Opinion - The Korea Times

Where Is the beef?

By Jason Lim At the risk of dating myself, one of the most memorable TV commercials of my youth was the classic ``Where is the beef?" commercial for Wendy's. It starred a cantankerous but likeable old lady who would continuously yell out, ``Where is the beef?" in an outraged voice when she and her two friends are served a hamburger with a huge bun but a tiny patty. ``It sure is a big bun" one of them says, looking at the hamburger dubiously. ``A big, fluffy bun," another agrees, nodding hopefully. But the truth of the situation rudely interrupts when the star of the commercial yells out, ``Where is the beef?" with an insistent voice that got to the point of the matter and would not be fooled by the size of the bun. The commercial was so successful that it briefly became a pop-cultural phenomenon that vaulted Wendy's into the level of popular consciousness reserved only for McDonald's and Burger King. The signature phrase, ``Where is the beef?" was even co-opted by Walter Mondale in his debates against Gary Hart during the democratic primary campaign of 1984. It was perf

Jul 7, 2008By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

UN Finally Gets Some Brains

By Jason Lim I admit that the title to this week's column could be sarcastic. In a way, it's a sort of ``bait and switch'' because this week's column is not about me bashing the supposed ineffectiveness of the leaders of the United Nations. This column is actually about an interesting conference that I attended last week at the United Nations. It was about the human brain. Literally. Which leaves me thinking that, on second thoughts, the title is actually not a ``bait and switch" because this column is about the brain. And it is about the brain being talked about at the U.N. In that light, the title of the column is factually correct because it is the first time that a conference was hosted at the U.N. with the specific purpose of talking about the human brain, as it relates to peacemaking across different societies. Ergo, the U.N. finally gets a brain. A slight play on words but certainly not sarcastic. The title is only seemingly sarcastic because we ― as human beings ― have a wonderful organ called the brain that allows us to perceive sarcasm, puns, and other pla

Jun 23, 2008By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Mad Cow Leadership Lesson

By Jason Lim He is judged, even by his closest associates, as aloof and arbitrary, apt to make decisions in solitude and only welcoming advice in keeping with his personal choices. He also makes poor cabinet appointments based on their party loyalty and campaign support. He tends to be peremptory and condescending to those people whom he really needs to convince in order to help him achieve his policy objectives. No, I am not writing about President Lee Myung-bak, although these probably sound very familiar to the critics who are accusing President Lee of a leadership failure in the ongoing mad cow fiasco. I am actually paraphrasing what historians have written about President Woodrow Wilson, the leader who proposed the League of Nations at the end of the World War I and inspired the world with his vision of peace and harmony but failed to pass it through his own Congress and died a bitter man. Let's examine another American president: He chose advisors and political partners without little regard to their party affiliations. As an example, he chose George Marshall as

Jun 9, 2008By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Shopping on Memorial Day

By Jason Lim I live in Pentagon City, Virginia, with a large mall located next to my apartment building. For this Memorial Day weekend in America, my building had a special sign posted in the lobby warning the residents that the shopping traffic over the Memorial Day weekend is expected to be inordinately heavy and that the residents should either get out of town to avoid the crunch or stay home in the safety of their apartments. You would think that a natural disaster was about to strike. In a way, this is quite understandable, since Memorial Day heralds the beginning of summer fun. When growing up in New York, I still remember getting excited to drive down to the Hamptons on Memorial Day weekend because that was the first weekend when all the young people from New York City would congregate to ogle and be ogled by peers. Girls would look gorgeous wearing the latest fashion in swimwear while guys would try to fit in one more set of pushups on the filthy bathroom floor in the beach houses to look as pumped as they could before venturing out into the often freezing sands. In

May 26, 2008By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Sejong in Washington DC

By Jason Lim It almost seems that the road to the Korean Peninsula is paved through Washington D.C. these days. Let me explain. Last week, Venerable Pomnyun, the founder of Goodfriends, a Seoul-based human rights organization known for their weekly English language e-newsletter detailing the suffering of ordinary North Korean people, reported that about 200,000-300,000 North Koreans will starve to death in May and June if emergency food aid is not made available. This was the message that he delivered to American officials and policy think tanks in D.C. during his three-day visit here. Partly in response to such warnings by credible organizations such as Goodfriends and World Food Program, an interagency team from the United States led by USAID visited Pyongyang last week to hammer out the details on how to deliver significant food aid to North Koreans. Although the food won't reach North Korea for at least two months, it is nevertheless a very generous example by the United States acting true to America's declared principle of not linking humanitarian aid with politics.

