Last year it hit the newspapers that Korea had one of the highest suicide rates in the world. Experts scrambled to explain this phenomenon, but perhaps one of the foremost contributing factors to this statistic is that in Korea people tend to not seek or even shun therapy when dealing with distress. The reason for this is that employers can view your mental history in the interview process. Basically, you have two choices: seek help or remain employable. No one should have to make this choice, b

“The highest result of education is tolerance.” (Helen Keller)I’m a permanent resident residing in Busan, South Korea.I came to South Korea in 1996 to take advantage of Korean people, especially women, and to generally be a bad influence upon Korean culture.My Korean wife is a victim of my trickery and my children are the result of our relationship. Wait a second, wrong story. I’m just waking up from my MBC-induced bad dream. If you watched “The Shocking Truth About Relationships with Foreigners

What happens when a brutal regime gets replaced by an alternative and largely unknown entity? Exhibit A: Libya.Shortly after Moammar Gadhafi bumped his head on a bullet, the “rebels” took over and promptly declared Sharia law. It’s a start ― I guess. Though a start of what, no one’s really quite sure. This week, a new set of Libyan “rebels” has emerged to replace the old ones, seizing control of Tripoli airport and diverting flights. It’s just like the game Whack-a-Mole: Knock one down, and five

WASHINGTON ― Recent violence in Kazakhstan and Tajikistan, following civil strife in Kyrgyzstan in 2010, has intensified international concern about Central Asia’s security as the region becomes increasingly important for delivering NATO supplies to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan.Central Asian countries allow NATO members and partners to transport supplies through their territory to support military forces in Afghanistan ― an essential complement to the flow of

The word culture is defined by the Merriam Webster Medical Dictionary as the integrated pattern of human behavior that includes thought, speech, action, and artifacts and depends upon the human capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations. I chose the above definition because a disease exists and we ought look for the cure. The main symptoms are obvious: racism, xenophobia, and ignorance. However, I don’t wish to simply eliminate the symptoms. I want to play doctor

Proclaiming its fate to be strongly tied to Asia, the United States unveiled on Saturday detailed plans to build and strengthen its military presence in the region. Time will tell whether the growing U.S. presence becomes a positive force for the peace, development and prosperity of Asia, or simply heightens the tensions in a region already convoluted by an arms race.Asia is increasingly caught in the paradox of prosperity: as countries become more prosperous, they spend proportionally more of t

In the film “Seeking Justice” (2011), Nicholas Cage plays the high school English teacher Will who lives a peaceful middle-class life in New Orleans with his wife, Laura. One day, Laura is brutally raped on her way home from work. While waiting in the hospital, Will is approached by a guy named Simon who offers to kill Laura’s attacker in return for an unspecified favor. Simon heads a secret group of citizens who are fed up with the leniency and inefficiency of the authorities, and who have deci

The ruling Saenuri Party has come up with a sweeping set of reform proposals to curtail privileges and benefits for lawmakers and hold them to higher ethical standards.The party said the package is designed to implement its pledges made for the April parliamentary election. It is desirable for a political party to try to put into practice its election promises to the public. The package contains six proposals, including scrapping lawmakers’ immunity from arrest, reforming their much criticized r

The controversy over the alleged pro-North Korea lawmakers of the left-wing United Progressive Party has escalated into a virulent ideological dispute between the ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition Democratic United Party. The escalation was sparked by DUP Rep. Lim Soo-kyung, a former high-profile student activist who became a lawmaker on a proportional representation ticket. Lim recently insulted North Korean defectors in the South by calling them “traitors.” She apologized to the def

Bahrain is tiny ― an island kingdom off the Saudi coast with a half-million citizens and as many expatriate workers. It’s also a strategic spot that hosts the U.S. 5th Fleet. And the turmoil there says a great deal about the sectarian forces at work in the Mideast and how conflagrations could be avoided with judicious leadership. This week, Bahrain’s government announced measures to ban a Shiite opposition party that has played a major role in anti- monarchy protests, apparently for minor techni

