• Business

    ‘Jeonse’ blues

    Low earners struggle to find homes amid soaring rents Kim Ji-hye, a 37-year-old housewife in Hannam-dong, Seoul, is concerned as the “jeonse” contract with her landlord will soon expire and she will probably face a drastic rise in her deposit when renewing it. “I’m happy with my neighborhood as well…

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  • Business

    We remember

    It has been a year since Apple founder Steve Jobs died at the age of 56 after a long battle with cancer. Arguments are ongoing as to whether the innovation and dramatic changes in living habits and culture he initiated will continue. Early evidence from Korea, a nation fascinated with…

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  • Column

    Korea can host global golf match

    I spent considerable time over the last three nights staying up till dawn to watch the Ryder Cup. I never left home but the jet lag is huge. The golf competition took place in Chicago time this year. Thus, in Seoul, it began when we normally fall asleep. The Ryder…

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  • Cafe Hayek — a website that educates

    Traditional news media are in decline, the Internet is on the rise, and wandering in the blog fog means going down wrong paths and falling over cliffs, right? Not entirely. There’s hope, no small sign of which is “Cafe Hayek,” an economics-oriented, libertarian website that shines bright, clarifying light on…

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  • Column

    Yet another Gangnam Style headline

    “Asians are more than a maf***ing comic relief you punk a** white boy,” “F*** all the white people to F*** CNN to F*** Hollywood!” Not our words, obviously, but those of the delightfully charming Korean rapper Tiger JK, embarking on a bit of public racism after losing composure at a…

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  • Column

    Korean American or American Korean?

    Above is the title of a lecture that I have to give to a group of University of Maryland students this Friday for a College Leadership Academy session sponsored by the D.C. chapter of the Peace Foundation. And I am stumped. I can’t believe that I ever agreed to speak…

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  • East Asia

    [The AsiaN Video for Indonesian] Bagaiman Cina Mengenakan pesona

    Halo! Saya Meidyana Rayana dari Indonesia. Berikut adalah ulasan mengenai buku berjudul Soft Power dan Hubungan Internasional China yang di edit oleh Hongyi Lai dan Yiyi Lu
dan diterbitkan oleh Routledge. Kim Tae Hwan, Direktur Departemen Kebijakan dan Penelitian di Korea Foundation, mengulas buku mengenai Soft Power dan Hubungan Internasional China…

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  • Column

    Troubled Waters: Seeking Co-operation Along the Mekong

    *Author, Le Dinh Tinh is Deputy Director General of the Institute for Foreign Policy and Strategic Studies, Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam. The views expressed here are his own. Once at the center of a long-running war, the Mekong River Basin is now far from the world’s headline-grabbing conflict zones. But…

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  • World

    Turkish PM, Iranian First Vice President Hold Joint Press Conference In Ankara

    Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) speaks during a joint press conference with visiting Iran’s First Vice-President Mohammed Reza Rahimi in Ankara, capital of Turkey, Oct. 4, 2012. Erdogan said on Thursday that they wanted only peace and security in the region with no intention for a war. <Xinhua/Anatolia…

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  • East Asia

    People’s Life Patterns In Major Cities Of NK Seem Changing Rapidly

    In this Aug. 11, 2012 photo, two people dance at Majon beach near Hamhung, North Korea. In this Sept. 8, 2012 photo, people play in a water slide at a newly-built water park in Pyongyang, North Korea. <AP Photo/David Guttenfelder> news@theasian.asia

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