From News Service Reports — No sooner had after China signaled it would impose new national-security laws on Hong Kong than markets throughout the world trembled. By early afternoon Friday in Hong Kong (22 May), the Hang Seng Index had lost 5.6%, with property, financial and infrastructure stocks retreating between…
Full Article HONG-KONG-WATCH: SHAKEN MARKETS
(This is the second in an original series about new wave feminist writers in Korea) ANDREA PLATE WRITES — Is this the face of modern-day feminism in Seoul? If I Had Your Face, Frances Cha’s debut novel (Ballantine Books), tells the story of four young women struggling to succeed in…
Full Article KOREA: NEW WAVE LITERATURE AS WOMEN’S LIBERATION (PART TWO)
CHARLES E MORRISON WRITES — About two turbulent months ago, former Vice President Joe Biden had established a commanding lead in the Democratic nomination campaign, although his two more liberal competitors had not yet ended their efforts; and the looming coronavirus pandemic was threatening to fundamentally transform the political landscape. And…
Full Article CORONAVIRUS CHRONICLES: THE ARC OF A HISTORIC CRISIS
SARA ALTUWAIJIRI WRITES — The sad saga of the Uyghur controversy proceeds apace. The Chinese government has one million Uyghurs detained in re-education camps, some of whom have been utilized for organ harvesting to treat patients who have the coronavirus. Uyghurs have been sent to industrial factories in Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangzi…
Full Article UYGHUR CRY: SERIOUSLY INHUMANE
Project Bridge was established in 1993 after the Los Angeles Riots (SAIGU) took place by the Los Angeles based Pacific Century Institute in conjunction with New York based the Korea Society. The cross-cultural program selects 16 students (eight from Los Angeles and eight from New York) each year to participate…
Full Article REFLECTIONS ON BEING KOREAN-AMERICAN: A MASTERCLASS
NATHAN RIVAS WRITES — Perhaps you’ve found yourself scrolling through Netflix for hours on end because you’ve already binged on the Tiger King so much that you’ve begun to grow a furry mustache! If that’s you, we have a few solutions. Amid the crisis of COVID-19, theaters have been shut…
Full Article CORONAVIRUS CINEMA: 5 EASY MOVIES
ANDREA PLATE WRITES – (This is the first in an original series about new wave feminist writers in Korea). It was big news in 2016 when the novel Kim Ji-young, 1982, by author Cho Nam-Joo, awakened a semi-somnolent women’s movement in South Korea. The book sold one million copies—only the second novel in the…
Full Article KOREA: NEW WAVE LITERATURE AS WOMEN’S LIBERATION
STUART MULJADI WRITES — Ever since Trump publicly announced to the world back in March that COVID-19 will vanish by April due to “warmer weather,” researchers, data analysts and ‘self- proclaimed’ experts have been trying to answer the question: Does warmer weather halt the spread and development of COVID-19? Weather…
Full Article INDONESIA AND COVID-19: A YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY?
SEAN SINGH WRITES – Due to popularity among tourists, it appears that coronavirus spread more quickly to French Polynesia than to other islands of the South Pacific, where it looks to be well contained. Paradise uninterrupted! For example, Tonga has a population of approximately 100,000 and is less developed compared…
Full Article CORONAVIRUS EXCEPTIONS: LIFE IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC PARADISE
‘VICTOR B’ WRITES — How do clashes in Russia, between police and the public, look right now, when most other nations are struggling to maintain safe and healthy environments? Not good. Orwellian, in fact? The Russian government now requires issuance of a ‘QR’ code to every citizen wanting to walk…
Full Article RUSSIA UNDER COVID-19: FROM MOSCOW BUT NOT WITH LOVE
LILLY WEBER WRITES — With highly influential individuals like President Donald Trump referring to the coronavirus using the phrase the “Chinese Virus”, it’s not entirely surprising that Asian Americans are being negatively affected by such rhetoric. While the entirety of the restaurant industry has been hit hard by the shelter-in-orders…
Full Article CORONAVIRUS COLLATERAL DAMAGE: THE LONELY CHINESE RESTAURANT
NICHOLAS WILCOX WRITES – Since FIFA, the international governing body of football, awarded the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, more than a few eyebrows were raised as to just how the Persian Gulf nation secured the games. Rumors of bribery and corruption surfaced. So did stories about the exceptionally poor…
Full Article QATAR: FIFA WORLD CUP 2020 MIGRANT WORKER RED CARDS
While spring semester study abroad and global immersion trips have been canceled due to the ongoing pandemic, Tom Plate, clinical professor and Distinguished Scholar of Asian and Pacific studies, is continuing to facilitate cross-cultural learning experiences for Loyola Marymount University students. From opposite sides of the Pacific, LMU students collaborate with Yonsei University students…
Full Article NO ZOOM GLOOM: FROM LOS ANGELES TO SEOUL
TOM PLATE WRITES – On one hand, let me ask you: Would you be foolish enough to persist in advocating a balanced-sensible approach to the People’s Republic of China amid this murderous coronavirus-crisis for which so many blame the PRC? At a time when global suspicion and recrimination converge on Beijing/Wuhan…
Full Article CHINA VERSUS US: MAHBUBANI’S MARKER
TSAI ING-WEN WRITES – Taiwan is an island of resilience…. We have found ways to persevere through difficult times together as a nation, and the COVID-19 pandemic is no different. Despite the virus’s highly infectious nature and our proximity to its source, we have prevented a major outbreak. As of…
Full Article TAIWAN: TSAI – HOW WE ARE BEATING COVID-19