The Korea Times

America wakes up

U.S. President Joe Biden delivers a speech on infrastructure spending at Carpenters Pittsburgh Training Center, March 31, in Pittsburgh. APBy Scott ShepherdFor years America and its allies have been on the back foot. Struggling with internal division, domestic politics and now a pandemic, democracies seem to have been having a bit of a rough ride.It's hard to remember the last time we heard a democratic country announce any big, proactive plans on the international stage. Rather, the news has been full of Western governments, and especially the U.S., either simply reacting to events or actively withdrawing from international institutions.The name of Obama's North Korea policy, dubbed “strategic patience,” is just a glamorized synonym for “doing nothing.” During Trump's time in office, we got a few nice photos and lots of wind about the North's denuclearization, but nothing of real worth. In fact, just through the act of meeting together, Trump gave Kim a huge prestige boost both at home and abroad.It's not limited to just North Korea. In 2017, then-President T

Apr 3, 2021By Scott Shepherd

Opinion

Are mandatory coronavirus tests racist?

Migrant workers queue up for coronavirus testing at a makeshift clinic in Seoul, March 19. Britain's ambassador to Korea on Thursday criticized Korean health authorities for mandating coronavirus tests for all foreign workers in Seoul and nearby Gyeonggi Province in a mass-testing campaign that has triggered complaints about racial discrimination. APBy Scott ShepherdA lot of anger has come about as a result of the recent announcements by the governments of Gyeonggi and Seoul that all foreign residents working in those regions must be tested for COVID-19.There is obviously justification for the testing of workers in crowded workplaces where the virus can and does spread easily. Indeed, there have been a number of outbreaks in factories and crowded dormitories; testing workers there is of course a sensible policy.That, however, is not what's being required. Plenty of people have already pointed out the inconsistencies in the logic behind this mass-testing of foreigners, when the Koreans working side by side in the very same jobs have no obligation to get a swab up the nose. At the same

Mar 21, 2021By Scott Shepherd

Opinion

Who wants to be a cryptomillionaire?

A representation of the virtual currency bitcoin is seen on a motherboard in this picture illustration taken April 24, 2020. ReutersBy Scott ShepherdAn acquaintance once told me I should buy some bitcoin. I think it was some time in 2015, when the price was around $330. This time last year one bitcoin was worth nearly $9000; as I write this, the value is nearing $50,000, and by the time this is published, a bitcoin could easily have rocketed or plummeted to new heights or fresh lows.The cryptocurrency craze has its risks. The news is full of stories about people who locked themselves out of their bitcoin wallets or otherwise forgot their passwords and lost access to millions of dollars' worth of cryptocurrency. I hope it's not just me who has a sick fascination in these kind of stories ― my heart goes out to these people, but I also sort of revel in the second-hand agony.My favorite and most agonizing is the story of a Welsh man who threw his hard drive containing 7,500 bitcoins ― now worth an unbelievable fortune ― away in 2013. He's begged the local council to let him hire a team t

Mar 7, 2021By Scott Shepherd

Opinion

The challenges I have experienced with online teaching

GettyimagesbankBy Scott ShepherdKorea's new academic year is fast approaching, and it seems pretty likely that classes will be online for the foreseeable future. The start of the new term will mark a year since education in Korea suddenly went digital. Since then, across the world, we've all gotten much better at online meetings ― with the startling exception of Handforth council. Yet there are serious fears that this pandemic will lead to a “lost generation” of young people whose futures have been devastated by the disruption of the past year.As I've been gearing up for the new term, the question of digital teaching has been on my mind. How will students in Korea fare as we enter yet another term of online learning?There are some who will naturally thrive in any educational environment, be it physical or digital. Indeed, for some, studying online is way more convenient and comfortable than trudging all the way to school or university through gridlocked streets or on jam-packed subway carriages.Clearly, this is not the case for everyone. Even in a country as famed for its

Feb 21, 2021By Scott Shepherd

The challenges I have experienced with online teaching

Opinion

Don't be evil

A smartphone with a Google app icon is seen in front of an Australian flag in this illustration, Jan. 22. ReutersBy Scott ShepherdYou may have missed it among all the chaos in the world at the moment, but last month Google threatened to withdraw its search function from Australia. This was in response to the Australian government's attempts to introduce a law to force Google and Facebook to pay media companies for displaying their news.In fact, prior to this threat, Google had already been experimenting with blocking access to Australian news for a small proportion of the country, claiming that it was measuring its worth to local news companies.Predictably, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison's government has been hitting back pretty hard, courting Microsoft to replace Google, and accusing Google of blackmailing the country.While arbitrarily blocking news for a percentage of random users seems dodgy to say the least, Google is completely within its rights to withdraw its search engine or even to withdraw all of its services from Australia. A company doesn't have to provide its s

