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Column
Sad portrait of this era
One evening, when I came home earlier than usual, I happened to notice that a neighbor who had lived on the same level of my apartment building was moving to another area. However, the method of moving was disturbing because it involved a high-volume quarrel between a middle-aged woman and…
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Column
Patent war of Apple vs. Samsung has yet to over
Later this year, it’s expected to hear the last of the ongoing war between Samsung and Apple, over patent rights. People have been going on about the technicalities and how Samsung ripped Apple’s rights, but let’s take a deeper look, shall we? How it all started: Firstly, for those who…
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Putin’s Kulturkampf
MOSCOW ― August is often an unlucky month in Russia, particularly President Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Submarines have sunk, neighbors have been invaded, and forests have burned out of control. But, this August, the crisis was purely man-made ― indeed, made by one man. The conviction of three members of the…
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Psy and K-pops
Few Koreans will want to make little of or speak ill of the global sensation Psy has touched off. Still, one can hardly deny some bewildering elements in the worldwide frenzy about this Korean singer-rapper and his mega hit, “Gangnam Style.” We Koreans, who understand the delicately nuanced messages in…
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Column
Why Psy and not JYP?
I just watched Psy perform live in New York City’s Rockefeller Center on NBC’s Today Show, a venue usually reserved for the most popular of international singers. I mean, you can’t get much more mainstream than that in the U.S. Wait. And the song just hit No. 1 in iTunes…
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Column
Time for balance
Thanks to the current inundation of innovative smart devices riding the World Wide Web and technological breakthroughs, we enjoy the social media era based on the Internet where creative and tech-savvy people can succeed overnight with their own killer gadgets or content. But you had better understand or have lawyers…
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China-Japan row and Korea
New security order in N-E Asia poses challenge China and Japan are beginning to show two-track tactics toward their latest territorial row over a group of islands in the East China Sea. On the one hand, China is taking a hard-line; a flotilla of 16 Chinese surveillance ships on Tuesday…
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Jobs, jobs, jobs
Which candidate has most detailed, feasible plan? Now that the three major candidates have thrown down their gauntlets, the three-month presidential race has begun. As always, it’s the economy that voters care about most. And the best way to improve the economic situation is to give jobs to those who…
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Column
Religious fervor on display
The populist spiritual yearnings of Koreans can be difficult to fathom. Just as K-Pop has taken off from Tokyo to New York, Korean religious movements draw adherents worldwide over seemingly insurmountable barriers. That was my sense after two days of uniquely elaborately contrived rituals, influenced by Christianity but in Korean…
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Column
Who will be unified opposition candidate?
Korea’s presidential race is now in high gear, as the largest opposition party picked human rights lawyer, Moon Jae-in, 59, as its candidate. Ahn Cheol-soo, 50, founder of anti-virus software company AhnLab, finally declared his bid for the presidency Wednesday as an independent candidate. For the next two months until…
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