May 12, 2008By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Samsung’s Leadership on Edge

By Jason Lim Declaring that he will ``take all legal and moral responsibility and truly apologize for causing concern," Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee publicly resigned from the conglomerate that is responsible for 15 percent of South Korea's GDP after being indicted for tax evasion and breach of trust. He then announced a series of reforms that Samsung will undertake in response to the findings by the special prosecutor's office. Apparently, Lee Kun-hee's glorious run as the head of the most powerful business empires in Korea's history has come to an end. For now. Depending upon which isle you sit in, Lee Kun-hee elicits dramatically different opinions. On one hand, he is the devil incarnate who has fundamentally corrupted and debased the ethical fabric of Korean society in his headlong and ruthless attempt to grow his business empire. On the other hand, he is the far-sighted executive who has overcome incredible odds and led Samsung onto the world stage to stand shoulder to shoulder with the foremost companies of the world. No matter where you stand on this opinion spe

Apr 28, 2008By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

First Korean American

By Jason Lim In May, the Korean Consulate in Washington D.C. will hold an unveiling ceremony for the statue of Dr. Philip Jaisohn. Philip Jaisohn is the anglicized name of Seo Jae-pil, the noted champion of Korean independence and modernization during the first half of the 20th Century. He was born in Korea in 1864 and died in America in 1951. He was the first person to be born a Korean and die an American. He was a patriot to both countries. His lived a truly extraordinary life. He has many firsts to his credit, both as Seo Jae-pil and Philip Jaisohn. Seo Jae-pil was one of the first Korean students to be sent to study abroad ― he led a group of 14 students to study at a military school in Japan in the early 1880s. Later, he became the founder of the first Korean and English language newspaper, ``The Independent'' ― published in Korea, the voice of Korea to the world. Seo Jae-pil was also a key leader in the first reformist coup in Korean history in 1884. When he was just twenty years old, he realized that his beloved but feeble nation of Joseon and the Korean people

Apr 14, 2008By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

MB vs. DJ in US

By Jason Lim President Lee Myung-bak is going to the United States from April 15 to 19. So is ex-President Kim Daejung, from April 15 to 25. Both MB and DJ are going with the same key agenda item. They want to voice their respective ideas on what the U.S. and South Korea should do when it comes to North Korea. DJ is the father of the ``Sunshine Policy,'' which sought to peacefully and actively engage North Korea to draw them out into reconciliation and eventual reunification. His policy of engagement led to the historic summit between him and Kim Jong-il, which resulted in the Nobel Peace Prize for DJ in 2000. The mainstay of the sunshine policy was the separation between politics and economic cooperation. MB, on the other hand, won the December presidential election in large measures by playing on the general resentment of South Koreans against the sunshine policy and its seeming largess without getting any measurable returns except to prop up an immoral and corrupt despot. MB's government recently declared that continued economic aid would be tied to progress in the

Mar 31, 2008By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Program for English Teachers

By Jason Lim This is the third installment of a three-part series on the results of the online survey of native English-speaking teachers on the new president's proposed English immersion plan. - ED. This is the most important one in that it will group and list the major complaints and policy recommendations on recruiting and retaining native English-speaking teachers, as voiced by the teachers themselves. Needless to say, the results and recommendations that I present here reflect the overall results of the online survey ― individual experiences and opinions will vary. From the survey results as I presented in my previous column, it was apparent that a lack of open and frequent communication has led to a widespread sense of us vs. them; between management and teachers that precludes any possibility of a collaborative effort that could improve the learning experience of Korean students. This has inevitably led to a sense of deep distrust between the two sides, creating infrastructural issues that define many teachers' negative experiences in Korea. Specific issues most of

Mar 17, 2008By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Having Their Native Say (2)

By Jason Lim This is the second installment of a three part series on the results of the online survey the author conducted asking the native English-speaking teachers what they thought about the new president's proposed English immersion plan. ― Ed. In the first column of this series, I noted that, contrary to general preconception, a surprisingly large percentage of native English teachers have been here for a significant length of time, with more than 45 percent overall having spent three years or more teaching English in Korea, and 31.3 percent more than five years. From these numbers, we can infer that only slightly less than half of the native English-speaking teachers in Korea have an organic network of personal relationships, financial interests, and other ties that keep them in Korea. In short, they are a part of the long-term social, economic, and cultural fabric of Korea. But how are their experiences in Korea as English teachers? From my own experience as a recruiter for a prominent language institute in Seoul, as well as a teacher of reading and comprehensi

Mar 3, 2008By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Read more

Where Is the beef?

UN Finally Gets Some Brains

Mad Cow Leadership Lesson

Shopping on Memorial Day

Sejong in Washington DC

Samsung’s Leadership on Edge

First Korean American

MB vs. DJ in US

Program for English Teachers

Having Their Native Say (2)

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