On Sep. 12, the strongest earthquake in Korea since meteorological observation occurred in Gyeongju. Even though two continuous earthquakes each with magnitude 5.1 and 5.8 caused damage in structures and air of anxiety, earthquake alert system did not work properly in time. In case of Korea, Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) detects the earthquake and gathers the information. According to the comprehensive plan about earthquakes and tsunamis that has been published by KMA in 2015, there are currently a total of 389 observatories which allows to inform earthquakes stronger than magnitud

THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense Missile) is a defense system with radar that senses enemy missiles and shoots them down. On Jul. 8, the government declared THAAD will be deployed in Seongju. The location was decided by considering military effectiveness. It can shield cities like Pyeongtaek, Gyeryongdae and Busan which are all important military points.However, the residents of Seongju highly resisted the deployment. On Jul. 13, more than 5,000 people joined a rally and on Jul. 20, about 2,000 residents went up to Seoul Station Plaza and had a peace demonstration. They expressed con

The decision to arrange THAAD in South Korea is also getting various voices from inside the US as well. The voices that agree with the decision say one thing in common: national security. The first reason is the reinforcement of defense against North Korea’s growing missile threat. The other is to improve allied defenses. After all, it is a fact that North Korea continues to launch asymmetrical life-threatening provocations and that their nuclear experiments are not faltering. On the other hand, the US’s THAAD deployment is also claimed to be ‘the worst’ for South Korea. On Sputnik News, Theod

The current stance of China on the deployment of THAAD in South Korea is indisputable. China opposes to North Korea’s possession of nuclear weapons and is suggesting six-party nuclear talks (the US, China, South Korea, Japan, Russia, North Korea) as the solution, favoring “conversation over constriction.” Therefore, China relentlessly disagrees with the deployment of THAAD, asking for the US and South Korea to respect China’s “strategic safety profit”.After the summit meeting between President Park Geun-hye and President Xi Jinping in Hangzhou on Sep. 5, there was an interpretation that the op

Technology allows us to live a comfortable and valuable life. Everything surrounding us including foods, clothings, and shelters cannot function without technology. Technologies surround us, but not every technology helps out our life. Tribes living in Amazon jungle do not need smartphones because they cannot utilize it, as people living in city do not feel the necessity to hunt and slaughter animals. “Appropriate” technology needs to be applied on appropriate situation to improve the quality of life.Appropriate technology is the technology that considers political, cultural, and environmental

Today’s world is a tumultuous one where everything is looked back again and remastered its best efficacy. Even the traditional systems, especially the ones that resisted the most against revising, are being challenged by agile startups. In short, it is a time of uncertainty for many people, as the landscape is shifting faster and tougher to read. ICISTS, the abbreviation for International Conference for the Integration of Science, Technology and Society, has been holding conventions that offered insight into today’s world since 2005. Every year, ICISTS-KAIST came up with the hottest contempora

While learning a new language, the biggest obstacle learners struggle with is the vocabulary. Grammar is also both difficult and important, but it is impossible to communicate in a foreign language without sufficient vocabulary. Eventually, people spend a lot of time practicing various words. However, the ocean of vocabulary is so deep and many people flounder in the ocean. The Postech Times would like to introduce a special life vest, “Etymology,” that will keep you from sinking in the ocean.Etymology is the study of the origin of words. To research the footprint of a language, it is essentia

Recently, Reckitt Benckiser Korea, also known as Oxy, caused controversy because of their highly toxic humidifier disinfectant. Over 1800 victims, including 266 deaths, have been reported, but Oxy maintained an irresponsible attitude. Not only the victims, but the whole Korean society was enraged by Oxy’s attitude. Civic groups started to boycott Oxy’s products and it spreads rapidly to public and retailers.Like the case of Oxy, customers sometimes deliberately refuse to purchase particular products in order to achieve a certain purpose. This is called boycott. The term is originated from Engl

“Habitat for Humanity,” also known as “Habitat” in short to a number of Korean people, is a Christian volunteering organization that builds residences for poor people. It was founded by Millard Fuller and his wife Linda Fuller in 1976. They built residences for people in Zaire, Africa. The organization aims to improve the quality of education and living by providing residential surroundings, ultimately contributing to the development of the state. Currently, Habitat for Humanity is at work in more than 70 different nations. In Korea, the organization began campaigning in the late 1980s and mad

According to research conducted by the Korea Information Society Development Institute (KISDI), people spend an hour everyday on Social Network Services (SNS). Whereas the purpose of SNS is usually to communicate, upload pictures, kill time and so on, some use it as a way to earn money. The new trend has changed the nature of SNS. First of all, there are advertisements that the social media companies sponsor. Facebook, for example, has some posts with “Sponsored” written on them. This means that a user, being it a company or person, has paid the social media company to make the advertisement g

