Last July, in the middle of Gangnam, a posh district in Seoul well known for the global hit K-pop song “Gangnam Style,” a man in his 20s, who took methamphetamine at a drinking party, died in a car accident on his way home. Police found 64 grams of methamphetamine in his vehicle. Recently, a smuggler carrying illegal drugs to South Korea in his stomach died after packets of drugs burst inside hi...

President Joe Biden and his designated message-deliverers just got some crucial, last-minute insights -- from a most unlikely source -- Wednesday night. It made clear how they should be talking about the only issue that almost half of Americans say they really care about in this all-over-the-lot midterm campaign. Yep, we are talking today about the issue you assumed Democratic strategist James C...

Put aside, if you can, the growing anxiety about Russian President Vladimir Putin going nuclear in his barbaric war against Ukraine. Even if he doesn’t -- and the risk, though real, remains small -- he’s already brought the whole world closer to atomic disaster occurring at some point. That’s because Putin, with his repeated threats to drop nukes on Ukraine or other European countries, has in ef...

The 104-minute speech by Chinese President Xi Jinping at the country’s 20th party congress reveals a leader who believes he is on a historic mission to save China’s self-described socialism in the 21st century. Xi’s Oct. 16 speech launched the twice-a-decade meeting, where the national Communist Party appoints its leadership and announces China’s policy direction for the coming years. The addres...

After years of sitting behind a wall, the large empty space in Songhyeon-dong opened to the public on Oct. 7 this year. During the Japanese colonial period, the space was used for housing for employees of the Joseon Shiksan Bank. From liberation in 1945 to 1997, it was a housing compound for US diplomats. After the diplomats moved out, Samsung Life Insurance bought the land and then sold it to Ko...

Bishkek’s residents have been confronted with an unusual sight these past few weeks. The streets of Kyrgyzstan’s capital are teeming with tens of thousands of educated men with European features -- Russian citizens fleeing President Vladimir Putin’s “partial mobilization” of 300,000 reservists to fight his war against Ukraine. The Kyrgyz people and government have welcomed them with open arms. M...

If, just if, the Yoon Suk-yeol administration of South Korea decides to go nuclear to counter the nuclear threat from North Korea, it will have to deal first with the leftist opposition inside the country before trying to win support from its allies. Actually, voices are growing in the intellectual community of South Korea, calling for the development of the nation’s own nuclear arms capability ...

Once again, the talking- and typing-heads are filling our news screens with double-doming about building an “off-ramp” Vladimir Putin will be willing to take to get out of the Ukraine war. But Putin still doesn’t seem to be looking for an off-ramp. He’s frantically watching out for a trapdoor. It may well be his most likely exit from the Ukraine war he now knows he can’t win. A now panicky Puti...

Travelling around the world these days, we can easily see Korean pop culture's diplomatic power. K-pop and K-film have not only let the world know about South Korea, but also significantly upgraded its international image. Recently, I found out that the most highly rated Netflix movies included two Korean films, “Handmaiden” and “Mother.” Then, I came across an intriguing article in The Guardian...