my timesThe Korea Times
OpinionColumns

Guest Columns

Guest Columns

When healing becomes a product

Modern Korean life is fast, efficient and relentlessly demanding. Academic pressure, social expectations and digital overload have created a population that is now deeply familiar with the term “burnout.” In response, a counterculture has naturally emerged — one focused on slowing down, resting and healing. But instead of developing organically, this healing culture has quickly taken on a more commercial, polished and curated form. A K-turn, perhaps. Healing has become a language — appearing everywhere from menus and social media to convenience store shelves. It’s no longer a concept or a suggestion. It has become an industry and it raises an uncomfortable question: Is Korea truly healing, or has healing itself become something to consume? Massages used to be an occasional luxury. Now, many households invest in massaging reclining sofas, often costing between 1 million ($660) and 2 million won. Drinks are branded with words like “detox,” “reset,” “cleansing” or “calming.” Many retreats — often labeled luxury — promise transformations in just a few days. Re

8h agoBy Han Sang-hee
When healing becomes a product
Guest Columns

POSCO’s debt in Brazil casts shadow over Korea-Brazil partnership

Brazil and Korea maintain a relationship that extends far beyond economic interests. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1959, the two countries have not only deepened their commercial ties but also built a shared development agenda in areas such as technology, energy and culture. Earlier this year, they formally elevated their relationship to a strategic partnership, signing 10 bilateral agreements and an action plan covering the period from 2026 to 2029. The numbers speak for themselves. Bilateral trade between the two countries reached $11 billion in 2025, with balanced flows of $5.5 billion in each direction. Korea is Brazil’s fourth-largest trading partner in Asia and its 13th-largest trading partner worldwide. Beyond economic ties, the relationship between these countries is reinforced by strong human and cultural connections. Brazil is home to the largest Korean community in Latin America, with more than 50,000 people of Korean origin and descent. Furthermore, driven by the global expansion of Korean culture, known as hallyu, Brazil has emerged as the world’s

14h agoBy José Eduardo Cardozo
POSCO’s debt in Brazil casts shadow over Korea-Brazil partnership
Guest Columns

Are Korean boycotts intense but temporary?

SEATTLE — Just over three weeks after Starbucks Korea sparked outrage with its "Tank Day" promotion that coincided with the May 18 Gwangju Uprising, the company is already showing signs of a comeback. Starbucks gift certificates have once again become the most popular item in the cafe category on KakaoTalk's gift service, part of Korea's dominant messaging app, after briefly losing the top position in the wake of the controversy. The development comes despite continuing fallout from the incident, which sparked calls for a boycott, public apologies and a management reshuffle at Starbucks Korea. Shinsegae Group Chairman Chung Yong-jin also publicly apologized and recently assumed direct leadership of E-mart, the affiliate that oversees Starbucks Korea. Despite the consequences, the episode revives a familiar question in Korea: Why do so many consumer boycotts appear to follow a similar pattern? The Starbucks controversy is only the latest example. The incident triggered one of the most visible consumer backlashes of the year. Customers shared photos of canceled Starbucks cards and refunde

1d agoBy Jane Han
Are Korean boycotts intense but temporary?
Guest Columns

Using AI to test policy language

WASHINGTON, DC — Earlier this year, researchers at Anthropic made a remarkable discovery. Studying the internal mechanisms of Claude Sonnet 4.5, the company’s large language model (LLM), they identified what they called “emotion concepts”: internal patterns that correspond to dozens of emotional states and measurably influence the model’s responses in ways that resemble human behavioral patterns. The implications for economic policymaking could be far-reaching. By offering a new way to study how language shapes emotional and behavioral responses, LLMs could help policymakers test how investors, political coalitions, and households are likely to react to policy announcements. Policymakers have long understood that language affects how information is processed. That is why central banks carefully calibrate their forward guidance, while government officials pay great attention to how fiscal-policy and tariff announcements will land with markets and voters. But until recently, there were few tools capable of systematically analyzing how language itself functions as an instrument

1d agoBy Monica de Bolle
Using AI to test policy language
Guest Columns

The right to be alone and the right not to be abandoned

Korea has become remarkably good at making daily life convenient. Food delivery arrives within minutes. Parcels arrive almost before we order. Banking, hospital appointments, shopping and government documents can all be handled on a phone. This convenience is one achievement of Korean urban life, yet in one of the world’s most digitally connected societies, a person can pass through an entire day without speaking to anyone. That is why Seoul’s effort to treat loneliness as a public issue deserves attention. Loneliness should not be dismissed as a personal weakness, a family failure or a private matter that individuals must solve alone. In today’s Korea, it has become part of the social condition itself. In 2024, South Korea had 8.045 million single-person households, accounting for 36.1 percent of all households. Living alone is no longer unusual. It has become one of the country’s most common ways of life. There are many reasons for this change: late marriage, not marrying at all, divorce, aging, migration for work or study, high housing costs and changing ideas about family and

2d agoBy Shin Go-eun
The right to be alone and the right not to be abandoned
Guest Columns

