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East Asia
Debate captures woman power
Korean politics is the domain of men or so many people believe. But Tuesday night’s televised presidential debate gave a strong rebuttal to this conventional wisdom. The main opposition Democratic United Party’s Moon Jae-in was sandwiched between two female candidates: the ruling Saenuri Party’s Park Geun-hye and the minor leftist…
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East Asia
Corporate culture crushes joy of life
A nine-to-five existence and a two-week annual holiday, regarded as a humdrum life in some countries, remains a pipedream for most Korean workers. Rather than being able to keep regular hours, many office workers here must remain at their desks if their boss stays late, even if they lack anything…
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Korea, China agree to tap swap line for trade settlement
South Korea’s central bank said Tuesday that it has agreed with its Chinese counterpart to support a trade settlement in the two countries’ currencies by using the existing bilateral currency swap line. In October last year, South Korea and China agreed to double their won-yuan swap line to 360 billion…
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East Asia
Japanese Major Political Parties Have Gone Into Election Footing
An elderly woman walks by candidates’ poster boards for parliamentary elections, left, and Tokyo Gubernatorial election in Tokyo Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2012. Leaders for Japan’s biggest political parties kicked off Tuesday the campaign for parliamentary elections to be held in less than two weeks with visits to nuclear crisis-hit Fukushima…
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East Asia
Chinese Legislators Visit Cambodia To Strengthen Bilateral Ties
President of Cambodia’s National Assembly Heng Samrin (R) shakes hands with Chairman of the Legal Affairs Committee of the China’s National People’s Congress Hu Kangsheng in Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, on Dec. 3, 2012. A group of Chinese legislators led by Hu Kangsheng is visiting Cambodia to strengthen and…
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East Asia
[Korea Report] My first experience of snow in Seoul as romantic as I imagined
Even though Korea has been entering Winter since mid November, first snow fell in Seoul last Monday night (December 4) and officially started the winter season. As someone who was born and grew up in a tropical country, last Monday night was a special night for me. It was another magical moment I…
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East Asia
Future of NK leadership at time when society changes rapidly
The beautiful and charming Ri Sol-ju, the wife of the North Korean strongman Kim Jong-un, has not been seen for quite a while. After few months of frantic activity, she has nearly (but not quite completely) disappeared from the public view. The sudden drop in frequency of her public appearances…
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Stabilizing people’s lives
Start by knowing correct reasons of past failures For one, surveys show that the majority of voters want governmental change but the ruling party candidate, Park Geun-hye, is enjoying the highest ratings in the polls. This is largely because Park has successfully kept her distance from the unpopular President Lee…
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East Asia
A micro look at name cards
Sometimes details, even very small ones, have big things to say. Such it is with the ubiquitous name card in Korea. In going through a pile of recently received cards, a number of thoughts come to mind. Romanization: This is the great emotion stirrer that divides people into three camps…
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East Asia
Contain or engage NK leader?
Park cautious; Moon forthcoming When late President Kim Dae-jung stepped off his plane in North Korea in 2000, he was serenaded by a brass band before clasping hands with late dictator Kim Jong-il. His successor, the late Roh Moo-hyun, strode across the military demarcation line on foot seven years later.…
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