The Korea Times

Is Korea overreacting to 'Parasite' success?

A big banner bearing the photo of director Bong Joon-ho raising his Oscar trophy drapes a wall of a building in Yonsei University, his alma mater. YonhapBy Oh Young-jinI may sound, well, unpatriotic. But if that is the risk, I would take it for my own patriotic reasons. I think we are overreacting to the success of “Parasite” at the recent Academy Awards. There has been much depressing news lately ― a tanking economy, rudderless politics and endless bickering in our society. So our native son, director Bong Joon-ho, making Oscar history, has every reason to scoop us all for a temporary euphoric journey to an alternative world, so to speak.True, it is nothing less than a monumental affair that Bong's class struggle thriller (that is by Marxist definition and the universal scourge of inequality by Piketty's) won the award for the best original screenplay, best international feature, best director and the best picture ― an unprecedented achievement. President Moon Jae-in applauds at the news of Bong winning at the Academy Awards. YonhapIt is Bong who calmed us down, when he

Feb 14, 2020By Oh Young-jin

Is Korea overreacting to 'Parasite' success?

Opinion

Chinese emperor's arrogant messenger?

New Chinese Ambassador Xing Haiming poses after presenting his diplomatic credentials to President Moon Jae-in at Cheong Wa Dae, Friday. Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha is in the background. /YonhapBy Oh Young-jin In all fairness, one may wonder why the “new” Chinese ambassador to Seoul was given a free pass on his diplomatic gaffe, while the U.S. ambassador ― who was born to a Japanese mother ― was pilloried over his mustache that critics compared to the facial hair of Japanese colonial-period leaders preying on Koreans. If one were to draw comparisons of Ambassador Harry Harris to Japan's cruel governor-general during that country's 1940-1945 occupation, then it would be justified in comparing Ambassador Xing Haiming to arrogant senior messengers from Ming or Qing emperors who treated Joseon kings as their subordinates. (Disclaimer: I don't like these historic comparisons because I am no believer in the Toynbian, a perspective that sees history repeating itself. I will use this approach today for the sake of an argument with the hope of not revisiting the issue again.Ha

Feb 7, 2020By Oh Young-jin

China can bring coronavirus under control 'in 10 days,' Chinese envoy says

Opinion

Give it a shave, Mr. Ambassador

U.S. Ambassador to Korea Harry Harris ― without mustache.By Oh Young-jin It was only two weeks ago but by the standard of today's news cycle that moves at the speed of light, it feels as good as ancient. But being ancient in the news does not mean it is irrelevant because often we find ourselves in an uncanny case of deja vu where we have to pick up from where the issue was left off.If you feel clueless about what I am talking about, it is not your fault. Nor is it mine, or so I like to think. As the writer of this column, I feel obligated to fill you in about my topic of the day and why and how it could take us back to the past. I am talking about a controversy regarding American Ambassador Harry Harris' mustache that only two weeks ago was blowing up as a major diplomatic rupture between Korea, the U.S. and by extension Japan. Now few would readily remember the Harris mustache incident, the whole world being preoccupied by the Wuhan pneumonia or coronavirus. We will survive the epidemic as we did with SARS or MERS, the previous epidemics that befell us. So, one way or another, Harr

Jan 31, 2020By Oh Young-jin

Harris disliked by liberals and conservatives alike

Opinion

Is Trump more presidential after Iran attack?

Protesters demonstrate against President Donald Trump and war with Iran, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday. UPI-YonhapBy Oh Young-jin Has the United States been made to look mightier and Donald Trump more presidential after a U.S. military drone strike that assassinated an important Iranian general?The answers are yes, in a way that for Trump, the U.S. and the world, it has served a purpose for different reasons. Whether the killing and its purpose are justifiable is a different matter. Global politics are rarely about justice and cause, more about self-interest and one-upmanship. What Trump got out of the attack is a diversion from the impeachment process that is tightening the noose around his neck ahead of the November presidential election. Internationally, many wonder whether the U.S. has stopped its gun-shy policy that was carried out by the Obama administration and is taken up by Trump. Depending on the outcome of this potentially “aggressive” U.S. policy, the world may become less unstable. Now, here is the recap. The U.S. claimed it neutralized Gen

Jan 10, 2020By Oh Young-jin

Is Trump more presidential after Iran attack?

Foreign Affairs

Harris: 'I am not Japanese US ambassador'

U.S. Ambassador Harry Harris speaks during an interview with The Korea Times at the embassy, Dec. 23. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul By Oh Young-jinU.S. Ambassador Harry Harris made some memorable and quotable remarks during his 45-minute interview with The Korea Times last week. Here are some.“I am American ambassador to Korea, not the Japanese American ambassador.”The former U.S. Pacific commander and admiral spoke not out of frustration but as a matter of fact, responding to suspicions of some Koreans that his Japanese heritage might make him biased in Japan’s favor and influence a U.S. stance on matters related to Korea and Japan. He was born to a U.S. military man and a Japanese mother in Japan and he was the first person of Asian descent to lead the Pacific Command.He said that while serving as Pacific commander, China also once accused him of favoring Japan regarding his stance on Beijing’s hegemonic moves in the South China Sea. He said that not in the U.S. or elsewhere had his eth-nicity been made an issue during his career.He did not say wh

Dec 29, 2019By Oh Young-jin

Harris: 'I am not Japanese US ambassador'

