KoreaTimes - Columnists

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

Opinion

Columnists

Jason Lim

Hair loss presidency

As the South Korean elections get closer, one must make allowances for seemingly outrageous promises by candidates vying for last-minute votes. Even by that standard, the policy position by Lee Jae-Myung, the presidential candidate for the ruling progressive party, to cover hair loss treatment under public health insurance was a bold move that captured lots of attention.

2022-01-09 16:52

'Grande fishing'

Ariana Grande is one of the biggest names in show biz, and she wants to look Asian. She wants to look Asian because she wants to remain cutting-edge and relevant with the latest pop music trend, where K-pop is a hot name, with the likes of BTS and Blackpink. This behavior is referred to as “Asian fishing,” which I gather refers to the practice of non-Asians trying to look like Asians to profit off the image somehow. Supposedly, Grande has done the same before with Black women (Black fishing) and Latina women (Latina fishing).

2021-12-12 16:48

The 'Hellbound' question

What happens when a true-to-God (pun intended), undeniable miracle occurs on live social media, witnessed by both those onsite and online? How do people react to the truly unexplainable? More interestingly, how does the whole society react when the supernatural becomes real? Those are the underlying questions that I found so fascinating in “Hellbound,” South Korea's latest blockbuster series on Netflix.

2021-11-28 16:40

Sandworms of 'Dune' and ownership of culture

“Dune” is one of the defining books of my teenage years. At the end of the 8th grade, as the early summer heat settled oppressively upon the emptying campus on the last day of school, I came across a used book sale in the cafeteria.

2021-11-14 17:05

'Diablo' atrocity and the rise of the digital state

As I write this, there is a Blue House petition titled, “Reporting Blizzard's Atrocities.” Blizzard is the maker of the popular game, “Diablo.” Over 15,000 Korean citizens have signed onto the petition. Basically, the petition complains that millions of members have paid close to $50 each to be able to play the latest version of the game released on Sept. 21, but that they have been severely hampered in their enjoyment due to frequent server outages and random issues with their game progress being forcibly rolled back to some earlier status. The real outrage stems from the game company's lac...

2021-10-31 17:10

Lost in 'Squid Game' translation

All the controversy around the translation of “Squid Games” got me thinking, for the first time in a long time, about how things really do get lost in translation. As a Korean American who's bicultural, I have been interpreting and translating my share of Korean-English for the last 20 years plus, albeit not professionally.

2021-10-17 16:48

To eat or not to eat (dogs)

When I lived in Korea in the late 1990s, I remember visiting the city of Jeonju in central Korean, famous for its bibimbap, and walking through a local market lined with dog meat butchers. They had dogs - fairly large ones - in cages lining the market street, and would actually be butchering them for customers for specific orders, not unlike the fish in aquariums that you see in seafood markets.

2021-10-03 17:00

Metaverse is the Matrix

A recent Wall Street Journal article headlined, “Digital Addictions Are Drowning Us in Dopamine,” has an interesting subtitle: “Rising rates of depression and anxiety in wealthy countries like the U.S. may be a result of our brains getting hooked on the neurotransmitter associated with pleasure.” It's basically talking about the surge of games, social media, and other behavioral addictions facilitated by the proliferation of smart phones, tablets, and, in Korea's case, cheap PC-bangs. The COVID lockdown of the last 18 months didn't help, of course.

2021-09-22 17:05

Hurrah for tasty cultural appropriation

A recent AP article titled, “New Asian American bakeries find bicultural sweet spot,” tells the story of Asian American bakeries innovating on traditional American cookies with ingredients from their cultural culinary traditions. For example, the article highlights a “Dimsum Cookie” that's infused with sesame seeds and red beans. But if you lived near a “Korea Town” in well-known center with a Korean population, bakeries that sell traditional Korean baked goods next to American staples infused with ethnic flavors is nothing new. At least in the Northern Virginia area where I live, Korean bak...

2021-09-05 17:05

A token, but not tokenized

I grew up in New York City in the 1980s, but went to a school that was largely devoid of Asians. In a class of a little over 100 students, I had one Korean kid who stayed for a year and another Japanese kid who stayed for two. At the same time, I had my own clique with good buddies belonging to the nebulous grey area between jocks and nerds. Despite the absence of others who looked like me, I felt as if I belonged.

2021-08-22 17:00

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Top 10 Stories

1	Scientists find green way to turn CO2 into fuel with sunlight

2	Kim Jong-un's rejection of Russia's food assistance irritates North Korean defectors

3	Opposition party in turmoil as leader could be arrested on Tuesday

4	Korea boosts subsidies to rev up falling EV sales

5	Russia lodges protest to S.Korean envoy over Yoon's UN speech

6	Foreign employees rewarded for contribution to Korea's shipbuilding industry

7	Lawmakers want to grill business tycoons over decision to rejoin FKI

8	Gov't reviews changing description of Fukushima wastewater

9	'Songpyeon' for low-income families

10	Saudi Arabia celebrates 93rd National Day

DARKROOM