What do we mean by social progress? That is the theme explored by the International Panel on Social Progress, a group of over 300 academics, including Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen. After four years of work, their report was finally published last month by Cambridge University Press, with a useful summary at www.ipsp.org.　 The definition of social change or progress is never neutral or value free, since different societies have diverging views on what constitutes a good or just society. As the repo

South Korea has been drawing attention around the world thanks to its miraculous economic success, internationally acclaimed electronic products by Samsung and LG, and the enormous popularity of K-pop. Korean boy bands EXO and BTS are currently all the rage in the US. The news that Han Kang’s “The Vegetarian” won the prestigious Man-Booker International Award also prompted about 400 articles on Korean literature by various international media outlets. Recently, Pyun Hye-young, too, was in the sp

Maybe it was just an honest mistake. A typical “rules of origin” confusion or infraction. Origin faking or laundering is not new to customs officials at the border, so importers may have believed that the coal shipments really originated from Russia. The low price and unusual loading port (Kholmsk, Sakhalin) may not have been sufficient to raise a red flag for the importers and the government.Coal arrived at Korean ports and was put into the stream of commerce. This took place last October.What

Koreans have a saying that helps explain the recent upbeat exchanges between Washington, Seoul and Pyongyang: “Say pretty things to hear pretty things.” Beyond the Trump White House, there remains much skepticism that North Korea will ever give up its nuclear weapons. Recent leaks about North Korea’s continuing efforts to build its nuclear and missile arsenal underline this concern that President Trump made a sucker play in Singapore. But the public rhetoric from Washington and Pyongyang is warm

When globalization began to accelerate in the 1990s, globalists rejoiced and predicted that globalism would eventually weaken nationalism, and international organizations, particularly the UN, would become more powerful. However, such optimism has turned out to be a naive dream. Nation-states have become more vital and powerful, while within nation-states ethnic or religious minority groups have become more assertive of their identity and have often sought to establish a separate state. In the c

In a meeting with his senior policy advisers last week, President Moon Jae-in said economic policies pursued by his administration fitted into the concept of inclusive growth.If efforts are exerted with confidence, he said, inclusive growth, through which a people-oriented economy takes root and the benefits of growth are shared evenly, would be made possible.His remarks, which came with pledges to pay more heed to speeding up deregulation and structural reforms, invited criticism from oppositio

A US Marine honor guard, holding a case wrapped in the UN flag in both arms, steps out of a military cargo plane and walks to a US Army sergeant major in full dress. The noncommissioned officer stoops forward, receives the case and then approaches one of several vans lined up nearby. US Army, Navy and Air Force honor guards follow one after the other to deliver the small coffins to the vehicles on the ground. Hundreds of service persons salute to the silent procession only accompanied by taps pl

I recently met an internationally well-regarded cultural critic and scholar of world civilizations who informed me of an interesting theory. As a small peninsula attached to the eastern end of the Asian continent, Korea, along with China and Russia, once belonged to the Continental Civilization. However, since the liberation and the Korean War, the continued influence of the United States means that Korea has separated itself from the continent and now belongs to the Oceanic Civilization, along

Looking at Russia’s competing spy services, their overlapping operations against the US and their sometimes careless tradecraft, some CIA veterans are wondering if the Russian spooks actually want to get caught. The truth is, President Vladimir Putin probably doesn’t mind that his intelligence activities are so blatant that they’re a subject of daily public debate. His goal isn’t to steal secrets but to destabilize America’s political system. The more people obsess about the swarms of Russian sp