[Robert J. Fouser] Korean learning boom falters

The past twenty years have seen a boom in people learning Korean. Hallyu and K-pop have put South Korean pop culture on the map, particularly in the evolving global Generation Z culture. Other factors, many of which have received little attention, have contributed to the boom. The first, and perhaps most important, is the expanding interaction with South Korea, which deepens contact with Koreans and inspires people to learn the language. Interaction with Koreans has expanded, both in South Korea

Nov. 28, 2025

[Aaron Brown] What if gambling used the ‘free price effect’?

The bedrock life principle, the house always wins, derives from the mathematical advantage casinos build into their games. But what if that wasn’t the price of admittance? On an American roulette wheel, a bet on the number 13 pays off at 35:1. If there were 36 slots on the wheel, both the house and the bettor would break even in the long run, but there are 38 slots (zero, double-zero and the numbers 1 to 36). The house doesn’t win every spin — 13 does come up — but in the long run bettors lose $

Nov. 27, 2025

[Vitit Muntarbhorn] Business' role in child protection

A key element of child protection is to amplify the participation of the business sector as a partner in the process. This is particularly challenging regarding the expanding mass of child sexual exploitation and abuse materials in a world of digitalization, algorithms and Artificial Intelligence. A recent report backed by the UN concerning the impact of AI on child sexual exploitation notes that Cyber Tipline reports on CSAM received some 36 million reports of suspected child sexual exploitatio

Nov. 27, 2025

[Mark Gongloff] Who believes in climate change?

There’s an old climate joke that goes, “You may not believe in climate change, but your insurance company does.” If you’re in the market for new environmental humor — and really, who isn’t? — you can now update this to say, “You may not believe in climate change, but the stock market does.” For much of this year, the S&P Global Clean Energy Index has outpaced the S&P 500 Index, the Nasdaq 100 Index and the MSCI World Index, Bloomberg News noted recently as part of a report about Jefferies analys

Nov. 26, 2025

[Kim Seong-kon] 'Ever Night': Standing between light and darkness

History teaches us valuable lessons. When we watch historical movies and dramas, we can look back upon the past, realize what went wrong at that time, and learn not to repeat the same mistakes our ancestors made. In that sense, history reflects the present and illuminates the right path to the future. The 2018 Chinese television series “Ever Night” enables us to perceive the nature of problems we are now facing by reference to historical events. Set in the Tang Dynasty, this award-winning drama

Nov. 26, 2025

[Lee Jae-min] US tariff end risks package deals

The United States Supreme Court seems to be on a fast track for its review and deliberation of the fentanyl and "reciprocal" tariff measures of the Donald Trump administration. During oral arguments on Nov. 5, some of the justices raised critical questions expressing skepticism about the legality of the tariffs. The core question is whether the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 gives the president the authority to impose such sweeping tariffs. Of course, there is no telling wha

Nov. 25, 2025

[Lim Woong] Finding light in unkind digital world

It is not difficult to see that online platforms have become the primary spaces where our youth gather, talk, argue, chase trends and figure out how to live with others. For students, social media functions almost like a parallel reality they cannot ignore. We often say that libraries shape their habits of mind, yet it is social media where their sense of right and wrong is tested, where they learn, sometimes painfully, to read situations, protect themselves and form a sense of community and bel

Nov. 25, 2025

[Ana Palacio] Restoring Europe's social contracts

The European Parliament Committee on Constitutional Affairs recently held a high-level symposium on the “Quest for the Rule of Law.” Legal scholars, academics and practitioners gathered for an in-depth dialogue on the principle’s meaning and implementation within the European Union. But the challenge ahead is more fundamental:The rule of law is backsliding in Europe, jeopardizing democracy itself. Since World War II, liberal democracies have built and sustained their social contracts on three mu

Nov. 24, 2025

[Yoo Choon-sik] AI talent push meets flip-flop doubt

The recently announced “AI Talent Development Plans for All" is a truly sweeping initiative, broad enough to underscore the South Korean government’s drive to strengthen artificial intelligence capabilities nationwide. It is a vision that sees AI not merely as a technology, but as a universal competency that must be nurtured from kindergarten classrooms to the highest levels of postgraduate research. The initiative exemplifies South Korea's ambition to chart a grand national course, seeking to t

Nov. 24, 2025

[Lee Byung-jong] Korea’s unfit ambassadors

For South Korea’s newly elected presidents, ambassadorship has long been an ideal gift to bestow on friends and loyalists. Unlike other top government posts, ambassadorial positions do not require tough parliamentary confirmation hearings or extensive public scrutiny. This made them convenient rewards in the past, when military dictators handed out ambassadorships to fellow generals who supported their coups or autocracies. In more recent years, presidents have given these posts to politicians a

Nov. 21, 2025

[Wang Son-taek] Common sense between 55 and 101

The controversy over urban development near Jongmyo Shrine has become one of the most troubling cultural debates in Korea today. The damage is affecting Korea’s international reputation at a moment when the world is paying close attention to our cultural heritage. After the successful APEC Summit in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, where Korea presented itself as a nation that cherishes traditional culture, such a sudden regression in Seoul’s approach to heritage conservation is both bafflin

Nov. 20, 2025

[Arthur Herman] America’s coming boom

Where is America going? It depends on who you listen to. Some pundits see its economic outlook as gloomy, if not disastrous. They point out that the affordability issue, i.e. that Americans sense they are paying more for less, isn’t going away; the election of a socialist as mayor of New York City who campaigned precisely on that issue, indicates the opposite. And although the recent government shutdown has ended, President Trump’s economics chief Kevin Hassett predicts it will mean it cuts four

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

[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