Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided to wage a winter war of attrition against Ukraine, targeting its civilian population in an attempt to starve and freeze the country into submission. In light of this dangerous escalation, the West must heed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s urgent plea for additional support. To be sure, supplying the Ukrainian military with weapons beyond anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles walks the fine line that US President Joe Biden and NATO drew

Events of the last view months of 2022 offer hints about the direction of the world in 2023. In November, results of the US midterm elections deeply damaged Donald Trump’s prospects for a return to the White House. In December, China abandoned its long-held “zero-COVID” policy, beginning the long process of returning to normal. And just before Christmas, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a surprise visit to Washington and gave a stirring speech to a joint session of

The Kazakh Embassy in Seoul discussed a strategic partnership, cultural linkages and new areas to solidify cooperation with Korea in a roundtable held as part of the 30th anniversary of Kazakhstan-South Korea relations on Dec. 22. Delivering a keynote speech at the roundtable, the Kazakh Ambassador to Korea Bakyt Dyussenbayev assessed significant achievements from the two countries’ political, economic, cultural and humanitarian cooperation. The ambassador noted that trade turnover between

In recent years, the authority and reputation of Uzbekistan in the international arena have increased dramatically. This can be seen from the example that the initiatives put forward by the president of our country are supported at the international level, documents of prestigious international organizations are developed and implemented on their basis. At the 75th session of the UN General Assembly in 2020, the head of state put forward several initiatives to strengthen peace and stability at t

Burmese writer and democracy activist Pencilo has been honored with the Kim Geun Tae Award for her book "Spring Revolution." The award is named after Kim Geun-tae, a pro-democracy activist and politician who laid the cornerstone of South Korean democracy. Pencilo, the author of "Spring Revolution," published a Korean translation of her work in February. Pencilo is an aide to Aung San Suu Kyi. She and six other high-profile figures have been sought after Myanmar's junta on cha

For many Americans, social media has become a monster. Platforms like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube are seen as festering hotbeds of hate and misinformation that threaten the very foundations of American democracy and civility. Calls for regulation have intensified, with some prominent voices looking across the pond for a model to regulate social media in the public interest. In November, the European Union’s Digital Services Act took effect, with enforcement beginning for some businesses

Nonstop cable news presenters were agog and aghast. They warned us, last Wednesday, that we were about to witness an epic moment. Their news worlds were about to collide. Unprecedented and seemingly unrelated mega-news stories, foreign and domestic, were careening at us simultaneously, anchors explained. They all might suddenly gush out of our Great News Funnel -- and into our living rooms -- at once. Just imagine it: NEWS GUSH: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was secretly flying

Every man has his heyday. Stars in the entertainment business, especially, have their heydays and reminisce about them with strong nostalgia later. The point is that no one can enjoy his or her heyday forever. It is only, at best, an evanescent and transient moment in one’s life. Recently, the New York Times carried an intriguing article entitled, “Gangnam Style Brought K-Pop to the World, but Haunted Its Creator.” Referring to the music video, “Gangnam Style,” that

With the passage of a defense bill and an agreement on a spending package, the 117th Congress is wrapping up an extremely productive two years in office. This Congress, when Democrats held narrow margins in both houses, stands in sharp contrast to the last era of unified control of government, when Republicans controlled both chambers in 2017-2018. That era, remembered for late Sen. John McCain’s thumbs-down rejection of the repeal of part of the Affordable Care Act, ended with an extended

Historically, India has preferred to stay away from aggressive power politics, formal security alliances and an us-vs-them foreign policy. Maintaining businesslike relationships with all of the world’s great powers was, and some ways still remains, a paramount objective. Successive Indian governments are notoriously protective of their nation’s sovereignty, integrity and independence. When Biden administration officials sought to convince New Delhi to wean itself off Russian oil to

The world’s leading economists spent most of 2022 convincing themselves that, if the global economy was not already in a recession, it was about to fall into one. But with the year’s end, the global slump has been postponed to 2023. Clearly, the reports that the United States was in recession during the first half of the year were premature, especially given how tight the US labor market is. And, despite the confidence with which many again proclaim the inevitability of a downturn, t

I once spent a week in a region of southern Sudan where almost none of the women covered their breasts, and then just two weeks later I flew to Iran, where women are required by law to cover their hair with hijabs as a sign of modesty. It was a stark reminder of how cultures are different, laws vary and rules about women's behavior are shockingly arbitrary. I began to wonder why we in the West think our own modesty standards are any more appropriate than anyone else's. For a while af

As 2022 draws to a close, I want to pay tribute to a man who devoted his entire life to correcting inaccuracies of modern history and thereby preventing a repeat of foreign territorial ambition on Korean soil. This year marked the 20th anniversary of the death of this self-taught bibliographer and historian, Lee Jong-hak. In remembrance, museums celebrated his life. With the impact of Russia’s territorial grab in Ukraine echoing around the world, the importance of Lee’s self-appoin

More than a decade ago, scholars began pointing to a troubling global trend: a "democratic recession." Dozens of countries were drifting away from democracy toward authoritarianism. The list of backsliders has spanned the globe from India and South Africa to Hungary, Poland, Mexico -- even, in recent years, the United States. Freedom House, a nonprofit organization that rates countries on electoral practices, civil liberties and other measures, has reported 16 consecutive years of the

We all know that both socialism and capitalism have their own upsides and downsides. The capitalist system creates polarization between the poor and the rich in an inhumane environment. Socialism creates a society of equal poverty, totalitarianism and dehumanization. The dilemma we face is that we have to choose one or the either. For some inscrutable reason, many Koreans seem to be in favor of socialism and thus ardently support radical politicians who proclaim they advocate for a socialist sta