Opinion - The Korea Times

Remembering Rev. Kang Won-yong

By Kim Ji-myungThe late Rev. Kang Won-yong was a religious visionary. And he had the ability, leadership and luck to translate his ideals into reality.He established the Korea Christian Academy (KCA), which was a religious, academic and influential activist organization, in the 1970s, ‘80s and ‘90s. German President Richard von Weizaecker was a good friend of his.One day during a discussion with young women leaders in 1975, he predicted, “In a few years, you will see, the demands and zeal to change the reality of Korean women will explode like a high-pressure steam-pot.”The participants were “bright and promising” professionals selected and invited there from among professors, journalists, factory workers, women farmers and religious leaders. And I was one of the journalists, attending the series of “Intermediary Group Education” programs, which included on-and-off seminars and sleep-over discussions.Back then we all really expected to see ordinary Korean citizens pouring out into the streets demanding the abolition of gender discr

Aug 25, 2017By Kim Ji-myung

Kim Ji-myung

Coding: a ticket to the Future

By Kim Ji-myung “Computer code is not a cryptic activity reserved for geniuses and oracles. In fact, in a few minutes you will be writing some computer code yourself!”This is the first sentence in Wiley’s “Coding for Dummies.” I bought the book instead of “Coding for Kids” which looked more difficult to understand against my expectations.But what an analog and anachronic approach this is. Let me tell you the shortcut I found to get into the world of coding.Coding, the knowledge and skill of software and extensive use of codes in almost all parts of our lives may stay with us for good. Already in 2011, Marc Andreessen who started Netscape Navigator, said “software is eating the world.”To do anything with a computer, you must first install software, which is powered by code. In today’s tech-driven world, computer knowledge and skills have become as essential for students as reading, writing and arithmetic.Just several years ago, a Korean university received government funding for experimental coding education that all fre

Jul 28, 2017By Kim Ji-myung

Kim Ji-myung

On diplomatic protocol

By Kim Ji-myungNeither the President of Korea nor of the United States seem to care much about diplomatic protocol, by what we have witnessed during their summit in Washington D.C.Before leaving Seoul, Wednesday, President Moon Jae-in asked his staff to reduce the level of protocol required in the seeing-off and welcoming-back processes. The size of the entourage from the Cabinet accompanying him was reportedly kept to a minimum.U.S. President Donald Trump, on his part, also seems to be the last person to pay attention to formalities. Upon their first encounter the two leaders may have confirmed unexpected commonalities, such as in their focus on pragmatic practices and tradition-destroying behavior.Since former President Park Geun-hye’s impeachment last year, many bilateral issues have remained suspended, waiting for solutions in one form or another, while many months have passed with no official contact between the leaders of the two nations. Subtle military and diplomatic issues on top of diverse economic problems will pressure President Moon, who has been in offic

Jun 30, 2017By Kim Ji-myung

Kim Ji-myung

Thoughts on adult guardianship

By Kim Ji-myung“Check the family history of would-be in-laws before letting your child get married. Avoid families with members who frequent police stations and courtrooms.”  This was a sort of common wisdom told by our elders.  Maybe because of such indoctrination, I usually avoid stressful confrontations when they begin, rather than fighting for my rights. In Confucian teachings, ethics and virtue should guide human relations.  A seemingly immediate loss in material or physical conflicts may turn out to be a victory in the long run.  Settlement by law was always the second-best choice.However, the rustic agrarian Korea where admonitions of the elders guided youngsters has long gone.  Now living together with more than two million foreign residents in this digitally connected global community, contemporary Koreans are threatened by borderless online criminals.Since a few years ago, government regulators have been revamping banking systems to prevent ever-more-sophisticated financial crimes.  In the past, anyone could open a bank account

Jun 2, 2017By Kim Ji-myung

Kim Ji-myung

Talks on Korea behind Korea

By Kim Ji-myung It is not clear if Chinese leader Xi said that the Korean Peninsula “actually used to be a part of China.” What’s clear is that it was quoted by President Trump in an interview, and not a verbatim account of Xi’s explanation about Korea. And that the two spoke through interpreters. The White House did not make a clarification after this story belatedly went viral in Korea.Often Western media find the cause of widespread outrage among Koreans either in the undiplomatic expression of statements or in the Koreans themselves, who are particularly sensitive to external conditions amid heightened tensions between North and South Korea.As the native Korean fact-checker of the Washing Post confirmed, “Korea has been long intertwined culturally and historically with China but was not under direct and official territorial control by China, despite repeated Chinese invasions.”Xi may have referred to the tributary system between China and its surrounding countries including Korea, which has long functioned as a peace-keeping arrangement.&n

