Voltaire famously warned that anyone who can make people believe absurdities can make them commit atrocities. Two and a half centuries later, an insurrection at the US Capitol by those who believed Donald Trump’s lies confirmed Voltaire’s point. And now, the new Republican majority in the House of Representatives is doing everything it can to “flood the zone” with even more absurdities. Exhibit A is the new House “Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Fede

A colleague recently sent me a TikTok she thought I’d find interesting. I clicked the link but immediately regretted it. I quickly cleared my browser history but felt it was too late and that the Chinese government was probably in my phone for good now. As a former US diplomat, I might be unusually sensitive to that possibility, having served in places where we took for granted that foreign state actors were listening in. But the combination of geopolitical rivalry, China’s surveilla

There are moments, during horrific natural disasters such as the earthquake in Turkey and Syria, when you can witness the best that mankind is capable of -- the noble behavior that often emerges during a crisis. A Greek search and rescue team and Turkish special operations police -- whose members might have been fighting each other in wartime -- worked side by side to rescue a small girl through a narrow gap in a pile of concrete that once was an apartment building near Antakya, Turkey. A group

On my visit to Korea last fall, I was lucky to have enough time for many long walks in Korean cities. On a walk through central Seoul, I passed by Sewoon Arcade, the famous commercial-residential complex across from Jongmyo. In the 2010s, the city of Seoul pushed plans to preserve the complex, but redevelopment of surrounding areas is going forward. Since it was built in 1966, the complex dwarfed its neighbors, but the tall buildings going up nearby make it look strangely small now. As I looked

The Finnish minister of transport and communication visited Seoul to expand technological exchanges with South Korea in the fields of 6G, quantum computing and space, the Finnish Embassy in Seoul said Tuesday. Minister Timo Harakka, addressing the previous cooperation between the two countries on 5G network development at a roundtable held under the theme of "Building Digital Capability," said Finland has already taken steps toward 6G. The minister joined discussions with representativ

About 100 million people used ChatGPT in the month of January, according to one estimate, which would be the fastest-growing user base ever. Yet I often speak to people who are less than impressed with ChatGPT, citing its mistakes and banalities, and they suggest it is a passing fad. In response, allow me to offer a short guide to using ChatGPT. It can do many things for you -- organize your notes, correct your grammar, work with mathematical symbols. But I will focus on the most basic use: quer

With the beginning of 2023, unusual diplomacy meetings between South Korea and the US were busily under progress. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who is extremely busy dealing with the Russia-Ukraine war and military cooperation with the Philippines, visited Seoul on Jan. 30. Soon after Mr. Austin’s visit, the US sent F-22 Raptors over the West Sea and participated in combined military drills with the South Korean Air Force twice in three days. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is

Hallyu initially attained popularity with romantic or historical Korean television dramas such as “Winter Sonata” or “Dae Jang Geum.” In those series, young people love each other despite ordeals and obstacles, or strive to accomplish noble goals of becoming the best in their fields of expertise. Such dramas portrayed South Korea as a romantic and historic place foreigners wanted to visit. Recently, however, things have radically changed. These days, revenge K-dramas are

The German, Israeli and Italian embassies in Korea paid tribute Monday to victims of the Holocaust during World War II. To commemorate the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi concentration and extermination camps 78 years ago in 1945, the German and Israeli embassies co-hosted the International Holocaust Remembrance Day Ceremony in Memory of the victims of the Holocaust at the Goethe Institut Seoul in Yongsan-gu. Not only every German government but also every German citizen has the moral duty

New Georgian Ambassador to Korea, Tarash Papaskua, and The Korea Herald CEO, Choi Jin-young, discussed ways to enhance public awareness on the bilateral relationship between South Korea and Georgia on Tuesday. Highlighting the growing interests in Korean culture and music in Georgia, particularly with regards to the Korean language, Papaskua said he wishes to strengthen the economic and cultural relations of the two countries. He also said that The Korea Herald, South Korea's largest English new

Science minister hopes to boost bilateral cooperation in space, nuclear power, biotech, nanotech, lithium

The people who are at the forefront of pushing Social Security "reform" by cutting benefits have gotten pretty good at hiding their intentions behind plausible-sounding jargon and economists' gibberish. The latest "reform" package offered by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, for example, calls on lawmakers to "promote stronger economic growth and productive aging" by removing "work and savings disincentives in the current program." "

Growing up I remember hearing the phrase “Have you no shame?” That question must have held some power back in the day. But if you asked that now, some shapers of our current political culture would respond with a resounding “No.” Hyper-partisanship has moved us into a post-shame world. Shame is the internal, uncomfortable sense arising from the consciousness of something dishonorable or improper, whether that has been done by oneself or another. While shame is a negative

My book on the economic history of the 20th century, published last fall, did not include a chapter on the question of the future or “what we should do next,” because my frequent co-author, Stephen S. Cohen, convinced me that whatever I wrote would come to look outdated and silly within six months. He was right: Such arguments are better left to commentaries like this one. So, if I had written a final chapter looking to the future, what should I have said? Prior to the phantom text,

Winter is coming! It’s a famous line often cited from US fantasy series “Game of Thrones.” Russia was able to defeat Napoleon’s invasion in 1812 and to stop Hitler’s advance in 1941 thanks to the cold weather. Perhaps, Russian President Vladimir Putin might have expected such a weather chance when he decided to invade Ukraine. But, his attempt to block the EU’s intervention by threatening to cut Russia's supply of natural gas to Europe turned out to be a