[Ana Palacio] Trump’s newspeak threatens us all

Some 2,500 years ago, Confucius was reportedly asked what he would do first if granted absolute power. “I would rectify the names of things,” he replied. Changing the language used, he suggested, would enable him to guide “affairs” and ensure that “punishments and rewards” were “appropriate.” Confucius understood that language is not merely descriptive, but prescriptive: by shaping thought and discourse, it determines actions and outcomes. Now, US President Donald Trump is attempting to leverage

May 28, 2025

[Kim Seong-kon] We keep waiting for 'another world'

Everybody fantasizes about another world. We do so especially when we are disillusioned with our present reality. It is no wonder that amusement parks have places like Fantasyland, Dreamland or Tomorrowland. In his stunning 1962 novel, “Another Country,” African American writer James Baldwin dreamed about another world where the taboos of contemporary society were absent, such as those prohibiting or condemning interracial marriage, homosexuality or bisexuality. He envisioned a country where rac

May 28, 2025

[Editorial] Stop the cycle

Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the liberal Democratic Party of Korea, said in a press conference Sunday that he is the right person to end the pattern of political retaliation because he knows its ills better than anyone else. He also said that if he is elected president, there will be no political revenge targeting certain persons, though the crime of insurrection will be strictly punished. Considering he is the front-runner in the presidential race, this is a welcome promise. As

May 27, 2025

[Vitit Muntarbhorn] Sex and gender rights in a plural world

On the occasion of the International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (May 17), UN human rights experts recently called for countries to work with LGBTI communities and not to police them. This was an apt message which has to resonate at the national and local levels, especially when the world is witnessing regression in regard to policies on diversity, equity and inclusion. Thailand can be proud of the fact that the country is generally liberal on these issues, although there is

May 27, 2025

[Lim Woong] Teaching is more than discipline and control

“Gyogwon” has become a fiercely contested idea in Korea. In English, this term is often glossed away simply as “teacher authority,” yet such shorthand conceals a dense conceptual history. Since the 1970s, the term has oscillated between three poles: an expectation of quasi-Confucian reverence, a claim to classroom command and control and alternately an autonomous exercise of professional rights. Today’s debate is dominated by the second pole — headlines filled with images of unruly students, out

May 27, 2025

[Editorial] Troops, trust and alliance

In geopolitics, ambiguity is seldom accidental. The Wall Street Journal’s report Thursday that the Pentagon is weighing the withdrawal of some 4,500 troops from South Korea — roughly 16 percent of the 28,500-strong United States Forces Korea — landed like a spark in a dry forest. Both Seoul and Washington issued swift denials. But those denials failed to fully dispel the speculation. A Pentagon spokesperson, when asked directly about the reported drawdown, said only that “there were no policy an

May 26, 2025

[Yoo Choon-sik] Another election, still no answers

With the early presidential election just a week away, the mood among voters around me feels laden not with anticipation or relief, but with a heavy sense of disillusionment — a quiet chorus of sighs. At first glance, you might assume that I am referring to the typical ups and downs in the emotions of campaign supporters as Election Day, June 3, quickly approaches. But the prevailing mood I observe goes deeper than just campaign fatigue or political rivalry. There is no denying that this snap el

May 26, 2025

[Lee Byung-jong] Bill Gates and global giving

You might call it a tale of two billionaires. One has pledged to give away nearly all his fortune to eradicate disease and reduce poverty worldwide. The other is busy slashing the world’s largest aid programs under the banner of cutting government waste. As you may have guessed, the former is Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, and the latter is Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. These two of the world’s wealthiest individuals are pursuing radically different visions of their legacy — and depending on

May 23, 2025

[Editorial] Korea’s crypto gambit

Crypto is crashing the campaign trail. With South Korea’s presidential election on June 3 fast approaching, one of the more unlikely issues to seize the spotlight is stablecoins — digital tokens tied to real-world currencies. At the forefront is the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, which has positioned won-backed stablecoins as a flagship of its digital finance agenda. Advocates argue they will preserve monetary sovereignty and foster innovation. Yet the speed with which this intricate

May 23, 2025

[Lisa Jarvis] MAHA pushes unneeded glucose tracking

Casey Means, a Stanford-trained physician and wellness influencer nominated by US President Donald Trump for surgeon general, is convinced the US is experiencing an epidemic of metabolic dysfunction — a crisis silently unfolding inside the cells of millions of Americans. One solution, she says, is giving people a close-up view of that crisis. Coincidentally, Levels, a company she co-founded, sells a system that allows people to continuously track their blood glucose levels in real time. She clai

May 22, 2025

[Wang Son-taek] Directions for new foreign policies

South Korea is standing at a critical juncture with the imminent presidential election. After the unprecedented constitutional crisis triggered by former President Yoon Suk Yeol's illegal imposition of martial law, the nation must now rebuild trust in its democratic institutions and its diplomacy. Though often overlooked by the public, foreign policy reflects a nation's values, priorities and credibility. Yoon's government pursued a foreign policy based on ideological alignment rather than natio

May 22, 2025

[Editorial] Hole in cybersecurity

The nation was jolted by interim probe findings that personal information and universal subscriber identity module or USIM data of practically all subscribers of SK Telecom may have been leaked by hackers. The cyberattack dated back about three years and turned out to be much more extensive than revealed in the initial briefing, according to the second briefing Monday by a joint investigation team of the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Internet & Security Agency. SK Telecom discovered

May 22, 2025

[Wang Son-taek] Conservatism in South Korea at crossroads

South Korea is once again at a critical turning point. The upcoming presidential early election is more than a matter of selecting a new national leader. It is a referendum on the country's democratic resilience. Five months ago, former President Yoon Suk Yeol messed with democracy in Korea, declaring unconstitutional and illegal martial law, and the nation now has a chance to reaffirm its commitment to liberal democracy. The political and psychological damage from the Yoon administration's fina

May 21, 2025

[Kim Seong-kon] We should be free from the specters of the past

One of the problems of South Korean politicians is their pertinacious obsession with the nation’s past. Instead of envisioning the future of their country, many of them are hopelessly haunted by the specters of history, never having overcome their accumulated grudges. When our left-wing politicians seized political power in 2017, they immediately implemented a committee for investigating the past and consequently disgraced and ruined so many people’s lives. According to recent press reports, Dem

May 21, 2025

[Editorial] Fiscal reckoning ahead

Moody’s Investors Service downgraded the United States’ sovereign credit rating from Aaa to Aa1 on Friday — the first time in more than a century that it had done so. With US debt now surpassing $36 trillion and political dysfunction entrenched in Washington, even the world’s most trusted reserve currency is not immune to market skepticism. The downgrade is more than a symbolic setback for the US; it serves as a cautionary tale for countries like South Korea, where the warning signs are increasi

May 21, 2025