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Tue, September 26, 2017 | 16:18

Opinion > Columnists > Semoon Chang >

House of Seven Gables

I was invited to join the July 14 to 17 trip from Washington to Philadelphia to Boston to New York, and finally back to Washington. What was unique about the trip was that the objective was to visit places that were more historical than, say, sight-seeing. For instance, we visited the historical Episcopal Trinity Churchin New York that opened in 1846, but not the 911 Memorial or the new World Trade Center around the corner. The trip was organized by the highly respected Chang Soo-young who was the second President of Pohang School of Engineering, and writer Lee Yung-mook who is well known in...

Semoon Chang | 2017-09-17 17:52

Is Kim Jong-un really crazy?

Practically, everyone thinks Kim Jong Un of North Korea is crazy, if not outright insane. I am not so sure. In this article, I will try to figure out how events are unfolding from his viewpoint. When Kim’s father began to push the nuclear program, neither his father nor his close advisors had any specific plans in mind beyond the thought that they had to be strong to survive. Now that their nuclear weapons program is almost completed, Kim may have a pretty good idea of what he wants and what he believes he can have. Kim may believe, perhaps correctly, that there are many supporters of his po...

Semoon Chang | 2017-09-03 18:01

Moon's job policies

I really think President Moon Jae-in cares deeply about the Korean people and is trying to help them, especially those who are struggling to make ends meet. Unfortunately, the economy has its own mind. Economists have studied how the economy works for over 250 years, but still have not figured out how it works enough to make it behave the way we want it to. In fact, the economy behaves so independently that sometimes our well-intentioned policies can have exactly the opposite effect. Take as an example the proposed policy that will convert all irregular jobs to full-time regular ones. There ...

Semoon Chang | 2017-08-20 16:48

Introducing social dancing to beginners

One of the most popular articles I have written in this column is one on dancing that was printed in the July 9 issue of this newspaper. Within two weeks of posting the link to the article on LinkedIn, it got well over 3,000 views. If you missed it, you may go back and read the article, which is titled “Let us dance away all our troubles.” Since the previous article was so popular, I would like to give you some more advice that may be helpful for those who consider learning social dancing. Many of you are interested in learning social dancing but are hesitating for many different reasons: I ...

Semoon Chang | 2017-08-06 17:30

Likely changes for US corporate income tax codes

One reform among the many tax reform proposals made by President Donald Trump relates to corporate income tax. Currently, the corporate income tax rate of the U.S. is near the highest in the entire world, prompting U.S. multi-national companies to keep their profits overseas and even relocate their headquarters to other countries. So far, two proposals are on the table. One is the Trump Tax Plans announced on April 26. 2017, and the other is the GOP (Republican Party) 2016 Policy Paper. The Trump plan proposes a cut in the corporate income tax rate from 35 percent to 15 percent and a territo...

Semoon Chang | 2017-07-23 16:54

Let us dance away all our troubles!

I am a dancer. To me, a dancer is someone who enjoys dancing, regardless of how good a dancer one may be. In skills, I am about average, good enough to mix in the dancing crowd but nothing to brag about. What I am not sure is whether I am a ballroom dancer or a social dancer. Perhaps, the best way of making the distinction is to divide ballroom dancing into two groups: social ballroom dancing or social dancing in brief, and competitive ballroom dancing. I need to introduce two more confusing terminologies: American dancing which allows free movement, and European dancing which usually mainta...

Semoon Chang | 2017-07-09 17:08

Pre-summit perceptions of Americans

In the turbulent history of the two Koreas, I think now is a very dangerous time for everyone in the two countries. The importance of the coming summit between President Moon Jae-in of Korea and President Donald Trump of the U.S. may well determine the fate of the two Koreas. Please note that I do support President Moon. If you have any doubt, you can listen to my live interview on “tbse FM This Morning” radio program in Seoul on June 1 (local time). I did explicitly state that we should support President Moon. My suggestion in this article is prepared not as a critic, but as a supporter. I ...

Semoon Chang | 2017-06-25 17:18

Palbong Literary Award

If you have never heard of this award, you are not alone. When I was invited by my friend, Lee Young-mook, to attend the award ceremony, I said yes, not because I knew anything about the award, but because of my loyalty to friendship with Young-mook. I had no idea of what the award was about.

Semoon Chang | 2017-06-11 16:48

Marking products with 'Made in USA'

As U.S. President Trump’s new foreign trade policy begins to unfold, many exporters to the U.S. market, including those in Korea, are increasingly nervous of what might happen to their exports. For U.S. companies that contemplate relocating their production facilities overseas, they may get a call from President Trump and reverse their decisions. These U.S. companies, including Ford Motor and Carrier, usually receive financial incentives to keep their production facilities in the U.S. instead of moving to overseas locations. For foreign exporters to the U.S. market, which may be forced to re...

Semoon Chang | 2017-05-28 18:04

Political prisoners in North Korea

Let us be honest. When Trump ran for the presidency of the United States last year, one of his key campaign promises was to re-negotiate the U.S. trade deal with China because the annual trade deficit of the U.S. against China has been exceeding $300 billion, which is clearly unsustainable.

Semoon Chang | 2017-05-14 16:40

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Gimje Horizon Festival