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Fri, June 23, 2017 | 14:05

Opinion > Columnists > Park Moo-jong >

Romance vs. adultery

"The Bridges of Madison County," a 1995 American film, portrays a four-day extramarital affair of an Italian wife Francesca (Meryl Streep) with a photographer Robert (Clint Eastwood). The film earned $182 million worldwide and was well received by critics. It was also a box office hit in South Korea and its musical version is going well here, too, at Chungmu Arts Center in Seoul.

Park Moo-jong | 2017-06-22 16:56

Aborted opera house

Almost all the major world cities have a traditional opera house, which are favorite tourist destinations They are, to name a few, La Scala in Milan, the Sydney Opera House, the Royal Opera House in London, the Lincoln Center in New York City, Le Grand Opera in Paris, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires and the Bolshoi in Moscow. Seoul has one opera house in the Seoul Arts Center, but it is hard to compare it with the foreign ones in terms of scale, facilities and quality of performances.

Park Moo-jong | 2017-06-15 17:44

FM nominee and glass ceiling

"Wonder Woman," the American blockbuster about the super heroine based on the 1941 DC Comics character of the same name, has been a box office hit across the world. The fictional lady of beauty, brains and brawn has been a feminist icon since her star-spangled intro 76 years ago, compared with such male super heros as "Superman," "Batman," "Spiderman" and "Captain America." In reality, the title of wonder woman may be given to Helen Keller (1880-1966), Mother Teresa (1910-1997), Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013), Angela Merkel (1954- ), Theresa May (1956- ) and maybe Hilary Clinton (1947- ), to ...

Park Moo-jong | 2017-06-08 17:40

Are you lucky, Mr. Muto?

It was March 13, 2012, when I met then Japanese Ambassador to Seoul Masatoshi Muto at his gorgeous Seongbuk-dong residence to receive a plaque of gratitude from him, along with representatives of some media outlets. The then 64-year-old seasoned diplomat looked sincere and happy as he presented the token of Japan's thanks to the Korean people for what they did when the most dreadful tsumani hit his country off the Pacific coast of Tohoku just the year before that cost nearly 16,000 lives. Indeed, we, Koreans, shared the sorrow of the people of our neighbor country and gave a helping hand for...

Park Moo-jong | 2017-06-01 17:13

Roundabout vs. rotary

Seoul, the capital city of the Republic of Korea with a population of exactly 9.93 million as of March this year, is famous for its unrivaled busy around the clock traffic. Nearly one in two citizens has a car, with the frequency of vehicle operation among the highest levels in the world. It's no wonder that the megacity is notorious for traffic congestion, pollution and the longest commuting time. City officials and traffic experts are forever racking their brains over how to solve this chronic problem. The situation in other cities across the nation is no different.

Park Moo-jong | 2017-05-25 17:24

Traffic rules and social innovation

Promising to make the Republic of Korea a better society to live in, President Moon Jae-in has introduced a secretarial portfolio called "senior presidential secretary for social innovation." The title of the new post implies that the presidential aide's job is to innovate means to introduce changes and new ideas to reform society through "eradicating deep-rooted evils," which was one of Moon's most ambitious election pledges.

Park Moo-jong | 2017-05-18 17:25

Wasting time on roads

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), one of the founding fathers of the United States, coined the phrase "Time is Money" in his book, “Advice to a Young Tradesman” (1746). As time went by, people used the term, gold, in a metaphor for money: "Time is gold." Needless to say, the phrase tells us how important and precious time is in our lives. Nonetheless, we are wasting so much of this "expensive" time helplessly on roads travelling to and from work every day.\

Park Moo-jong | 2017-05-11 17:46

Campaigns with no humor

Most politicians live and die by their use of language. Some win thanks to their witty silver tongue. Some lose due to their poor sense of humor or an absurd slip of the tongue. Over the decades, "successful" world leaders have demonstrated how humor can be the best weapon. When it comes to a politician's humor, Winston Churchill (1874-1965) could be second to none, together with Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865). Sometime in 1946, Churchill, the British prime minister during World War II, was leaving the House of Commons, when Bessie Braddock (1899-1970), a member of parliament from the Labour Pa...

Park Moo-jong | 2017-05-04 17:07

[Election 2017] Early voting turnout strong

Cigarette price: up or down?

Cigarette prices have been an interesting issue that is nothing to sneeze at in the ongoing presidential campaign with 10 days to go until the voting day on May 9.

Park Moo-jong | 2017-04-27 18:05

In a crisis of leadership

English words suffixed with "-ship" number more than 600, according to various dictionaries. Of them, positive and good ones include championship, scholarship, friendship and worship among others. On the contrary, negative and bad words are censorship, dictatorship, brinkmanship and the like. What is the best -ship? Lovers may certainly choose a pseudo-English word of Korean origin or a Konglish word, "skinship," meaning holding through physical contact.

Park Moo-jong | 2017-04-20 17:29

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