INTERVIEW US forces to stay in S. Korea, irrespective of change in situation

Opinion

North Korea's undelivered Christmas gift

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un YonhapBy Oh Young-jin North Korea has proved to be a very good mind-game player. Its latest is about a Christmas gift, but more exactly its failure to deliver one as “threatened.”The North has drawn attention with its Christmas threat. Every move it made was under scrutiny in an effort to know whether it might hurl a long-range missile or conduct a nuclear test. It is obvious that the North is trying to rekindle U.S. President Donald Trump's interest in talks with the North's leader Kim Jong-un. While seeking to get re-elected, Trump is being distracted by an impeachment bid against him. When the deadline passed with no gift delivered, the world wondered whether it would arrive belatedly. We know from experience that the unpredictable North is predictable occasionally ― as it often acts when pressed into a corner. Now is such an occasion. The Christmas gift brouhaha started with a North Korean foreign ministry statement Dec. 3, saying: "What is left to be done now is the U.S. option and it is entirely up to the U.S. what Christmas gift it w

Dec 27, 2019By Oh Young-jin

North Korea's undelivered Christmas gift

Opinion

North Korea's Kim Jong-un: Unlikely Santa Claus

North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un YonhapBy Oh Young-jin I was looking for a topic that could fit the Christmas holiday season. As I was working Christmas Eve I may have felt cranky because I ended up with an anti-Christmas subject of a sort ― North Korea. Writing about the subject carried some risks. What risk popped up in my mind first was a need to update this column considering the precarious state of situation, but then I thought I might be able to write one that could cover contingencies until it landed on my spot on Page 9 in the Saturday print edition. I am coming clean, half expecting flak from some readers who would feel me crass caring only about revisions to my column when there are existential threats such as the North's testing of its long-range missile or exploding a nuclear device at its underground test site. But people like me in the South feel they are less a danger than potential retaliatory action the U.S. might take. After all, hundreds of the North's medium or short range missiles, ready and waiting, have had the southern half of the Korean Peninsula in striking

Dec 24, 2019By Oh Young-jin

North Korea's Kim Jong-un: Unlikely Santa Claus

Opinion

Macron option for Korea

France's President Emmanuel Macron, second from left, and Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, look at U.S. President Donald Trump and Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a “family” photo at the NATO summit at the Grove hotel in Watford, northeast of London, Dec. 4. AFP-YonhapBy Oh Young-jin Korea may need a touch of Emmanuel Macron in reshaping its most important alliance with the United States.The French president is calling for a change to the Europe-U.S. alliance to meet changing conditions, best epitomized by what he calls Europe's reclamation of security sovereignty. The Macron call comes as U.S. President Donald Trump presses NATO countries to meet the pledge of spending 2 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP) on defense. NATO, the post-World War II military alliance across the Atlantic, was set up against threats of the Soviet Union in the Cold War era.Macron's logic goes that NATO has outlived its original purpose ― he famously called the organization “brain dead” ― now that the Soviet Union has been dissolved, its successor Russia b

Dec 13, 2019By Oh Young-jin

Opinion

Should China replace US as S. Korea's key ally?

China's leader Xi Jinping holds a teleconference with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Reuters-YonhapBy Oh Young-jin Many Koreans would still find it unthinkable for China to replace the United States as their country's most important ally. After all, the U.S. helped defend Korea during the 1950-53 Korean War. In one of the first key clashes of the Cold War era, it was the communist Chinese, the ancestors of China's paramount leader Xi Jinping, who aided and abetted North Koreans. The result was millions of casualties with the two Koreas still frozen in time, pointing thousands of guns plus countless missiles at each other in one of the world's few remaining flashpoints that some predict could be where World War III starts. For even those staunch backers of the alliance that has lasted seven decades, it is as inevitable as unthinkable to feel pessimistic about the ROK-U.S. alliance. Because U.S. President Donald Trump is trying to put a dollar figure on everything ― even on the two countries' blood-sealed brotherhood in arms ― for Koreans to become reciprocally transactional about it i

Dec 6, 2019By Oh Young-jin

Should China replace US as S. Korea's key ally?

Opinion

Did Korea succumb to US pressure?

President Moon Jae-in closes his eyes during a ceremony prior to his official lunch with Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at Cheong Wa Dae, Saturday. Two persons behind is Kim Hyun-chong, second deputy at the presidential National Security Office, the “rebel” that has reportedly pushed to gain Korea a greater say in the ROK-U.S. alliance. YonhapBy Oh Young-jin What has taken place in the lead-up to Korea's last-minute decision to extend “conditionally” its general security of military information agreement (GSOMIA) or military intelligence sharing pact with Japan? An equally important question is how this decision will affect the ROK-U.S. alliance. First of all, speculation is that Washington pushed a vulnerable pressure point for Korea, forcing it to retreat and make an extension. That President Moon Jae-in blinked under U.S. pressure was a natural causal logical observation.But there are other circumstantial considerations. One is that the decision came only six hours before the deadline, which says something other than such simple logic indicates.

Nov 29, 2019By Oh Young-jin

American deal: US always has its way, so far

Oh Young-jin

Read more

Is Korea overreacting to 'Parasite' success?

Chinese emperor's arrogant messenger?

Give it a shave, Mr. Ambassador

Is Trump more presidential after Iran attack?

Harris: 'I am not Japanese US ambassador'

North Korea's undelivered Christmas gift

North Korea's Kim Jong-un: Unlikely Santa Claus

Macron option for Korea

Should China replace US as S. Korea's key ally?

Did Korea succumb to US pressure?

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