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Gold Prize Winner Whose Property Is It?

By Kenneth Maingot Dokdo is a small group of islets in the East Sea, between Korea and Japan ― to which both countries are laying claim. At stake are Dokdo's rich fishing stocks, gas hydrates on the adjacent seabed, and an exclusive economic zone. The Dokdo region is populated by Korean fishing communities and host to a thriving tourism industry. Korea has had administrative control over Dokdo prior to 1905 and after 1945. Existing Japanese and Korean government documents clearly indicate early Korean sovereignty. Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs claims that the Korean occupation of Dokdo since World War II is in violation of international law. It claims as evidence the omission of Dokdo from major peace treaties between Japan and the Allied Powers. How do we evaluate legitimate ownership when property claims conflict? First, we should agree on a definition of ``property." A socialist's estimation of property, for example, differs radically from a capitalist's. Similarly, the view of property prevalent during an age of imperialism bears little resemblance to how we def

Oct 31, 2008

Commendation Awards Managing Moral Hazard in Globalized World

By Euphracia Ndinda Musyoki Kangwon National University Globalization is introducing profound changes in the way that financial systems operate. Households, financial institutions, policy makers, supranational bodies, and international financial institutions like the IMF each have our own role to play in protecting the public good of financial stability. The rapid growth in world trade, foreign direct investments and cross-border financial flows over the past decade has been the main manifestation of the increasing ``globalization'' of the world economy. This phenomenon has been driven primarily by a worldwide wave of economic liberalization ― the lowering of tariff and non-tariff barriers to international trade, the encouragement of foreign investments and deregulation of financial markets. At the same time, technological developments have magnified the effects of this liberalization by reducing the cost of transportation and communications hence expanding the scope and volume of goods and services that are internationally tradable. Consider this. A person wants to ach

Oct 31, 2008

Silver Prize Winner Dokdo: Korean Islets

By Harry Kim WASHINGTON ― Dokdo has been the Korean islets since Silla General Isabu conquered Usanguk, which was composed of Ulleungdo and surrounding small islands and islets. It was 512 A.D. Since then, the Korean people have never thought Dokdo is out of their sovereignty and is separable from Ulleung-do. Of course, the names of Ulleungdo and Dokdo have been changed over time. The old historians and map drawers recorded these names and locations erroneously over time. However, such old historical records and drawings cannot deny the Korean sovereignty over the Ulleungdo Island and its surrounding islets, including Dokdo. Dokdo has been the no man's islets because there was no drinking water available. Therefore, the Korean people could be ``careless" in describing Dokdo and drawing the location in their old maps. The erroneous description and drawings have provided the Japanese government a false claim for Dokdo. This false claim has become controversial and made Dokdo as disputed islets in world maps. The Korean people feel there should not be any controversy. Five y

Oct 31, 2008

Commendation Awards Risk Stems From Not Knowing What You Are Doing

By Agnel Joseph Yonsei University ``Risk comes from not knowing what you are doing.'' Warren Buffet, American investment entrepreneur, said. Just a few months back, the world was in the midst of a big economic boom, with countries like China, India, Brazil, and Vietnam rising up as young, dynamic economies, while the USA, Korea and others found a renewed energy in their economies. Those, as they say, were the good times. The bigger the boom, the greater the potential risk of damage when the bubble bursts. Today, the world economy has been struck by a series of financial crises, be it the subprime mortgage crisis, rises in inflation, or the recent economic slowdown. It is then perhaps very apt to talk about risk in financial markets now. What exactly does ``risk'' mean in financial terms? Suppose you invest your time, effort and money to achieve a certain goal. Simply put, risk is the probability or chance of you being unable to achieve your goal due to some uncontrollable external factors that affect the outcome. Risk enters into an economic system when companies make fi

Oct 31, 2008

Bronze Prize Winners Historical Evidence Confirms Dokdo Is Korean Territory

By Abu Taher At present, Koreans and Japanese use the names Dokdo and Takeshima respectively to refer to the island. But, before these names were adopted, a wide variety of names were used to refer to Dokdo in both Korea and Japan. Korea has long recognized Dokdo as part of its territory since the Three Kingdoms' Period, starting with a mention in the Samguk Sagi (the Record of Three Kingdoms) in 512 A.D. Although referred to by several different names throughout ancient times, such as Usando, Gajido, Seokdo and others, the description of the island and its waters have remained the same, all the way down to the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910). In 1905, a period just before the colonization of Korea, Japan persisted their right to the islets. Korea had no power to resist the claim because of the situation. Things got messy as Korea grew weak and Japan first took over the small island and consequently, the whole country five years later. After three and a half decades of long struggle, Korea was finally liberated from Japan at the end of the Second World War in 1945. According to

