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Opinion

Columnists

Grim and ghoulish spectacle

In recent days, South Koreans have been transfixed by a gruesome and unusual drama: The fate of an unnamed hospital patient fighting for his life.

2017-11-20 17:37

Mr. President: What is your red line?

Today, you landed in the country which lies closest to - and has the most to lose from - the biggest foreign policy conundrum facing your presidency: North Korea and its strategic arms programs. You need to bring cool, clear, focused, principled and possibly ruthless thinking to bear on this issue. Above all:“What is your red line?” The stakes are high. You like winners, and South Korea is arguably the greatest national success story of the 20th century. Assuming a zero-to-hero trajectory, this nation mastered global commerce and adopted democratic governance. These are empowering forces tha...

2017-11-06 17:29

America first in Korea?

In recent weeks, several editorials by South Koreans have appeared in U.S. media. Their overall thrust is South Koreans’ fear of U.S. President Donald Trump’s unpredictability; of possible American military action on the peninsula; and of resultant devastation. Doubtless, these articles reflect a legitimate body of South Korean opinion. And they make an important case against war. Absent from these pieces is mention of North Korea’s vileness - its lethally self-centric hereditary dictatorship; its massive restrictions on individual freedoms; its hideous human rights abuses; its frequent bout...

2017-10-23 17:58

Chuseok: a curmudgeon's Guide

The Chuseok holiday is over for another year - and thank God for that. I can barely wait to get back to work… “What?!?” you exclaim. “What could possibly be wrong with a days-long, family-centric, traditional holiday?” Well actually - quite a lot. Allow me to don my curmudgeon’s hat and brief you fully. Chuseok is when every man, his cousin and their dog travel home to visit old Mom and Dad. If you are blessed, Mom and Dad live somewhere civilized and accessible - in, say, a luxury Gangnam apartment. But if they reside in your ancestral village deep in rural Middleofnowhere-Namdo - good luck.

2017-10-09 17:21

Decapitation strike? Get real

So, South Korea is reportedly activating a special forces unit tasked with “decapitating” the North Korean leader. Well, we have seen this before on the peninsula. Things did not end well. In January 1968, 31 North Korean commandos infiltrated across the DMZ and penetrated Seoul. Their objective: Assassinate President Park Chung-hee. They got to within 100 meters of the Blue House - where South Korean forces sprang a massive ambush.

2017-09-25 17:06

Here we go again...

Ho hum. Another corporate royal has been convicted of multiple crimes. Last week, a court found Samsung prince Lee Jae-yong guilty of bribery, embezzlement, hiding assets overseas and perjury. So, he did the crime(s). Will he do the time? Don’t bet on it. Again and again, breathless media have described judicial proceedings against Korean corporate criminals as “landmarks,” assuming that - at long last - the country has “lost patience” with endless chaebol malfeasances, and is finally “getting tough” with its hitherto bulletproof tycoons. But again and again, the big bosses escape justice - ...

2017-08-28 17:25

Keep Calm and Stay in Seoul

“Tensions are spiking” around the Korean peninsula - again. Global media are issuing dire Armageddon scenarios - again. Social media is alive with conjecture about what dire steps Pyongyang or Washington will take next - again. Anxious friends and relatives are calling Seoul and asking expatriates for reassurance - again. Sigh. Given the frequency of “spiking tensions,” it is time for an expat form letter. Allow me... Dear Mum and Dad/Dear Son and Daughter/Dear Colleague (DELETE AS APPROPRIATE):

2017-08-14 18:12

Moon stresses peaceful NK resolution

Was Park Chung-hee a dictator?

He was a Japanese collaborator and one-time communist who cynically engineered a path to the top. He was a sinister general who seized power via coup. To earn Yankee dollars, he ruthlessly exploited Korean workers in sweatshop factories and Korean soldiers in Vietnamese jungles. He bulldozed traditional architecture and created an urbanized Korea of brutish ugliness. He suppressed democratic institutions, wielded security services to suppress human rights and altered the constitution to maintain power. Park Chung-hee, in short, was a dictator. Particularly following the downfall of his daugh...

2017-07-31 18:20

Slaughtered dogs and media

On Saturday evening, I attended a film screening at a coffee shop arranged by the Seoul branch of the Asian-American Journalists’ Association. The location was comfortable and the company convivial, but the film was not your typical Saturday night bubble-gum viewing. In fact, it was harrowing. The film was a documentary covering Korea’s dog-meat trade from all angles. Dog farmers - whose demeanors ranged from coolly professional to savagely inhumane - showed their facilities, activities and doomed charges. A pusillanimous National Assembly adviser prattled about the threat to the “national i...

2017-07-17 17:00

Koreans old and new

There are definitely “old” and “young” Koreans. Are there “old” and “new” Koreans? This was a question I pondered when asked to join a recent Korea Times forum on the issue. Certainly, the turbulence that rocked this peninsula in the 20th century, and the pace of economic, political and social development in the second half of the century has opened chasms between generations. A Korean born in 1900 would have grown up in the twilight years of a medieval dynasty. He would have experienced colonization, national division, war and devastation. If he had lived until 2000, he would have witnessed...

2017-07-03 17:34

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