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Bukchon's destruction: The upside

One evening last week, I happened to stroll through Bukchon, one of the very, very few districts in Seoul that boasts a significant cluster of hanok (traditional Korean cottages). It was a depressing experience, because two things were immediately striking. One: The district was almost entirely silent; few buildings had lights on inside.

2014-06-09 17:10

Farewell, Korean coast guard

A tragedy has occurred and public fury has been ignited. A president has spoken, a scapegoat has been named and a national agency has been thrown to the wolves. In the wake of the Sewol tragedy, President Park Geun-hye has dissolved the Korean Coast Guard. In the early hours of the Sewol ferry disaster, I confess to being impressed by her leadership.

2014-05-26 17:07

Crises demand leaders, not managers

Their activities have been overshadowed by tragedy, but TV footage of the Sewol disaster provided inspirational viewing for anyone familiar with marine rescue and recovery efforts - for those engaged displayed real courage. Two helicopters hovered over the stricken vessel, plucking people to safety. (One sudden gust of wind, one second of decontrol and one helo could have been flung against the other, to the destruction of both.)

2014-05-12 17:02

Welcome to K-land

Have you noticed how it is increasingly common to use acronyms rather than full phrases? Business may have started it. International Business Machines became IBM; General Electric, GE; General Motors, GM. Here in Korea, Lucky Goldstar became LG, while an LG spinoff revered back to GS (i.e. Gold Star). Korean Air Lines became KAL; Korea Telecom, KT; Kookmin Bank, KB and so on.

2014-04-28 17:27

East Sea and New Amsterdam

By Andrew Salmon According to reports, a handful of U.S. states are changing references in their school text books to the body of water between Korea and Japan from “Sea of Japan” to “Sea of Japan/East Sea.” The latter is the term Koreans prefer, and Korean-Americans have been agitating for the change, lobbying local politicians who need to win the vote of this important demographic. Very good. This is democracy in action; representatives acting in response to demands from voters.The name dispute has long been an issue for Koreans. Why are they, ...

2014-03-31 17:12

Chopsticks, chips and foreign investors

KT readers may have read a recent article criticizing an ad recently run by KOTRA in The Economist. (KOTRA, incidentally, stands for "Korea Trade Investment Promotion Agency." So why is it KOTRA not KOTIPA? Oh, never mind.)

2014-03-17 17:00

Dissecting the 'Korea discount'

Ah, the ups and downs of a journalist's life. Having been a hack for over a decade, I have experienced more than a few of the downs. Sources agree to speak - then change their minds.

2014-03-03 17:12

Innovation: the case against

Various media have recently been running stories critical of Samsung’s attempted entry into the software business. Certainly, they seem to have a case. Why is a hardware company investing so many billions in software - notably, the creation of a smartphone operating system?

2014-02-17 17:30

Is Korean food healthy?

It was a symposium at a Seoul university, the subject was international promotion of Korean food and an earnest professor was arguing that Korean food should be marketed on its basis as a healthy cuisine.

2014-01-20 17:40

Cyberspace and Shamans

As a father, I think it would be rather nice to chat with my 14-year-old daughter once in a while. But this is near-impossible because, you see, she owns a smartphone. And when her choice comes down to:

2014-01-06 17:17

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Code of Ethics