Recent developments reaffirm the argument that the North Korea crisis has been magnified by the personalities and rhetoric of two key men -- Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un. The latest game of chicken was started by the US president, who vowed to “totally destroy” North Korea if the US was forced to defend itself or its allies against the North. He also used a derogatory nickname for the North Korean leader, calling him “a rocket man on a suicide mission.” By now, the world knows what kind of a man

Former President Lee Myung-bak is under siege on all sides. There are too many cases for which authorities and critics argue that he should assume ultimate responsibility that it may be inevitable that he comes under investigation. This leads us to several thoughts. In some way, Lee, who occupied Cheong Wa Dae from 2008-2013 deserves retroactive scrutiny and punishment because what has been disclosed so far is enough to indicate that his administration committed serious misdeeds and illicit acts

On Dec. 1, 1969, 366 blue plastic capsules containing birthdates for every day of the year, including Feb. 29, held the fate of men born between 1944 and 1950. Unceremoniously, the capsules were first dumped into a cardboard box and then, having been shuffled, were dumped into a glass jar to be randomly chosen, one by one.But this was a lottery with no million-dollar prize and, in fact, there would be no winners. When your number was up, so to speak, it meant that the Selective Service had chose

Dissension within the new government’s national security team is deplorable.The presidential office said recently that it gave a stern warning to Defense Minister Song Young-moo over his criticism of Special Presidential Adviser on National Security Moon Chung-in.It amounted to a public rebuke of the minister.It cited that Song had made an “inappropriate” expression and that he had created policy confusion.The inappropriate remarks he made about Moon in the National Assembly on Tuesday were: “It