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Society
Radical Islamic winter to come: Israeli deputy foreign minister
A golden rule followed by diplomats is this: don’t comment officially about ongoing issues. However, Deputy Foreign Minister of Israel Daniel Ayalon was different. Speaking with journalists Thursday in Seoul he talked candidly and directly about Syria, Iran and North Korea. He offered incisive observations regarding the modus operandi of…
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Society
Kenya to open cultural center
The Kenyan Ambassador to Korea learned a hard lesson in June. Korean Air released a new advertisement for the launch of its Incheon-Nairobi flight in which Kenyans were described as “indigenous people full of primitive energy.” “I got so many phone calls that day, so I had to call Korean…
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Business
‘Gori No. 1 reactor is safe to operate’
The No. 1 reactor of the Gori nuclear plant in Busan should resume operations to meet surging electricity demand amid the scorching heat wave gripping the nation, according to the state-run operator of Korea’s 21 atomic reactors. There has been a growing call for the reactor to be made operational…
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IT-Science
LG Uplus critical about Kakao’s free voice services
It was just months ago when LG Uplus CEO Lee Sang-chul called for mobile-phone carriers to embrace the free voice calls pushed by Kakao Talk, an immensely popular smartphone messaging service. Now, Lee sounds less impressed with Kakao’s mobile voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) offerings, criticizing the voice quality and…
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Column
Leadership secrets
At a recent seminar with senior journalists in Seoul, a leading presidential contender of the Saenuri Party, Rep. Park Geun-hye, was asked to characterize the May 16 military coup d’etat of 1961, through which her late father took power. In her response, she defended the coup as “inevitable and the…
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Column
Women in North Korea
In most post-socialist nations, the collapse of the state socialist system had a rather ambiguous impact on the social and economic position of women. Clearly the advent of the market economy brought with it some advantages, especially in those countries where its introduction brought an economic boom. Women often have…
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New signs in N. Korea
It’s official now: North Korea is changing, or at least is trying to change. That is, if the report by the National Intelligence Service submitted to the National Assembly Thursday is any guide. The spy agency’s intelligence capability has often been in doubt, but we hope the NIS is right…
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Society
Park gets enormous outpouring of fan support
Koreans showed tremendous support for swimmer Park Tae-hwan, who captured silver in the 400-meter freestyle in the London Olympics Saturday after a disqualification ruling was overturned. Despite having fallen short of his goal to earn a second straight gold in the 400m race following the first at the 2008 Beijing…
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Politics
N. Korean school wants professors from South
An elite university in North Korea funded by outside groups hopes South Korean professors will be allowed to join its staff despite thorny cross-border ties, its chancellor said recently. Park Chan-mo, the Korean-American chancellor of Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST), said the North would welcome the professors, as…
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Child pornography poorly monitored
The government has come under fire for its lax monitoring of child pornography, considered one of the root causes for surging crimes against minors. Public calls are growing for a stricter crackdown on child porn especially after it was found that a man who confessed to the murder of a…
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