With discrimination still widespread ...Can Korea ever accept homosexuals?Homosexuality has long been taboo in Korean society. The traditional Confucian emphasis on familial bonds led homosexuality to be regarded as detrimental to the societal order, as defined by the philosophy’s five categories of social relationship. In the 1980s, homosexuals were widely feared as AIDS carriers. Today, many Koreans continue to see the sexual orientation as deviant or symptomatic of mental illness. Some even q

With a recent MBC documentary angering expatriates ...Does the media portray foreigners fairly?For many Westerners here it was an all-too-familiar example of the media’s habitual vilification of non-Koreans. An MBC segment focusing on Western men and their relationships with Korean women titled “The Shocking Truth About Relationships With Foreigners” provoked outrage online for what many saw as blatantly xenophobic and sensationalistic journalism.The segment described Westerner-Korean couples wa

With Korea’s sports stars becoming more diverse ...Should foreign athletes get special naturalization?Never has it been more difficult to define what it means to be Korean. Unprecedented immigration to the country in recent years, and the demographic and cultural change brought with it, has challenged the assumption that Korean citizenship and ethnicity are synonymous. Inevitably, this blurring of identity has crossed into the realm of sport.The Korean Olympic Committee last month rejected a bid

With large numbers of people unable to afford basic goods ...How can Korea end poverty?Korea’s meteoric rise to prosperity since the 1960s is often cited as an almost unparalleled example of success in lifting a population out of poverty. But despite a vast improvement in living standards since the aftermath of the Korean War, poverty remains an everyday reality for a significant number of Koreans. According to the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, 15.2 percent of Koreans ear

With prices high despite a market slump...Is Korea at risk of a housing bubble?The property market is stagnant and needs a jolt. At least, that’s the view of the government, which on May 10 announced measures to boost house sales, particularly in affluent areas of southern Seoul such as Gangnam, Songpa and Seocho. Within days, however, real estate agents and market observers had labeled the measures, including lowering transaction taxes and easing lending rules, too modest to be effective.If boo

With the nation lagging behind some of its neighbors in visitor numbers ...Korean tourism has seen something of a boom in recent years. Foreign tourist numbers grew almost 50 percent from 2007-2011, from about 6.5 million visitors to close to 10 million. This year, the Korea Tourism Organization aims to increase that number to 11 million. But despite the considerable progress in bringing in more tourists, Korea still lags behind some of its neighbors in the region. Thailand saw 19 million visito

With more than half of surveyed spouses reporting abuse...Is domestic violence taken seriously in Korea?Domestic violence is often out of sight, occurring behind the closed doors of the family home. Nevertheless, national surveys on the issue suggest it happens with disturbing frequency.According to the 2010 Korea National Survey of Domestic Violence and Sexual Violence, 53.8 percent of respondents who had been married had experienced spousal abuse in the previous year, and 16.7 percent had suff

After a bad month for the reputation of the force ...How effective are the police?April has been a devastating month for the public image of the Korean National Police Agency. The bungled police response at the start of the month to an emergency call from a kidnap victim who was later murdered sparked public outrage. Public ire was further stoked with the revelation that the police in Suwon had attempted to cover up the extent of their incompetence with “brazen lies,” as described by KNPA commis

With North Korea developing new long-range weapons ...Should Korea increase its missile range?The display of a new type of missile by North Korea during its celebrations for the centenary of its founder’s birth was no doubt intended as a show of military might. But it also sharpened focus on South Korea’s comparable missile capabilities ― and whether they are up to the task of national defense. Seemingly keen to make a statement of its own, the Ministry of National Defense on Thursday revealed i

With Korea opening schools specifically for multi-ethnic children ...Are multicultural schools a problem waiting to happen?Korea’s children are ethically and culturally diverse as never before. There were more than 151,000 children of mixed ethnicity in the country last year, a more than 350 percent rise since 2007. With many arriving from overseas in their teens, language and cultural barriers are a challenge to succeeding in school. About 30 percent of children with a foreign parent are outsid

With the parties making big election pledges ...Has populism taken over politics?It’s a charge both the ruling and opposition parties have faced since election season began: Unrealistic campaign promises, with little regard for how to pay for them or their long-term consequences, point to one thing ― populism. Last month, a group of business organizations including the Federation of Korean Industries released a joint statement cautioning against reckless pledges at election time. “Campaign pledg

With two main parties vying for power in the next AssemblyCan Korea break the two-party mold?Korea, like so many democracies, broadly fits the definition of a two-party system made up of liberal and conservative camps. Yet its two-party mold remains young and fragile compared to countries such as the U.S., where power has passed between the same two parties without interruption for more than 150 years. Korean parties rarely last more than a few years before a name change, merger or outright diss

Following the latest negative Reporters Without Borders report ...Does Korea have enough Internet freedom?South Koreans often point out that they have one of most the Internet-connected societies in the world. More contentious is just how free the country’s Internet users are to use it as they choose. Korea made Reporters Without Borders’ “Enemies of the Internet” list for a fourth straight year on March 12, alongside the likes of Sri Lanka, Tunisia, Eritrea and the United Arab Emirates as a cou

With Beijing refusing to budge ...Is Korea doing enough for N.K. refugees in China?China’s forced repatriation of North Korean defectors in the country may have exploded onto the national and international agenda in recent weeks, but the issue is far from new. While reaching an exact figure is impossible, the Chinese authorities have sent countless North Koreans back to their homeland to face imprisonment, torture or even execution over the last two decades.According a recent testimony to the U.

With the latest deal between the U.S. and Kim regime ...Is North Korea closer to denuclearization?The start of the month saw a headline-making development in the decades-long effort to get North Korea to drop its nuclear weapons program. In exchange for 240,000 tons of U.S. food aid, North Korea agreed it would suspend nuclear tests, long-range missile launches and uranium enrichment at its Yongbyon facility, and allow the return of the International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors. The response