May 5, 2017By Kim Ji-myung

Kim Ji-myung

Alexa and robot journalism

By Kim Ji-myungAlexa came to my house today. I have to wonder, how many of my Korea Times readers know her or not?Alexa is a “smart-machine servant,” programmed with artificial intelligence (AI), residing inside a simple wireless stand-alone speaker-like cylinder. She answers almost any question you can ask, after you simply call her name “Alexa.”I was impressed by her answers that extended beyond the usual simple retrieval of embedded information. When I asked “Alexa, who is the wife of the President of the United States?” she said “The first lady of the United States is Melania Trump.” And yet, her knowledge doesn’t seem to update in real time. She said the president of Korea was Park Geun-hye, although Park has been removed after being impeached, and now stays behind bars in-between sessions of being questioned by prosecutors. But Alexa surprised me again with her correct knowledge when I asked “Alexa, who is the president of North Korea?” She said “There is currently no president of North Korea, as that post

Apr 7, 2017By Kim Ji-myung

Kim Ji-myung

Ontology for daily life

By Kim Ji-myungThe two statements, presented in totally different vocabularies, describe the same world; however, it is no longer the same one we used to know. There are two kinds of people on this earth -- those who know about ontology and those who don't.  Meanwhile, world history will soon be remembered as “before the internet” and “after the internet.”Machines have begun to understand what people speak or instruct, thanks to the many years of steady tutoring by humans.  Terms like semantic web, digital data, autonomous learning, artificial intelligence (AI), and knowledge-sharing have been developed to express the smooth communication between men and machines.After trying to understand what “ontology” is for the past three years, I came to a conclusion that we all are hostages of this concept.  But being a hostage or a master of it, depends on how one deals with it. The Korea Times has not mentioned much about ontology.  But already in 2008, in an article datelined in New York, artificial intelligence expert Riza C

Mar 10, 2017By Kim Ji-myung

Kim Ji-myung

Post-crisis prophecy of unification

By Kim Ji-myung“As for the future, your task is not to foresee, but to enable it,” said French novelist Saint-Exupery in his 1948 book The Wisdom of the Sands.But human beings want to know the future by nature, especially when that future seems quite uncertain. At present, the global community seems to be threatened by many new risks. Not only in Korea but in the United States, Europe, China and North Korea, the future is by no means clear.Even in peaceful times, fortune-tellers make their worldly fortunes by giving tips about the futures of politicians in election seasons. Business people also frequent their advisory prophets to get help with decision making on important matters and big deals. These arts can be considered semi-scientific because they are partly based on probability derived from statistics.Most Koreans now say they are sick and tired of listening to the endless layers of lies, perjury, criminal acts and ugly betrayal stories coming from the “Choi scandal” investigations. New names of suspects still appear on the scene weekly.  N

Feb 10, 2017By Kim Ji-myung

Kim Ji-myung

A Korean horse-story

By Kim Ji-myung“Do you ride horses?” I asked the man next to me, to break the ice. A group of Olympic leaders were on a tour of European cities to promote the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics, about a year before the games, and an after-dinner performance of dressage was just about to start for the guests of honor from Korea. The performer sitting on horseback just then was the daughter of the host, a German businessman, and the Olympic-standard riding ground could be viewed through a glass wall from the audience seats inside the dining hall. The young woman was a dressage athlete hoping to compete in the coming Seoul Olympics.“Well, yes, sort of …” was his answer. At that moment, I realized that I had absolutely no knowledge of riding, raising or breeding horses; and so I could not think of a following question.Someone nearby then told me he was Dr. Reiner Klimke, the famous and legendary winner of six gold medals at the Olympics. If anyone does not recognize a person, “he must be a spy from the north” in a South Korean-style expression, and

Jan 13, 2017By Kim Ji-myung

Kim Ji-myung

As first conference interpreter

By Kim Ji-myung"You have to learn English to learn Western without going through Japan." This was the advice Kim Ok-gyun gave Yoon Chi-ho in 1881 when they met in Tokyo. Yun Chi-ho (1864-1945) and Kim Ok-gyun (1851-1894) were among the key intellectual figures when Koreans began to open their eyes to the outside world.Around the end of the Joseon Kingdom and during the ensuing Korean Empire (1897-1910), before Japan annexed Korea, most Koreans seemed to know that foreign language ability was one good key to attaining higher status.  In this enlightening period, Japanese and Western "advisers" arrived to take key posts in the Korean government.Yoon Chi-ho learned English from a Dutch diplomat for five months. His rudimentary English knowledge, learned from a non-native tutor, was the best in Korea at the time. Therefore, he was employed as a translator for incoming first minister Lucius Foote of the American legation.When we read history, we need to be wary of terms like "the first," "the best," "the biggest," etc. until we establish the fact by credible evidence. However, i

Dec 16, 2016By Kim Ji-myung

Kim Ji-myung

Read more

Remembering Rev. Kang Won-yong

Coding: a ticket to the Future

On diplomatic protocol

Thoughts on adult guardianship

Talks on Korea behind Korea

Alexa and robot journalism

Ontology for daily life

Post-crisis prophecy of unification

A Korean horse-story

As first conference interpreter

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