Opinion - The Korea Times

Much Tada about Uber

By Jason LimI assume that the name of the ride-hailing service, Tada, is a take on the Korean word meaning, “Get in,” as in to get in a car. Of course, “Ta-da” is also the word that a magician uses right before they pull off a magic trick, like pulling a rabbit out of a hat. In South Korea's case recently, it seems that the magician shouted, “Ta-da!” but failed to pull anything out. There was no magic. Instead, there was an indictment. Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office filed charges against Lee Jae-woong, the head of Tada. Prosecutors claim Tada had been operating without a proper taxi license for its 11-seater van ride-hailing service. This was the direct result of a complaint that the Seoul Private Taxi Association filed in February, accusing it of running an illegal taxi service.The laws underlying this fight are interesting. Article 34 of the Passenger Transport Service Act states, “No person who rents a commercial motor vehicle from a car rental business entity shall use such a motor vehicle for transport with compensation," and

Nov 8, 2019By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Sulli's Law

By Jason LimAnother successful young Korean celebrity committed suicide. Sulli was a 25-year-old actress who made her debut when she was only 11 years old and joined the K-pop girl group f(x) at age 15, leaving the group in 2014 reportedly due to malicious and unfounded online attacks. Ironically and tragically, she was most recently the host of a TV show trying to educate the public about the harms of cyberbullying, even reading out loud some of the online comments that she has had to deal with.The anonymity and ubiquity of online platforms make it too easy for people to lash out at others without thinking about what impact it might have on them. Because cyberbullies can't witness the effect of their words, they use less restraint than they would in face-to-face situations. After all, you don't see the blood from a broken nose or black eye from a fist fight. There is no mess to clean up, which makes the violence less real. Except to the victims.In response to the social outrage, there's talk of a “Sulli's Law” that's being readied to be introduced in the National Assembl

Oct 25, 2019By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Harvard diversity vs. discrimination

By Jason LimAs a part of its larger campaign arguing that the consideration of race in the university admissions process violates the Equal Protection Clause, Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) sued Harvard in 2014 claiming the university discriminates against Asian-Americans. In her Oct. 1 ruling, U.S. District Judge Allison D. Burroughs found in Harvard's favor. Following the ruling, in his letter to students and alumni's, Harvard President Lawrence S. Bacow quoted the following passage from Burrough's decision: “For purposes of this case, at least for now, ensuring diversity at Harvard relies, in part, on race conscious admissions. Harvard's admission program passes constitutional muster in that it satisfies the dictates of strict scrutiny … race conscious admissions programs that survive strict scrutiny will have an important place in society and help ensure that colleges and universities can offer a diverse atmosphere that fosters learning, improves scholarship, and encourages mutual respect and understanding.”Harvard was found not guilty on all four counts t

Oct 11, 2019By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

'Homo Unicornus'

By Jason LimI am playing on the term, “Homo Economicus,” that refers to the “rational actor” or “economic man” as coined by John Stuart Mill in 1844. The “rational actor” plays a central role in traditional economics, along with “perfect information,” as the key drivers of decision making in a market economy. They are both myths, of course. No such thing exists.Rationality, especially, has been historically contrasted against emotions, with the former being respectful and good while the latter impulsive and bad. This is a false dichotomy, of course. All our core values as human beings wouldn't be there without our emotions anchoring them into our subconscious, nestled in our limbic system (reptilian brain) out of reach of our conscious intellect. This is not a bad thing, of course. Certain values such as fairness and relatedness to others keep our worst impulses in check ― just imagine the types of behaviors that we would be capable of rationalizing away if our emotions didn't keep us in check with a sense of self-disgust.Mo

Sep 27, 2019By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Schadenfreude, Korea style

By Jason LimI have to admit that I am surprised at the groundswell of outrage that seemed to take over the Korean society against recently appointed Minister of Justice Cho Guk's alleged hypocrisy. More specifically, outrage against how his daughter managed to do a student internship at a medical lab and be listed as the primary author on a paper that was published in a respected medical journal, which she supposedly used to enhance her college application. Then there was the matter of how his daughter received a commendation (accused of being a forgery by her mother) for voluntary work that she used to get into college. Another one was how she received scholarships even though she never applied for them.I would have thought that the allegations surrounding the hush-hush family investment fund when Cho was serving as a senior official in the Blue House would have been tastier fodder for the public's appetite. But, no. Cho's confirmation hearing was all about how his daughter managed to get into a top university based on privileged access.This was the issue that sparked the most outra

Sep 15, 2019By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Quantifying stakeholder value

