[Editorial] Stop medical standoff

Government, doctors must return to dialogue and negotiate medical school quota for 2026 South Korea’s medical care crisis shows no sign of abating. The majority of junior doctors are yet to return to their workplaces. Emergency room care continues to struggle with staff shortages. Doctors are overworked, and patients are also forced to live with delays or cancellations of surgeries. It is time to end the protracted medical crisis sparked by President Yoon Suk Yeol’s policy initiative to expand

Feb. 19, 2025

[Dale Garratt] What’s right and wrong with US foreign aid

US President Donald Trump’s cancellation of foreign aid has caused intense debate in America and around the world. In the US it has largely come down, as usual, to a conflict between the right-wing and left-wing. We need to be smart, using a “head-wing” approach, if you will. By recognizing the good points on both sides and incorporating them into one national strategy, everyone will benefit. First, let’s look at a wrong use of foreign aid. It is not right to use aid as a way to coerce other cou

Feb. 19, 2025

[Grace Kao] US blocks words, targets sociology, society

Politically. Historical. Gender. Female. Women. Race and Ethnicity. Barriers. Cultural Differences. Equality. Inequality. Socio-Economic Status. LGBT. These are words that appear regularly in sociological articles, books and classes. They are basic concepts that describe features of modern societies. Since sociology is the study of society, we cannot avoid these words and basic concepts. They are also on the list of over 100 words and phrases that have been given to staff at the National Science

Feb. 18, 2025

[Lee Jae-min] Korea strolls as others sprint in tech race

It all boils down to technology. At the end of the day, the question is who has the technological edge? Navigating the uncharted terrain of US-China confrontation, supply chain reformulation and economic security, a new chapter of which has just begun with Trump 2.0, we in Korea somehow tend to forget this cardinal rule. Instead, the key question for the past several years has been framed as what Korea should do to position itself in the new geopolitical and geoeconomic landscape. This tendency

Feb. 18, 2025

[Editorial] Lee's self-contradiction

DP leader vows to lessen inheritance tax, refuses to lower tax on business bequests Rep. Lee Jae-myung, chair of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, has vowed to try to lessen the tax burden on those who inherit a house. Lee said last Saturday that he will seek to ensure that surviving spouses and children can keep living in their homes and not have to sell them to pay inheritance tax. Current inheritance tax rates range from 10 to 50 percent, with 500 million won ($346,000) deducted

Feb. 18, 2025

[Editorial] Tackle ‘reciprocal’ tariffs

US plans for new tariffs on trading partners will pose greater challenges for South Korea The United States plans to map out new tariff levels for its trading partners based on these other countries' tariffs, nontariff barriers and other trade-related policies in a way that will effectively break the established global trade rules, and South Korea is likely to face an uphill battle in securing a better position in its new trade relations with the US. On Thursday, US President Donald Trump asked

Feb. 17, 2025

[Andreas Kluth] America becoming alone under Trump

"America First," as practiced by President Donald Trump in his second term, will instead -- and probably sooner rather than later -- amount to "America Isolated" or even "America Hated." With respect to foreign policy, Trump campaigned on the promise that he would, through sheer “strength,” be a peacemaker, settling wars such as Russia’s against Ukraine within 24 hours and preventing new ones from breaking out. But since his reelection, and especially since his inauguration, Trump has adopted a

Feb. 17, 2025

[Yoo Choon-sik] South Korea could have done better in Paris

One of the world’s largest and most influential annual AI summit events has just ended in Paris, with top officials from major countries, global artificial intelligence companies, academic organizations and civil society groups attending to share their insights and make their arguments on key issues. Participants included such global leaders in politics, diplomacy and technology innovation as French President Emmanuel Macron, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US Vice President JD Vance, Chine

Feb. 17, 2025

[Editorial] Improve safety in schools

Korea needs strong, preventive safety measures for both students and teachers Schools are supposed to be the safest place to be for both students and teachers. But the fatal stabbing of an 8-year-old student by a teacher has put that assumption in question in a way that has shocked, terrified and weighed heavily on people across the nation. Kim Ha-neul was stabbed to death by a teacher in her 40s at an elementary school in Daejeon on Monday. Police said the child died from multiple wounds from a

Feb. 14, 2025

[Lee Byung-jong] Ishiba’s flattery diplomacy

Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba may be struggling with rock-bottom approval ratings at home, but abroad, he has become an overnight sensation -- one that world leaders are eager to emulate. His summit with the unpredictable and impulsive new US president, Donald Trump, demonstrated a masterclass in diplomacy, showcasing how to manage Trump’s erratic leadership style. Analysts believe Ishiba secured most of Japan’s key objectives through a strategy of “flattery diplomacy,” using warm praise

Feb. 13, 2025

[Tobias Bunde, Sophie Eisentraut] The age of multipolarization

It has become a truism of foreign-policy debates nowadays that the world is at the dawn of a multipolar era. Whether such an international order will ever fully emerge is debatable. But the process of “multipolarization” is already underway, as a larger number of states gain the ability to influence global developments. But a more worrisome aspect of multipolarization is that these ongoing power shifts have been accompanied by deepening polarization within and between countries. Governments’ inc

Feb. 13, 2025

[Wang Son-taek] Shameful story on election fraud conspiracy

According to a report from a renowned newspaper in Seoul, a Korean American in Hawaii has been orchestrating a conspiracy regarding election fraud in Korea for more than five years. The newspaper recently reported that Annie Chan, a millionaire in the US, organized the Korea Conservative Political Action Committee in 2019, which spearheaded the conspiracy that recent elections in Korea were rigged. In an interview with the paper, Chan stated that she was trying to prevent South Korea from becomi

Feb. 13, 2025

[Editorial] Shadow over economy

KDI cuts growth outlook; Seoul should weather US tariff crisis through deals The Korea Development Institute, a state-run economic think tank, slashed its growth outlook for the South Korean economy this year on Tuesday to 1.6 percent, down 0.4 percentage point from its previous projection three months ago. It said in its latest report that domestically, political instability has weakened economic sentiment, while externally, policy shifts in the US have worsened trade conditions. It expected ex

Feb. 13, 2025

[Editorial] Security worries over AI

Korean government, firms block access to DeepSeek amid lack of effective regulations The Jan. 20 release of DeepSeek, an innovative Chinese AI chatbot, upended global markets, prompting tech companies to scrutinize how an obscure Chinese startup seemingly developed such a competitive artificial intelligence model so suddenly. But the initial surprise seems to be shifting toward caution, doubt and, in some cases, outright phobia against the new Chinese AI technology on the assumption that it pote

Feb. 12, 2025

[Antara Haldar] What is MAGAnomics?

While the end of World War II 80 years ago ushered in an age of reason, Donald Trump’s return to the White House has ushered it out. His MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement promises to take a wrecking ball to the postwar global economic order, raising the question of what will replace it. “America First” seems to appeal to a wide spectrum of constituents, from blue-collar workers in the heartland to Big Tech “broligarchs.” But what does it mean in practice? At his second inauguration, Trump

Feb. 12, 2025