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Cho Hee-kyoung

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.

Shim Jae-yun | 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

Hapless Leviathan: a critical look at investor-state dispute settlement

As the month of August drew to a close, it seemed that the long-running dispute between Lone Star, a private equity fund from Texas, and the government of South Korea was finally coming to an end. The international arbitration tribunal established to hear the investor state dispute case brought by Lone Star ordered the Korean government to pay it $216.5 million in damages plus interest.

2022-09-13 15:13

Role of messenger and criminal defamation

Korea is one of the few countries among the developed democracies where defamation is still prosecuted as a crime. Most member states of the OECD long ago decriminalized defamation and treat it only as a civil wrong to be resolved between two private parties. The United Nations Commission on Human Rights ruled in 2012 that criminal defamation is a violation of freedom of expression and is inconsistent with Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

2022-08-09 15:49

Finally, pedestrian-centric road traffic rules

A few years ago, my friend's young daughter was hit by a car as she was crossing a road near her primary school. Her right femur was shattered and several of her ribs were fractured. She had to be hospitalized for three months and had to endure multiple operations.

2022-07-13 16:32

Harsh consequences of hubris before nemesis

In ancient Greek mythology, Nemesis was a goddess who meted out retribution to those who succumb to hubris, before the gods. Classic traits of hubris are identified as arrogance and contempt for others' opinions, often resulting from a loss of contact with reality and an overestimation of one's own competence, accomplishments or capabilities. The outcome of the local elections held nationwide earlier this month seems to be an almost perfect illustration.

2022-06-13 16:12

Let it not be a hundred years

One of my favorite TV dramas used to be a crime series called Law & Order. Following a now well-worn formula of a police procedural, the show began with the following narration: “In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate, yet equally important groups: The police, who investigate crime; and the district attorneys, who prosecute the offenders. These are their stories.”

2022-05-10 16:55

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