Opinion - The Korea Times

Just a Gangnam ajumma?

By Jason LimKim Chong-in, the well-known economist who led the Democratic Party’s win in the last April’s parliamentary election as the interim president, recently said that Choi Soon-sil was nothing but a “Gangnam ajumma” who happened to subvert the whole governance process as a trusted confidant of President Park Geun-hye.I found his statement interesting because it was so contradictory.By branding Choi a “Gangnam ajumma,” Kim is basically saying that Choi is a spoiled, entitled, wealthy Seoul socialite who is more vain than substantive and not capable or even worthy of doing anything important, not the least of which is governing a modern, wealthy, democratic nation from behind the throne as a shadow president, undiscovered for years.Funny, because that is exactly what she did for the entire length of Park’s tenure, according to press reports. She was not merely Park’s personal valet, making sure that Park was dressed appropriately and carried the right handbags.She was Park’s chief strategist, giving specific guidance on how t

Jan 6, 2017By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Cognitive bias in negotiating with N. Korea

By Jason LimI’ve been a Korea watcher for a long time in formal and informal capacities. During that time, I’ve noticed that many Korea analysts, including me, display a form of confirmation bias. Most Korea analysts’ confirmation bias is twofold when it comes to evaluating North Korea.One, we believe that South Korea is the norm and that North Korea is the anomaly. This should be reversed.In fact, it’s South Korea that’s the anomaly when you examine the context and flow of Korea’s history as it transitioned from the Joseon Dynasty through Japanese colonialism and the Korean War to the modern era. We readily admit South Korea’s unique journey when we tout South Korea as one of the very few countries that has successfully industrialized and democratized at the same time.Like it or not, this was largely possible due to the strong and consistent American presence in the country, providing a solid platform of security, stability and opportunities to engage the international community both economically and politically as South Korea matured. Besid

Dec 23, 2016By Jason Lim

Cognitive bias in negotiating with N. Korea

Jason Lim

Unbearable Banality of Park's Evil

By Jason LimWhen Sewol sank in April 2014, it became apparent that the cozy relationships among the regulatory agencies, industry watchdogs, and safety inspection organizations all led to cursory safety checks that allowed for the design change and even gave Sewol good safety marks in February. Supposedly, it took an average of only 13 minutes for each ship when a four-person inspection team checked the condition of 36 ferries last year. At the time, President Park referred to the “deep-rooted evils” that allows senior regulatory officials to take post-retirement jobs at industry bodies that they had previously overseen, breeding a good ole’ boys’ club of incestuous and mutual backscratching.How ironic in light of recent happenings in Korea. It turns out that Park herself was running the familiar racket in which the political and business elites use their inherited power, wealth, and connections to stack the deck against the little guys.However, what really made Park stand out and so outraged the Korean public was that the apparent objectives and players

Dec 9, 2016By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Divided Families in US

By Jason LimEarly in 1950, my Dad was all set to go to Moscow University School of Medicine on a full scholarship. Then the Korean War started in June of 1950. A few months after that, along with tens of thousands of fellow North Koreans, my Dad escaped to the South as U.N. forces retreated in the face of a furious counterattack by the People’s Army of China in the winter of 1950.On that morning, he left with his whole family, but his Dad sprained an ankle badly on the frozen, treacherous road at the start of the journey. So, my Dad had to go on alone, leaving behind his Dad, Mom, and younger sister. It was imperative that he continue to escape since he was a young man who would have been forcibly conscripted into the North Korean Army or shot outright if he lingered.“See you soon when the U.N. forces take back Pyongyang again and you can come back home,” his Dad told him. “In the meantime, you take care, my son.” At most, it would only be a few days till they met again, or so they thought.As with so many Korean families, that was the last time they saw

Nov 25, 2016By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

America has disinvited the Clintons

By Jason Lim When it became obvious that Donald Trump would win, my mind for some reason recalled an old 2014 article in the Washington Post titled, “In Fairfax County kindergarten classes, school system’s future comes into focus.”This is what the article said:“Long an enclave of predominantly white, middle-class families with a top-class school system, Fairfax has experienced a dramatic demographic shift in recent years that is nowhere more obvious than in the county’s kindergarten classrooms. The white student population is receding and is being replaced with fast-growing numbers of poor students and children of immigrants for whom English is a second language.&ensp;More than one-third of the 13,424 kindergartners in the county this year qualified for free or reduced-price meals, a federal measure of poverty, and close to 40 percent of the Class of 2026 requires additional English instruction, among the most ever for a Fairfax kindergarten class…In Montgomery County, more than 35 percent of the students receive free or reduced-priced meals,

Nov 11, 2016By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Failure of followership

