This year, the youngest draftees who invaded Normandy on June 6, 1944 are 90 years old. By now, our cultural understanding of D-Day focuses on the valor of those young men who fought and died on the beaches. The enduring image of the day is Robert F. Sargent’s photo “Into the Jaws of Death,” which shows American soldiers wading out of a landing craft toward forbidding, smoke-shrouded cliffs — not fearlessly, but in spite of their terror. Yet while the courage and fortitude of the everyday soldie

Out of curiosity, I researched a little what happened to former secretaries-general of the United Nations after they left New York with a few clicks on Internet sites, including Wikipedia. Here’s what I learned:Kurt Waldheim of Austria, who served as the U.N. chief 1972-1981, first unsuccessfully sought the presidency of his country in 1981 immediately after he finished his second term with the world body. Five years later, he was elected president in a direct vote to become the head of state wi

Unlike mixed evaluations abroad, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is held in high esteem in his native country. In last year’s survey conducted by the Daily UNN, a specialized newspaper for university students and faculty members, he was picked as the most respected Korean by college students.The former Korean foreign minister, who was reelected to the top U.N. post in 2011, will finish his two terms at the world body at the end of this year. And public attention is being paid to his future co

It’s rare that President Barack Obama and Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus agree. In recent weeks, they both have said that the presidential nominating process is not rigged.They are right. That hasn’t stopped those displeased with the results — establishment Republicans and Democrats who support Sen. Bernie Sanders — from insisting on changing the rules for the next election.Some tweaks are always in order, but both sides are trying to craft procedures that would have worke

The 20th National Assembly convened its first session Tuesday, but lawmakers are sitting idle as rival parties have failed to reach an agreement on the election of the new Assembly leadership and committee chiefs.The law on the operation of parliament stipulates that the election of the speaker and vice speaker should be held on the first day of the first extraordinary session convened after the general election for Assembly members.The law also says the election of heads of the 18 standing comm

The public’s trust in prosecutors -- already quite low -- has sunk further as a senior prosecutor has been found to have told lies in the process of clarifying how he earned huge stock trading gains last year. Jin Kyung-jun, the commissioner of the Korea Immigration Service under the Ministry of Justice, drew attention in March when the Government Public Ethics Committee disclosed the personal wealth of high-ranking government officials.Jin ranked sixth among the 1,813 senior government official

The millennials have surpassed baby boomers to become the country’s largest living generation, according to the Pew Research Center. How does that make you feel? Responses in the form of a selfie or an emoji are optional.　If you’ve never taken a selfie or used an emoji -- indeed, if you stumble over the terms -- you’re likely not a young-adult millennial. And you may wonder how things will pan out for society when they take charge. Especially since they never pry their phones away from their fac

This is the second of a three-part contribution on relations between Korea and France, which have marked the 130th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic relations. -- Ed.France and Korea in the powers gameHaving been forced to open herself and her ports to the rest of the world in 1880, Korea became a battlefield for the conflicting interests of China, Japan and Russia. Korea entered an unprecedented crisis during which the destiny of the Korean nation as well as her cultural iden

Some time ago, a German commercial pulled at the heartstrings of viewers. A widowed old man home alone at Christmas sends his children false news of his death. His children gather at his place in grief only to find a sumptuous candlelit Christmas feast lay out on the dinner table. The old man shows up and asks his children and grandchildren, “How else could I have brought you all together, hmm?” Growing old is a sad thing. You become weak both physically and spiritually. Your body is no longer s

Strictly speaking, Philippine President-elect Rodrigo Duterte did not endorse the killing of journalists, but justified it. He gave the signal to those with an ax to grind against journalists to start grinding that ax into journalists’ skulls.Last Tuesday, President-elect Rodrigo Duterte presented his cabinet-in-waiting to the public for the first time. The rite of political passage was quickly overshadowed, however, when Duterte’s news conference took a by-now-familiar turn for the bizarre.He c

