10-million tourist arrivals
Time to beef up infrastructure, service spirits Korea is expected to reach another industrial landmark Wednesday when this year’s 10-millionth foreign visitor enters the country. The doubling of inbound tourists in a decade, from 5 million in 2002, is meaningful as it shows the industry’s spectacular growth and the nation’s emergence as one of the […]
One month to go
Nominees must show what elections are for To the relief of many, the two opposition nominees resumed talks Sunday for unifying their candidates. It is anybody’s guess, however, how many ordinary voters are among the people who feel thrilled with the single candidacy tug-of-war. Exactly 30 days are left before the voting day but the […]
Germany and Japan
Tokyo must learn from its European counterpart Last week, Germany decided to increase government compensations for victims of Nazi crimes and sharply broaden eligibility for such payments. In Japan, would-be prime ministers were vowing to visit a militarist shrine honoring fallen soldiers, including 14 Class-A war criminals. No two countries in the world would be […]
English test for college-bound students
A student’s English score will be one of decisive factors for admission to prestigious universities this year. Let’s take a look at this year’s English test for college admissions in order to evaluate its level and to suggest ways of helping students get high scores through well-designed programs. The test has been getting progressively more […]
China’s new leader and Korea
Seoul needs to seek balanced diplomacy wisely Vice President Xi Jinping was chosen as the general secretary of China’s ruling Communist Party and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) Thursday in a once-in-a-decade leadership transition. He will take over from outgoing president Hu Jintao in March at the annual meeting of parliament. Xi’s elevation […]
My first marathon
Through a book on running by Haruki Murakami, the renowned Japanese writer and runner, I learned about running. As the title of his short autobiographic book “What I Talk About When I Talk About Running” implies, it’s about life and long-distance running. He shares with his readers the life lessons he learnt from running. Murakami […]
US silence on North Korea
With a record $6 billion in campaign money spent, the most expensive election in history has now come and gone. But throughout their respective campaigns, both President Obama and Governor Romney were disturbingly silent about one of the most urgent humanitarian and security emergencies the United States and the world faces today: North Korea. While […]
Dignity of first family
Despite new probe, many questions remain unanswered After a month-long investigation, special prosecutor Lee Kwang-bum announced Wednesday that his team will refer President Lee Myung-bak’s only son, Si-hyung, to the tax authorities for possible imposition of gift tax over a controversial project to build Lee’s retirement home. The junior Lee, however, was cleared of suspicion […]
America’s divided dynamism
UNITED NATIONS ― America appears to have crossed the political Rubicon. On the one shore, that of the red states, people are rooted in more traditional values, religion, individualism and entrepreneurialism. On the blue shore, people embrace different often trendier values, cherish political correctness and secularism, often do favor entrepreneurialism, but view an activist government […]
Qualifications of educators
Many, many years ago when I was in undergrad school, my classmates and I would often talk about how the real learning would begin once we graduated and obtained our pieces of paper. We knew that in university we were being taught ideals more than anything else. These ideals did not match up with reality […]
Media in Tie-up with The AsiaN 
Trump, Kim, and the Three P’s of Summit Diplomacy: 