Oct 31, 2008

Bronze Prize Winners Islets Belong to Korea

By Dina Mahmoud ali mousa CAIRO, Egypt ― East Asian history indisputably backs up Korea's sovereignty over Dokdo islands in the East Sea. What's more, Japan's erroneous claim on these territories represents a distortion of the long-standing truth. And Korea has long had full control over Dokdo since the end of the World War II. Based on its legal rights over the islets, South Korea has stationed a garrison and deployed patrol boats and other ships ― with a mission to guard Korea's eastern territorial sea. Korea has also adopted measures to preserve its natural environment. Korea's sovereignty over Dokdo is complete, both de jure and de facto. Korea's territorial rights cannot be shaken by any unfounded foreign claims. Dokdo is not and cannot be an object of territorial dispute. Japan's claim never had legitimacy. Currently, Korean maritime police officers are guarding the islets, while police and naval vessels are patrolling around them as part of the effort to beef up existing patrol of the region and reinforce and demonstrate Korea's sovereignty over Dokdo. The Ko

Oct 31, 2008

700 Essays From 27 Nations Vie in Contest

By Michael Ha Staff Reporter A few weeks ago, The Korea Times and the Northeast Asian History Foundation began an essay contest, inviting readers to submit articles on ``Why is Dokdo Korean territory?" Readers from more than two-dozen countries, including the United States, Canada, Britain, India, Nigeria and China, submitted their writings. Overall, more than 700 essays were received. Many of these submissions were first-rate, and that made it very challenging for the editorial staff and the screening committee to choose just five award winners. Many readers pointed out in their essays that Korea has an enormous advantage on this issue because the country has actual possession of these islets: ``It has de facto possession of the islands and has undertaken a variety of infrastructure projects and improvements… international judicial bodies highlight establishing sovereignty through positive acts, especially when occupying a territory." Many of these essays also highlighted historical documents _ and the fact that these ancient papers show Dokdo as Korean territory. Th

Oct 31, 2008

39th Korean Literature Translation Award Winners

The Korea Times is happy to announce the winning works of the 39th Korean Literature Translation Awards: Han Kang's ``The Mongolian Mark,'' translated by Mabelle Moon was chosen as the Grand Prize winner in the fiction category; and Gi Hyung-do's poetry translated by Chung Jae-won and Frances Justine Post as the Grand Prize winners in the poetry category. As part of our 58th anniversary edition of The Korea Times, we are proud to publish three of the five winning poems. We also congratulate Lee You-jin for translating the novel ``Boy Meets Girl'' by Kim Do-eon, which won the Commendation Award in the fiction category, and Peter Lee, who translated the poems of Jeong Ggeut-byeol for the Commendation Award in poetry. The Korea Times and the Korea Exchange Bank, which sponsored the contest, would like to thank Brother Anthony, professor emeritus at Sogang University and Prof. Min Eun-kyung of Seoul National University, who took time out of their busy schedules to judge this year's contest. Once again, we congratulate all the winners and hope that more people will submit their

Oct 31, 2008

Judges Report 2008

By Brother Anthony of Taize and Min Eun-kyung With every year that passes, the task of the judges of the Korea Times' Translation Awards becomes more difficult. It is not just that there are more entries being submitted. The quality of the best entries is now so high that it is very difficult to distinguish between them. This year, as always, there were far more fiction submissions than those for poetry, and in both categories there were a considerable number of really good translations. What criteria are we to follow in coming to a final decision? After all, what is most important in evaluating a translation? Readability? Accuracy? Even if we agree that both are very important, there comes a moment when we have to choose an award-winner and it is not easy. On the whole, non-Koreans assume that a translation ought to read as smoothly in English as if it had been originally written in that language. Koreans, on the other hand, will begin to object if the translator removes or changes too many of the words or phrases or features that are vivid in Korean but have no obvious eq

Oct 31, 2008

Winning Fiction for 2008

An excerpt from The Mongolian Monk by Han Kang, as translated by Mabelle Moon A dark purple curtain cloaked the stage. The half-naked dancers waved fervently until they were no longer in sight. The audience applauded loudly; however, despite the occasional ``Bravo!'' there was no curtain call. The ovation evaporated, the audience dispersed collecting their belongings, and headed for the aisles. He uncrossed his legs and stood up. During the five-minute applause, he did not clap once. He merely looked up in silence at the dancers' eager, thirsty eyes and lips with his arms folded. Although he felt the same compassion and respect for the dancers' labors as the other members of the audience, he did not want his applause to give credit to the choreographer. As he made his way out of the auditorium and across the hall, he took down the now outdated poster of the performance he just watched. When he had first discovered the poster in a downtown bookstore, he had shivered. Worried that he might miss the final performance, he had hurriedly made ticket reservations. In the poster, male

Oct 31, 2008
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