[Lee Jae-min] Age of homo digitalis

After class, I often fear my profession will go extinct sometime soon. If the best lectures and the most succinct summaries are just a few clicks away from students, who would listen to what I say? As a matter of fact, in my field alone I can find in seconds a string of video clips online, issue by issue and topic by topic, where world-renowned experts from well-known institutions articulate key points in all guises in just 20 minutes. I simply marvel at the content and efficiency. The same is t

April 17, 2025

[Editorial] Populist pledges

The conservative ruling People Power Party has adopted a 40-hour, 4.5-day workweek as one of its campaign pledges ahead of the June 3 presidential election. Under this pledge, employees would need to work one extra hour per day Monday through Thursday, increasing the workday from eight to nine hours. On Friday, employees would then work 4 hours only, according to the scheme. The current statutory minimum of 40 hours per week would be maintained, while the number of workdays could be reduced to 4

April 17, 2025

[Jan-Werner Mueller] No prioritizing politics over the law

Late last month, a French court barred Marine Le Pen from standing for political office for five years, on the grounds that her party, the far-right National Rally (RN), systematically embezzled more than 4 million euros ($4.5 million) in public funds. Resources earmarked for staff of members of the European Parliament in Brussels were instead used to cover RN’s expenses back in France. Le Pen is appealing the verdict, and her supporters are not the only ones finding fault with it. Impeccably li

April 16, 2025

[Editorial] A fracture in the lecture hall

South Korea’s medical sector has been in turmoil ever since former President Yoon Suk Yeol attempted to barrel through with his controversial reform policy, which initially included a major increase in the medical school enrollment quota of 2,000 places per year for five years. Yoon's push triggered an intense backlash, leading to mass walkouts by trainee doctors and medical students. Although Yoon was removed from office after the Constitutional Court upheld his impeachment on April 4, the 14-m

April 16, 2025

[Editorial] Growing safety risks

A subway tunnel construction site in the city of Gwangmyeong, just south of Seoul, collapsed Friday. An excavator operator in his 20s was rescued underground 13 hours after the collapse. Another worker presumed to be located 35 to 40 meters underground has not been found yet. A section of the six-lane road above ground caved in, and several buildings were damaged. Luckily, signs of anomalies were sensed shortly before the collapse so the road could be controlled, preventing a greater loss of lif

April 15, 2025

[Lim Woong] When AI swipes Ghibli’s wand

OpenAI’s latest image-generation tool has gone viral, thanks to a fun feature: users can upload a photo and request a version in Studio Ghibli’s magical style. In seconds, selfies, vacation snapshots, or family portraits are transformed as if they’ve come from a Ghibli film. Overnight, social media flooded with charming Ghibli-style images. Many of my graduate students and colleagues at Yonsei changed their KakaoTalk profile pictures to their artificial intelligence-generated portraits. I even t

April 15, 2025

[Lisa Jarvis] RFK Jr.’s measles message

With the death of a second child from measles and cases in the US surging past 600, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, finally stated the obvious: Vaccination is the best way to prevent the spread of the disease. It’s a message that should have come sooner from the country’s top public health official. Kennedy’s response is both too late and too confusing to effectively contain the outbreak. He doesn’t seem to take seriously the real risk of the US l

April 15, 2025

[Andreas Kluth] US national security ‘Loomered’

It can always get worse. There’s no reason to think that US President Donald Trump will stop at causing chaos in world trade and stock markets, the American executive branch, the legal profession and public health. He’s also well on the way to making America less safe under the most immediate definition: by undermining his own national-security staff, and thereby endangering the nation’s security. In recent days, the White House has been orchestrating what you might call a Week of the Long Knive

April 14, 2025

[Yoo Choon-sik] How to turn political tragedy into national blessing

There’s a saying: “If you can’t avoid it, enjoy it.” I find myself preferring this phrase over the oft-repeated notion that South Koreans possess some innate ability — “a crisis-overcoming DNA,” as it's sometimes phrased. That idea, while flattering on the surface, risks normalizing the presence of crises themselves, as if enduring and overcoming them is something we should accept as our national identity, rather than striving to prevent them in the first place. These two contrasting phrases hav

April 14, 2025

[Editorial] Post-presidency pitfalls

South Korea’s unprecedented political turmoil has entered a new phase with the court’s verdict that upheld the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol over his failed attempt to place the nation under martial law in December 2024. As the country is now set to elect a new president on June 3, presidential hopefuls are taking steps to launch their bids officially. But there is one person whom neither the ruling nor the opposition parties can afford to ignore: former President Yoon, who could still

April 14, 2025

[Editorial] Winds of uncertainty

South Korea faces mounting pressure amid tariff tensions, currency woes, fiscal strain The global market received a much-needed reprieve on Thursday after US President Donald Trump unexpectedly put his extreme "reciprocal" tariffs on pause for 90 days. As with other nations, however, South Korea still faces multiple challenges, including a ballooning fiscal deficit, dizzying gyrations in the local currency and negative economic projections. South Korea’s stock market, which plunged into a tailsp

April 11, 2025

[Lee Byung-jong] President Yoon’s diplomatic legacy

Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol will likely be remembered for a troubled legacy marked by domestic controversies, unpopular policies, and his shocking and ill-fated declaration of martial law. However, amid the many missteps and political scandals that defined his presidency, there remains one domain in which Yoon made tangible progress: diplomacy. Though much of his foreign policy agenda may be rolled back or abandoned in the wake of his premature departure, he nonetheless achieved

April 11, 2025

[Editorial] Persistent clash

Han's nomination of Constitutional Court justices stirs controversy, strife Acting President and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo nominated Minister of Government Legislature Lee Wan-kyu and Seoul High Court senior judge Ham Sang-hoon as successors to Constitutional Court Justices Moon Hyung-bae and Lee Mi-son, who retire from their posts on April 18. Han appointed Ma Eun-hyuk as a justice of the court. If Lee and Ham are appointed following confirmation hearings, all nine seats of the Constitutional

April 10, 2025

[Tae H. Park] Seeking genuine innovation in AI era

You’ve probably seen headlines like this recently: “XXX corporation appoints its group AI officer” It seems like large corporations are jumping on the artificial intelligence bandwagon, either to transform their business or, more often, to convince customers and shareholders that they’re doing something about AI. This trend reminds me of the “ESG” -- environmental, social and governance -- movement from just a few years ago. Back then, companies rushed to incorporate ESG initiatives, not necessa

April 10, 2025

[Wang Son-taek] Evildoers inevitably destroy themselves

Everyone knows that this world is not inhabited solely by good people. We must live alongside those who act selfishly, exploit others and abuse their power. That’s the unfortunate reality of human society. But knowing this doesn’t make it any easier to accept. We feel uneasy whenever we see such individuals thrive — living comfortably with money, influence and status despite their misdeeds. We may grow irritated, angry or even disheartened. They seem to operate with impunity, harassing innocent

April 10, 2025