By Jason LimGranted, all politics is local, but the myopic and overwhelming focus in Korea on Cho Kuk and his daughter has been pretty blinding. Fortunately for Korea, the world doesn't revolve around Cho, the Seoul National University professor turned senior presidential adviser nominated for the post of justice minister, and the alleged abuses of privilege. Just in the last week or so, there was the G7 Summit, a still-raging Amazon fire, the latest in the Brexit saga, a floating pumice island and so on.But the most momentous event might have been the August 19 press release by the influential Business Roundtable, a group of 181 chief executives of major U.S. companies who oversee 15 million employees and more than $7 trillion in annual revenue.The press release states, “Since 1978, the Business Roundtable has periodically issued Principles of Corporate Governance. Each version of the document issued since 1997 has endorsed principles of shareholder primacy ― That corporations exist principally to serve shareholders. With today's announcement, the new statement supersedes prev

Aug 30, 2019By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Transitional justice in Korea

By Jason LimAs I write this column, Korea is celebrating the beginning of its Liberation Day, which, once again, has become all about Japan. In a sense this is inevitable, since Korea is celebrating its independence from Imperial Japan. From another perspective, however, it also shows that Korea still has not grown out of the identity framework originally defined by the trauma it suffered under Japanese colonial rule. Without pointing fingers at who is to blame for the latest relationship crisis, it appears that Japan will never be just another country to Koreans as long as this national identity framework is in place. To add fuel to this fire, the day before ― August 14 ― the Korean government commemorated the first international memorial day for comfort women. This was officially designated by the government in 2017 as a “means to restore dignity and honor to the victims of colonial and wartime sex slavery and to remember the range of 'comfort women' issues.” This was the day in 1991 when Kim Hak-soon became the first victim publicly to share the experiences of the comf

Aug 18, 2019By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Remembering Kent Davy

By Jason LimI didn't know Kent Davy. I never met him. We were merely casual Facebook friends. And it was Facebook that told me that Kent had passed away suddenly from an aggressive form of cancer. He was apparently showing positive responses to new therapy when he suddenly passed. I guess these things happen with cancer, a terrible disease that takes too many loved ones from us too early.First and foremost, I would like to convey my sincere and deepest condolences to his family. I know that he leaves behind a wife and daughter. I also send my sympathies to his friends who actually knew him in person. If it's true that you are the company that you keep, then it's apparent that Kent was an intelligent, kind and insightful person who was actively engaged with his community and, especially, loved Korea as his adopted home in spite of all its faults and eccentricities.This is unchartered territory for me, writing about the untimely death of someone that I didn't know. I am fully aware of the risk of intruding on a sense of profound grief that I have no right to witness as a stranger. For

Aug 2, 2019By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Yoo isn't really about Steve

By Jason LimWhen we had a boy several years back, it was a surprise to me that my son was considered a Korean citizen although he was born in the U.S. Just because my wife was a Korean national at the time of his birth, he automatically became a dual citizen without any input from us.I further found out that the Korean law mandated that he serve in the Korean military if he doesn't renounce his Korean citizenship by March of his 18th year, even though he might not have any connection to Korea between now and then. This became the ultimate Catch-22 when we realized that we had to register his birth through the Korean bureaucracy in order to gain the legal standing to then turn around and renounce his Korean citizenship. I guess this makes sense in a roundabout way since you can't renounce something that you don't have a record of having.I bring this up because the recent Korean Supreme Court ruling in favor of Steve Yoo being allowed back into Korea reminded me of Korea's unique and somewhat twisted love-hate relationship with the mandatory military conscription and how it often leads

Jul 19, 2019By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Where is George R. R. Martin's NK script?

By Jason LimIt's true that last Sunday's meeting between President Donald Trump and Chairman Kim Jong-un was more of a flash mob than a deliberate, calculated summit between heads of nations. However, give credit where it's due. Today, no one is worried about an impending shooting war on the peninsula happening anytime soon when this was a distinct possibility less than two years ago. In fact, President Trump has made more progress with North Korea than any other American president because he's playing to his strengths as a producer and showman. By progress, I don't necessarily mean advances in negotiations over North Korea's nuclear program, but a de-escalation of tensions and a move away from potential military conflict. If I have to choose between a substantive and principled approach that leads to a war or made-for-TV, flashy summits that avert one, it's an easy choice. As expected, the criticism from the progressives and foreign policy establishment came hard and fast. Senator Elizabeth Warren, a leading Democratic presidential candidate, tweeted, “Our President shouldn't

Jul 5, 2019By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Read more

Much Tada about Uber

Sulli's Law

Harvard diversity vs. discrimination

'Homo Unicornus'

Schadenfreude, Korea style

Quantifying stakeholder value

Transitional justice in Korea

Remembering Kent Davy

Yoo isn't really about Steve

Where is George R. R. Martin's NK script?

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