South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is ending this year badly. His approval ratings have been low throughout his term, but now stand at a paltry 26 percent, up only slightly from recent lows. Calls for him to step down or face impeachment and removal have spread. His wife is facing accusations of corruption and calls for her prosecution. Coming at the mid-point in his term, citizens are worried about a lack of leadership during the rest of his term. What went wrong? And what, if anything, can t

ViewpointsNov. 29, 2024

The Sado Mines Memorial Ceremony stands as a stark reminder of the unresolved historical tensions and diplomatic missteps between Korea and Japan. What could have been a meaningful step toward reconciliation instead became a diplomatic failure, highlighting the challenges both countries face in addressing their shared past. Understanding what went wrong is crucial for avoiding similar setbacks in the future and ensuring that historical grievances do not continue to hinder diplomatic progress. In

ViewpointsNov. 28, 2024

Is it all over for Basel 3.1 (or what is known in the United States as the “Basel Endgame”)? Should we kiss goodbye the Basel Committee and the very idea of global banking-supervision accords that establish minimum capital requirements? Many informed people think so. The committee’s recommendations have long been assailed from all sides, especially the western shores of the Atlantic. In 2023, emboldened -- or perhaps stung -- by the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and a few oth

ViewpointsNov. 27, 2024

As a professor, translator and self-appointed cultural ambassador, I have traveled to many countries in my life. One of the best places I have ever visited is Malaga in Spain. Thanks to the generous invitation of Vice Chancellor Victor Munoz and Professor Antonio Domenech, I had a chance to be affiliated with the University of Malaga as a visiting professor for a semester. Thanks to the warm hospitality of Gonzalo Ortiz, the former Spanish Ambassador to South Korea, I also had a chance to visit

ViewpointsNov. 27, 2024

Vietnam has positioned itself in recent years as an attractive destination for Big Tech companies looking to move away from China. But Hanoi’s policies regarding social media have increasingly been following Beijing’s lead. The Southeast Asian nation is now ramping up already tight controls over online platforms with new rules that will require companies to verify the identities of users and share this information with authorities when asked. If these sorts of digital regulations sou

ViewpointsNov. 27, 2024

South Korea’s plan to roll out the AI Digital Textbook system in 2025 has sparked some controversy. It is an ambitious project, and there’s nothing quite like it anywhere else in the world. But the boldness of the idea is matched by the intensity of the concerns it raises. The sheer cost, the way it is being implemented as a national policy and whether AI will truly help or hurt education have left people divided and questioning its viability. The AIDT is not just another digital tex

ViewpointsNov. 26, 2024

I have worked as a professor for almost 30 years at two Ivy League institutions -- the University of Pennsylvania and Yale University. Ivy League institutions epitomize the Ivory Tower. We imagine that professors and students discuss rarefied subjects while being disconnected to the reality on the ground. However, I wholeheartedly reject this version of academia. Two weeks ago, I had the immense pleasure of organizing a K-pop conference at Yale University titled "K-pop Production and Consum

ViewpointsNov. 26, 2024

Generative AI’s ability to create or improve products and services means it has to potential to commoditize some businesses, while greatly enhancing the competitive advantage of others. In what follows I will discuss the characteristics that make products or services susceptible to disruption by generative AI, and those that make them more resilient. To illustrate, I will then compare Chegg and Duolingo, two businesses which have been impacted very differently by the emergence of generativ

ViewpointsNov. 25, 2024

Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election earlier this month, securing another four-year term as the leader of the world’s most powerful country, has sent shockwaves across the globe and through various sectors on a magnitude and scope not seen in many years. Not only experts and scholars but also the general public, including small retail investors and office workers, have actively debated the changes Trump is likely to bring about when he takes office in two months and

ViewpointsNov. 25, 2024

Donald Trump recently said he would protect women, whether they like it or not. What did he mean by this? What is implied by this? It is an important statement and, unfortunately, tells us a great deal about why Trump won the election and his priorities as president. For the last several years, leading Republicans have warned that there is a war on masculinity in America. Indeed, manly men are being replaced, they say, by effeminate men or gay men or -- even worse -- by men who want to become wo

ViewpointsNov. 25, 2024