclear power plants to be authorized in the country since the Saeul (formerly Shin Kori) Units 5 and 6 in June 2016, even though Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co., the
EditorialSept. 19, 2024
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[Frank Pasquale] Industrial policy for the real world:
Google CEO Sundar Pichai has characterized AI as “the most profound technology humanity is working on. More profound than fire, electricity, or anything that we have done in the past." The hype around “existential risk” in AI follows a similar narrative, analogizing it to Oppenheimer’s atomic bomb. Such grand pronouncements have stirred many a corporate board and government agency to develop AI deployment plans. The problem, though, is that it’s not yet clear i
ViewpointsSept. 19, 2024
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[Lee Byung-jong] ‘Out of the Box’ Universities
As the new fall semester begins, I face my new students with both excitement and dread. Excitement because I can find vibrant youth energy and unquenchable academic zeal from their glowing faces. Dread because the world outside our campus is dark and grim, filled with uncertainties. Once they graduate, students will have to grapple with not only the world’s woes, such as wars and climate crisis, but also their personal perils, notably job scarcity. With these mixed feelings, I happened to
ViewpointsSept. 13, 2024
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[Editorial] Prepare against threats
North Korea has been ratcheting up its threatening moves in recent weeks, a development that should alarm South Korea’s officials in charge of security, defense and inter-Korean relations. On Thursday, the North fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The missiles were launched from the Pyongyang area at 7:10 a.m., but other details were not disclosed. South Korea’s military condemned the latest launch, which tested m
EditorialSept. 13, 2024
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[Stephanie Pincetl] A summer of extreme heat, wildfire
As Greece attempts to recover from the recent destructive wildfires around Athens, Southern Californians facing our own heat wave should take note of the pattern that enabled them. It should be well-known by now: sprawl into the urban-wildland interface where development collides with nature, the corresponding replacement of grass, shrubs and other plants native to the area with many more trees for shade, then strain on the land thanks to drought, record high heat and wind, intensified by climat
ViewpointsSept. 12, 2024
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[Wang Son-taek] Arrogance is poison
Traditionally, Koreans have respected polite and considerate speech, but recently, we have seen many people speaking arrogantly and presumptuously. A recent case involves Kim Tae-hyo, the first deputy director of the National Security Office, whose remarks have ignited controversy. He made unusually frank comments on US elections and foreign policy during a seminar at a private research institute in Seoul. Here are a few of his statements: “If former President Trump wins the US election in
ViewpointsSept. 12, 2024
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[Editorial] Outdated custom
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced Tuesday the interim results of its ongoing investigation into the operation of the Badminton Korea Association. The probe was prompted by a severe criticism by An Se-young in an interview with reporters after winning a gold medal in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Some management practices and regulations of the association are found to be outdated or opaque. Many regulation violations were also uncovered. A regulation bans players from partici
EditorialSept. 12, 2024
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[Christophe Andre] Will AI hit employment, raise productivity, and increase inequality?
The release of ChatGPT in November 2022 has raised great hopes that artificial intelligence (AI) can contribute to solving problems in many fields and lift productivity, but also fears that many jobs may disappear, and that income inequality could rise further. AI is commonly seen as a general-purpose technology, like the internal combustion engine, early electricity-based technologies, and computers. Such technologies have the potential to disrupt large parts of the economy, displacing many w
ViewpointsSept. 11, 2024
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[Kim Seong-kon] 'Total Recall': Three questions we should ask
The 2012 Hollywood science fiction film “Total Recall” is a remake of the 1990 film of the same title, based on Philip K. Dick’s 1966 short story, “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale.” Set on a dystopian Earth devastated by chemical warfare at the end of the 21st century, this movie depicts a grim future that we might very well have to encounter soon. In the movie, the only habitable places on Earth are the United Federation of Britain, or UFB, and the Colony. The
ViewpointsSept. 11, 2024
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[Editorial] Dispute-laden tax scheme
The “Korea discount” generally refers to the idea that South Korean stocks remain undervalued. This perception is universally shared among both policymakers and investors, but identifying the reasons behind the lower-than-expected stock performances is tricky largely because individuals point to different factors. In recent weeks, however, there seems to be a consensus about one of the factors that strongly resonate among government officials, ruling party members and some members of
EditorialSept. 11, 2024
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[Grace Kao] American redemption vs. Korean punishment for BTS’ Suga
I am a fan of BTS and know many American fans in the BTS Army, as the fan group calls itself. I am also in contact with many K-pop professionals and Korean fans of K-pop. I was in Korea a couple of weeks ago, and it really struck me how different American and Korean perceptions of Suga’s recent drunk-driving controversy were. The bottom line comes down to American beliefs about redemption for past personal transgressions versus Korean beliefs about equity in punishment for celebrities, at
ViewpointsSept. 10, 2024
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[Robert Burgess] Trump goes revisionist on economy
Listening to former US President Donald Trump speak to the Economic Club of New York, you could be forgiven for thinking that the economy has been such a disaster since he left office that the stock market is in a perpetual free fall. And yet, the benchmark S&P 500 Index is up 64 percent since the 2020 election through Wednesday, topping the 60 percent gain at the same point in the Trump administration. There’s an old saying that the stock market is not the economy, and that’s true
ViewpointsSept. 10, 2024
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[Editorial] Sustain friendly ties
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who is set to retire at the end of this month, returned to Japan Saturday after wrapping up a two-day trip to South Korea for a summit with President Yoon Suk Yeol. The summit was significant in that the leaders affirmed the possibility of sustaining "shuttle diplomacy" between Korea and Japan. The bilateral ties of the two countries were tense under former President Moon Jae-in, then Yoon restored them considerably by resolving a historical issue
EditorialSept. 10, 2024
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[Lee Kyong-hee] Yoon’s flawed unification road map
President Yoon Suk Yeol’s newly unveiled “Aug. 15 Unification Doctrine” is loaded with lofty goals for “freedom-based unification” without any acknowledgement of the formidable challenges ahead. Unfortunately, it is more arbitrariness from a leader wanting in analysis and foresight. What the nation has heard lacks feasible action plans and consideration for regional geopolitics conducive to inter-Korean peace and reconciliation, let alone his would-be counterpart in
ViewpointsSept. 9, 2024
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[J. Bradford DeLong] US must pursue industrial policy
By the end of the 1970s, the US economy appeared to be in serious trouble. Years of inflation had caused deep discontent; measured productivity growth had fallen from its post-World War II pace of 2 percent per year to almost zero; and America’s resilience in the face of geopolitical and geoeconomic shocks seemed to be waning. The proposed solutions to these problems fell into two categories: neoliberalism and activist industrial policy. The neoliberals won. Neoliberalism called for shrink
ViewpointsSept. 9, 2024
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[Editorial] Seek breakthrough
The South Korean government now holds the position that it can discuss the option of adjusting the medical school admissions quota for 2026, a desperate move aimed at getting interns and residents back to hospitals, many of which are struggling with severe staff shortages. The deepening medical service crisis was sparked in February by the Yoon Suk Yeol administration’s plan to increase the medical school admission quota as part of its overall medical reform plan. The quota increase result
EditorialSept. 9, 2024
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[Robert Fouser] Learning Korean and Chinese characters
Learning Korean continues to grow in popularity around the world, but the speed of growth may be slowing as the popularity of K-pop has plateaued. Universities in many countries have seen a decline in second language learning as part of a broader shift away from the humanities. Over time, this could result in a weakening of important institutional support for Korean classes. According to the “2023 Duolingo Language Report,” an annual report produced by the popular language learning p
ViewpointsSept. 6, 2024