Ode to God of Tetris

#Something you should know before you read: 'God of Tetris' is a title that you achieve when you reach the maximum level in a Facebook game 'Tetris Battle'. 



Dear ‘God of Tetris’

     It has been nearly 2 years since I started my grand Tetris journey to reach you. My courage and hope once crashed to the ground when I could not find an end to unremitting challenges from opponents. My resolution often wobbled when people jeered at my recklessness. They simply could not accept the idea that such an untalented man like me would someday stand next to you and shine the world of Tetris. My keyboard became weather-beaten and stared at me as if it was no longer able to accompany me on my adventure. But I continued to carry on. I closed my ears to worthless snorts that may weaken my resolve. I have relentlessly pursued your trace despite unremittingly accumulating assignments and teachers’ acrid accusations. I have persevered countless rank-downs and defeats. I have persuaded myself that there would be an end to this harsh journey whenever my fingers and spirits swayed. I have overcome my fear and continued to challenge more competitive opponents to reach you.

    

     But my dear, I have to confess that I once decided to abandon you. It was not because my patience reached its limit. It was not because my keyboard could no longer sustain my fingers. It was not because of my heavy work load. It was because of you. The moment I heard the news that you fled to rank 110, my heart was pierced by ineffable disappointment, misery, and sorrow. Furthermore, I was afraid to stand beneath the sky, for I thought it would crack into pieces and collapse upon me. I was afraid to breathe, for the air I once jovially breathed in became too bitter. I was afraid to meet people, for I may unconsciously express my extreme anguish on those who are innocent. I could not believe the reality I was facing. I felt your scent becoming thicker, I felt your effulgence becoming brighter, and I felt your splendor becoming more intense as my rank continued to soar up. But they were all suddenly gone. Your scent, effulgence, splendor, everything. All gone. What you left were 10 more ranks to go up with 50 stars required to achieve each rank after rank 101. I thought you refused my love. I thought you refused to love me. Thus, with great pang in my heart, I left you.

     

     After I left you, I dragged my mouse cursor to find someone that would fill my heart again with excitement, someone who is worthy enough to set out a long journey to be with. I thought I could easily find someone like you. But my thought proved to be wrong. I attempted to pour all my enthusiasm and passion into Ninja Battle or Cart Rider to forget you, but I never could. Every night I closed my eyes for sleep, I saw colorful Tetris blocks falling gracefully to produce powerful combos.  I guess could never push you into the pit of oblivion no matter how much I desired to do so. Then one night, in my dream, you appeared in front of me out of nowhere. You looked splendid and grand as you always had been, but you had sadness and disappointment in your eyes. Then, I had sudden epiphany that important thing was to love rather than to be loved, just as what W. Somerset Maugham stated. The important thing was to love you rather than to be loved by you. I should have felt happy for being able to love you and invest all my efforts and passion to reach you. After I had that sudden realization, I decided to restart my grand Tetris journey again.

     My rank is now 109, and I have only 16 stars left to grab your hands. I can feel your growing presence, and I can feel my growing affection towards you as I step closer to your effulgence. The momentous day of union between you and me is not so far away. Wait for me, my dear ‘God of Tetris’, and do not run away ever again. 

Human nature embedded in Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected

Each short story in ‘Tales of the Unexpected’ is seemingly bizarre and may appear to have no relationship between each other. However, under the grotesque and strange storyline of each different story, there lie repulsive aspects of human nature. In fact, though the stories of ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’, ‘Skin’, and ‘Man From the South’ are three separate stories, they share the subject which they portray: a monster that lurks within human mind, ready to manipulate fragile human heart whenever it attempts to satiate its evil greed. This ‘monster’ can be both interpreted as obsession and duplicity of human heart, which are parts of human nature that Roald Dahl attempted to explore in ‘Tales of the Unexpected.’

