By Park Moo-jong
Still making headlines in the final stage of the turbulent year of 2019 is bad news about increasing concerns over national security, stubborn economic debacles, intensifying left-right confrontation, and the unilateral passage of next year's budget bill, to name a few.
Amid such negative news, a few good stories, not about politics or the economy, but about the arts and sports, have made the people feel happier, although just for a moment.
Son Heung-min of Tottenham Hotspur took the world by surprise with his 73-meter solo run to beat nine Burnley players and score a stunning goal in an English Premier League match Saturday. How "Sonsational!"
On Tuesday night, Park Hang-seo, the South Korean head coach of the Vietnamese national football team, led his players to capture the gold in the Southeast Asian Games for the first time in 60 years with a perfect 3-0 win over the Indonesian side.
Frankly speaking, who had ever paid attention to the SEA Games football finals but for Park? Many people who stayed up late at night to watch the live telecast were so happy seeing Vietnamese players wave a big South Korean national flag, while Park showed the Vietnamese colors.
Both Son and Park were fine conductors of their matches. Especially, Park deserves applause from both Koreans and Vietnamese as he trained the underdogs, seeing them cruise to the top place in the region. His role can be compared to Guus Hiddink, the former Dutch coach, who helped make South Korea a stunning semifinalist in the 2002 Korea-Japan FIFA World Cup.
This good news was the icing on the cake after a 39-year-old female conductor from Seoul was named the music director of the San Francisco Opera (SFO) a week ago, becoming the first woman to hold the post at an American opera company with major size and stature.
Ms. Kim Eun-sun's rise to the podium of the SFO, the second largest orchestra after the New York Metropolitan Opera, comes close to maestro Chung Myung-whun who became the music director of the Paris National Opera in 1989 at the age of 36. Chung debuted with Hector Berlioz's "The Troyans," while Kim will start her new career at SFO with Ludwig van Beethoven's "Fidelio" when the 2020-21 season opens.
She is succeeding in a field where women still rarely get opportunities, though South Korea has already produced some prominent female conductors such as Chang Hanna and Sung Si-yon.
Of course, there have been some pioneers in leadership positions at opera companies, including Sarah Caldwell, founder of the Opera Company of Boston, Eve Queler, the music director of the Opera Orchestra of New York and Simone Young, former artistic director of the Hamburg State Opera.
Ms. Kim broke the "glass ceiling," a term used to describe an invisible, yet unbreakable barrier keeping women from rising to the upper rungs of the corporate ladder, despite their qualifications or achievements.
She will become a good model for her country which has one of the largest gender wage gaps among OECD nations, following Turkey and Japan.
For reference, Finland comes out top as the best country for working women, followed by fellow Nordic nations, Norway and Sweden. These countries score high in most categories and take the top spots in labor force participation.
Days ago, Finland's parliament chose Sanna Marin as the country's new prime minister (the third woman to take the top post), making the 34-year-old the world's youngest sitting head of government.
Ms. Kim deserves her success. She was lauded for the passionate pursuit of her musical journey with excellent leadership, bringing together audiences, artists, technicians and administrators.
SFO General Director Matthdew Shlvock explained the reason why the opera company chose Ms. Kim: "She's a conductor who really opens her arms and invites the people around her in to make the very best music she can."
In short, she shows what leadership should be like. The management of state is not different from that of an orchestra. It is common sense that no orchestra can produce music to satisfy the audience without the harmony of its members under the baton of the conductor.
No one will dispute the fact that South Korea has no such amazing conductors like Ms. Kim and Park in this difficult time to lead the people into a good harmony beyond the barrier of political and ideological confrontation.
Park Moo-jong (emjei29@gmail.com) is a standing adviser of The Korea Times. He served as the president-publisher of the nation's first English daily newspaper from 2004 to 2014 after working as a reporter since 1974.
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Amid such negative news, a few good stories, not about politics or the economy, but about the arts and sports, have made the people feel happier, although just for a moment.
Son Heung-min of Tottenham Hotspur took the world by surprise with his 73-meter solo run to beat nine Burnley players and score a stunning goal in an English Premier League match Saturday. How "Sonsational!"
On Tuesday night, Park Hang-seo, the South Korean head coach of the Vietnamese national football team, led his players to capture the gold in the Southeast Asian Games for the first time in 60 years with a perfect 3-0 win over the Indonesian side.
Frankly speaking, who had ever paid attention to the SEA Games football finals but for Park? Many people who stayed up late at night to watch the live telecast were so happy seeing Vietnamese players wave a big South Korean national flag, while Park showed the Vietnamese colors.
Both Son and Park were fine conductors of their matches. Especially, Park deserves applause from both Koreans and Vietnamese as he trained the underdogs, seeing them cruise to the top place in the region. His role can be compared to Guus Hiddink, the former Dutch coach, who helped make South Korea a stunning semifinalist in the 2002 Korea-Japan FIFA World Cup.
This good news was the icing on the cake after a 39-year-old female conductor from Seoul was named the music director of the San Francisco Opera (SFO) a week ago, becoming the first woman to hold the post at an American opera company with major size and stature.
Ms. Kim Eun-sun's rise to the podium of the SFO, the second largest orchestra after the New York Metropolitan Opera, comes close to maestro Chung Myung-whun who became the music director of the Paris National Opera in 1989 at the age of 36. Chung debuted with Hector Berlioz's "The Troyans," while Kim will start her new career at SFO with Ludwig van Beethoven's "Fidelio" when the 2020-21 season opens.
She is succeeding in a field where women still rarely get opportunities, though South Korea has already produced some prominent female conductors such as Chang Hanna and Sung Si-yon.
Of course, there have been some pioneers in leadership positions at opera companies, including Sarah Caldwell, founder of the Opera Company of Boston, Eve Queler, the music director of the Opera Orchestra of New York and Simone Young, former artistic director of the Hamburg State Opera.
Ms. Kim broke the "glass ceiling," a term used to describe an invisible, yet unbreakable barrier keeping women from rising to the upper rungs of the corporate ladder, despite their qualifications or achievements.
She will become a good model for her country which has one of the largest gender wage gaps among OECD nations, following Turkey and Japan.
For reference, Finland comes out top as the best country for working women, followed by fellow Nordic nations, Norway and Sweden. These countries score high in most categories and take the top spots in labor force participation.
Days ago, Finland's parliament chose Sanna Marin as the country's new prime minister (the third woman to take the top post), making the 34-year-old the world's youngest sitting head of government.
Ms. Kim deserves her success. She was lauded for the passionate pursuit of her musical journey with excellent leadership, bringing together audiences, artists, technicians and administrators.
SFO General Director Matthdew Shlvock explained the reason why the opera company chose Ms. Kim: "She's a conductor who really opens her arms and invites the people around her in to make the very best music she can."
In short, she shows what leadership should be like. The management of state is not different from that of an orchestra. It is common sense that no orchestra can produce music to satisfy the audience without the harmony of its members under the baton of the conductor.
No one will dispute the fact that South Korea has no such amazing conductors like Ms. Kim and Park in this difficult time to lead the people into a good harmony beyond the barrier of political and ideological confrontation.
Park Moo-jong (emjei29@gmail.com) is a standing adviser of The Korea Times. He served as the president-publisher of the nation's first English daily newspaper from 2004 to 2014 after working as a reporter since 1974.
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