중앙데일리

You’ve come a long way, baby

Max Planck, a Nobel laureate in physics in 1918, said that female students could attend his classes at Germany’s Berlin University, but only under several conditions and clauses. “It would be hard to find a woman who is brilliant in the principles of physics,” Mr. Planck said. “But if there ever is one, she can attend my classes under the rules of the university and on the condition that I can expel her from class whenever I want.” Earl…

Feb 21,2003
Advice to staffers

"I was not meant for the job or the spotlight of public life in Washington. Here ruining people is considered sport." Vincent W. Foster was a lifetime friend of former President Bill Clinton and his deputy White House counsel. A few days before taking his own life with a pistol in the summer of 1993, Mr. Foster wrote a memorandum expressing the enormous pressure, frustration and agony he had to endure as a presidential staff member. At…

Feb 20,2003
Saying 'no' or 'know-how'?

The Soviet Union's ambassadors to the United Nations during the Cold War were widely known as "Mr. Niet" in Russian or "Mr. No" in English. These ambassadors frequently wielded their veto in the United Nations Security Council. The national image of the Soviet Union was, in the American press, stubborn, argumentative and not open to negotiation. But the series of Mr. Nos, other than holding different ideological and cultural views, were us…

Feb 19,2003
Standing up to intimate enemy

At a glance, Doha appears to be a sunny elementary school boy. But he lives in constant anxiety, having to see his father beat his mother every day. The mother, intimidated, does not report the beatings to the police. One day, Doha finds himself abusing his younger sister just as his father does his mother. The story is from an animated movie, "Doha's Dream," from the Seoul Women's Hotline, based on a caller's true story. Violence in …

Feb 17,2003
Answering for the president

Ronald L. Ziegler, the White House press secretary under U.S. President Richard M. Nixon, died of a heart attack last week at his home in California. He was 63. The former White House counsel John Dean, who helped expose the Watergate scandal, said Mr. Ziegler was one of the people who might have been “Deep Throat,” the mysterious source who gave Bob Woodward, a reporter for the Washington Post, crucial information about the scandal. Whe…

Feb 16,2003
Signalers of a brewing storm

They're back. During the currency crisis, officials from Moody's Investors Service, the renowned U.S.-based credit rating agency, were like messengers from the underworld. They arrived with chilly smiles. Moody's is considered one of the top three credit raters, along with Standard & Poor's of the United States and Fitch Ratings Ltd. of Britain. John Moody founded Moody's in 1900. The company rated bonds issued by U.S. railroads in 1909…

Feb 15,2003
Don’t rush a Bush-Roh meeting

A U.S. journalist with an exceptional talent for reporting on Washington's policies on the Korean Peninsula sent me an e-mail earlier this week. He wrote, "The special envoy did not lessen Washington's concerns. The two governments seem to be on completely different tracks. This situation will probably continue for a while." Two questions rose in my mind. How long did "for a while" mean, and what had been wrong with the special envoy t…

Feb 14,2003
Reports to the king

In March 1591, two Joseon Dynasty delegates to Japan made conflicting reports about the Japanese leader, Hideyoshi Toyotomi, after they returned from a visit. Reporting to King Seonjo, Hwang Yun-gil, who led the delegates, said, "Hideyoshi Toyotomi is short and small, and his face is dark. Although he did not even have informal schooling, he is of such piercing and extraordinary eyes that he will definitely invade Joseon." By contrast, …

Feb 13,2003
What's wrong with the rich?

"What is wrong with you, what is the matter with you? I don't know what the heck you are talking about, I really don't know what you are talking about. You better be doing good, otherwise, you will be sorry for that." Those are the lyrics of a song performed by Kang San-e. The title of the song is "What is the matter with you." Owners of some Korean conglomerates might see themselves in the song because the singer might be singing what…

Feb 12,2003
Truth knows no age

Entering the Buddhist priesthood is called "leaving home." Another expression is "shaving one's head." If "leaving home" is a Buddhist metaphor for "severing ties with the secular life," shaving one's head is the most symbolic act of such a decision. At Buddhist temples, hair is called mumyeongcho, meaning literally grass without light. Mumyeong means "without light," but in Buddhism, it also means stupidity, not seeing objects as they …

Feb 10,2003

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