Last week, a man named Hong Se-hwa passed away at age 76. Those who were old enough to read Hong’s 1995 bestseller “I’m a Taxi Driver in Paris” remember him as a writer with a heart for the underdog and a social activist who lived up to his words. The book of essays was about Hong's experiences as a taxi driver in Paris, French society and where he thought Korean society should be headed. He wrote about the French concept and practices of tolerance toward differences

I just graduated from university and will interview for a multinational company. What are the qualities the interviewers look for? How do I show my best self? Congratulations on your graduation. In addition to my opinion, I also sought insights from 20 multinational company executives. Here are the seven attributes that were considered the most significant. 1. Great attitude and curiosity This quality was the most frequently mentioned. An individual with a great attitude is more likely to be p

Last month, the Bank of Japan took its first important step toward monetary-policy normalization. The BOJ ended its negative interest-rate policy, setting the policy rate between 0.0 percent and 0.1 percent. It abandoned yield-curve control, which had been introduced to keep the ten-year government bond yield around 0 percent. And it announced that it would taper off new purchases of exchange-traded funds and real-estate investment trusts, but maintain the current pace of government-bond purchas

Although news consumption soared during the COVID-19 pandemic, subscriptions have since fallen, and news outlets around the world have been laying off reporters or even shutting down altogether. That is bad news for all of us. Our new UNESCO brief highlights recent research that demonstrates just how important high-quality information is to a well-functioning economy, society, and democracy. New studies in economics and political science use rigorous methods to confirm what journalists already k

We all grow up listening to our grandmother’s stories. Sometimes these are folktales and other times historical events she witnessed and experienced. In that sense, a grandmother is not only a superb storyteller, but also an indispensable history teacher. Recently, the 90-year-old author Oh Duck-choo sent me a collection of autobiographical essays entitled, “Memoirs of the Times.” Published by Girok-yeon, which is probably an acronym for the Research Institute of Archives, the

As the first criminal case against Donald Trump gets underway in New York City, the media have forgone their customary practice of declaring the “trial of the century”. Trial of the month is more like it, since three more are set to follow. The sheer number of criminal trials involving different allegations -- hush money payments, retention of confidential documents, and election interference -- would seem to guarantee a conviction and Trump’s final ejection from public life. A

Older women generally fade from view in the media, but the Korean and American shows “(The) Golden Girls” are two exceptions. “Golden Girls” is a popular show on KBS that features Park Jin-young (JYP)’s goal of bringing four famous singers -- Insooni (66 years old), Park Mi-kyung (58 years old), Shin Hyo-bum (56 years old), and Lee Eun-mi (57 years old) -- back as members of a new female idol group. The show’s title and premise reminded me of the popular 1980s

South Korea's significant household debt burden has long been recognized as one of the top risks facing the country's overall economy, positioning the nation near the top of the list among the world's major economies. Given this risk, every administration has made containing household debt one of its top economic policy goals. The Yoon Suk Yeol administration was no exception, emphasizing the importance of containing household debt, along with government debt, since Yoon's in

The general election in South Korea on April 10 ended with the landslide victory of the opposition Democratic Party and the disastrous defeat of the ruling People Power Party. The Democratic Party won 175 out of 300 seats in parliament. It is one of the most significant victories by an opposition party in the history of Korean politics. The party won 180 seats four years ago, but the meaning is different because it was the ruling party in 2020. Besides, just a couple of months after the formidab

By any measure, the results of the April 10 National Assembly elections were a disaster for President Yoon Suk Yeol and his People Power Party. No incumbent president since democratization in 1987 has suffered a more resounding rebuke. The question now is what it means for the future of South Korean politics and, more broadly, the country itself. After the votes were counted, the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea and affiliate party Democratic United ended up with 175 seats, up 19 from

There are a number of popular misconceptions about the meaning of democracy in Korea. Sometimes, we misunderstand democracy as merely “rule by the majority.” However, true democracy should also respect the opinions of the minority. Other times, we mistake democracy for the maxim that “we can do whatever we want to do.” In a democratic system, people authorize their elected representatives to work on their behalf. Thus, we should not expect these representatives to ask for

The Iranian-Israeli war has now emerged from the shadows with the barrage of over 300 drones, rockets, and cruise missiles Iran launched at Israel. Along with the US military and other partners, the Israel Defense Forces were able to intercept 99 percent of them. Once again, the Israeli military demonstrated its superb capabilities, but US support was essential. Although Israel takes pride in being able to defend itself, circumstances have changed. When facing threats on seven fronts, as the

Although local elections often don’t make international news headlines or involve widely recognizable household names, anyone who cares about the state of liberal democracy would do well to pay attention to them. In Turkey, for example, recent elections not only revealed widespread dissatisfaction with the country’s autocratic president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, they also offered broader lessons for long-struggling opposition parties about how to select effective candidates and run effe

Nathan Cofnas is a research fellow in the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge. His research is supported by a grant from the Leverhulme Trust. He is also a college research associate at Emmanuel College. Working at the intersection of science and philosophy, he has published several papers in leading peer-reviewed journals. He also writes popular articles and posts on Substack. In January, Cofnas published a post called “Why We Need to Talk about the Right’s Stupidit

Text-to-video entry: “Please generate a high-octane, action film with the following storyline: "A father receives a phone call from an unknown number informing him that his estranged daughter has been kidnapped. If the father wishes to see his daughter alive, he must break into the safety deposit box of the five-star Seoul hotel where he works as a midnight janitor. He has two hours to get the contents of the security box to the designated drop point. In addition to the ticking cl