[Kim Seong-kon] Agenda for the Korea-US summit meeting

Next week, there will be a summit meeting between President Lee Jae Myung and US President Donald Trump in Washington. Besides the tariff issue on which the two countries recently reached an agreement, experts say that there will be a lot to discuss at the meeting, such as cost-sharing for the US troops deployed in Korea, changing the role of US troops on the Korean Peninsula, and transferring wartime operational control of the ROK-US Combined Forces Command. The Korean people will be anxiously

Aug. 20, 2025

[Andrew Sheng] Options in the eye of the storm

As Typhoon Trump sweeps over trading partners and foes alike, even as US stock markets are breaking record highs, there is an eerie feeling that one is trapped inside the eye of the hurricane, with no guidance on what to do and where to go. There is misinformation and disinformation everywhere, since we have no objective and independent verification on the real casualties and devastation in the Ukraine and Gaza wars, nor whether Trump can deliver a truce with Putin when they meet soon, or rein i

Aug. 19, 2025

[Grace Kao] Pretty Boys P1Harmony ‘Killin’ It’ with ‘Duh’

P1Harmony — a fourth-generation K-pop boy group comprising members Keeho, Theo, Jiung, Intak, Soul and Jongseob — was a featured act at KCON LA 2025, performing on the M Countdown Stage and Meet and Greet on Day 1 and Artists Stage on Day 3. Many fans I spoke to at KCON told me that P1Harmony was a major reason for their attendance at KCON LA 2025. Their name came up unsolicited by me. Ann Marie Uy, 48, from LA, mentioned that she was excited to see many groups, including P1Harmony. Brooke Shell

Aug. 19, 2025

[Yoo Choon-sik] AI roadmap: consistency or complacency?

South Korea’s de facto presidential transition team has unveiled the highly anticipated blueprint of national goals and policy priorities that the administration of President Lee Jae Myung will pursue over the next five years. The blueprint was announced at the end of the nearly two-month operation of the national policy planning committee, which was established soon after Lee won the June 3 early presidential election to serve as a presidential transition team, as Lee had to start work immediat

Aug. 18, 2025

[Aziz Huq] America's national security for sale

Perhaps the least interesting thing about the reported decision by US President Donald Trump’s administration to allow Nvidia and AMD to export high-end semiconductors to China in exchange for 15 percent of revenues is that it is probably unlawful. More important is the window it opens onto how the presidency is using its national security powers not to advance the country’s interests, but for its own, narrower ambitions. To understand what’s at stake, consider Nvidia’s H20 chips, which Trump, w

Aug. 18, 2025

[Lee Byung-jong] Is Lee-Trump bromance possible?

Former President Yoon Suk Yeol, now disgraced and awaiting trial for his ill-fated martial law declaration and other charges, may still be remembered in the United States for one surprisingly warm gesture. During his 2023 state visit to the White House, Yoon famously broke into a rendition of "American Pie," the beloved US pop classic. He was no great vocalist, but the effortless way he delivered the English lyrics showed clear preparation. The performance went viral in the US, and for many Amer

Aug. 15, 2025

A wish being realized

Published in 1947, “Diary of Kim Koo,” an autobiographical writing by the independence movement leader Kim Koo, contains an addendum entitled “The Nation That I Desire” in which he laid out his vision for the newly independent Korea. “I want our nation to become the most beautiful nation in the world … I do not want our nation to become the richest and (most) powerful nation in the world. The only thing that I desire in infinite quantity is the power of a highly developed culture. This is becaus

Aug. 14, 2025

[Wang Son-taek] The power of strategic ambiguity

In diplomacy, sometimes saying less achieves more. The most effective message to an adversary may be the one they can’t quite pin down. Of course, diplomatic clarity is often praised as a virtue. Allies want to know exactly where you stand; adversaries should have no doubt about your resolve. Yet history shows that, in certain circumstances, clarity can be dangerous. The wiser course is sometimes to leave room for interpretation — to embrace what strategists call strategic ambiguity. Strategic a

Aug. 14, 2025

[Barry Eichengreen] Trump in the Falklands

US President Donald Trump’s trade war resembles nothing so much as UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s Falklands War in 1982: One side deploys massive force, and the other withdraws with its tail between its legs. Of 57 countries and territories included in Trump’s “Liberation Day” list of targets for “reciprocal” tariffs, just three — Brazil, Canada and China — are credibly threatening retaliation against the United States. The Heard and McDonald Islands, populated only by penguins, were unde

Aug. 14, 2025

[Kim Seong-kon] Peace to the 'land of the morning calm'

Many political commentators these days point out that we are living in a world at war. Some say that the current situation of the world resembles that of the early 20th century when World War I broke out, and others argue that our times look more like the mid-20th century when World War II began. Either way, we are undoubtedly living in a time of unprecedented global crisis. Just a few years ago, everyone on earth desperately fought a war against the COVID-19 virus that devastated the world, lea

Aug. 13, 2025

[Mariana Mazzucato] A new economics of water

As African leaders gather in Cape Town, South Africa, for the African Water Investment Summit, there can be no equivocation: The world faces an unprecedented water crisis that demands a paradigm shift in how we value and govern our most precious resource. The scale of the challenge is staggering. Over half the world’s food production now comes from areas experiencing declining freshwater supplies. Two-thirds of the global population face water scarcity at least one month per year. More than 1,00

Aug. 12, 2025

[Grace Kao] My experience at KCON LA 2025

I just attended KCON LA 2025 last week and found it invigorating, overwhelming and confusing. Let me explain. The festival grounds during the day had a variety of performance locations, including the Artist Stage, Meet and Greet Stage, X Stage, Busking Stage and Dance Stage. The Artist Stage held what were essentially mini-concerts of five or six songs by artists such as Lee Youngji, P1Harmony and Hwasa. The X-Stage featured newer groups such as 82Major, Kik5o, HitGS and Ifeye. The Meet and Gree

Aug. 12, 2025

[Mohammad Hosseini] Dangers of White House AI plan

“America’s AI Action Plan,” unveiled by the White House on July 23, aims to accelerate the innovation of artificial intelligence by dismantling regulations and privatizing infrastructure. What the plan does is conflate innovation with deregulation and frame AI as a race to be won rather than a technology to be governed. US President Donald Trump signed three executive orders to ensure that the federal government approves data centers as quickly as possible, promote the exporting of AI models for

Aug. 11, 2025

[Lee Kyong-hee] Alliance for NE Asia nuclear-weapon-free zone

Eighty years since a nuclear Armageddon leveled two Japanese cities, ending the bloodiest armed conflict in history, nuclear anxiety is rising in this region. At the crux of this paradoxical security dilemma is the Korean Peninsula, with no end in sight to its division, imposed by the Allies upon their victory. North Korea continues to expand its nuclear stockpile as a de facto nuclear power, and big-power rivalries intensify to reshape the geopolitical landscape. North Korea’s nuclear and missi

Aug. 11, 2025

[Robert J. Fouser] Trump’s search for a Nobel Peace Prize

After long and difficult negotiations over tariffs between the US and its major trading partners, most have reached last-minute agreements with the US. The agreements, including the one with South Korea, follow a similar pattern of 15 percent tariffs on goods sent to the US, combined with promises to purchase more US goods and increase investment in the US. Among major US trading partners, deadlines have been extended for China and Mexico, but tariffs on Canadian goods not covered by the United

Aug. 8, 2025