Rain, Respite, Regret The pouring rain has washed away the city's dirt and gloom and the sun pierces through the gray buildings with an intensity foretelling of the oncoming summer heat.
NIS Slam Dunk George Tenet is best remembered for his famous phrase, ``the slam-dunk case."
Indifference to Demonstrations In the past, university students led pro-democracy demonstrations against authoritarian rulers. Only after students bled on the streets, beaten by baton-wielding riot police, and were put in jails, did professors or religious leaders come forward t..
Presidents Success Not a single president has been successful in South Korea since its modern political system began in the middle of the 1940s. Let alone success, some of them even faced misfortune with most others facing harsh criticism.
Fire That CFO I don't mean this title exactly as it sounds. After all, a chief financial officer (CFO) at a chaebol conglomerate doesn't have absolute power to hold one exclusively responsible for any boneheaded decision.
Political Doctor President Lee Myung-bak appears to be a political doctor, unveiling part of his way of thinking about Korean politics. According to his prescription, the political arena has been suffering from three illnesses ideological divide, corruption and ..
MBs Little Bulldozer Chung Jong-hwan's optimism is infectious. The minister of land, transport and maritime affairs often throws off witty remarks, or bursts into a measured laughter when he parries a thrust of criticism and while mediating a dispute. His critics find ..
What If He Really Didnt Know? Former President Roh Moo-hyun had never been on good terms with the press. Conservative newspapers showed no mercy to him when he was in office, finding faults with many of his policies.
Private Education and Teachers Many South Koreans were puzzled in early March, when U.S. President Barack Obama urged his compatriots to look to South Korea to adopt longer school days and after-school programs for American children. ``Our children spend over a month less in sch..
Roh Moo-hyun Lesson More than 5 million people have paid their last respects to the late former President Roh Moo-hyun at altars set up across the nation. Roh's funeral procession drew tens of thousands of people last Friday, turning the boulevard in downtown Seoul in..
Too Deep to Heal An aide to former Chairwoman Park Geun-hye of the Grand National Party (GNP) denied a report that she may bid farewell to her right-hand man, Kim Moo-sung.
I Remember President Roh It was minutes before an interview with CNN that I was giving a briefing to President Roh Moo-hyun in the anteroom next to the presidential executive office at Cheong Wa Dae.
Change and Freedom Going through the stacks of old and new newspapers, an interesting article caught my attention. Popular Korean author Hwang Seok-yong accompanied President Lee Myung-bak on the president's trip to the Central Asian countries of Uzbekistan and Kazak..
Lee-Bush Bear Hug When I read Maureen Dowd mocking George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld after their retirement, I found it unworthy of her. I also remember thinking conservative columnist Kim Dae-joong was seeking to settle a personal vendetta, when he en..
Looking for the Ppaldae A box full of colorful ``ppaldae'' (straws used to suck a drink) was recently delivered to the Supreme Prosecutors Office. In it was a letter with a one-liner saying: ``I hope you will find the ppaldae soon.''
Candlelight Revisited A year ago, downtown Seoul streets were boiling with violent demonstrations. Tens of thousands of citizens turned out in protest against the bungled U.S. beef talks that stemmed mainly from the greed of the nascent Lee Myung-bak administration.
Dark Chapter in Our History Tragedy began when former President Park Chung-hee, who took power in a 1961 military coup, was assassinated by one of his cronies, Kim Jae-kyu, the nation's spy chief, in October 1979. After the incident, Chun Doo-hwan rose to power in a military ..
