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Opinion

Columnists

Tue, September 24, 2019 | 17:48

Hypocritical behavior

We Koreans often use “nae-ro nam-bul,” an expression certain to make non-Korean speakers tilt their heads and question: “What does this mean?” It is a coined Korean term (with an English word inserted), a four-syllable abbreviation from “naega hamyeon, 'romance'; nami hamyeon, bullyun.” In short, it means: “If I love someone, it is a romance; but if others do, it is an affair.”

2019-09-19 16:06

Common sense society

Common sense is the talk of the town, regarding the ongoing unproductive and consumptive brawls over the qualifications of Cho Kuk, a former senior presidential secretary for civil affairs, to take the justice minister post as nominated by President Moon Jae-in.

2019-09-05 17:30

Flood of banners on streets

When it comes to pollution, we are almost always reminded of air, water or noise, all of which are directly related to our living. Yet, we have been ignoring a deep-rooted evil or public nuisance unwittingly for decades: “pollution of banners on streets.”

2019-08-22 17:09

Brazen-faced Juventus and Ronaldo

Two weeks have passed since Christiano Ronaldo of Juventus enraged Koreans by not taking to the pitch for the Italian football clubs' pre-season game against a K League All-Stars in Seoul in a breach of contract requiring the Portuguese “superstar” to play at least 45 minutes.

2019-08-08 16:35

Abe grows worse

Four years ago, I wrote a column titled “Abe's absurd, abnormal remarks” after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe desperately distorted historical facts about Korea-Japan relations in an apparent bid to win the support of far right-wingers.

2019-07-25 17:03

Coward politicians

Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), a French mathematician, philosopher, physicist, inventor, writer and Catholic theologian, left an immortal saying in his posthumous collection of fragments on theology and philosophy, “Pensees (Thoughts)” published in 1670: “Man is a reed, the weakest of nature, but he is a thinking reed.”

2019-07-11 17:11

'Turtleneck syndrome'

“Who do you think will be one of the most popular medical specialists in the coming decades and who is losing popularity instead?” A retired prominent heart surgeon and a friend of mine asked one day jokingly.

2019-06-27 17:39

Our proud young ones

At six o'clock on Wednesday morning, a TV newscaster began his program: “Here comes the first bright news in a long time. Our under-20 FIFA World Cup team has advanced to the finals.” The talk of the town was the South Korea-Ecuador semifinal of the 2019 global youth football extravaganza now being held in Poland. A common question of the day at each work place was: “Did you see it?”

2019-06-13 18:17

Magnificent trade unions

The Republic of Korea is a free, democratic state, governed by laws. But, what's going on in this society of late makes many people skeptical about this constitutional fact. Where have all the law enforcement authorities gone? The ceaseless violent acts of militant unionized workers are going beyond boundaries.

2019-05-30 17:10

Standing in a long queue

It was a cold winter day in February 1990 in the Moscow of the then Soviet Union that I saw people standing in long queues in front of stores, one after another.

2019-05-16 17:35

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Code of Ethics