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The Korea Times

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Columnists

Cho Hee-kyoung

A midsummer nightmare

Summer is the season for horror movies. Watching a scary movie in the cinema and getting chills is a favorite way to cope with the heat for some people.

2023-08-22 16:30

Not every problem is a Gordian Knot

They say that the pen is mightier than the sword but mightier than the pen, it seems, is the mouth of our president. Just with one word from President Yoon Suk Yeol and the whole education establishment has been thrown into chaos. Five months away from the national scholastic aptitude test (SAT), possibly the most important exam that one can take in one's lifetime in Korea, the head of the institute that sets the SAT questions has resigned. Other high-level officials from the education ministry have been fired too.

2023-06-21 16:30

What does it mean to be human?

What does it mean to be human? The rapid advances in computing technology are challenging our basic assumptions about what it is to be human. Attributes that we used to think were unique to humans, such as creativity, language, making up stories and even perhaps lying, are now being shared with artificial intelligence.

2023-05-04 16:40

Work smarter, not harder

You would've had to have been living under a rock for the last few months to have not heard about ChatGPT, the latest generative artificial intelligence (AI) developed by OpenAI, that is designed to understand natural language input and generate human-like responses in various contexts. Goldman Sachs, an investment bank, recently issued a report predicting that AI could replace 300 million full-time jobs worldwide, but that it would also lead to the creation of new jobs and a productivity boom, thanks to greater automation and efficiency that the use of AI would bring.

2023-04-11 16:30

A case of school bullying

Earlier this year, “The Glory,” a Korean drama series that screened on an OTT platform, became the most-watched non-English program in just a matter of weeks despite dealing with the difficult topic of school bullying. The word 'bullying' seems too facile a term for the kind of violence meted out to the victim in the drama which amounted to grievous bodily harm who has third-degree burns inflicted upon her.

2023-03-07 16:40

Facing up to the cold reality

A lot of people got a nasty surprise when they received their gas bills in January. Price had gone up by at least one-third compared to the same period last year. For many, the increase more than doubled their energy bill affecting the least well-off the most.

2023-02-07 17:00

Down the rabbit hole

Did the New Year feel a little flat this year or was it just me? Sending off 2022 with a sigh of relief. Good riddance, one might say. It was not a happy year, descending to the nadir with a senseless tragedy in its final months. But the changing of the calendar year has not ushered in a new beginning, it feels.

2023-01-11 16:40

Truck drivers and Texas sharpshooters

Nationwide, thousands of cargo truckers have been on a strike since late November in a dispute over the price of freight. The government has labelled the strike illegal and claimed that the truckers, who are already earning a high income, are holding the entire economy hostage to enrich themselves further.

2022-12-06 16:50

Only the good die young

There are supposed to be five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. I can pinpoint to the exact moment when my disbelief and denial turned into anger over the Halloween disaster in Itaewon that has so far taken 156 lives.

2022-11-08 14:23

Gonggam: empathy for needy people

In the middle of Seoul's concrete jungle, the old palace of Changdeok-gung remains beautifully preserved. Changdeok Palace is famous for Biwon, or the Secret Garden. Hidden away at the back of the palace grounds, the Secret Garden is a tranquil green oasis, offering a refuge from the noise, pollution and the constant stream of traffic and people ever present in Seoul. Just nearby, a stone's throw away from the palace, is the office of the Korean Public Interest Lawyers Group (KPIL), the first public interest legal organization in Korea. Like the Secret Garden, it is a green oasis offering su...

2022-10-25 14:12

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