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Post-crisis prophecy of unification

“As for the future, your task is not to foresee, but to enable it,” said French novelist Saint-Exupery in his 1948 book The Wisdom of the Sands. But human beings want to know the future by nature, especially when that future seems quite uncertain. At present, the global community seems to be threatened by many new risks. Not only in Korea but in the United States, Europe, China and North Korea, the future is by no means clear.

2017-02-10 17:38

A Korean horse-story

“Do you ride horses?” I asked the man next to me, to break the ice. A group of Olympic leaders were on a tour of European cities to promote the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics, about a year before the games, and an after-dinner performance of dressage was just about to start for the guests of honor from Korea. The performer sitting on horseback just then was the daughter of the host, a German businessman, and the Olympic-standard riding ground could be viewed through a glass wall from the audience seats inside the dining hall. The young woman was a dressage athlete hoping to compete in the coming...

2017-01-13 16:07

As first conference interpreter

"You have to learn English to learn Western without going through Japan." This was the advice Kim Ok-gyun gave Yoon Chi-ho in 1881 when they met in Tokyo.

2016-12-16 17:04

President problem or woman problem?

The ancient Chinese believed, according to feng-shui (pungsu in Korean, geomancy) philosophy, that the world changes in three sexagesimal cycles, every 180 years; Koreans also accepted this system. They termed these cycles in temporal order, as the upper cycle, followed by the middle cycle and then the lower cycle.

2016-11-18 17:09

Recording history in paintings

A professor at the Academy of Korean Studies (AKS) suddenly realized one day that twelve mural-sized oil paintings had always been hanging on the walls of the auditorium, library and other school buildings in AKS, but were totally ignored by people.

2016-10-21 17:19

Gyeongju's bridge and earthquake

The May 2008 issue of National Geographic featured an article on the Dong ethnic group who live in an enclave nestled in the luxuriant mountains of Guizhou Province, China. Headlined “Village on the Edge of Time,” novelist Amy Tan's narrative of her journey to this remote and poor corner almost read like poetry.

2016-09-23 17:00

Schedule for death

Not because of my age or any health problem, I find myself spending quite a bit of time thinking about death these days. People often “die hard.” There are some over-100 seniors around me. They honestly tell that their lives are boring, and too long. Nothing pleases them, they complain. It is like a life-sentenced prisoner waiting for the day of judgment without knowing their verdict.

2016-08-26 16:17

Tradition of corruption

“They say the gods themselves / Are moved by gifts, and gold does more with men than words.” Euripides, Medea (431 BCE), translated by Rex Warner. The key words here are bribery and corruption. Please note that this statement was made some 2,450 years ago.

2016-07-29 17:09

'Our Village Concert'

When the first “Our Village Concert” was held with a men's choir singing at an elementary school auditorium in Seojong-myeon on the evening of April 29, 2000, no one expected to see the event continue for the next 16 years. The Dongseong Teen OB Choir presented many beautiful songs for the residents of that village, and people of all ages loved it.

2016-07-01 16:49

English and Korean War

“One morning, father told me to go and pay attention to the situation at the American army office and see if there is a job opening,” says Prof. Yoo Chong-ho in his three-volume memoir.

2016-06-03 17:03

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