Tarnishing a beloved Korean food
The inventor of dumplings is believed to be Zhuge Liang or Kongming, a military strategist in the Three Kingdoms period in China. The dumpling appears in the famous "seven captures, seven releases" episode. When Kongming invaded the region of present-day Vietnam, he repeatedly captured and released an ethnic general named Meng Hou. Every time he was freed, Meng Hou steadfastly resisted by mobilizing new troops. But at the seventh capture…
Probity fails if not linked to ability
"Politics is the authoritative allocation of social values," the American political scientist David Easton said. Social values are coveted, and so are rare ideas such as power, money, and respect. A society can avoid trouble when these values are allocated so that the members of society are convinced of the fairness of the allocation. Politics is the job of allocating values. Among many social values, power and money outweigh all others…
Reforms often clash with idealism
"Reform" and "progressive" are attractive words. Correcting past mistakes and moving on to the future are noble ideas. The two concepts seem to go hand in hand. In fact, historically they have conflicted many times. One of the most well-known cases can be found in British history. In 1979, the Conservative Party was in power with Margaret Thatcher as the prime minister. Until the late 1970s, the idealism of the Labor Party had ruled…
The legacy of Reagan lives on
Revered as the "first great American," John Winthrop was the spiritual leader of the Founding Fathers. He studied law at Cambridge University's Trinity College, but he was forced to resign from the bench when he stood by his Puritan convictions. In 1630, he left England for the New World to manifest his religious belief. He may have identified himself with Moses in the Old Testament. His voyage to America was a Puritan version of Exodus…
Europe sees tolerance, but Asia doesn't
The international media toasted the 60th anniversary ceremony of D-Day, held in France on June 6, as a reconciliation that encompassed both the winners and losers of World War II. The chancellor of Germany, Gerhard Schroeder, joined the heads of state of the allies that defeated Nazi Germany. Another notable attendee was Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, who became the first Russian leader to attend a ceremony in remembrance of the Norm…
General Seo's skills are needed today
In 993, Khitan general Hsiao led 800,000 troops to Goryeo and demanded that it surrender. By the late 10th century, Khitans had already established the Liao Dynasty, which overwhelmed the Sung Dynasty. The royal court of Goryeo debated whether to resist the invasion or to surrender the land north of Seogyeong, today's Pyeongyang, to Kitai. But General Seo Hui advocated that Goryeo delay the decision until it understood the precise reason…
Food chains lead back to earth's soil
There is a food chain among grass, a rabbit, a wildcat and bacteria. The cycle from a plant to an herbivore to a carnivore to bacteria ends up in making soil. When a living mechanism dies, it returns to the soil, and humans are not exception in this natural cycle. Edward S. Hyams and other soil scientists coined a phrase, "soil community," to describe human society. Winds and water carry soil down to the mouths of rivers, and ancient ci…
Looking past the superficial for abilities
"Beauty and longevity seldom go together," a Korean saying puts it: Physical beauty often leads to misfortune. But in reality, some people have both the good looks and luck. In the United States, scholars have researched the economic value of physical appearance. A team led by an economics professor, Daniel Hamermesh at the University of Texas at Austin, surveyed over 3,600 people for a paper published in 1997. Based on submitted photog…
Grim lessons in pollution's consequences
One day, seagulls began falling from the sky. Dead fish floated belly-up on the sea. A cat went berserk and fell dead. These strange events happened in 1953 in a fishing village in Japan's Kumamoto prefecture called Minimata. Three years later, villagers themselves began to show abnormal symptoms. Many experienced paralysis in their limbs, and were unable to walk properly. Their speech became slurred, their vision constricted. They b…
In the sands, Islam found a weak point
History is an endless cycle of challenge and retaliation. The biggest cycle of challenge and retaliation in world history would be the confrontation between Christianity and Islam. From the Christian perspective, the Islamic religion began as a fundamental challenge to the Church. As a prophet, Mohammed challenged the religion that Jesus organized six centuries before him. Islam downgraded Jesus to one of many prophets despite the Chris…
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