Corruption and growth
Transparency to help tackle unemployment Korea was placed 43rd of 183 countries in the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) released by Transparency International (TI), the world’s largest anti-corruption watchdog, late last year. The ranking represented a drop of four notches from that of a year ago with the index being 5.4 out of a possible 10. […]
China’s crackdown on defectors driven by separatism fears
China’s deep-seated concerns regarding the separatist movement of ethnic minority groups is seen as the key reason behind a recent crackdown on immigrants in the Yanbian Autonomous Prefecture. The northeastern city is home to the largest number of ethnic Koreans in China. “Separatist protests by Tibetans and Uyghurs in Xinjiang, the western province of the […]
Blizzard probed over Diablo 3
The government has launched an investigation into Blizzard Entertainment over allegations that the American computer gamemaker has refused to refund Koreans who purchased its latest real-time role-playing game Diablo 3. The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said the firm is suspected of having violated the country’s law on electronic commerce and commercial contracts. The FTC said […]
Mobile firms target middle-aged clients
With the wide dissemination of smartphones, the age group of users is quickly diversifying to include the middle-aged. According to research by SK Planet, SK Telecom’s mobile platform subsidiary, the monthly data use of subscribers in their 50s has increased from 24 megabytes in January of 2011 to 112 megabytes as of the end of […]
President blasts pro-N. Korea groups
President Lee Myung-bak lashed out at pro-North Korean groups in the South that blindly support the Pyongyang regime, Monday, saying that “North Korean followers are “worse than North Korea.” Lee’s remarks come at a time when the public is showing tiredness about the way so-called pro-Pyongyang leftists are behaving, especially in connection with an internal […]
Buddhist leader vows to behave
The country’s Buddhist leader expressed deep regret Monday over the gambling scandal that hit the largest Jogye Order. In a speech commemorating the anniversary of Buddha’s birth, Ven. Jaseung, head of the order, said the scandal has provided a serious test to Korean Buddhism. “I’m here with a heavy heart on this beautiful day because […]
Alcohol, tobacco and wealth
Income gap hardly affects consumption of ‘sin products’ The conventional wisdom holds that if you earn more, you will spend more on alcohol and cigarettes as economists rationalize they are non-essential goods. But this often turns out to not be the case. According to the latest report on household consumption patterns by Statistics Korea, there […]
‘Attachment parenting’… umm
Jane Han, The Korea Times’ New York correspondent, writes her column Jane’s Americanology in order to fill the gap between cultures of the two countries. ― ED. American moms prize independence and self-sufficiency when raising their kids ― or so we thought, until Time magazine’s latest provocative cover of a young mom breastfeeding her 3-year-old […]
Xenophobia and law
Anti-racism act needed to prevent social conflicts Is Korea a xenophobic country? The answer is yes and no. Depending on how we look at what’s going on here, the answer could be either. Yet what is clear is that a huge influx of migrant workers, immigrant wives and North Korean defectors has made Korea a […]
Why do US colleges reject Korean applicants?
New York University American colleges and universities mailed out their admissions decisions in the past weeks, leaving many competitive and qualified Korean students puzzling over why they were rejected. The truth is, in the eyes of admissions officers, students from Korea look as if they came off an assembly line. They have the same grades, […]
Media in Tie-up with The AsiaN 
Trump, Kim, and the Three P’s of Summit Diplomacy: 
