• Controversy over NLL

    Roh’s remarks during 2007 summit must be clarified It’s shocking to hear an allegation that the late former President Roh Moo-hyun surrendered the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de facto maritime border in the West Sea, during his landmark inter-Korean summit in 2007. The allegation was made unilaterally by a…

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  • Column

    Northeast Asia’s wrong turn

    In May, Korea, Japan and China signed a trilateral investment agreement, marking the first major step toward achieving the long-term vision of institutionalizing regional economic integration. What a difference five months makes. Now all three countries have become involved in bitter and potentially dangerous disputes with conflicting claims over tiny…

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  • Column

    [Indonesia Report] Australian PM to attend ceremony to remember Bali bombing incident despite terror threat

    It was ten years ago today (Oct. 12) when more than 200 people were killed in a bomb blast in Bali, Indonesia. According to Kompas.com, Indonesian internet media, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, told journalists on Wednesday (October 10) that she was determined to go to Bali to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Bali Bombing…

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  • Column

    Is William Shakespeare really who we think he is?

    William Shakespeare, the most famous playwright of all time, his plays are translated into almost every languages, you’d say English literature and people without thinking would associate it with the one and only Shakespeare. So for starters who is William Shakespeare? He’s an Englishman born, raised and buried in Stanford,…

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  • Column

    Psy comes to America

    “A week ago, no one ever heard of the guy. Three million You Tube hits later and he’s everywhere,” marveled comedian Seth MacFarlane on Saturday Night Live. The subject of his astonishment was, of course, the now ubiquitous Psy, who with his international mega-hit “Gangnam Style” did what neither Rain,…

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  • Honoring Kono statement

    Retraction would mean Japan’s diplomatic gaffe Yohei Kono, the former Japanese chief Cabinet secretary who admitted in a formal statement in 1993 his country’s coerced sexual slavery during World War II, said Monday that his statement was based on a careful study of extensive records and testimonies. In an interview…

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  • Column

    [Indonesia Report] Jayapura, an ideal place to enjoy holiday cheaply

    What is your planning for winter holiday this year? Want to go abroad enjoying exotic and warm weather but tight with budget? Indonesia is a perfect gateway. According to Kompas.com, you can spend holiday in Jayapura, one of Indonesian’s city, famous for its unique and still preserved beauty of traditional…

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  • Column

    New ROK-US security partnership

    New leaders of the Republic of Korea and the United States may begin strategic discussions on shaping a new role for their security partnership by examining two critical issues: reunification of the Korean Peninsula and revision of the Mutual Defense Treaty signed in 1953. These two issues might look separate,…

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  • Column

    Asia’s energy trilemma

    U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon recently said that energy was the “golden thread” connecting all of the U.N.’s Millennium Development Goals. The solutions to energy challenges would help alleviate other global problems, from poverty and the rights of women to the protection of children. But the development of a stable,…

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  • Sovereignty in missiles

    Accord should be start of self-reliant defense To have an independent national defense capability has long been a cherished ambition of all governments here. There can be little doubt that the Korea-U.S. agreement Sunday to more than double the range of the nation’s ballistic missiles marked an important step toward…

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