KYIV ― Politics and sports are often an incendiary mix, as the controversy now swirling around the Euro 2012 football championship, to be co-hosted by Ukraine and Poland, demonstrates. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, and other European Union leaders have said that they will boycott matches held in Ukraine, owing to the imprisonment of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and other opposition figures. Why, two decades after communism ended and

The question has to be asked: For how long will the Philippine government maintain its “strategic silence” vis-a-vis the civil conflict in Syria, which gets bloodier with each carnage reported, the latest being the killing of 108 people, including 49 children and 34 women, in Houla on May 25? The death toll in the 14-month-old conflict is reported to have climbed past 10,000, but the Philippines continues to keep to a see-hear-and-speak-no-evil mode. In fact, it was the only one absent when the

As China is a large country with a rising influence on regional and world affairs, it is no surprise that China should have been in the spotlight at the three-day Asia Security Summit that concluded on Sunday in Singapore.Beijing hopes such regional platforms will promote dialogue and cooperation to safeguard regional peace and stability.Still some nations sought to use the Singapore forum, also known as the Shangri-La Dialogue, to try and sow seeds of discord and call for outside intervention i

NEW DELHI ― As senior leaders are purged and retired provincial officials publicly call for Politburo members to be removed, it has become clear that China is at a crossroads. China’s future no longer looks to be determined by its hugely successful economy, which has turned the country into a world power in a single generation. Instead, the country’s murky and increasingly fractured politics are now driving its fate.One need look no further than the ongoing power struggle in the run-up to this a

Now that Mitt Romney is certain to be the Republican nominee for president, it’s time to examine his foreign-affairs policies and background.In short, he has no significant foreign policy experience. None at all. And his policy pronouncements have been disturbing.He called President Barack Obama “naive” for announcing plans to pull troops out of Afghanistan. Well, Romney is the one who is naive, and that’s the problem. Given all the dilemmas the U.S. faces worldwide, we don’t need another presid

ISTANBUL ― Kofi Annan is tinkering with a radical idea for reviving his moribund peace plan for Syria ― a road map for political transition there that would be negotiated through a “contact group” that could include, among other nations, Russia and Iran. The former secretary-general’s new plan was outlined Tuesday by a diplomat who is familiar with the U.N. mission. The proposal, which is expected to be presented to the Security Council later this week, comes as Annan’s peace mediation with Pres

When hundreds of policymakers, industrialists, researchers, academics and NGO representatives met in Seoul for the Global Green Growth Summit 2012 on May 10 and 11, it was no wonder that the Asian region was well represented ― not only because of the location, but also due to the region’s interest in energy developments.Positive developments, like the success of Korea’s green growth policy, contributed to that interest. Challenges, like the tragedy of Fukushima, served as a stark reminder of the

MADRID ― Economics, particularly economic theories, always yield in the end to political imperatives. That is why Europe’s fast-changing political landscape, reshaped by electoral insurrections in France and Greece against German-backed fiscal austerity, is bound to affect Europe’s economic policies as well.Such an imperative has been at work throughout Europe’s postwar history. Indeed, Europe’s shift from the modest customs union of the European Economic Community to the single market and commo

However one looks at last Friday’s jobs report, it’s a stunning reminder of how anemic the recovery has been ― and how perilously close America is to falling into another recession.Not only has the unemployment rate risen for the first time in almost a year, to 8.2 percent, but, more ominously, May’s payroll survey showed that employers created only 69,000 net new jobs. The Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics also revised its March and April reports downward. Only 96,000 new jobs have

The 19th National Assembly started its term in office on May 30. But it has yet to hold an opening session, with the rival parties bickering over who will head each of the 18 committees.No one knows when the legislature will start its normal operations. The standoff may last more than a month, if past experience is any indication.Still, each lawmaker will be given, without interruption, a monthly payment of 12.24 million won and access to 200 perks ― ranging from free rides on state-owned means