Recently, freshmen college orientation in South Korea has become a national issue. There have been many issues in a number of colleges. One incident involves K University College of Physical Education collecting 380,000 KRW per person for a freshmen orientation fee, which seems much more than necessary. The college’s student union has announced the expenses: 94,000 KRW for room and board, 20,000 KRW for event costs, 6,000 KRW for snacks, 150,000 KRW for group uniform, and 110,000 KRW for student council fee. The amount itself sounds nonsense, but there is more to the story. Even non-participan

It was on Mar. 31 of 2015 when Daum Kakao launched its first ever taxi-hailing service Kakao Taxi. This particular app has been a real phenomenon and a huge crusher in the taxi-hailing service pool in Korea. The app itself was seemed brilliant for its simple and familiar user interface that intrinsically resembled the traditional call-taxi service. Now it has become a nation-wide app that almost every taxi you are on has running always. The taxi-hailing business in Korea has been long in the hands of "call-taxi" services alone . Now, the thing about transition from the traditional call-taxi to

The definition of “geek” has changed considerably over time, and there is no longer a definitive meaning. The term refers to bright individuals who are enthusiastically into mathematics, sciences, and recently being remarked, social sciences. As geeks unintentionally lack social abilities to get along with those who are ‘not’ geeks, they often hang out exclusively in groups. However, as the society has become more heavily correlated with advanced technologies, geeks have become influential intellectuals to be reckoned with, such as Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of the worlds’ most powerful soci

Go is an abstract strategy board game that originated in ancient China. The aim of the players is to secure more territory than the opponent. Go is one of the oldest board games in the world; it is estimated to be about 2,500 years old and still it is played by many people all around the world. The history of Korean Go traces back to the age of Three Kingdoms of Korea. Modern Korean Go was settled into shape in 1945 with the establishment of the Korea Baduk Association. The rules of Korean Go and way to grade players were fixed with the association’s effort. Go is played by two players. The pl

From Mar. 9 to Mar. 15, Google DeepMind Challenge Math was held at Four Seasons Hotel, Seoul. A match between the top ranking 9-dan Korean Go player and the artificial intelligence with tree searching algorithm that assembles humans’ way of thinking may well be considered as a match of the century. 1st MatchDuring the early phase of the game, AlphaGo dexterously encounters most of Sedol Lee’s offensive moves. Especially, AlphaGo’s 32nd move to cut Lee’s black alignments in the upper side was critical to Lee, letting him give up making any further moves in the upper side. During the middle phas

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has long been a subject of people’s interest. In Mar. 2016, there was a massive surge of the world’s attention toward AI as Google’s AlphaGo, a computer program developed by Google Deepmind to play the game of go challenged Lee Sedol, undoubtedly one of the best players in go, having won the world championship 18 times. Go was considered to be an unconquerable genre in classic games for AI as the number of possible positions on the board exceeds that of the atoms in the universe. Nonetheless AlphaGo managed to set a milestone in the history of AI by defeating Lee S

The Presidential election of the United States is by reputation one of the most complicated and entertaining election systems. As it elects the most influential man or woman in the world, the election unwillingly became arduous to make sure that the right person is elected.The President and Vice-President are elected every four years. They must be over 35 years of age, born-native citizens of the United States, and they must have been the residents of the United States for at least 14 years. Also, a person cannot be elected to a third term as President. Once the requirements are met, a candida

The presidential election in the United States is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov 8 2016. There are two political parties in the United States: the republicans and the democrats. Bernie Sanders, Hilary Clinton, and Donald Trump have indisputably been the hottest figures in politics for the past few months. Donald Trump and Ted Cruz are leading the president primaries in the Republican party while Hilary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are competing against each other in the Democratic party. Currently, Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton are dominant in each of the parties. As speculations regarding reversa

Internet of Things (IOT) refers to things exchanging information with other things or servers without people’s direct intervention. Recently, Internet of Everything (IOE) appears, it is exchange between humans, things and data without distinction of things and humans.IOT is already used in people’s lives. It is mostly used in 3 parts, personal, industrial and public sectors. In personal sectors, cars can help drivers to drive safely and conveniently. Also, using IOT, people can receive some health information like pulse and improve their health. In Korea, companies like SAMSUNG or LG launched

The Postech Times keeps on watching other domestic university presses to reflect upon ourselves. Overseas reportage conducted last Jan. 17 to 20 was a good opportunity to extend this to a university press abroad. The Postech Times had the opportunity to interview Kyoto University Press reporters and share our experiences. The Postech Times would like express our appreciation to the Kyoto University Press for admitting the interview.The interview with Kyoto University Press was the first interview we took during the overseas reportage. We met them in the cafeteria, and started the interview. Re