Is N. Korea really intervening in elections here?
This year, North Korea celebrates the centennial of Kim Il-sung’s birth. For this reason, North Korea declared 2012 as the first year of building a “strong and prosperous nation,” and it has been carrying out propaganda on a massive scale. For North Korea, a “strong and prosperous nation” means a nation of strong military might […]
School dropouts turn to crime
A spate of suicides stemming from violence among young classmates has spawned an equal amount of government measures, statistical studies and online debate. What it has ignored are the youngsters “outside of schools.” Those who drop out of schools due to family problems or maladjustment to school systems are more likely to commit crimes and […]
Globalization of Korean art
Challenges facing local contemporary art community The last two decade has seen the explosion of the Korean wave or “hallyu” around the world. Today, hallyu is a global phenomenon that encompasses every major aspect of Korean culture, including its music (K-pop) and food (hansik). Recent reports note that Korean cultural exports reached over 4.5 trillion […]
Asia’s demographic woes
Asia is aging. Current projections indicate that the working population in most Asian countries will decline over the coming years, if they haven’t started already. In response, calls for greater investment became louder so greater efficiency can compensate for the reduction in raw labour inputs. This is certainly an ideal solution. But the magnitude of […]
IOC to investigate Moon case
Moon Dae-sung, Korea’s International Olympic Committee (IOC) member, who is in trouble for plagiarizing his doctoral thesis, didn’t respond to repeated calls Sunday for comments regarding The Korea Times’ report about the IOC’s plan to investigate the case. Moon, a lawmaker elected for the upcoming 19th term of the National Assembly to represent a district […]
Samsung, Sony team up on OLED
Sony is seeking to purchase Samsung Electronics’ next-generation advanced organic light-emitting diode (OLED) flat-screens for its new line of TVs. Sony wants its Bravia televisions ― to be marketed as early as next year ― to have Samsung’s OLED screens, officials of the Korean technology firm told The Korea Times, Sunday. “Bravia OLED TVs will […]
Teacher assessment system
Mr. Jeong, one of my colleagues who teaches art, was exasperated, showing me a paper where his evaluation score by students was the lowest. The reason that he got so angry was due to the absurd evaluation. As an art teacher, he had always prepared all the materials necessary for students and taught them his […]
High expectations greet Filipina-Korean lawmaker
Philippine envoy says community feels pride in Jasmine Lee The Filipino community here is abuzz with pride and high expectations of lawmaker-elect Jasmine Lee, the first naturalized citizen ever elected to the National Assembly in the history of Korea. “Jasmine Lee is a source of pride in Korea for Filipinos in particular and for the […]
Governor declares presidential bid
Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Moon-soo declared his presidential candidacy Sunday, becoming the first to announce a bid to compete in the ruling Saenuri Party’s presidential primary. “Today, I announce my decision to run for the presidential election,” he said during a press conference at the National Assembly. Kim said he wants to build a greater […]
Jasmine Revolution, Korean style
Korea has come of age, of sorts. Jasmine Lee, a naturalized Korean citizen originally from the Philippines, became the first foreign-born lawmaker. Granted, she didn’t run for a seat herself, but became a member of the National Assembly as a proportional representation candidate when the Saenuri Party won a majority in the recent parliamentary elections. […]