By Jason Lim Two years ago, I published a column titled, “Korea’s CULTural Exceptionalism,” describing the country’s tendency towards a "Korean Messianic Exceptionalism" that pervades all aspects of its modern culture. It manifests in a typical visionary, ethnocentric narrative that says that the Korean people, having emerged intact and whole through 2,000 years of trials and tribulations that culminated in the forced subjugation by the Japanese, will now attain greatness and take their rightful place as leaders of mankind.This narrative is not limited to religious and spiritual kooks but is widely adapted for use in all aspects of Korean life, ranging from politics to business. This is how I concluded my column back then:“This tendency is even more pronounced in politics, in which formal political parties take a backseat to strong personalities who are considered visionaries that will lead Korea to her deserving greatness. In fact, cults of personalities ― recall the dictatorships of Park and Chun and the dominance of the Three Kims in the 199

Oct 28, 2016By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Korea's religious fundamentalism

By Jason Lim When you think of the Korean Independence Movement of early 20th Century, you usually think of the March 1st Movement in which tens of thousands of everyday Koreans rose up simultaneously across the country waving the newly created Korean flag in defiance of their Japanese masters. Or you think of the independence fighters in Manchuria winning key battles against units of the Imperial Japanese army against incredible odds. Of course, you can’t leave out An Jung-geun shooting dead Ito Hirobumi, the first Japanese Resident-General of Korea in Harbin. An is still celebrated as a quintessential Korean hero even to this day, while the Japanese, understandably, mostly view him as a terrorist. What you don’t think of is a religious movement. No, I am not speaking of the religious leaders who originally signed the declaration of independence as a prelude to the March 1st Movement. I am speaking of Daejonggyo, the indigenous religion that was “rediscovered” by Nacheol. Originally called the “Dangun Religion” after the mythical god-kin

Sep 30, 2016By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Why does Park In-bee have to be pretty?

By Jason LIm At 28 years old, Park In-bee is already a legend in the game of golf. She has 17 LPGA wins (7 majors) and just became the first Olympic champion in Women’s Golf since 1900. After her retirement, she’s pretty much guaranteed a spot in the LPGA Hall of Fame at the first available ballot. By all measures, she’s probably the most successful Korean athlete on the global stage. Ever. Cha Beom-geun, Park Se-ri, Park Chan-ho were successful pioneers that inspired millions of future-generation Korean athletes, but none of them came close to Park In-bee’s individual success. In fact, Korea might never see an athlete like her again for a generation. Further, she’s is fluent in English, articulate, measured, and steady in her personal life as she is in her professional one. With all this, you would expect Korean companies with global footprint to be knocking down her doors for an opportunity to be associated with her. Not really. She only signed a major sponsorship deal with a Korean company (KB Financial) in 2013, fully five years after

Sep 2, 2016By Jason LIm

Jason Lim

How come ROK's founding day is all about Japan?

By Jason Lim The issue of the official founding day of the Republic of Korea made front page news when President Park Geun-hye said the following in her official address commemorating the anniversary of Liberation Day on Aug. 15: “Today marks the 71st Liberation Day and the 68th anniversary of the nation's founding." This would mean that she believes that the Republic of Korea was founded on Aug. 15, 1948. Historically, it is true that the official government of the Republic of Korea was established on that day with Syngman Rhee as the president. But is that the same thing as the founding of a nation? The preamble to the constitution of the Republic of Korea reads thus: “We, the people of Korea, proud of a resplendent history and traditions dating from time immemorial, upholding the cause of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea born of the March First Independence Movement of 1919 and the democratic ideals of the April Nineteenth Uprising of 1960 against injustice.” Note that the preamble specifically mentions two dates from which

Aug 19, 2016By Jason Lim

How come ROK's founding day is all about Japan?

Jason Lim

Health and wealth Gospel of Korean Buddhism

By Jason Lim  Ven. Hyon Gak, who became a household name in Korea with the publication of his book, “Manhaeng: From Harvard to Hwagye Temple,” recently made front page news when he posted (in Korean) on his Facebook page his frustrations with the Jogye Order. He was empathizing with an article in Chosun Ilbo about prominent foreign professors leaving Seoul National University (the most prestigious university in Korea) due to challenges in working in the Korean academic cultural environment. Hyon Gak wrote (my own translation), “I understand and agree with their (foreign professors who left) thinking. I, too, have no choice but to leave this narrow-minded confinement… foreign Buddhist monks have been nothing but decoration for the Jogye Order ― this has been my experience for the 25 years that I have been a monk.” He expresses his inability to recommend life in the Jogye Order to his students in Europe due to the antiquated and non-inclusive nature of the organizational culture. He also writes of his sadness that the Korean Zen Buddhist te

Aug 5, 2016By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Read more

Just a Gangnam ajumma?

Cognitive bias in negotiating with N. Korea

Unbearable Banality of Park's Evil

Divided Families in US

America has disinvited the Clintons

Failure of followership

Korea's religious fundamentalism

Why does Park In-bee have to be pretty?

How come ROK's founding day is all about Japan?

Health and wealth Gospel of Korean Buddhism

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