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Sat, October 21, 2017 | 03:14

Opinion > Times Forum >

Effects of immigration law changes

Permanent residence visas for foreigners in Korea have not existed for as long as people might think. As recently as 20 years ago, although a foreign woman who married a Korean man was able to obtain a residence visa, a foreign man who married a local was not entitled to such a benefit. His permit to reside in Korea depended upon his job; if he became unemployed or retired, h...

Times Forum | 2017-09-05 17:40

Let's not jump gun

During the course of the Special Prosecutor's investigation and the trial against Samsung's top executive Lee Jae-yong, chaebol-beating has become one of the most popular pastimes in Korea. I recently came across a column in The Korea Times by a British journalist and author who argued punishing the "prince" of Samsung will serve as a warning to other chaebol and Samsung can ...

Times Forum | 2017-09-04 17:08

Steps to help startups

After a decade with the community’s main focus seemingly elsewhere, it is refreshing to have a chief executive who is inclined to be proactive in support of economic development generally and the business community in particular. The proposal by Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor to set aside HK$5 billion - in the form of foregone government revenues - to turn that support into concr...

Times Forum | 2017-08-29 17:30

Was it really horrible deal?

In the midst of elevated tension on the Korean Peninsula, South Korea and the United States held a special session of a Joint Committee under the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) in Seoul on Aug. 22, 2017. This meeting was requested by U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer in July to consider matters affecting the operation of the KORUS FTA, including ...

Times Forum | 2017-08-29 17:26

3 Ms of Korean street fashion

This time around, I’m going to do something unusual by applying grade school math to the process of choosing subjects to represent the totality of Korean social (and sartorial) reality. This is because documenting the Korean street fashion culture is essentially ethnography (close, anthropological studies of people), and faces the same set of bias/sampling concerns that socio...

Times Forum | 2017-08-23 17:33

Danger of reckless threats

President Trump’s off-the- cuff comment that North Korea could expect fire and fury like the world has never seen if it threatens the US continues to occasion alarm and consternation here and abroad, especially in South Korea. Despite dire threats from the North over the years, South Korea has successfully relied on America’s nuclear umbrella for its ultimate security. Now No...

Times Forum | 2017-08-22 17:40

Why world needs to study China

Jean-Pierre Lehmann says the country’s centrality in our 21st-century world makes it imperative that outsiders understand what is shaping its views and decisions, and Hong Kong could do more to facilitate such learning Far from ushering in a “new world order”, so far the 21st century has been marked by turbulent uncertainties. There are very few things on which a consensus co...

Times Forum | 2017-08-21 17:40

All nations desire FDI inflows

Until a few years ago I had taught international economics including a subject about international trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) at Sungkyunkwan University. I remember this subject was very popular among the students, particularly foreign students. By the university’s policy, I have lectured this course in English because a good number of foreign students were tak...

Times Forum | 2017-08-21 17:17

Franchises and the law

In the news lately there have been several negative storylines about Korean franchise owners enriching themselves at the expense of their franchisees. Of course, the very idea behind a franchise is to own intellectual property (a brand, a product or a business model) that makes money through other people’s labor who pay for the right to use it. The Korean franchise industry i...

Times Forum | 2017-08-15 17:43

The coming chaos on Korean Peninsula

Korean newspapers were filled with reports of the unprecedented drought that did such damage to local agriculture over the last month leaving reservoirs bone dry. The Korea Meteorological Administration noted in May that total precipitation was just 161.1mm, the second-lowest since statistics started being kept in 1973. But the Korean media has hardly a word to say about the ...

Times Forum | 2017-08-08 17:39

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Lunch with Navy sailors