In late May, I made my second visit to Bulguksa Temple, one of Korea’s most famous Buddhist temples. The first visit was in 1984, when I was studying Korean. The Korea I knew in 1984 came to mind as I walked around the temple and its extensive grounds. As I ended my visit and took the bus back to town, my thoughts focused on the changes in and problems with tourism in Korea.　In 1984, I visited Bulguksa Temple with two Japanese friends who had come to Korea by ferry from Shimonoseki to Busan. We

You probably don’t need statistics or scientific research to see how hard life in this society is. There are nonstop incidents and controversies that illustrate the difficulties and adversities faced by contemporary Koreans. Young people fed up with the shortage of decent jobs kill themselves, people frustrated with life wield knives at strangers and couples have no qualms about abusing -- and even murdering --their children. Korean workers have one of the world’s longest workweeks, the gap betw

Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se’s landmark visit to Cuba, with which South Korea lacks official ties, is timely for several reasons. First, Yun’s participation in the summit of Association of Caribbean States countries will certainly help South Korea foster closer relations with the region, which has remained low in its foreign policy agenda. The ACS, founded in 1995, now comprises 25 countries in the region, and Yun joined the gathering as an observer, a status South Korea has been given since 19

This is the first of a three-part contribution on diplomatic relations between Korea and France, which marked the 130th anniversary of its establishment this year.  – Ed. On June 4, 1886, in Seoul, Korea and France concluded the Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation. The year 2016 marks the 130th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Korea and France. Despite this, Korean and French do not quite know each other. Although recently due to the Korean wave, the Fre

After reading an article titled “Syrian Refugees Stuck in Limbo at Seoul Airport” (courtesy of Paula Hancocks and KJ Kwon of CNN International), I could not help but chuckle. I took note of how it was written to paint a picture of a humanitarian crisis, inflicting subtle yet direct blame on Korea, for not addressing the needs of those in question -- those who have been given food, but only eat bread because of their religious faith. I have seen this journalist tactic used all too often, trying t

If the Federal Reserve was looking for reasons not to raise interest rates when its policymaking committee meets later this month, it now has two. Today’s new and surprisingly weak U.S. employment numbers, added to investor anxiety about a possible British exit from the European Union, make a plausible case for leaving short-term interest rates unchanged.That would be a mistake. The Fed needs to step back and consider. A British exit and volatile U.S. jobs numbers notwithstanding, the balance of

When the winds of change blow, a Chinese proverb says, some people build walls and others build windmills. Given the tremendous environmental challenges the world faces, it’s not enough just to build windmills. We need to develop a range of innovative environmental technologies, and we need to break down barriers to trading them worldwide.Global trade in wind turbines, water filters and other environmental goods amounts to nearly $1 trillion annually, and it’s growing fast. But high tariffs acro

Nuclear power plants in Taiwan are still a controversial issue, yet to have more transparency and caution toward it should be a consensus.It may be debatable whether nuclear power is a safe form of energy, but there is no question that nuclear power plants must be managed with extreme caution.A nuclear meltdown has always been a nightmarish possibility haunting what supporters argue is a clean form of energy -- at least cleaner than coal-fired electricity in terms of carbon emissions.The public’

It may come as a surprise to today’s children to learn that fairy-tale princesses like Sleeping Beauty are more likely to end up living with their parents than with Prince Charming. The Pew Foundation recently reported that for the first time in more than 100 years, young adults ages 18 to 34 in the U.S. are more likely to reside with their parents than with romantic partners.Though this situation is new, it’s not necessarily a bad thing.Clearly the economy plays a role. In 1960, when it was eas

Two high-profile accidents recently occurred at workplaces, both of which took lives. The consensus of the public is that the mishaps are attributable to negligent security measures.Some claimed that these incidents could have been avoided as they were the type of accidents that often take place in underdeveloped countries and there were few safety measures in place for the workers. On Wednesday, four people died and 10 others were injured after a subway construction site in Namyangju, Gyeonggi