Deepening smartphone woes
The smartphone is a great invention and extremely useful in daily life. However, the rapid distribution of the electronic device has brought about an uninvited guest ― smartphone addiction. The results of a survey released last week by the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education were quite surprising and call for society to act resolutely to […]
Chinese illegal fishing in Korean waters seems insoluble due to its connection with Chinese economic growth
On the 16th October, the Korean Coast Guard was notified about another major intrusion of Chinese fishing boats into the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of South Korea. Some thirty small Chinese fishing vessels were reported to have been fishing illegally some 55 miles from Hong Island. There was nothing unusual in this situation since such […]
Reality check on NLL
With less than two months before the Dec. 19 presidential election, the controversy over the Northern Limit Line (NLL) persists as a campaign issue in Korea. This controversy was sparked by an allegation from a member of the ruling Saenuri Party that former president Roh Moo-hyun gave up the South’s claim on the NLL during […]
Tales of Korean Treasures ②
• Influences of the Silk Road I may not be wrong when I say that Korea’s ancient kingdoms which rose along the Silk Road made their arts communicate with their neighbours. That’s why their traditional handicrafts, popular habits and even tales were influenced by such proximity. Moreover, such influences went beyond the boundaries of China to […]
Gulags in North Korea
What are the experts thinking when they talk in learned tones, replete with facts and stats, about issues and conditions for North-South Korean reunification, the pitfalls and problems, but omit passing mention of one of the most awful obstacles? At a conference this week bearing the portentous title, “Unification and North Korea,” I waited expectantly […]
Football and racism
Football is a harmonious sport. It can potentially transcend the barriers of nationality, race, culture, and religion. But there are physical and psychological altercations that ruin it. And recently, a few disturbances scarred the spirit of the game ― poor sportsmanship, racial insensitivity, and indefensible rudeness. The Federation International de Football Association (FIFA) has constantly […]
What is the context of S. Korea’s Africa policy?
In keeping with its tradition over the last six years, the just-ended Korea Africa Economic Cooperation Forum was yet another opportunity for Seoul to extend a compelling historical narrative that reconciles empathy with brotherhood as the context for establishing an agenda for dialogue with the powerful African delegation that convened here. I can imagine the […]
Benefits of Chaebol-bashing
If there is one thing that Korea’s three presidential candidates can agree on, it’s the need for “economic democratization.” That’s the trendy term for the reform of the country’s family-owned conglomerates, or chaebol. Chaebol-bashing has been around as a popular political issue since at least the early 1990s, but it has gained more traction among […]
The emperor of Japan
The boy who sat one row behind my desk in our elementary school was called Shimizu. He was born on Dec. 23, Showa 8 (1933), the same day the then Crown Prince Akihito, now the emperor, was born. It was his birthday, a cold December morning. The class teacher, dressed in a full black tailcoat, […]
Tales of Korean Treasures ①
As you go through the country’s National Museum, you feel as if you were passing from one age to another. In this way you leave a face which represents Seoul’s contemporary present to a space which embodies the history of the Korean nation. But in the depths of these ages you will find that there […]
![[Novel] The Road to Shamawes ⑯](http://www.theasian.asia/wp-content/themes/city-desk/timthumb.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theasian.asia%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F08%2FAshraf-2novel-news_9601.jpg&q=90&w=300&h=0&zc=1 "[Novel] The Road to Shamawes ⑯")
