Opinion - The Korea Times

Google's Sunshine Policy?

By Jason LimWhen the first Barack Obama administration came into power, North Korea launched a long-range rocket, conducted its second nuclear bomb test, and declared the Korean War armistice null and void. When Obama was re-elected for a second term in November, the North launched another long-range rocket and, according to many experts, is likely to conduct a third nuclear test.Oh, and we shouldn’t forget that this year it invited the chairman of Google to visit.It certainly was a curious decision for Google’s chairman, the Zeus of the Internet pantheon, to visit North Korea, which can be described as the Hades of freedom (not) of the press, on Wednesday. Justifiably, media reports have been speculating on what Eric Schmidt’s personal reasons were to go to North Korea. But I think an even more interesting question is how can Google align its self-stated mission as a leader of free speech on the Internet by having a presence in North Korea?We can explore this by quickly examining Korean history.In the last 2,000 years of its 5,000 year history, Korea has been invad

Jan 11, 2013By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Moon as puzzled as Romney

By Jason LimIt’s ironic that the comments coming out of the Moon Jae-in camp sound a lot like those that came out of the Mitt Romney camp immediately after his loss to Barack Obama, which boils down to, “We thought we had it won because everything we saw, heard, and touched in the days leading up to the election told us we were going to win. We are dumbfounded to have lost.”One of the most vocal members of the Moon camp ― at least on the social media front ― assemblyman Jung Chung-rae, posted the following on his Facebook page a few days after the election defeat: “Like you, I am only a weak human being and couldn’t come to my senses for a while. Just two days before the election, public opinion polls of all three major broadcasters KBS, MBC, and SBS had Moon overtaking (Park Geun-hye) to lead by 1.4 percent and, with the voting percentage so high, I couldn’t imagine that we would lose.”At least the Korean democrats had some polling numbers to misinform them. The Atlantic Monthly reported that the Romney camp had actually discounted polling n

Dec 28, 2012By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Outrage @NewYorkPost

By Jason LimLast week, something horrible happened in New York City. A 58-year old Korean man named Han Ki-suk was pushed off a subway platform into the path of an oncoming train. No one helped him as he struggled to climb up to the platform, and he was crushed to death. But a freelance photographer did manage to take a picture of Han’s desperate struggles, which ended up on the front page of the New York Post.I don’t want to talk about the photographer. First of all, I wasn’t there, so I don’t know how I would have reacted. I don’t want to judge anyone about what I might have or not have done ― I don’t have the right. Second, he wasn’t the only one who didn’t help. The platform was filled with people, yet no one extended a life-saving hand. All I know is that those people who watched and heard Han be killed that day will be reliving that moment for the rest of their lives. It’s not something that I would wish on my worst enemies.But I do want to talk about New York Post’s decision to display the photograph ― along with the

Dec 14, 2012By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Why do men cheat?

By Jason LimThe central question that arose out of all the handwringing over the recent Petraeus Affair was why powerful men risk everything that they ever worked for to have an affair.I mean, the downside to getting caught is pretty damning. In General David Petraeus’ case, he lost not just his job but an unimpeachable reputation. Even worse, he besmirched his legacy. A Korean adage says that tigers leave their skins behind when they die while men leave their names (meaning legacy). Well, Petraeus’ legacy just got that much more invisible.If you ask Petraeus today whether the affair was worth it, he would most definitely say no. How could he answer otherwise in light of all the public and personal shaming that occurred in the aftermath?But what if you had asked him the same question before he was caught? Would he still have said no? Probably. He knew the consequences of getting caught going in.But would he still have had the affair? Probably.And therein lies the heart of the issue. Men cheat not because they don’t know the consequences; they cheat despite the conse

Nov 30, 2012By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Google, Dokdo, and Princess Bride

By Jason LimRecently, members of Voluntary Agency Network of Korea (VANK) held a protest in front of Google’s Mountain View headquarters to express its displeasure over the corporation’s recent decision to refer to Dokdo as the Liancourt Rocks on its global map. This protest follows on the heels of highly publicized ― and highly negative ― coverage in mainstream Korean media of Google’s decision and the possible role that Japan’s government played in the process.My first reaction upon hearing this story was that Google should have heeded Vizzini from The Princess Bride when he tells the Man in Black: “Ha ha, you fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous of which is ‘Never get involved in a land war in Asia!’” An alternate version and only slightly less famous is: “Never get involved in a territorial dispute between Japan and any of the other Asian countries that suffered under Imperial Japan.” Oh well, so much for Vizzini.As self-appointed protector of anything Korean on the internet, VANK’s

Nov 16, 2012By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Sandy's leadership lesson

