Korea must legislate plain language act
Last week, spokespersons of government agencies agreed to use plain language in their documents and statements, with the help of the National Institute of the Korean Language. On Hangeul Day (Korean Alphabet Day) on Oct. 9, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) will award government agencies that use plain language consistently and effectively. […]
Stop the brain drain
When an unprecedented currency crisis hit Asia and Korea in 1997, domestic businesses first trimmed their R&D manpower, as they were of little use in making quick profits. Kim Jong-hoon, a Korean-American IT expert nominated by President Park as her first minister of future planning and science, gave up the opportunity to serve his country […]
Hatred among NE Asians
Mutual hatred between Korean, Japanese and Chinese people has risen to a worrisome level recently. This is no doubt a cause for concern, not only for those who strive for peace and prosperity in Northeast Asia, but for anyone who wants this world to be free from additional troubles. According to an opinion poll conducted […]
Save the whales, 2014
It was widely known for many years that Japan’s “scientific whaling” program was a sham, designed to get around the international moratorium on hunting whales. Almost no research on the animals came from Japanese scientists; instead, whale meat kept showing up in restaurants and school lunches. Finally, Australia, a whaling country until 1978 and now […]
Disrupted by drones
It’s time to calm down, check defense preparedness Three small, crashed drones presumably sent by North Korea have touched off a noisy but inconclusive controversy in the South. Tracing back the course of debate over recently found unmanned aerial vehicles, however, reveals big holes in the nation’s defense posture and in the mentality of people […]
Human rights body’s fall
Seoul must take swift steps to avoid further disgrace Korea’s human rights organization, once the object of envoy among new democracies, has become a disgrace to the nation. The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRC), which barely limped along during the past seven years under successive conservative governments, is now in danger of losing […]
Two-faced neighbor
New Japanese textbooks ruin their children’s future Japan’s historical whitewashing reached a new low Friday when Tokyo expanded their targets of distorted education to include elementary schoolchildren. According to a revision added to their history books, Dokdo is Japanese sovereign territory unlawfully occupied by Korea. This is a glaring aggravation from previous books, which merely […]
Arms export by Japan
Should the world let painful history repeat itself? Step by carefully calculated step, Japan is moving toward becoming a military power ― as it was 70 years ago. Nothing shows this better than Tokyo’s decision Tuesday to throw away its 46-year-old ban on the export of weapons and military hardware. The restrain has actually been […]
Can South Korea unify North Korea by absorption?
Lessons to be learned from Crimean crisis The unrolling Ukrainian crisis has been in the news a lot of late. The recent succession of Crimea can be seen in various ways, but it seems that this dramatic event hints at one possible scenario of Korea’s future. Indeed, why did Crimea secede from Ukraine? Of course, […]
A forgotten story of rebellion in British Raj
“Once upon a time” the British ruled in the Indian sub-continent. I find this phrase “once upon a time” rather interesting in our context. It creates a distance between the events of the story and the reader: distance in time, connection or direct relevancy. Today, the history of the sub-continent is talked about like some […]
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