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SCMP
Asia

The Korea Times

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Thu, March 23, 2023 | 10:37

On BTS and history

On BTS and history

Why can we remember the past but not the future? Why does time pass faster in the mountains than it does in the valleys? Why does time pass more slowly for things that move than for stationary objects? Why does cause precede effect? Just what is Rainer Maria Rilke's 'eternal current' that draws all ages and epochs along with it?

2022-10-22 12:11

Stoned Korea and the doors of perception

Stoned Korea and the doors of perception

Consciousness and the act of being human are very difficult things to understand. It's generally for the best that we don't think about it too much. With ignorance, we can simply skip through life believing that we are rational individuals, composed of single selves, making choices according to our own free will, perceiving an objective world outside of us. If we do that, our...

2022-10-15 12:26

Sublime object of ideology: Korean beauty standards and metaverse

Sublime object of ideology: Korean beauty standards and metaverse

South Korean people are attractive. Especially the ones you see in the dramas, the music videos, the movies, and social media. Beauty here is off the charts. But such sky high beauty standards are not just expected from the country's rich and famous. Nor are they only applied to women. Whether going to work, attending university, or just trying to live, Korean people young an...

2022-10-08 11:43

On Korea and Britain: Small talk intensifies

On Korea and Britain: Small talk intensifies

“It might be a stereotype but I've always had the impression that Korean students are quite robotic. That they just study. Lack creativity,” he said as we smoked Cuban cigars outside a chapel. My younger brother had just gotten married in the south of England and many of his friends were curious, and opinionated, about life in South Korea.

2022-10-01 17:25

On Modernity: Korea and the West

On Modernity: Korea and the West

To define whether or not a country is modern is a rather difficult thing. Some of us instinctually reach for economic factors as a mark of a state's development. The simple equation being: the more cash it has, the more modern it is. Yet such figures can be deceiving. Rather than just mere gross domestic product, people expect a reasonable amount of economic distribution in a...

2022-09-24 13:25

Han Byung-chul and the Beauty of Yeobek

Han Byung-chul and the Beauty of Yeobek

We live in a world filled with people marked by imperfections. People like you and I. Amidst buildings that are damaged, with rainy days, and blue moods. And it is our flaws and our limitations that make us real. These qualities make us human. Mortal.

2022-09-17 11:36

Korean dating, YouTube videos, and daeri manjok

Korean dating, YouTube videos, and daeri manjok

Modern Korean society has created a unique series of existential, psychological and economic pressures. They are unique because although it is easy to see many commonalities in popular culture between Korea and the West, the differences that do exist are important.

2022-09-10 14:17

Compressed modernization as epistemology

Compressed modernization as epistemology

Modernity has many definitions. It is understood as (capitalist) economic development, technological advancement, or liberal democratic communities. Decolonization has helped give rise to a less Eurocentric vision by championing local subjectivities and raising the voices of those once oppressed.

2022-08-27 11:58

Can we escape the Korean metaverse?

Can we escape the Korean metaverse?

One of the decisions that many in South Korea have taken recently, from the largest conglomerates, to government projects and high school education, has been to embrace the idea of the metaverse.

2022-08-20 11:33

K-pop: Full of aesthetic but devoid of art

K-pop: Full of aesthetic but devoid of art

With religion having largely receded from day-to-day life, particularly among the youth, a vacuum is created. Our extra-rational cravings and innate desires leave us yearning for something more than a simple physical existence. We become masterless dogs. Desperate to chase a ball but no one to throw it for us.

2022-08-13 13:22

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Top 10 Stories

1	Korean firms balk at donating to fund compensating victims of Japan's forced labor

2	Sexual assaults by Korean diplomats continue despite zero-tolerance policy

3	Main opposition leader indicted, faces calls to resign

4	Consumers choose to travel abroad over purchasing luxury goods

5	World water day

6	Outback Steakhouse sees sales soar as it opens stores in large shopping malls

7	Samsung, SK avoid worst-case scenario as US 'guardrails' are less stringent than feared

8	Korean pension fund hit by overseas banking crisis

9	INTERVIEWRetired FSC chief finds inspiration exploring Koreans' ancestral roots

10	Campaign launched to promote equal treatment for multicultural families

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