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Young Koreans: get off your arses

Seoul’s finest natural assets are the mountains that tower over it. They provide Seoulites not just with dreamy vistas, but also with superb urban playscapes and exercise grounds. Crisscrossed with forested hiking trails, they summon the citizenry to get up, get out and get hiking. This is a big plus, for cross-country walking and running are among the best, most natural exercises the human body can perform - and gradients provide an extra challenge. Moreover, local governments citywide have wisely outfitted many hills with public exercise equipment: Pull up bars, leg press machines, and so ...

2017-02-13 14:43

America's gift to Korea

A distinguished visitor lands in Seoul this week: US President Donald Trump’s most formidable appointment, newly minted Secretary of Defense James “Mad Dog” Mattis. Word is, Mattis is visiting Korea and Japan to reassure them about ongoing American defense commitment, in the wake of alarming statements his chief made on the campaign trail. Seoul and Tokyo will be seeking clarity on Trump’s security stance which has, thus far, been as clear as mud. But with Trump having made crystal clear that he wants allies to cough up more for the protective aegis US forces represent, there will likely be ...

2017-01-30 15:51

Korea's provocation, Japan's blunder

The placement of a comfort woman statue outside the Japanese consulate in Busan was, in a way - and from the perspective of those who did it - a brilliant tactic. Custom-designed by a minority interest group to humiliate and provoke Tokyo and to reignite a dying controversy, it did exactly that. Let’s backtrack. In December 2015, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, through his foreign minister, made a public apology about the Korean comfort women. It was unequivocal, and widely reported in global media. He also promised governmental compensation - which was subsequently paid, no strings atta...

2017-01-16 16:04

Punch-worthy plane passengers

After Choi Soon-sil and Park Geun-hye, he is probably the most despised person in Korea at present: I speak not of Kim Jong-un or Shinzo Abe, but of a nameless (though not faceless) Korean Air passenger. His filmed misbehavior has prompted citizens across the land to reflexively clench their fists and hiss, “Oh, you obnoxious, entitled little bastar…” under their breaths. Alas for the scumba…. er, miscreant, also aboard the flight was a dark angel of macho justice: Richard Marx. Formerly known as a warbler of dire 1980s cheese-pop with a ridiculous mullet, Marx unleashed his badass persona a...

2017-01-02 16:13

1 vs. millions: private president vs. public protesters

In a 2014 book, I characterized Korea as a “Land of Extremes.” Currently, we are witnessing an ironic spectacle that is extreme even by Korean standards.

2016-12-19 17:36

Candlelit protesters for Nobel Peace Prize?

Why 'Choi gate' doesn't matter

They came by the thousands, then by the millions. They occupied central Seoul to give voice to righteous indignation. They did it with a remarkable display of peaceful and orderly civic disobedience that has few precedents anywhere, ever. Their thunderous demand was simple: “Down with Park Geun-hye!”

2016-12-05 16:08

'Choi gate' furies, institutional failures

Korea is fuming. In fact, the country is hopping mad.

2016-11-07 16:30

Theseus in the shopping mall

It is the most nightmarish of the Greek myths. Theseus travels to Crete, where, for years, male and female youths have been sacrificed to a fearsome beast: the half-man, half-bull Minotaur. The Minotaur resides in a labyrinth - a dark, dank, subterranean maze through which the creature stalks, kills and consumes his victims. Nobody who enters returns alive.

2016-10-24 16:58

Anti-America, anti-Japan, anti-China?

The waters of the West Sea/Yellow Sea are dangerous - and I am not talking about North Korean gunboats. A South Korea Coast Guard vessel was just sunk after being rammed by Chinese fishing boats. This alarming news follows fatal clashes in 2011 and 2014.

2016-10-10 16:03

Corporate brainwashing

At the conclusion of the Korean War, 21 Americans and one Briton, all prisoners of war, or POWs, defected to communist China. The free world was shocked. Had Beijing “brainwashed” these young men? Alarm bells rang across America. The CIA instituted a research program blending Nazi and communist psychological torture, hallucinogenic drugs, hypnotism and even, allegedly, such sinister practices as demonology. A popular novel and film, “The Manchurian Candidate,” portrayed a former Korean War POW who is programmed to assassinate the U.S. president.

2016-09-26 15:59

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Code of Ethics