The Korea Times - Subscription

Entertainment & Arts

Qatar 2022

SCMP
Asia

Entertainment & Arts

Qatar 2022

SCMP
Asia

Opinion

Blogs

Sun, December 4, 2022 | 04:10

About the past - Robert Neff

Heating up winter on Korea's ondol floors

In the late 19th century, it wasn't uncommon for Seoul to be shrouded in smoke from the thousands and thousands of short chimneys that lined the streets. These chimneys were part of the ondol floor heating system. Horace Allen, an American missionary and later diplomat, spent t...

General Richard S. Whitcomb's Golden Legacy: Part 2

The Korean Consolidated Mining Company (KCMC) operated mines throughout the peninsula - most of them were at very isolated and inaccessible sites. The most important of these camps was Koryo Mine. Despite spending a great deal of money on improving the infrastructure, the compa...

General Richard S. Whitcomb's Golden Legacy: Part 1

Recently, General Richard S. Whitcomb was posthumously awarded the Mugunghwa Medal - Korea's highest Order of Civil Merit - in honor of his philanthropic efforts on the peninsula. His role in Busan during the Korean War is well known but when the war ended his service to Korea ...

Korea: deConstructed - David Tizzard

K-football: team of heroes

It was nearly 2 a.m. in Seoul when Son Heung-min decided that rather than continuing to try carrying the weight of the nation on his shoulders, he would instead pass the ball. Though incredibly dedicated and tireless in his running, he had cut somewhat of a frustrating figure f...

Finding kindness in Korea

We live in a society where all acts of kindness are treated with suspicion. Seen as a shallow marketing ploy for the person's own benefit or social status rather than providing any genuine help to others.

Killing the Buddha

The young woman raised her head. She looked at me through her glasses, taking a pause before speaking clearly and in a deeper tone than usual. “One day, you'll be where you're meant to be. Doing what you're meant to be doing. And with who you're meant to be.”

Parchment Made of Sheepskins - Scott Shepherd

Europe's sins and the World Cup

Gianni Infantino, the head of football's governing body, FIFA, gave a pretty strange speech a few weeks ago, just before this year's World Cup started. It touched a nerve with a lot of people for all kinds of reasons. While he said plenty of things that merit no attention whats...

Last month I wrote a piece for the Korea Times in which I argued that the New Jeans song “Cookie” contains strong sexual connotations and is therefore inappropriate for minors to be singing. When I sent it to my editor, I asked if she thought there would be any legal trouble co...

The Cookie Controversy

The past month has seen a controversy erupt surrounding the newly debuted K-pop group NewJeans, most members of which are under age 19, as listeners complain that the lyrics of the song “Cookie” have sexual undertones.

Voices from the North - Casey Lartigue Jr.

What I learned from another North Korean defector

As a North Korean who was born into the core class of North Korea, I was lucky enough to be educated as an intellectual elite from a young age. I attended the best schools in the country and experienced a life that most other North Koreans could only dream of having. And as I j...

Freedom is everything

Most people around the world know that North Korea is an isolated country. It is far behind other countries because the government controls almost everything in the country.

A North Korean refugee learns about Harvard

I attended elementary school for only one year when I was growing up in North Korea. My life was unstable in North Korea as I moved from home to home, my mom and I were homeless for a while, and I was usually starving and in poverty.

Dialogues with adoptees

Dutch Korean artist's project: The Mother Mountain Institute of Sara Sejin Chang

Korean adoptee artists have garnered attention in the western countries where they live, but their works remain relatively unfamiliar to people in their country of origin. This obscurity isn't due to a lack of effort on the part of the adoptees. Despite their attempts to engage...

Adoptee's journey tracing her mother, origin and heritage

I feel the weight of knowing that I represent one out of hundreds of thousands of Koreans who were sent overseas through international adoption. I'm an independent film director and I have spent most of my adult life trying to find my way back to Korea to look for profound answ...

Today's inter-country adoption system is not fit for purpose

I will first comment on where we are today in terms of inter-country adoption (ICA) practice at the global level, then consider our experience of the outcomes of a suspension of ICAs, and finally - in all modesty as an outsider - offer some thoughts on what the path forward for...

Imbricated Chaos - Emanuel Pastreich

In defense of Donald John Trump

The lawyers employed by Donald Trump have amassed an impressive pile of arguments to defend him against charges that he incited a mob of his supporters to stage an armed insurrection in the Capitol and to murder people in an effort to stop the selection of his democratically el...

The nightmare born when technology took the place of science

Even small children are starting to sense that we live in an age when literally none of the information provided is reliable or believable. Information on a global scale is subject increasingly to Gresham's Law: low-quality information spreads everywhere and the truth is hoarde...

'Silhak' tradition as a solution to the current geopolitical crisis

South Koreans are having tremendous trouble grasping how familiar political and academic institutions in the United States have ceased to function as they once did. Koreans are confused to see Harvard professors promote nonsensical arguments about COVID-19 or to see politicians...

Top 10 Stories

1	New soccer star Cho Gue-sung grabs headlines for more than just goals

2	Korean government hints at depriving non-citizens of right to vote

3	PHOTOSWorld Cup 2022 Korea vs Portugal

4	Is Korea overreacting to Tesla CEO's lip service?

5	Korea Times ArchiveRemembering World Cup 2002

6	Seoul mayor charts path for 30% drop in greenhouse gas emissions by 2026

7	Prime minister continues World Expo 2030 diplomacy in Africa

8	Samsung, SK, Hyundai increase organizations to respond to global uncertainties

9	Busan mayor meets Bulgarian president to muster support for Expo 2030

10	Hyundai E&C sells Hillstate apartments in Incheon

DARKROOM