[Editorial] Signals of crisis

South Korean companies forecast that Korea could be overtaken by China across all of its top 10 export industries within the next five years, according to a survey of domestic firms conducted by the Federation of Korean Industries. Korea has already been overtaken by China in half of its top 10 export sectors — steel, general machinery, secondary batteries, displays and automobiles and auto parts — and is expected to fall behind China in semiconductors, electrical and electronics, shipbuilding,

Nov. 20, 2025

[Kim Seong-kon] Maximize AI, while not being controlled by it

Suddenly, artificial intelligence has become the subject of the moment. Every day, newspaper articles announce that the era of AI has come and that our future will depend on the new technology. Indeed, AI seems to already be ubiquitous in every nook and cranny of our society. It is already the case that AI operates on our smartphones, computers and cars. Soon, we will be living in the era of AI. In fact, AI has already become integrated into our daily lives as an indispensable tool and helpful p

Nov. 19, 2025

[Rosa Lowinger] A lasting scar of Trump’s America

Great government houses are never still. They grow, age and change with their nations, each alteration leaving a trace of the ideals and anxieties of its time. Architecture is the archive that never stops recording. To tear down a part of it is to edit the story of who Americans are as a nation. The recent demolition of the White House’s East Wing -- the most consequential alteration to that building in more than a century -- feels so profound, and so chilling precisely because it makes visible,

Nov. 19, 2025

[Editorial] Grounded by haste

River cities like to say that water reveals more than it hides. Seoul’s latest commuter experiment has learned this in the most public way. A vessel on the Hangang Bus service, promoted as a sleek escape from congested roads, hit a sand bar near Jamsil on Saturday, leaving 82 passengers stranded for nearly an hour. It was the second suspension of the service in as many months, a reminder that civic ambition without preparation quickly runs aground. Introduced in September as one of Mayor Oh Se-h

Nov. 19, 2025

[Editorial] Corporate opportunity

President Lee Jae Myung on Sunday met with leaders of key conglomerates — Samsung Electronics, SK, Hyundai Motor, LG, HD Hyundai, Celtrion and Hanwha — and asked them to expand their domestic investment and employment. The meeting was held to discuss follow-up measures after the release of a joint fact sheet on bilateral trade and security agreements with the United States. Lee asked them to respond actively to the anticipated industrial hollowing out due to their massive investment in the US un

Nov. 18, 2025

[Grace Kao] The long and winding road to becoming a professor

As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday and the end of the fall semester in the US, it is also a time of anxiety for Ph.D. students on the academic job market. Many more people with Ph.D.s aspire to be professors than there are positions. The road to becoming a professor is arduous, even for students at Ivy League institutions like the University of Pennsylvania, where I taught for 20 years, and at Yale University, where I’ve taught for eight years. All of us with tenure-track or tenured positio

Nov. 18, 2025

[Christian Catalini] The trillion-dollar battle for money's operating system

The next great platform war has begun. It is over the fundamental rails of the global economy: money itself. As I argued in a recent talk on this topic, at stake is not just who processes payments, but who will set the rules for the future of commerce. Two starkly different models are emerging. The first, the "CorpChain," is a proprietary, closed-walled garden. This isn't a theoretical debate, it's a land grab happening in real-time. Mastercard is in advanced talks to acquire stablecoin infrastr

Nov. 18, 2025

Germany cancels auction of Holocaust artifacts after backlash

BERLIN (AP) -- Poland‘s foreign minister said Sunday that an "offensive" auction of Holocaust artifacts has been canceled in Germany, relaying information from his German counterpart, following complaints from Holocaust survivors. Radoslaw Sikorski made the comments on the X platform, saying he and German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul "agreed that such a scandal must be prevented." The top Polish diplomat thanked Wadephul for the information that the auction was canceled. Earlier, a Holocaust

Nov. 17, 2025

[Barry Eichengreen] Trump’s foreign economic policy in disarray

When it comes to US foreign economic policy, US President Donald Trump’s administration has two problems on its hands. Following what has become something of a pattern for this administration, both problems are of its own making. In South America, Trump & Co. are heavily exposed to a dubious effort to stabilize the Argentine peso, a task to which they have committed more than $20 billion. In Asia, they are engaged in an on-again-off-again trade war with China, in which Chinese President Xi Jinpi

Nov. 17, 2025

[Lee Kyong-hee] Jongmyo: The symbolism of its sacred space

Winter 1997. During those bewildering months, as South Korea sought an emergency bailout from the International Monetary Fund amid the Asian financial crisis, I wrote a book about the nation’s first UNESCO World Heritage sites. They included Bulguksa Temple and Seokguram Grotto, the Tripitaka Koreana and its storage halls at Haeinsa Temple, Hwaseong Fortress, Changdeokgung Palace and Jongmyo Shrine. These five monuments had been inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1995, 23 years after t

Nov. 17, 2025

[Editorial] Price of progress

The joint fact sheet released on Nov. 14 does more than tidy up the loose ends left after last month’s summit between President Lee Jae Myung and US President Donald Trump. It recalibrates the terms of the alliance by translating months of fraught bargaining into a workable blueprint for a security, economic and technology partnership. In doing so, it lifts the fog that has obscured Korea’s strategic footing, offering long-sought clarity on everything from nuclear cooperation to market access. Y

Nov. 17, 2025

[Robert J. Fouser] Choosing green space over development

A Supreme Court ruling on Nov. 6 has thrust Jongmyo, the stately Confucian royal shrine in central Seoul, into the heart of a debate over heritage preservation and development. The court ruled in favor of a city ordinance to relax height restrictions near Jongmyo as part of a redevelopment plan for the area around Sewoon Sangga. The ruling prompted a strong response from the Korea Heritage Service, the central government agency in charge of heritage preservation. Jongmyo became one of the first

Nov. 14, 2025

[Editorial] The silent war

It began with a flicker on a smartphone screen. A counselor for North Korean defectors found her device suddenly wiped clean, her contacts hijacked and a fake “stress relief program” sent to friends through her account. Days later, an activist’s phone met the same fate. Both had unknowingly become pawns in North Korea’s newest front: a conflict fought not with missiles or tanks, but with malware. These attacks marked a disturbing evolution. The hackers were traced to Konni, a network tied to Kim

Nov. 14, 2025

[Editorial] Resolve lost

The prosecution's waiver of appeal in a land development corruption case linked to President Lee Jae Myung's tenure as Seongnam mayor is causing quite a stir. Chief prosecutors for districts across the country are pressing the acting prosecutor general for a convincing explanation about his decision to waive the appeal, effectively demanding his resignation. The decision also sparked public outrage, particularly over the fact that the prosecution had become unable to recover all of the criminal

Nov. 13, 2025

[Shinichi Fukuda] Our hopes for the new prime minister in Japan

On Oct. 21, 2025, Sanae Takaichi became Japan's 104th prime minister and the country's first female leader. Takaichi is a member of the Liberal Democratic Party, which has recently lost public support due to political funding scandals and has suffered successive historic defeats in major elections. Takaichi, who served as a close aide to former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and has clearly articulated conservative policy stances, is expected to rebuild the party's waning support and political streng

Nov. 13, 2025