Rep. Chung Dong-young, an executive member of the opposition Democratic Party, raised the issue of co-hosting the 2018 Winter Olympics with North Korea and DP Chair Sohn Hak-kyu endorsed it in a top-level meeting Monday at Alpensia Resort, which will be the main venue of the Games seven years later. “We should consider it seriously and earnestly,” he said. The party’s rank-and-file loyalists appar

As Korean movies, TV dramas and music and dance shows gain popularity worldwide, there are calls for greater government support to accelerate their dissemination, preferably through the work of overseas Korean cultural missions. We believe there are better ideas.It is true that popular entertainment products contribute a lot to a country’s overall profile and their so-called brand power. Koreans,

“We’re a disaster area,” Alexis Bonogofsky told me, “and it’s going to take a long time to get over it.”Bonogofsky and her partner, Mike Scott, are all over the news this week, telling the world about how Montana’s Exxon Mobil pipeline spill has fouled their goat ranch and is threatening the health of their animals.But my conversation with Bonogofsky was four full days before the pipeline began po

In a world where everything’s refundable, fast-forwardable or otherwise disposable, it’s easy to forget that buying a movie ticket has never been a risk-free proposition.There’s something exhilarating about walking out of a movie. Not only does it reacquaint you with the notion of your own free will (“Wait a second, no one is forcing me to watch Tom Hanks ride around on a scooter!”), it’s like get

Somewhere along the way, the American viewing public mistook the Casey Anthony trial for an episode of “American Idol.” If the audience had been allowed to vote, she’d be on her way to Florida’s death row.Instead, she’ll be released within days, acquitted of first-degree murder of her 2-year-old daughter. She’ll be free to sell her story, have another baby, go on breathing ― all to the loud dismay

Granted we now live in the age of radical social change, but we should keep the beautiful custom of respecting older people.When planning the agenda for the Seoul International Forum for Literature last May, the organizing committee encountered one minor problem: Who should have the honor of proposing a toast at the welcome reception among the 14 distinguished international guests? A committee mem

Why is there always such poor advance work when it comes to presidential candidates and theme songs?Every four years, it seems, someone uses a song without getting the necessary clearance. You’d think politicians would learn from their predecessors’ mistakes.Three decades ago, Bruce Springsteen didn’t want Ronald Reagan using “Born in the U.S.A.” And two weeks ago, Tom Petty told Michele Bachmann

Companies buy luxury cars for a variety of business purposes. Keeping fleets of expensive cars might demonstrate business strength and add to corporate creditability. Nothing wrong if company owners, their spouses and children holding executive positions drive these corporate cars for commuting or on local tours with domestic or foreign clients.It is a totally different matter, however, if the son

Even at the height of celebrations over winning the right to host the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in the city of PyeongChang, South Koreans have a shadow of anxiety as to how North Koreans might be reacting to it. This is because the past decades history of inter-Korean relations over the includes some extremely serious incidents which analysts linked to the North’s attempt to disrupt major sports f

Just when you think Casey Anthony can’t possibly nauseate you anymore than she has already, try this:She wants more children.“I had a dream not too long ago that I was pregnant,” she wrote in a letter to another prison inmate a few years ago.“It was like having Cays all over again,” Anthony continued, referring to her little girl, Caylee. “I’ve thought about adopting, which even sounds weird to me

Does anyone remember Iraq?As the United States moves toward withdrawing its last 46,000 troops from that country by the end of 2011, Iraq has become a black hole. It is the place Americans want to forget and the media hardly cover.No wonder. Although violence is way down since the mid-2000s, there’s been a resurgence of car bombs and sectarian killings. The Iraqi government barely functions, and t

The signature line of President Obama’s June 22 Afghanistan address was “America, it is time to focus on nation-building here at home.” This no doubt resonates among an electorate sick of foreign wars and eager to focus on domestic problems, but it is a wrongheaded statement.Whenever America has eschewed commitments abroad and turned inward, the results have been disastrous. The most isolationist

Park’s success will depend, in the end, on the effectiveness of her campaign in further defining her character along those lines.SEOUL ― It is something of a clich question in South Korea nowadays: Who would be the country’s next president if the election were held tomorrow, rather than in December 2012?Numerous opinion polls show Park Geun-hye of the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) to be the le

For the last few weeks, I’ve been unable to get a startling statistic out of my head: Since the recession officially ended, Texas has created more than four of every 10 new jobs in America.That’s right, Texas: the reddest of red states, home to gun lovers and school textbooks that openly question whether the Founding Fathers intended for the separation of church and state. I am no ideologue. Still

James Madison would have smiled had he heard about President Obama’s maneuver, seemingly in defiance of the War Powers Act, to avoid asking Congress to authorize military action in Libya.The act, passed in 1973, came at a time when the Vietnam War had been under way for years without any president asking for congressional approval. Members of Congress wanted future presidents to be obliged to come

Since moving to Philadelphia, I’ve often visited the room in Independence Hall where the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.As July Fourth approached, I felt a special need to return there to pay tribute to the qualities that enabled those men to establish a democratic system. I refer to their ability to compromise and show tolerance for the opinions of ot

The growing number of low-cost carriers in Asia in recent years is putting pressure on Japan to reform its commercial aviation system.Two South Korean LCCs have expanded their routes to include service to and from Japan this year, following similar moves by Chinese and Malaysian low-fare airlines last year. Another South Korean LCC is set to start service to Japan in mid-July. Clearly, Asian LCC o

Yingluck Shinawatra and her Pheu Thai party have won Thailand’s parliamentary elections, claiming a commanding majority in the legislature. The results are a vindication of sorts for Shinawatra’s brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, deposed in 2006 by a military coup.We say “of sorts” because Thaksin has been vindicated before: Since the coup, Thai politics have been marked by the co

In short, in spite of India’s universities churning out some two million graduates every year, there has been no Bill Gates, no Steve Jobs and no Nobel laureate among them in a long, long time.In spite of India’s universities churning out some two million graduates every year, there has been no Bill Gates or a Nobel laureate among them in a long time. The education system that rewards rote learnin

When wage earners are asked if they are better off today than before, many will probably be quick to say no. Such an instant response is borne out by new wage figures. Worse still, few signs indicate there will be any significant improvement in the near future.The average monthly real wage per employee was at 2,364,074 won during the first quarter of this year, down 4.08 percent from a year before