Individual’s tendency to obsess with certain value or subject is one of human nature that Roald Dahl illustrated in ‘Tales of the Unexpected.’ Why did Mary Maloney kill her own husband with a leg of lamb in the story ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’? It is because of her obsession to seize her husband. Mary Maloney’s obsession towards her husband is implied when she killed her husband when he said “Don’t make supper for me. I’m going out.” This phrase indicates that her husband’s affection towards her was slipping away from Mary’s grip. Therefore, Mary, who was desperate to retrieve her husband’s love and attention, decided to kill her husband instead of letting him escape from her life, since her obsession with her husband was so intense and incontrollable. Why did the woman of Carlos in the story ‘Man From the South’ have only one finger on her hand and a thumb? It is because her strong obsession with materialistic values was strong enough to overwhelm her fear of losing most of her fingers. Why did the stranger trick Drioli in the story ‘Skin’ to peel the tattoo off Drioli’s back? It is because of the stranger’s inordinate obsession with aesthetic value that made him neglect moral concerns. In other words, seemingly absurd and immoral decisions of the characters in each story imply individuals’ nature to succumb to their own desire and obsession. 

Duplicity of human mind is another aspect of human nature that is portrayed in ‘Tales of the Unexpected.’ One of the common aspects of ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’, ‘Skin’, and ‘Man from the South’ is that these stories have characters who behave in the manner that belies their intentions. For instance, cheerful and courteous manners that Mary Maloney showed in front of Sam at a grocery shop or detectives investigating a murder scene were all feigned behaviors intentioned to hide her guilt and evidence of murder. Carlos’s woman in ‘Man From the South’ displayed duplicity when she forcefully stopped Carlos from further engaging in his unusual bet, since she was actually the one who most eagerly participated in Carlos’s bizarre bet to win his assets from him. The stranger in ‘Skin’ that faked Drioli to attain the tattoo on his back is another flagrant example of human’s ability to belie his or her real intentions. Alluring suggestions that the stranger made to Drioli superficially seem to be a persuasion to induce win-win situation for both Drioli and stranger, but those were actually critical death traps that the stranger had set to garner only his own profits. By portraying characters with extreme duplicity and excellent skills in concealing their true intentions, Roald Dahl managed to emphasize untrustworthiness of human nature.  

Roald Dahl successfully reveals the ‘monster’ hidden inside human mind to the surface by blending obsessive and duplicitous human nature with interesting story lines. Roald Dahl is commendable for his brilliant talents in humorously and interestingly combining rather dark and grave subjects pertaining to human nature with unique story lines. With his prominent talents, Roald Dahl made ‘Tales of the Unexpected’ into a book that is more effective than a series of didactic words and complicated philosophical teachings in inducing readers to contemplate about human nature.

Claim about Oscar Wilde's 'Picture of Dorian Gray'

At first glance, ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ appears to be a novel that attempts to deliver deprecation of an individual's morality due to excessive pursuit of aesthetic pleasure. After all, Dorian Gray plunged himself into moral collapse once he began to crave for eternal youth and aesthetic pleasure. For instance, Dorian Gray cold-heartedly abandons Sybil, a woman who seemed to be sincerely loved by Dorian Gray, and feels only a slight repentance when he received the news of her suicide. Though Dorian Gray himself claimed that he was deeply in love with Sybil, he abandons her after she lost her skill and talent as a graceful actress, since it was her artistic ability that Dorian Gray loved, not Sybil herself. For Dorian Gray, Sybil primarily existed for satisfaction of his aesthetic desire. In other words, Dorian's inordinate pursuit of aestheticism made him to put moral concerns aside. Through Dorian's moral deprecation, Oscar Wilde seems to deliver a lesson pertaining to morality and conscience.

However, Oscar Wilde did not attempt to link his novel with morality. In fact, he believed that art and morality exist in separate boundaries. For example, he stated in the preface of 'Picture of Dorian Gray that "There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all." In addition, when Oscar Wilde was repudiated by the Scots Observer due to his insufficient concerns and preference for moral values in the novel 'Picture of Dorian Gray', Oscar replied that “If a work of art is rich and vital and complete, those who have artistic instincts will see its beauty, and those to whom ethics appeal more strongly than aesthetics will see its moral lesson. It will fill the cowardly with terror, and the unclean will see in it their own shame. It will be to each man what he is himself. It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors.” In other words, while Oscar Wilde opened rooms for several possible interpretations of his novel, his original attempt was to create a piece of art that should be primarily judged by aesthetic criteria instead of moral criteria.

