[Editorial] Beyond 4,000

South Korea’s stock market has rarely been accused of exuberance. For much of the past decade, it lagged regional peers, weighed down by export dependence, opaque governance and erratic policy. Yet this autumn the mood has shifted. On Monday, the benchmark Kospi broke the 4,000 mark, setting an all-time record high. The surge, driven by foreign capital and a growing belief that the Lee Jae Myung administration has begun to steady the economic helm, has become a moment of national pride. Yet the

Oct. 29, 2025

[Song Jong-hwan] Private efforts renew Korea-Pakistan cooperation

It has been nine years since I completed my service as Korea's ambassador to Pakistan. The relationships I built during that time remain active. I continue quietly to contribute to deepening ties between the two countries, convinced that much potential still lies untapped. The Korean government has supported Pakistan’s economic development through the Economic Development Cooperation Fund and the Korea International Cooperation Agency. Many Korean companies, both large and small, have entered th

Oct. 28, 2025

[Man Ki Kim] RDP MOU: The missing link in the Korea-US defense alliance

The Korea-US alliance stands at a crucial juncture. As geopolitical tensions deepen across the Indo-Pacific, both nations must move quickly to finalize the Reciprocal Defense Procurement memorandum of understanding. This long-anticipated agreement would modernize alliance cooperation, expand defense industrial integration and enhance regional deterrence at a time when shared security interests are under growing pressure. In February 2024, Korea’s Ministry of National Defense announced its intent

Oct. 28, 2025

[Grace Kao] Le Sserafim’s ‘Spaghetti’ and K-pop’s obsession with food

I just watched the music video for Le Sserafim’s new single, “Spaghetti” (featuring BTS’s J-Hope), where you can see the members of the group selling spaghetti to a group of customers from a food truck. In a different scene, J-Hope is playing with the noodles in a bowl, but he never actually eats them. The promotional shorts focus on other food items with visual concept versions: (1) cheeky neon pepper; (2) knocking basil; and (3) weird garlic. The video reminded me of K-pop’s obsession with son

Oct. 28, 2025

[Editorial] Stick to principle

US President Donald Trump said, "I think North Korea is sort of a nuclear power." This was his reply to a question from reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Asia, asking whether he was open to North Korea’s demand to be recognized as a nuclear state as a precondition for dialogue with the US. He also said that the North has a lot of nuclear weapons. His remarks give the impression that he effectively recognizes North Korea's nuclear weapons. Trump told reporters that he is open to meeting

Oct. 28, 2025

[David M. Drucker] US politics reaches peak whataboutism

US President Donald Trump commuted the seven-year, federal prison sentence of acknowledged criminal George Santos because, as he explained in a Truth Social post late last week, the disgraced former New York congressman “had the Courage, Conviction and Intelligence to ALWAYS VOTE REPUBLICAN!” Democrats are sticking by Jay Jones despite revelations that their nominee for Virginia attorney general once sent text messages fantasizing about murdering a Republican lawmaker. Jones also expressed hope

Oct. 27, 2025

[Yoo Choon-sik] National housing policy, searching for a map

Imposing irrational and impromptu changes in tax policy is among the worst choices any government can make when dealing with the housing market — not simply because such measures indiscriminately affect millions of citizens, but because they have consistently failed wherever they have been tried. When the government abruptly tightens regulations or introduces surprise taxes, people interpret these actions not as solutions but as signals that prices will rise further. The result is panic buying o

Oct. 27, 2025

[Editorial] Seoul’s diplomatic test

President Lee Jae Myung’s diplomatic agenda this week is less a schedule of meetings and more a high-stakes tightrope walk across a geopolitical chasm. The journey began Sunday with his attendance at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Malaysia, which is also a precursor to the main event: South Korea’s hosting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province. This diplomatic “super week” culminates in an unprecedented convergence on Korean

Oct. 27, 2025

[Lee Byung-jong] Japan’s first female prime minister

After a series of twists and turns, Japan's National Diet has finally elected its first female prime minister. Takaichi Sanae, 64, secured the premiership this week after forming a ruling coalition with a minority party, following the recent breakup of her Liberal Democratic Party’s decadeslong alliance. Her political ascent in highly patriarchal Japan is remarkable, but observers now wonder whether a female leader in such a male-dominated society can truly deliver on her promises. Her political

Oct. 24, 2025

[Editorial] Alliance arithmetic

When US President Donald Trump demands that South Korea and Japan each provide colossal sums — $350 billion and $550 billion, respectively — to invest in the US, it stretches the limits of diplomacy and common sense. What might appear as a hard-nosed negotiation is, in truth, an act of financial coercion dressed up as economic nationalism. Even the Wall Street Journal, in an editorial, called the plan unrealistic and warned of its implications for fiscal oversight. The WSJ’s editorial goes furth

Oct. 24, 2025

[Wang Son-taek] The promise of connectivity from Gyeongju APEC summit

The upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Gyeongju offers a rare opportunity to rethink the meaning of connectivity in a world increasingly divided by rising self-interest, protectionism and great-power rivalry. Since its elevation from a ministerial gathering to a leaders’ summit in 1993, APEC has served as a cornerstone for promoting free trade and economic cooperation across the Asia-Pacific region. Yet, in recent years, it has attracted less global attention. This relative dec

Oct. 23, 2025

[Editorial] Press freedoms

The ruling Democratic Party of Korea on Monday announced measures to root out false and manipulated information. The party plans to process the related bill within the year. Under the bill, news companies and YouTubers would be slapped with punitive damages if they disseminate false or manipulated information maliciously. Such damages could amount to up to five times the loss calculated by the court. If media organizations spread disinformation repeatedly, they could be fined up to 1 billion won

Oct. 23, 2025

[Kim Seong-kon] Welcoming Amitav Ghosh to 'Lamp of the East'

Amitav Ghosh, the renowned Indian writer, is visiting Korea this week to receive the 2025 Pak Kyongni Prize, sponsored by the Toji Cultural Foundation. Ghosh is an internationally known, critically acclaimed writer who was “widely discussed and considered a top contender” for the 2025 Nobel Prize in literature. What is especially crucial to Amitav Ghosh’s work is his examination of the various negative aftereffects and remnants of colonialism that are still persistent in former colonies, even th

Oct. 22, 2025

[Elizabeth Shackelford] Donald Trump applies his strongman approach to Latin America

Other than frustration at surging migration, Latin America has not merited the same level of attention in Washington as the Middle East, Europe or Asia in recent history. That indifference has ended with the second Trump administration, but the nature of our renewed attention is not exactly what many of our neighbors might have hoped for. Rather than a shared interest in prosperity and stability across the hemisphere, President Donald Trump seems intent on showcasing America’s power to promote h

Oct. 22, 2025

[Editorial] Housing policy dispute

South Korea’s housing debate has long been framed as a moral issue — the young versus the rich, renters versus owners, Seoul versus the rest. Yet at its core, it is an economic one. Successive governments have treated real estate not as an ecosystem but as a battlefield, swinging between populist regulation and speculative deregulation. The result is a market that delivers neither affordability nor stability, and a public that has lost confidence in both builders and bureaucrats. The Lee Jae Myu

Oct. 22, 2025