You observe the youngish Junichiro Koizumi in Japan and, of course, Roh in South Korea -- both with telegenic looks appealing to the youth vote -- and you wonder whether Kerry will become the first Netizen president.

Whether the current government's economic policies are "leftist" or not cannot be part of serious debate, because if you look at the tone of it, it's not significantly different from the previous government, nor from the government prior to that, during which the Grand National Party (GNP) was the ruling party.

America is hated in the squalid streets of Baghdad and Cairo, but the fires of anti-Americanism blaze no less fervidly in the posh cafes of the hyper-wealthy Kangnam district in Seoul.

American naivete ultimately hatched Kim and thereby anti-Americanism in South Korea. In its obsession with promoting democracy abroad, America forgot that genuine democrats are rare outside the West, but phony democrats who profess their belief in the Creed to obtain American support are a dime a dozen...

Regardless of whether you're a Republican or a Democrat, if you are concerned about events on the Korean Peninsula, you had to come away from the first presidential debate feeling quite distressed.

I heard rumors last weakened that a weapons cache had been found in Itaewon, and a reliable Yongsan source told me they had caught a couple al-quacks planning attacks and were looking for some others. Another guy called a friend before Chuseok and said 'don't ride the subway, and don't go to Itaewon'.