Therefore, it is not accurate to assume that 'Picture of Dorian Gray' is a novel that mainly focuses on corruption of morality of Dorian Gray. Instead, it should be viewed as a book that allows several moral interpretations but has its main purpose on illustrating refined and nearly-perfected aesthetic beauty. Many readers may spot moral concerns and conflicts between Victorian moral values and aesthetic values exist to complement beauty to the novel. Still, they should remind that such contents pertaining to morality exist to complement aesthetic beauty of the novel, not to make the novel a morally didactic book. 

A movie critic of Ben X

‘Ben X’, Belgian film director Nic Balthazar’s first production, is a story about a game addicted high school student who suffers from autism and bullying but eventually overcomes his hardships and achieves true happiness. Through predicaments of the protagonist Ben, the movie attempts to reflect ‘dark’ and ‘sensitive’ subjects of our society, such as bullying and mistreatment of disabled. What a typical didactic movie. With its relatively less enthralling themes and scale compared to those of other modern films, such as 'Iron man', equipped with sensational plots and scintillating CG, the movie ‘Ben X’ appears to be uncompetitive in a movie industry.

However, Nic Balthazar’s innovative methods in demonstrating Ben’s inner conflicts, psychological disturbances, and harsh realities succored the movie from being a target of castigation. Sound effect is one of the most remarkable aspects of ‘Ben X’. Pay attention to every sound that comes from surroundings of the protagonist. Every noise, even trickling of juice, is intensified in the movie. Such effect not only emphasizes hypersensitivity of autistic Ben but also implies the extent to which Ben would suffer by loud jeer and severe harassment of his peers, since even a common traffic noise can make Ben alert. Pay attention to close-ups of the protagonist’s face as well. Face is a canvas on which human psyche is delicately drawn. By frequently displaying Ben’s distorted and anxious facial expressions, audiences are able to intimately feel the inner turmoil of Ben through chaotic pictures of his psyche expressed on his face. In such context, the movie ‘Ben X’ is commendable for its ability to intensify emotional connection between its protagonist and its audiences by using several efficacious methods to illustrate mental state of Ben. 

Greg Timmermans, an actor who performed Ben’s role in the movie, enhanced the overall quality of the movie through his soulful acting as well. True performances should break the seemingly indomitable barrier between reality and fictitious world in a film, and they should be more realistic than reality. Actors and actresses with dearth of skills and talents merely appear histrionic as they carry out their roles. On the contrary, talented actors and actresses are able to integrate every aspect of themselves with that of characters they are designated. In such context, Greg Timmermans appears to be a talented actor, since he truly was autistic Ben in the movie, not Greg Timmermans who was acting autistic Ben. His unsteady breath, his gaze filled with turmoil, his unstable postures….. His every performance in the movie powerfully emanated the scent of autism and despondency of outcasts. His performance gave the audience impression that they were incompetent observers of a harsh reality, not spectators sitting on a cozy chair in a theater with popcorn in one hand. In other words, Greg Timmermans elevated the movie ‘Ben X’ to the level of reality.

Do not expect visual splendor from the movie ‘Ben X’. Instead, let Ben slip into you. Let yourself breath and share torment with Ben. Let emotional poignancy and intricacy of the movie shake your heart. 

    

        Rating:

How did Lord Henry affect Dorian Gray?

      Heraclitus stated that nothing endures but change. At least regarding Dorian Gray in the novel 'Picture of Dorian Gray', Heraclitus is definitely correct. In Oscar Wilde's fictitious world portrayed in the novel, Dorian's initial naivete, beauty, and youth, no matter how much they seemed immutable and indelible, could never escape the ineluctable grasp of change. Why did Dorian, who once possessed such unblemished beauty and youth, eventually degrade into a narcissistic villain? Regarding various intellectual matters and social influence that amalgamated and deteriorated Dorian Gray, the answer to that question cannot be simple. However, it is important to note that Lord Henry played a key role in deteriorating Dorian Gray's morality by hindering his repentance and luring him into the world of new hedonism.