Feb 7, 2021By Scott Shepherd

Opinion

Inexcusable deaths of children in Korea

Photos of Jung-in, a 16-month-old girl who died after being abused by her adoptive parents, sit in front of her grave at a cemetery in Yangpyeong, Gyeonggi Province, Jan. 13. YonhapBy Scott ShepherdAs many in Korea now know, the adoptive mother of a baby named Jung-in, who died last October, has been in court charged with murder and child abuse. The mother, identified by her surname Jang, pleaded not guilty in her trial, which will continue next month.Korean society has rightly been shocked at the collective failure to protect the little girl, and questions are rightly being asked about whether social services or the police could have done anything to prevent her death.Public grief is so potent that at the beginning of the year the Korean and English versions of the hashtag #SorryJungin were simultaneously trending worldwide at first and fifth place respectively.This grief ― and rage ― will inevitably lead to serious reforms in children protection services in Korea. Indeed, President Moon Jae-in and Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun reportedly discussed the issue in their first meeting

Jan 23, 2021By Scott Shepherd

Opinion

Amen and awoman

In this July 28, 2016, file photo, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., speaks during the final day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Cleaver says he was surprised by the backlash against how he ended his prayer that opened the new session of the U.S. House, Sunday. Cleaver concluded the prayer with the words, "Amen and awoman," which he said was a pun meant to honor the record number of women serving in Congress this session. APBy Scott ShepherdMy nieces have a cute habit: whenever I say something silly to them, they close their eyes, smack their foreheads and shake their heads. And if they think I'm being particularly puerile, they sometimes actually say “face-palm” out loud to make it clear to me what a fool I'm being.This past week, I've been able to understand them a little better.On Jan. 3, American Democratic Congressman Emanuel Cleaver delivered the opening prayer for the new session of the House of Representatives. A Methodist minister with a master's degree in Divinity from the St. Paul School of Theology, Cleaver led the St. James United Methodist

Jan 9, 2021By Scott Shepherd

Opinion

Pandemic makes me reflect, repent and realize it is time to act

Volunteer Fatima Sanson, dressed up as Mrs. Claus, embraces a needy child in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais State, Brazil, Dec. 7, 2020. AFPBy Scott ShepherdChristmas is fast approaching and across the world the merry jingle of Christmas songs can be heard in homes and the few public spaces still open. I love this time of year and for weeks I've been happily playing carols at every opportunity. Yet for some reason this year, a line from one festive song in particular has just been going round and round my head.The line is from the annoyingly catchy Band Aid hit “Do they know it's Christmas?” It was originally released in 1984 and featured a number of pop singers led by Bob Geldof. The 1984 version raised money for victims of the famine in Ethiopia that year; it has since gone through several iterations, most recently in 2014. Poetically speaking, most of the song's lyrics are ― and I don't want to get too technical here ― awful, to use the correct literary term. Indeed, the song has been subject to plenty of criticism, much of which holds a great deal of water. Frankly, whe

Dec 13, 2020By Scott Shepherd

Pandemic makes me reflect, repent and realize it is time to act

Opinion

Chest-faced men and other lies

GettyimagesbankBy Scott ShepherdIn his 1596 account of a voyage to South America, English explorer Walter Raleigh wrote of a strange tribe living there. He tells us that their “heads appear not above their shoulders” and that “they are reported to have their eyes in their shoulders, and their mouths in the middle of their breasts.”Raleigh does not claim to have seen these peculiar people; he’s repeating the claims that others had made. I hope this doesn’t come as too much of a surprise, but these claims of a headless race wandering around the New World were, in fact, false.Fast forward to the 21st century, and plenty of outlandish claims are still doing the rounds. Only this month, former U.S. President Barack Obama discussed the problem of “what some have called truth decay.” Pun aside, I'm not sure many would dispute the suggestion that modern public discourse has a serious problem with whatever you want to call it: lies, fake news, disinformation and so on. Obama suggests that his successor Donald Trump is part of the problem, but as

Nov 29, 2020By Scott Shepherd

Opinion

The 'ppali ppali' life in Seoul

GettyimagesbankBy Scott ShepherdKorea is a hard-working nation. So much so, in fact, that the Korean government actually needed to legislate to stop children going to classes in private academies past 10 or 11pm ― and these laws were contested all the way to the Constitutional Court. The nation has a well-deserved reputation for expecting fast results and for working hard to achieve them.Perhaps inevitably, this “ppali ppali” (quickly quickly) culture places a very high value on coffee. The result can be seen in every street of the densely-populated cities, including my own neighborhood. There are two cafes in the building where I live and at least half a dozen more within a minute's walk. My local coffee shop is open so late that I can sip an iced soy-milk caramel macchiato there long after the neighboring burger joint has closed for the night.The country's extraordinary rate of coffee consumption is, for me, a symbol of Korea's passion for hard work. Coffee has a lot going for it: it stimulates the senses, staves off sleep and keeps you working longer. I certainly drink

Nov 15, 2020By Scott Shepherd

Scott Shepherd

Read more

America wakes up

Are mandatory coronavirus tests racist?

Who wants to be a cryptomillionaire?

The challenges I have experienced with online teaching

Don't be evil

Inexcusable deaths of children in Korea

Amen and awoman

Pandemic makes me reflect, repent and realize it is time to act

Chest-faced men and other lies

The 'ppali ppali' life in Seoul

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