Recently I had jury duty, and during jury selection something remarkable occurred. Early in the proceedings, the judge posed a hypothetical question to the 60 or so potential jurors in the room: “If I were to send you out now and ask you to render a verdict, what would it be? How many of you would vote not guilty?” A few raised their hands. “How many would vote guilty?” A few more raised their hands. “And how many would say you didn’t know enough to decide?” Every remaining hand ― about 50 peopl

The forthcoming April general election is important not just because it is a precursor to the December presidential poll. It is important more because it offers a rare chance to reshape the nation’s election culture. The April 11 election is the first major election in Korea where candidates and their supporters are allowed to fully utilize the Internet for electioneering ― unless they poison the election atmosphere by attempting to defame their rivals. Previously, the Internet could not be used

Many consumers wonder why beef prices in department stores and other retail outlets remain high even as cattle prices have plummeted at livestock farms. The Consumers Union of Korea has come up with an answer.According to a report released by the union, a top-notch 600 kg Korean cow fetches its owner about 5.8 million won on average. But the cow’s final consumer price is slightly over 10.04 million won, generating a distribution margin of 42.3 percent.The report has found out how the large margi

A federal appeals court this month upheld a Texas law that requires a woman seeking an abortion to undergo a sonogram, forces doctors to describe that sonogram in detail to her and then requires that she wait 24 hours before she can undergo the procedure. Texas was one of five states to adopt mandatory sonogram laws last year.Proponents insist these laws are about informed consent and making sure women have all the details about the procedure. They are not. The laws are about one thing only: ere

At the Saitama District Court on Jan. 10, six lay judges ― three men and three women ― together with three professional judges started to deal with not only three murder cases but also with seven other cases involving the defendant, Kanae Kijima ― fraud, attempted fraud and theft.Kijima pleaded guilty to fraud charges of swindling two men of money but pleaded not guilty to the murder charges. As to the murder charges, there are no confessions and no concrete evidence linking her to the murders.T

In this age the complex relations developing between individuals outside of the workplace or the family, whether those that develop through online communications within organizations, or those found in social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, are having a profound impact on our society. Connections between people from vastly different backgrounds, who serve at different levels within organizations, can subtly, or bluntly, influence policy. Almost all actions within social networks

In North Korea, the king is dead, long live the king. Now what? I say we need to find a new way forward. Let me explain. At its meeting last October, the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council for Korea (http://www.weforum.org/content/global-agenda-council-korea-2011) called for a “New Model” for relations between North Korea and the world. That call is even more valid with the death of Kim Jong-il. I chaired that Global Agenda Council and I will present the “New Model” at the WEF’s full m

“Broken Arrow,” a court drama film depicting a laid-off professor’s unsuccessful challenge to what he believed were unjust legal proceedings, was a box office leader during the lunar New Year holiday. It can be taken as yet another testimonial to the dwindling public trust in the nation’s justice system, although some attribute its success to the popularity of the two top actors Ahn Sung-ki and Moon Sung-keun.It was only last autumn that another court film, “Dogani (Melting Pot),” stirred contro

Changes are happening fast in Korea, even in such tradition-bound areas as funeral culture. In 2000, only about one-third of the dead were cremated; now more than 70 percent of families choose not to bury the dead in tombs. They extend their funeral period by one or two days to secure a slot in the crematorium operated at full capacity.High expenses for burial with limited availability of cemetery spaces and the posterity’s uncertain prospect for properly taking care of the ancestors’ tombs are

In planning to withdraw two of the U.S.’s four combat brigades from Europe, the Barack Obama administration is drawing on an unlikely inspiration: Donald Rumsfeld, when he was secretary of defense under President George W. Bush, wanted to do the same thing (the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan made the idea moot). Not that this will make Obama immune to partisan criticism: Howard P. “Buck” McKeon, the Republican chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, likened the administration’s proposed de

Bullying is nothing new, and neither is the recent surge in school violence a new global phenomenon. Ours is an educational system that generates a vicious circle of ruthless competition and for those left behind, well, there’s either one of two choices: succumb to failure or lash out at the powers that be. In the case of the former, who often become victims of bullying, it is easy to feel overwhelmed by a perceived sense of helplessness and worthlessness. These poor souls feel as if they have n