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Mon, October 2, 2023 | 10:20

'Sky Castle' and the deep fissures in Korean society

'Sky Castle' and the deep fissures in Korean society

Koreans have been riveted to their television sets for the last three months watching the JTBC hit drama “Sky Castle.” This tragicomedy relates the machinations of four families who live in an exclusive development that houses the restless, the reckless and the ruthless super-rich. Those four families also manage to tread on the shattered remains of other families that have s...

2019-01-22 16:24

Inconvenient parallels between responses to the Holocaust and to climate change

Inconvenient parallels between responses to the Holocaust and to climate change

A comparison between the culture of denial and self-deception that swept Europe during the Holocaust and the disgraceful failure of so-called “advanced nations” to take even the most basic steps to address the catastrophe of climate change may strike readers as a painfully stretched analogy that undermines the authors' credibility. Sadly, the resistance to this analogy that w...

2019-01-13 14:05

Meditations on the word 'unification'

Meditations on the word 'unification'

The debate about North Korea's future has been reduced to a fight between those on the one hand who favor expanding cooperation with North Korea and thereby increasing investment, business activities, transport networks, electric grids and energy ties, and those on the other hand who feel that North Korea has not completely denuclearized, that it cannot be trusted by the inte...

2018-12-23 10:26

Korea without smartphones

Korea without smartphones

Imagine Korea without smartphones. When I make this suggestion, the response I receive from Koreans is one of intense fascination. But the assumption they make is that I am going to describe a futuristic “smart city” in which we no longer will use smart phones because information will be projected on to our eyeglasses, or our retinas, or perhaps relayed directly to our brain ...

2018-12-02 13:22

NK sanctions: Green light for profit seekers and red light for concerned citizens

NK sanctions: Green light for profit seekers and red light for concerned citizens

Although the newspapers give us wall-to-wall reports about the tight economic sanctions that North Korea is subject to, sanctions meant to bring it to its knees and make it give up its nuclear weapons program forever, we also observe a steady flow of articles about meetings between government officials, Korean corporations and North Korean officials to discuss investment, inf...

2018-12-01 11:12

The 'crimes' of BTS and the hidden issues behind reparations

The 'crimes' of BTS and the hidden issues behind reparations

The November tour of Japan planned for rising Korean boy band BTS displayed the potential to become a massive commercial and economic success that would go beyond even Psy's “Gangnam Style” in Japan, and around the world. The popularity of BTS with young Japanese also had the potential to move relations between the two countries beyond the obsession with history issues and to...

2018-11-24 09:53

Corea as commons: an integral approach to unification

Corea as commons: an integral approach to unification

The relations between North and South Korea are changing so rapidly it makes your head spin. The pressing question is no longer what the next step in a process of reconciliation will be, but rather where the peninsula is heading in a political, economic and cultural sense.

2018-11-17 22:06

Assessing the Pyongyang summit

Assessing the Pyongyang summit

President Moon's visit to Pyongyang and his summit with Chairman Kim Jong-un altered the cultural and political landscape of the Korean Peninsula even further than the Panmunjom summit, and most likely ushered in a permanent shift in how Koreans conceive of themselves. So deep are the changes that they remain still invisible to Koreans caught up in the process.

2018-10-14 10:08

What do Koreans mean by 'revolution'?

What do Koreans mean by 'revolution'?

I saw an television commercial for a Korean bank recently in which the word “revolution” (hyeongmyeong, 혁명, 革命) was repeated several times. It was striking that a term once associated with the far left is used now so prevalently in contemporary South Korea. But what exactly does the term “revolution” mean today, especially in this period of rapid social, economic and technolo...

2018-10-13 09:53

The paleontology of South Korean politics

The paleontology of South Korean politics

The most remarkable moment in President Moon Jae-in’s visit to Pyongyang was his speech before 15 thousand North Korean citizens gathered in the massive May Day Stadium. The enthusiasm that radiated from this massive crowd was startling in its intensity and President Moon himself was visibly affected. Every word Moon uttered was highlighted and animated by the cheers of the a...

2018-10-06 09:19

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