     

     Lord Henry is a vane to Dorian's morality in that he made Dorian Gray obtuse about gravity of his sins. While Dorian Gray taints himself and those around him with unremitting vice he indulges in, Lord Henry serves as a trigger for such misdeeds. The conversation between Dorian and Lord Henry after the tragic suicide of Sibyl incontrovertibly demonstrates Lord Henry's ability to disintegrate one's conscience into pieces. It is true that it was Dorian who abandoned Sibyl and drove her into extreme misery that eventually begot her suicide. However, Lord Henry's excessive self-indulgence in expressing his beliefs worsens the situation by hindering Dorian Gray's sincere regret about his brutal decision that destroyed tender Sibyl. For instance, Henry stated,

Some one has killed herself for love of you. I wish I had ever had such an experience. It would have made me in love with love for the rest of my life.

In other words, for Lord Henry, Sibyl's death merely serves to satiate his desire for aestheticism and dramatic love. For him, others merely exist to please his senses and impulses, indicating his extreme immorality, egocentrism, and abnormal pursuit of aestheticism. However, Lord Henry inculcates his improper thoughts into Dorian Gray by using his unconscientious yet enthralling rhetoric, persuading Dorian to indulge himself in another aesthetic pleasure, which is indicated as opera in chapter 8, and gradually forget the death of Sibyl. Due to Lord Henry, Dorian's primary importance in his life becomes satisfcation of sensual impulses and desire for beauty instead of maintaining humanity.

     Lord Henry further plunges Dorian Gray into unfathomable pit of immorality by introducing him to the world of hedonism. Most of people have a strong desire to maintain their scintillating youth and physical beauty, and Dorian is no exception. However, while such desire had resided in unconsciousness of Dorian Gray before he encountered Lord Henry, it soared to the surface of consciousness with the help from Lord Henry. For example, when Lord Henry first occupied himself in a conversation with Dorian, he stated

"I believe that if one man were to live his life out fully and completely, were to give form to every feeling, expression to every thought, reality to every dream,—-I believe that the world would gain such a fresh impulse of joy that we would forget all the maladies of mediaevalism, and return to the Hellenic ideal"

His claim implies that pursuit of Hedonism is a worthy attempt, and in combination with his compelling eloquence that has pernicious impacts on others' ideology and demeanors, Lord Henry manages to intrigue Dorian with the idea of Hedonism. Lord Henry's success in galvanizing Dorian to ponder about the pursuit of pleasure and eternal youth serves as an outset of Dorian's future infamy, since Dorian later justifies his immorality by designating satisfaction of indulgence and impulse as a supreme value. In other words, Lord Henry's introduction of hedonism in front of Dorian Gray serves as a foothold for Dorian's moral degradation.

     Overall, it is evident that Lord Henry did have a profound influence on Dorian Gray, since Dorian's incapability to sincerely regret about his grave sins and his inordinate pursuit of hedonism are all tragic outcomes of Lord Henry's immoral attempts to manipulate a naive, young gentleman. Joker, an incarnation of evil in a movie 'Dark night', stated that 'Madness is like gravity. All you need is a little push." Yes, all Lord Henry required was 'a little push' to trap Dorian in a quagmire of endless infamy. In fact, all he needed was his tongue to completely sway Dorian side to side.By portraying such gullible human spirit, Oscar Wilde brilliantly delivers the importance to be more discerned and moderate when dealing with one's desire. 

Dream of one nerd

 “Wang Jing!”
I woke up, drowsy and annoyed. I slowly lifted my head that throbbed after being pressed on the hard surface of a wooden desk for a long time. My classmates were staring at me for the moment and went back to their own futile businesses. My physics teacher ‘Sumting Wong’ called my name again with his unusually strident voice, waving my physics exam sheet in front of the classmates.

“Come and take your exam sheet quickly Wang Jing. You are the first place in physics exam again!”

The teacher grinned, showing his rusty dentures.

He looked disgusting.

