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Jeong Yak-yong and Hegel
This year marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of one of the greatest thinkers of the later Joseon period ― Dasan Jeong Yak-yong (1762-1836). Last Saturday, more than 500 worshippers visited his tomb in Namyangju, northeast of Seoul, to commemorate his death. Why does this Joseon-era political “victim” command…
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Column
South Koreans aren’t candid about their views on unification
As every visitor to Korea knows, there are two words which have exceptionally positive connotations in modern political Korean parlance. One is ‘nation’ (minjok), and the other is ‘unification’ (t’ongil). Indeed, more or less every Korean will assure a foreign interlocutor that unification of North and South should be seen…
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Column
“People in my apartment enjoy a friendly neighborhood”
I am living in an apartment which is more than 30 years old. People in the neighbors are all close like old friends. Some people who like to follow new trends moved out to a nearby new apartment, named ‘Palace something,’ but others are still here where they have been living for long years. They are all close…
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What’s in a neighborhood name?
The Seochon neighborhood that sits between Mt. Inwang and Gyeongbok Palace is no stranger to controversy. For most of the 2000s, debates over apartment-style redevelopment riled the neighborhood. In 2008, the city of Seoul stopped redevelopment plans for most of the area and began drawing up plans for preserving the…
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Decency of lawmakers
Lim should make sincere apology to defectors Rep. Lim Su-kyung’s abusive remarks last week against North Korean defectors and a ruling party lawmaker are creating a stir, raising the possibility that the controversy over “pro-North’’ legislators may spread to her main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP). The row comes at…
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Lifestyle
Syrian artist depicts women’s revolutionary outlook
*Editor’s note: This is the fifth installment of six-part stories about six Arab women artists devoting themselves to creating different style of art and innovating their methods of expression for “revolutionary” change. Hind Adnan The Forgotten Look Revolution Art is based on reconstruction. Its ingredients are recreated through a magic machine invented by art and these create…
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Column
Relations among Koreas and China
The trade relations between China and the two Koreas have been changing dramatically in recent years. It would be interesting to figure out how the changing trade relations would affect the future of the relation between South Korea and North Korea. This is the issue that I will be addressing…
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Column
A road vendor’s sleeping infant
Watermelon is the fruit of summer season and is grown in abundance in Pakistan especially along both sides of River Indus. A watermelon weighs three to six kilogram or eight kilograms. The watermelon, at the start of season, is sold for Pakistani rupees.50 (around half a dollar) that declines to…
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Column
Campaign goes on to present panda to children in northeast Japan
My father has started to attend a class in a lifelong learning centre and the name of the class is ‘Class Crane’. He said, “Mr Kim next door is a student of Class Turtle.” His little grandson added, “I’m in the Class Panda.” Oh my, what are those names! East…
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Corruption and growth
Transparency to help tackle unemployment Korea was placed 43rd of 183 countries in the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) released by Transparency International (TI), the world’s largest anti-corruption watchdog, late last year. The ranking represented a drop of four notches from that of a year ago with the index being 5.4…
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