By Jason LimFor some crazy moment on Monday when “Frankenstorm” Sandy was threatening to tear a hole in our roof and I was sure we would lose power, I remembered a funny cartoon from the summer when a freak “Derecho” storm did rob us of power for two days. It featured a series of text message balloons going back and forth among Facebook, Google, the Internet, and electricity.Facebook started the text message chain by bragging, “I know everybody.” Google chimed in by replying, “I can find anything.” The Internet then scoffed, “Without me, you are nothing.” Then electricity smacked down the law saying, “Keep talking you bitches.”How crudely true. We don’t realize how dependent we are on electricity ― and how fragile our dependency is ― until we lose power for a few days.At least, we were lucky in northern Virginia where I live. Our lights flickered on and off every 15 minutes or so throughout the day when Sandy hit, but never went out. Thank God. I can’t imagine what we would have done without electrici

Nov 2, 2012By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Forgiving Japan

By Jason Lim I remember listening to the Ven. Bomnyeon, a Buddhist monk who is well-known and respected for his off-the-cuff lectures on all issues ranging from North Korea nukes to personal relationships, field a question from a woman who had been brutally raped in the past and wanted desperately to escape from its clutches that continued to haunt her and ruin her life. Speaking very carefully because this touched on a very traumatic and personal scar, he basically said to forgive unconditionally. More specifically, to forgive so that you can move on with your life without being forever subjected to something that happened to you in the past. Just consider it a bad dream that you woke up from. Don’t choose to live within that nightmare continuously. Choose to wake up. And forgiving is the first step towards that new state of being. There were three things from his response that really struck me. The first one was a visceral, angry reaction against someone who’d dare suggest that we could possibly forgive someone who had wronged us in such a violent and hurtful fashion

Oct 19, 2012By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Korean American or American Korean?

By Jason Lim Above is the title of a lecture that I have to give to a group of University of Maryland students this Friday for a College Leadership Academy session sponsored by the D.C. chapter of the Peace Foundation. And I am stumped. I can’t believe that I ever agreed to speak on this topic since I have no idea what a Korean American is, although I am supposedly one. And if I can’t define what I am, what chances do I have of lecturing about it and then comparing and contrasting it with its reverse derivative? I mean the title makes for nice copy but to build meaningful substance around it? I feel like that I have been too clever by at least half. So, I started with the dictionary definition of Korean American. By the way, “American Korean” isn’t a real word, so no dictionary definition exists. Webster defines Korean American as “a person of Korean ancestry who was either born in or is an immigrant to the United States.” This sounds straightforward enough, but let’s take a look at the Korean ancestry qualification. What does that mean? Is it genetic ancestry? Is th

Oct 5, 2012By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Why Psy and not JYP?

By Jason Lim I just watched Psy perform live in New York City’s Rockefeller Center on NBC’s Today Show, a venue usually reserved for the most popular of international singers. I mean, you can’t get much more mainstream than that in the U.S. Wait. And the song just hit No. 1 in iTunes in 17 countries across the world. Wait again. Psy was just parodied in Saturday Night Live, reaching the pantheon of international stardom. This is getting ridiculous. Next, they will be inviting him to the White House and Buckingham Palace. The problem is, for the life of me, I can’t figure out why. I admit that the song is catchy, silly, and fun. Then again, there are a lot of catchy, silly, and fun songs out there. One, the video is in Korean, not English; non-Korean speakers have no idea what he’s singing about except a little snippet of, “Sexy Lady.” Two, no offense, but Psy is not exactly eye-candy; in fact, he’s proudly anti-visual in the Korean pop culture where youth and good looks are regularly deified. Three, the video has no story that people can relate to; it’s not like there

Sep 21, 2012By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

N. Korea’s global narrative

By Jason Lim It’s pretty amazing what North Korean athletes did in the London Summer Olympics. Despite sending one of the smallest contingents to the Games, North Korea placed 20th in the overall medal count: they won four gold, three silver, and two bronze. This is better than Spain, Brazil, and Canada, to name just a few better known countries. However, they managed to turn success into ridicule. When the winning athletes were interviewed by the international press, they all parroted the same basic sentiment, if not words. It went like this: “I am happy to be able to win this medal for our leader, Kim Jong-un, because I was able to win only because of our Dear Leader’s love and support.” In fact, they sounded so rehearsed, artificial, and identical that the international media snubbed them in post-medal interviews. One Chinese reporter was even quoted in Radio Free Asia as saying, “Although their voices are different, the North Korean gold medalists’ acceptance speeches sound like they are coming from the same person.” This episode is only the latest example of North

Sep 7, 2012By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Read more

Google's Sunshine Policy?

Moon as puzzled as Romney

Outrage @NewYorkPost

Why do men cheat?

Google, Dokdo, and Princess Bride

Sandy's leadership lesson

Forgiving Japan

Korean American or American Korean?

Why Psy and not JYP?

N. Korea’s global narrative

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