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THOUGH RECOGNIZED for its dynamic culture, modernity, and economic progress, South Korea betrays such notions through the substandard living conditions of its one-room apartments. The latter’s tenants are often young university students and workers who seek cheap housing options. The reality of thes
Opinion
Ewa Aleksandra
2024.03.10 20:34
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CLIMATE ACTION is deterred by the exclusive pursuit of wealth in the capitalist market. This is clearly shown through greenwashing, a form of advertising that misinforms the positive environmental impacts of a company. While the environmental crisis seems to only get worse, greenwashing is becoming
Opinion
Kim Seo-young
2024.03.05 16:21
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ART CAN emotionally touch, inspire, and enlighten us with new perspectives. However, such art is losing its essence due to recent developments in the art market. Increasingly seen as investments, individual artworks are now sold for hundreds of millions of dollars, with many people willing to pay su
Opinion
Park Hye-lin
2023.12.05 10:21
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IN SHOW business, achieving iconic success often comes with a double-edged sword. While being associated with an iconic role can skyrocket an actor’s fame and fortune, it may also cast a looming shadow over their career and personal life that lasts a lifetime. Their career may take a downturn, slipp
Opinion
Shin Hye-yoon
2023.12.05 10:12
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FOR CENTURIES, Seoul has served as the capital of Korea, as a city with a rich history and legacy. As more people flock to the city and living environments evolve, the need to renovate decades-old apartments has increased. Residents aspire to elevate and expand their residential environments, but th
Opinion
Ko Yu-min
2023.11.05 20:32
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IN FALL, nothing is better than cozying up with a nice book and a warm drink—and BookTok knows this too. The online community of book lovers, whose name is a compound of “books” and the social media app “TikTok,” is busy sharing their fall reads through short-form videos. BookTokkers today have grow
Opinion
Ko U-rim
2023.11.05 20:25
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TIPPING CULTURE is becoming a controversial matter in many countries including Korea. Recently, a few eateries in Korea have started implementing this practice, which created huge disputes. Some cafes set up tip jars expecting a few dollars of appreciation from the customers and Kakao T, a widesprea
Opinion
Park Hye-lin
2023.10.11 00:49
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THE GOVERNMENT and the People Power Party (PPP) buckled down on cutting off unemployment benefits for those working less than three hours a day, starting from Nov. 1, 2023. The amendment to lower the limit of daily contractual working hours was approved by the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL)
Opinion
Kim Ha-jeong
2023.10.11 00:45
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JEON-SE, A unique house rental system in Korea, has now become a threat to many. Numerous real estate scams are putting overall housing stability at risk. Despite jeon-se being the most common residential contract in South Korea, the system is often abused by malicious fraudsters. The issue of jeon-
Opinion
Kim Ha-jeong
2023.09.03 17:27
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VISUAL EFFECTS (VFX) in film and television have a long and illustrious history. Decades-old film sagas such as Star Wars wowed audiences with gritty, grounded depictions of fictional worlds. Hyper-realistic animation was already established by the late 2000s through the likes of Iron Man and Transf
Opinion
Yoo Ji-whang
2023.09.03 13:21
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THERE HAS been an onslaught of copyright disputes in the music industry as of late: Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking out Loud” allegedly copied Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On,” and previously Robin Thick and Pharrell Williams were accused of copying Gaye’s “Got to Give it Up” in their hit song “Blurred Lines.
Opinion
Samantha Bening
2023.06.08 01:15
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IT IS a common tactic in South Korea’s political sphere to take advantage of scandals involving politicians’ family members. Political parties on all ends of the spectrum enthusiastically fuel the outrage that these cases spark to sway public opinion and gain support. Often, this strategy is critici
Opinion
Kim Min-ju
2023.06.08 01:09
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WITH THE recent seizing of the free online database Z-library by the U.S. Department of Justice, college students’ reliance on piracy has since been spotlighted. However, this is not a stand-alone struggle but rather one that extends to the gatekeeping of academic knowledge via paywalls. A conversat
Opinion
The Annals Staff
2023.05.04 12:46
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IMAGINE AN urban environment where every necessity of life—food, workplaces, schools, hospitals, entertainment, exercise, and more—is within a 15-minute commuting distance. That is the 15-minute city. Many cities are already well equipped to transform into this new urban model and those that require
Opinion
Brooklyn Hollander
2023.05.04 12:43
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SHORT-FORM VIDEOS are not a new phenomenon in the market of social media. A decade ago, Vine was one of the trendiest social media services, with users sharing six-second-long videos. Not long after Vine shut down in 2016, other short-form video platforms grew in popularity. The industry’s rapid exp
Opinion
Kim Min-ju
2023.04.04 21:42
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AFTER FOUR years of stable taxi fares, the cost of transportation within Seoul has recently risen. The South Korean government has justified this fare hike as a solution to the nighttime taxi and driver shortage. However, this decision concerns many as it may place a heavy burden on the Seoul reside
Opinion
Kim Sang-yun
2023.04.04 21:38
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RUSH HOUR in many of the busiest train stations in Seoul has decelerated in light of the Solidarity Against Disability Discrimination (SADD)’s subway protests over the past year. The activists, the majority of them being wheelchaired elderly people, demand elevators in all train stations and an over
Opinion
Lee Young-bean
2023.03.07 21:53
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THIS JUNE will mark an end to South Korea’s traditional age calculation method—something that has brought confusion for a significant time—as Korea adopts the international standard. With the aforementioned change, South Koreans will become a year or two younger on their official documents. As this
Opinion
Kim Sang-yun
2023.03.07 21:47
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FOCUSING ON an academic task can be a challenge. Consequently, some educators choose to introduce concentration-enhancing “fidget toys” that students keep on their desks, while others believe they are merely added distractions to the classroom. However, there is ample debate on whether students genu
Opinion
Park Jin-seo
2022.12.07 02:25
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MUSEUMS HAVE recently become a stage where climate activists advocate for their causes. From throwing foods at valuable artworks to gluing themselves to the frames of paintings, protestors have been finding unconventional ways to attract attention. This eccentric slew of protests has sparked heated
Opinion
Kim Min-ju
2022.12.07 02:15