Hiding my great annoyance and disgust with a benign smile, I politely stepped towards Mr. Wong and gratefully took my exam sheet with a large, red A+ written on it.

A+ was my savior who will someday extricate me from my detestable reality in school and endow me wings that would lift me up to the top of the society I am belong to. School failed to carry out its role as an educational institute, students were disappointingly boorish, teachers wallowed in lassitude, and most of all, there was no one who could embrace me wholeheartedly. Therefore, I had an extremely strong desire to escape to upper class of society.

There, I thought, would be people who are more talented, passionate, responsible, and civilized.

There, I thought, would be someone worthy enough to devote my love and passion into.

There, I thought, would be nothing that makes me disappointed and lonely.

However, invisible barricades in modern society hindered my access to such ‘utopia’. The barricades demanded me to show that I am qualified enough to penetrate them and savor unimaginable merits that the upper class can offer. Therefore, I strived to attain excellent academic achievements to enter a prestigious college, the most credible route that guarantees membership to the upper class. To reach the summit of invisible hierarchy in modern society, I decided to abandon my friends, happiness and morality. These possessions are invaluable, but they were too florid and burdensome for a climber to carry when attempting to conquer a precipitous mountain so-called society. Instead, I packed myself with more utilitarian equipments to reach my desired destination: hard-heartedness, rationality, and inclemency. People started to call me ‘nerd’ when they saw me struggling for my dream. Nevertheless, my firm resolution turned out to be fruitful when I received a score report embellished with A+ and an accolade awarded to the student who has the highest GPA in school. I was moving closer to my goal everyday. But did I feel contented? Did I feel satisfactory when I abandoned everything that I once cherished to ‘go up’?

A rusty bell attached on a ceiling began to rang, ruthlessly breaking my contemplation. Physical education class arrived again, a moment I despised the most. My classmates grabbed their sports uniforms and hurried out of the classroom as if they were trying to vanish away from my sight. A group of girls ran past me, their golden hairs leaving a pleasant scent of shampoo. I gratefully inhaled the sweet smell, filling myself with deep fantasy about girls again. Having never talked with girls in my life, I have considered girl as a subject of fantasy and a veiled existence that is an enigma itself. To me, girl was like a bundle of beautiful and exotic flowers locked in a glass showcase. All I could do was simply to savor its glamour and enchanting scent strong enough to penetrate through the glass showcase. If the flowers walked out of their showcase by themselves, I would have gratefully seized them. But that never happened. With the sweet scent of shampoo still lingering in my nose, I dreamily walked towards a locker room to change my clothes. I suddenly burped, my habitual behavior that became more frequent when I became too immersed in my thought. Burping kicked me out of the fantasy by replacing its sweet redolence with odious smell of tuna sandwich that I had for lunch. Looking around me, I realized there was no one next to me in a locker room. I could hear distant yet exuberant shouting from a football field. The shouting delivered a strong sense of camaraderie that was no longer my possession. Overwhelming loneliness crept into my heart as if trying to ruthlessly break the already fragile existence into parts. I firmly grabbed my sports uniform, struggling to drive away the feelings that would weaken me.

The rusty bell rang again, indicating the end of the school. Facing the sunset that drenched the sky with crimson beauty, I dragged my tired feet toward my home. Feeling that the sunset was the most beautiful one I had ever seen in my life, I decided to sit on a bench under a lone cherry tree standing beside a fence of my school and breathed in the beauty of the scene. To enjoy a pleasurable respite from suffocating life, I took out my smart phone and started to watch my favorite Korean webtoon. I used to watch the Korean webtoon translated into Chinese, but feeling that translated version cannot deliver the webtoon’s unique charm, I decided to learn Korean to comprehend the Korean webtoon. When I reached the level in which I could easily comprehend Korean webtoon, I felt the relationship between me and the webtoon becoming more intense and intimate. Korean webtoon was a source of mental healing in that it has enthralling ability to drag its readers into its own fantasy world and make them oblivious of their reality while reading it. As I was happily scrolling down the screen, enjoying every scene in the webtoon, a short conversation between two protagonists caught my attention.

“I hate companions. I consistently have to check if they are better than me when I am with others.”

