Korea Focus

World Heritage Must Not be Misused to Sanitize Japan’s Wrongdoings UNESCO World Heritage sites possess outstanding universal value. They are what we pass on to future generations and serve as irreplaceable sources of life and inspiration, according to the World Heritage Committee. Most of the 1,007 World Heritage sites in 161 states are positive assets. There are exceptions, however. For example, the Auschwitz concentration camp listed in 1979 is negative heritage. Negative heritage has symbolic significance teaching us the lesson that no matter how unpleasant the history may be it must be remembered so that it hopefully will not be repeated.

[DEBATE] Proposal for Region-based Proportional Representatives in General Elections The National Election Commission (NEC) has proposed a revision of the parliamentary election system that would reduce the number of... Program or Be Programmed One of the most popular classes at Harvard University is Computer Science 50. In the last fall semester, it drew 880 students, surpassing Economics 10a in attendance for the first time. One of the most popular classes at Harvard University is Computer Science 50... ‘Multiethnic Korea’ Shouldn’t Ignore Immigrant Children The world has grown smaller while Korea has grown bigger. It’s been some time since everything happening in Korea began drawing attention from the global community. Usually, sad news rather than happy news, and reproachable...

What’s There to Learn From North Korean Music? North Korea has been mounting venomous verbal attacks and pouring curses on the South. The hostile rhetoric is such that you wouldn’t even use against someone you never intend to see again. It is most regrettable... Recent Increase in Household Debt and its Implications The government eased regulations on loan-to-value (LTV) and debt-to-income (DTI) ratios in May 2012 and August 2014, respectively, in order to revitalize the sluggish economy, but their effects have remained marginal. The growth rate of household debt rose from 5.2 percent in 2012 to 6.6 percent in 2014, while the national economy’s nominal growth rate slightly climbed from 3.4 percent to 3.9 percent. Housing transactions inched up after the August 2014 deregulation compared with a year earlier, but the real gross domestic product in the fourth quarter of 2014 rose only 0.4 percent and the growth rate of private consumption lingered at a mere 0.5 percent over the previous quarter.

Walking a Tightrope of Nostalgia and Survival for a Single-screen Cinema It has been a long time since any blood traveled smoothly again through the analog projector. Analog projectors have become such nuisances gathering dust since they lost out to digital projectors in 2012, when the Korean... Korean People are Inherently Carefree, Curious and Playful The author of this book believes that a person may be judged by his handwriting. Just a month ago, the practicing lawyer was a chief public prosecutor working as a researcher for the Institute of Justice. Over the past 21 years, he served mostly in the violent... The Reason She Wears Hanbok and Draws Women Dressed in Hanbok “Why do they wearhanbok (traditional Korean clothing) only on special occasions like weddings? It’s so glamorous and beautiful.” Artist Kim Hyun-jung, 27, had a particular liking for hanbok from a young age. She develop...