Tragedy in West Sea
China must act resolutely to uproot illegal fishing Another tragedy took place in the West Sea Tuesday and this time, a Chinese fisherman died after being hit by a rubber bullet. It’s sad to continue to see a string of tragic incidents due to illegal fishing by Chinese trawlers in our exclusive economic zone (EEZ) […]
Collapse of security
Nation’s military and police is like Swiss cheese If we compare countries to humans, today’s South Korea is like a blind person with a hole in its heart. The story of a North Korean soldier who defected to the South earlier this month is closer to a dark comedy. The young man climbed over three […]
NK Trojan horse
A new funny “knock knock” joke goes like this. “Knock, knock!” No answer. If you try to listen hard enough, you can hear the “Zzzz” of soldiers sleeping inside. By now, you will understand who this joke is about and will probably no longer be amused. If anyone remains amused at all, it will be […]
Mideast turmoil underscores Turkey’s pivotal roles
The confrontation between Syria and Turkey ratcheted up further Wednesday when a Syrian civilian passenger airplane, suspected of carrying military supplies, was forced to land in Ankara. The Turkish government has ordered civilian aircraft to avoid Syrian airspace. Syrian artillery shelling has led to retaliation in kind. Turkey shelters many refugees from Syria. Last June, […]
Presidential candidates: Are you mad?
So the candidates are declared. Park Geun-hye, Moon Jae-in and Ahn Cheol-soo are running for Korea’s top office. All eyes are on Dec. 19; the games have begun. Why are these candidates running? Perhaps, they are ego-maniacs, seeking to wield the national puppet strings in the most prestigious job in the land. Or perhaps they […]
North Korea: confused and confusing
Is North Korea heading towards a food crisis in the winter of 2012? Yes! Will it be a “great famine” like in the 90ies? No! Why so? Rumor has been that the North Korean government decided to “reform” its markets. Of course, when the North Korean regime speaks about markets or reform, they use these […]
Korea, Japan at each other’s throats
LOS ANGELES ― Look before you leap. This is a venerable American saying. Look carefully before you leap emotionally. So if I were one of the good people of the Republic of Korea, for whom my admiration is deep, long-standing and well-known (my Japanese friends understand me well), I would be prudent about my next […]
Pakistan irked by shooting of schoolgirl
In a bit of encouraging news out of a nation that has produced few of them, a broad spectrum of Pakistan has become enraged by a Taliban attempt to murder a 14-year-old schoolgirl as she rode a school bus home. The Washington Post reported that the attempted killing “united Pakistanis from across social divides” ― […]
What can K-pop learn from Psy?
“By satirizing standard K-pop tropes in Gangnam Style, Psy may have subverted K-pop’s chances of making it big in the West,” writes John Seabrook in the Annals of Music section of this week’s New Yorker magazine. Insightful, yes, but true? Not so fast. There are many aspects of the Korean character that I came to […]
Political experiment in Korea
Koreans are experiencing an extraordinary three-way presidential race among Park Geun-hye of the ruling Senuri Party, Moon Jae-in of the opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) and independent Ahn Cheol-soo. The election is two months away, but it is too early to predict who will be the next president. Polls show as of this week that […]
Media in Tie-up with The AsiaN 
Trump, Kim, and the Three P’s of Summit Diplomacy: 
