We present Mme President!
Rep. Park Geun-hye couldn’t sleep. When Park, who turned 61 this year, looked up at the clock on the wall, it was one minute past midnight. She smiled at herself, thinking that she had been the 18thpresident of the Republic of Korea for an hour or so. Two hours before, her top lieutenants had left […]
Huge hole in safety
Nuclear plant operation cannot go on like now The recent news about prolonged, widespread use of substandard parts in atomic power plants here brings two questions to mind. First, which of the two cases would have been more perilous: whether the plant operators have committed such horrifying irregularities wittingly or unwittingly? Second, are Koreans unfortunate […]
Cutting my losses
Don’t tell my supervisor but I’m calling in sick Wednesday. I heard the margin in Tuesday’s presidential election will be so tight there may not be a clear winner until the wee hours of the morning. This Barack Obama vs. Mitt Romney smackdown is turning into the political olympics. I can’t stop twitching in anticipation […]
Death with dignity
Legal system needed to ensure peaceful deaths A committee under the president has decided to push ahead with a legal system allowing for the cessation of life support for terminally-ill patients in an effort to ensure peaceful and less painful deaths. The National Bioethics Committee held its second meeting for this year Friday and reached […]
Happiness Is equality
LONDON ― The king of Bhutan wants to make us all happier. Governments, he says, should aim to maximize their people’s Gross National Happiness rather than their Gross National Product. Does this new emphasis on happiness represent a shift or just a passing fad? It is easy to see why governments should de-emphasize economic growth […]
Who should be next US president?
Voters on Tuesday will go to the polls to decide which man ― Mitt Romney or Barack Obama ― will occupy the White House for the next four years. President Obama is seeking re-election amidst an economy that hasn’t fully perked up since the recession that was under way when he took office; Romney and […]
Clash of two languages
A Japanese professor was introducing himself to his new class at a university in Seoul. “I’m professor Seki and I’m going to teach you…” All the Korean students burst into uncontrollable laughter. “Is anything wrong?” Seki asks. “Your name, sir,”replies came from the still chuckling audience. The newcomer to Seoul later learned that “seki” translates […]
Sandy’s leadership lesson
For some crazy moment on Monday when “Frankenstorm” Sandy was threatening to tear a hole in our roof and I was sure we would lose power, I remembered a funny cartoon from the summer when a freak “Derecho” storm did rob us of power for two days. It featured a series of text message balloons […]
Africa’s big boom
PARIS ― Africa is undergoing a period of unprecedented economic growth. According to the Economist, six of the 10 fastest-growing countries in 2011 were in Africa. Average external debt on the continent has fallen from 63 percent of GDP in 2000 to 22.2 percent this year, while average inflation now stands at 8 percent, down […]
Impact of US election on Korea-US ties
An examination of Seoul-Washington relations turns up patterns that may be useful in assessing the impact Barack Obama or Mitt Romney will have on Korea after the U.S. presidential election on Tuesday. Neither of the candidates has indicated that they would tamper with the Korea-U.S. alliance. Both candidates, backed by their parties, would continue to […]
Media in Tie-up with The AsiaN 
Trump, Kim, and the Three P’s of Summit Diplomacy: 