The key forces now shaping markets and geopolitics

NEW YORK — It’s a fascinating moment for international politics and global markets. The world is in turmoil, primarily because the United States, still the dominant superpower, has become a fundamentally unreliable actor. President Donald Trump is actively pulling apart the international order that the U.S. built and led over the past 80 years. Yet financial markets are riding high, not just in the U.S. but also in East Asia, South America, and much of Europe. Are investors wrong, or is the picture more complex than this seeming contradiction suggests? Though the situation is indeed complicated, three major factors will shape global politics and markets for the next several years. First, there are virtually no political constraints on the accelerating development of artificial intelligence (AI), which is the driving force behind the market rally and, for better and for worse, is set to continue virtually unchecked. The most important technological revolution in history — one that will create both extraordinary opportunities and unprecedented dangers—has arrived during a “geo

2d agoBy Ian Bremmer
The key forces now shaping markets and geopolitics
Guest Columns

Korea, Australia strengthen green partnership amid global supply chain disruptions

Foreign Minister Cho Hyun and his Australian counterpart Penny Wong recently released a joint statement on energy security. In the midst of the global oil crisis caused by the Middle East conflict, the two sides reaffirmed their mutual commitments to securing fuel supplies. Australia is the largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplier to Korea. Korea is one of Australia’s largest suppliers of refined petroleum products, and the largest supplier of diesel. While the focus was on guaranteeing fossil fuel supplies, the two countries have quietly been driving a green revolution that will be pivotal to their economic resilience in the decades to come. The meeting of the two leaders came ahead of the Australian government’s May announcement stipulating producers of LNG on Australia’s east coast will have to set aside 20 percent of their gas exports for domestic users from July 2027 onwards. Importantly, the policy excludes existing export contracts entered into before the government’s previous announcement in December 2025. The exemption should allay concerns from Korean LNG buyers l

2d agoBy Kim Sung-young
Korea, Australia strengthen green partnership amid global supply chain disruptions
Guest Columns

Korea’s drug prevention efforts deserve greater recognition

As we approach June 26, the United Nations’ International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, Korea is once again reassessing the nation’s drug problem. Almost daily, news headlines highlight how a rising number of drug offenses, new synthetic drugs, prescription drug misuse and organized trafficking networks pose serious threats to public health and safety. In addition to stoking public anxiety, this constant stream of alarming headlines reinforces the impression that little is being done to address the problem. While it is undeniable that Korea can no longer consider itself a “drug-free country,” the nature of the problem has also changed substantially. Digital communication, anonymous online platforms, cryptocurrency and international trafficking networks have increased the accessibility and distribution of drugs. Prevention efforts must become more adaptive and multifaceted, too. In response to these changes, Korea has expanded its approach beyond legal sanctions to include prevention campaigns, rehabilitation services and cross-agency cooperation, which togeth

Jun 8, 2026By Ma Kyung-hee and Kim Ji-woon
Korea’s drug prevention efforts deserve greater recognition
Guest Columns

The rape of Venezuela

CAMBRIDGE — Shortly after the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, US President Donald Trump praised the country’s new rulers. Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro’s vice president who assumed power after his arrest and transfer to the United States, was “doing a great job,” Trump said, adding that “oil is starting to flow, and large amounts of money, unseen for many years, will soon be greatly helping the people of Venezuela.” Judging by Trump’s pronouncements, Venezuela ought to be booming. And by Trump’s favorite metric, it is: oil production has increased, albeit modestly, from 908,000 barrels per day in late 2025 to 1.03 million in April. With the US effectively overseeing the country’s oil revenues, Venezuelan crude—once sold at steep discounts under American sanctions—is now priced much closer to the unusually high international benchmarks, courtesy of the Iran war. In theory, Venezuela should be awash in dollars, but is it? The macroeconomic data tell a radically different story than the triumphalist narrative coming out of Caracas and Washington. Since

Jun 8, 2026By Ricardo Hausmann
The rape of Venezuela
Guest Columns

Beyond apologies: Writing adoptees into Korea’s global identity

In recent months, Scandinavian and Korean media alike have been saturated with echoes of the past. In my home country of Denmark, a group of Korean adoptees has sued the Danish state over alleged irregularities in their adoption practices decades ago. Simultaneously, Korea’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission is investigating the historical practices of adoption agencies. It is a quest for justice that understandably dominates the national consciousness in Korea today. But amid the legal battles, the talk of reparations and the dark headlines of systemic failure, we risk overlooking a crucial conversation. This is not just about legal clauses or financial compensation. It is about something as fundamental as the right to belong — not as victims of history, but as an active part of Korea's modern, global presence. I am Susan Vinzents Jensen — born Jun Hong Ah — and I am one of the approximately 9,000 Korean adoptees living in Denmark. Globally, we form a massive diaspora of more than 200,000 children sent overseas in the aftermath of the 1950-53 Korean War and during the countr

Jun 8, 2026By Susan Vinzents Jensen
Beyond apologies: Writing adoptees into Korea’s global identity
previous page
699700701702703
next page

Top 5 stories