The number of COVID-19 patients is soaring in South Korea. It increased by no less than 505 to 1,776 on Feb. 27, when the number of deaths attributable to the virus rose to 13.A number of countries around the world took preventive measures such as border closure and entry prohibition. On the other h

The nation has been split into two groups, and the conflict and confrontation between them are getting worse without being addressed by politics as a system. The President is at the center of the conflict and division, and the politics of division in the streets is taking the place of systemic party

Relationships between South Korea and Japan have been deteriorating to an unprecedented state as conflicts between the two countries, which started over the issues of the past history including the Japanese military’s comfort women and the judgment on compensations for forced labor, escalated into a

Bilateral relations between the United States and China, between China and Japan, and between the two Koreas are changing fast. The U.S.-Japan alliance has evolved fast under the Shinzo Abe administration, expanding its scope to the Indo-Pacific region. The bilateral relationship between Japan and C

Since the collapse of the second U.S.-North Korean summit talks in Hanoi, Vietnam, uncertainties have been growing on the Korean peninsula.Both South and North Korea are embarrassed by the collapse of the Hanoi Summit where the United States wanted to make a package deal and North Korea stuck to a s

U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un meet to talk about the denuclearization of North Korea in Hanoi, Vietnam, from Feb. 27 to 28. To this end, Kim arrived in Vietnam after a 66-hour long train journey which would only take six hours by air. Will this become a prelude of a

South Korean President Moon Jae-in has made a lot of efforts for North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s visit to Seoul. On the plane flying back to Seoul after his recent brief encounter with U.S. President Donald Trump during the G20 summit in Argentina, the South Korean President told reporters that th

Lee Seon-kwon, head of the North Korean Committee for the Peaceful Reunification, put pressure on South Korean entrepreneurs to promise investment in North Korea during the inter-Korean summit held in Pyongyang in September.Lee said at a luncheon in Pyongyang, “How can you sit back and enjoy the Nae

On July 9, South Korean President Moon Jae-in attended Samsung Electronics’ new smartphone factory completion ceremony in Noida, Uttar Pradesh Province in northern India. While greeting President Moon, Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jae-yong bowed deeply at the waist several times. I wonder h

The Inter-Korean summit, which started with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un crossing the militarized zone (DMZ) line in Panmunjom and shaking hands with South Korean President Moon Jae-in at 9:29 a.m. on April 27, was a big global event enough to attract attention from all over the world. The two le

Elliott Management, a U.S.-based activist hedge fund, is again pouncing on a Korean conglomerate that has weaknesses in corporate governance.A couple of years ago, the hedge fund mounted an attack against Samsung Group as its vice chairman, Lee Jae-yong, sought to change the group’s governance struc

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Chinese President Xi Jinping met with each other in China from March 25 to 28. The sudden summit is a result of the two countries’ coinciding interests.Pyongyang has to face U.S. military action if its negotiations with hardliners in Washington do not work out wel

The decision made by President Donald Trump based on the inputs given by his intellectual lieutenant Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross to apply twenty five per cent and ten percent tariff on steel and aluminum imports respectively will have a cascading effect across the world. There were similar saf

U.S. President Donald Trump on February 13 (local time) invited his cabinet members and congressmen to the White House to discuss fair trade for American workers. There, he mentioned reportedly China 25 times and South Korea 21 times while mentioning Japan four times and Germany once. He also said t

On January 22 (local time), U.S. President Donald Trump decided to make safeguard measures to restrict the import of washing machines from South Korea. That day, those supporting South Korean President Moon Jae-in displayed an advertisement at the Times Square to celebrate his 66th birthday.The U.S.

South Korea has found itself at a crossroads yet again. Those threatening its economy this time include Kim Jong-un’s sixth nuclear test, downward pressure on the country’s credit rating resulting from the provocation, debates over nuclear armament, China’s economic retaliation that has followed THA

Samsung Electronics is trying to maintain its lead in the global semiconductor, TV, smartphone industries and so on while the Chinese government is providing full support for Chinese semiconductor manufacturers and Japanese electronics manufacturers are striving to regain their past glory. During th

U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met with each other in Florida on April 6. Their summit talks gained much attention as an indicator of Washington’s North Korea policy and the future of Sino-American relations.After the summit talks, both Washington and Beijing have been

Sometimes, when the change is too rapid and dramatic, you might not know whether it is really taking place or not. It is understandable, considering that you simply don’t recognize it. A dramatic change, however, happens anytime without your realizing it.When Klaus Schwab talks about the 4th Industr

I still remember the anxiety I got from driving an American-made car in Seoul in the mid-1990s. On occasion, I had my car keyed, tires slashed, or woke up to find it covered in eggs. I was prevented from parking in certain lots and even had a nationalistic Korean refuse to sell me imported gas for m