“Then… Doesn’t it mean that you are lonely?”

     

     The second phrase pierced into my heart and made a fissure in it. The webtoon that was once my panacea turned into a malicious villain that stabbed knife into my heart. Immense loneliness oozed out from the fissure. I struggled to scoop the loneliness and put it back deep in my heart to make myself unaware of it. But I failed. Loneliness kept pouring out. I felt myself being weakened as if I was suffering hemorrhage. Loneliness soon soaked every part of my soul and body. I haplessly knelt on the ground. Tears kept running down, drenching crimson paving blocks with dark spots when tear drops splashed on the ground. I kept crying and crying and crying…. There was no one next to me. 

What a smile....

It was a hot sunny day when I and other KMLA students reluctantly dragged our feet toward school buses to visit Hyun Choongsa, a place to memorialize one of Korea’s greatest generals Lee Sunshin. My dark traditional Korean costume continued to suppress my body that was already suppressed by exorbitant heat, and my brain persistently cursed my school for enforcing us to wear such costume. My physical and mental stress began to burgeon when I realized that the bus I was supposed to take does not turn on an air conditioner. Traveling one hour and a half in an oppressing bus crammed with a bunch of KMLA students, I began to feel a need to express my distress to prevent myself from being tormented by aftermath after suffering such extreme mental stress. Suddenly, I gazed at a plastic water bottle in my right hand. There must have been telepathy between the bottle and me. The plastic water bottle gently shook its content as if it is luring its owner to make use of it. I crumpled the bottle, hoping that deforming its shape can serve as an exit to express my distress. Nevertheless, crumpling did me no good. Then, I looked at my friend sleeping at the back. A brilliant thought swept across my head.

Here is the realization of my brilliant idea. Yes, it is me, tilting my dear plastic water bottle above my friend’s head. I anticipate some degree of repugnance and laughter when you see this photo. Well, a memorable photo does not necessarily have to be visually attractive, does it? In the photo, water is lingering precariously at the fringe of the bottle that I am holding on, but my friend is so deeply immersed in his unconsciousness that he is unable to sense snickering around him and water sloping from side to side right above his nostrils. As you can see, I am about to pour water on my sleeping friend’s face in the photo. To celebrate such an honorable moment, I tried to make a facial expression that would candidly express my sensation. Here is the result: me smiling in naive yet treacherous manner. My another friend who was sitting right behind me gladly took out his expensive Canon camera to record the momentous event, a part of the memory of KMLA life that will later be recounted and put smile on faces of those who will still recollect vicarious pleasure they felt while watching the jocular moment recorded in the photo.

       
       Some readers may wonder why I picked such photo as my most memorable photograph in my life, since my ridiculous face can be a subject of laughter and mockery when others see it. Nevertheless, the photo is special in that it reflects forgotten immature and naive aspect of my ego. No one can maintain naivety throughout his or her life, and I am no exception. It has been only two years since I have become a member of KMLA family, but harsh school life, sense of responsibility, and stress that I have to bear with as a KMLA student have devastated my spryness and have made be a solemn nerdy student. I am not criticizing KMLA, since losing childish naivety also means a process of becoming more mature. However, making changes entails lose of something that was once so valuable and fundamental for me. I sometimes feel depressed and regretful when I realize that I am rapidly relinquishing my original values and ideals to pace up with my circumstances where everything occurs swiftly and those who are slow to adept eventually fall back. Fortunately, God has endowed human beings the ability to ‘remember’. I can still ride my time machine in my head to contemplate and become deeply immersed into my reminiscence to evoke feelings that Taeyoon today can no longer experience. Though recollections are often involuntarily distorted and embellish past memories with ornate cover that exaggerates certain parts of my memory, reminiscence that can put smile on one’s face is certainly an important possession that has a tonic effect. Therefore, the photo above is an important medium for me to relax and evoke the sensation that I have forgone or forgotten. The facial expression that seems to be devoid of present worries, doubts, or resentment is certainly an essential legacy from past Taeyoon that connects me with the past.

     
        The photo also takes its significance as a map that will lead me to the memory of KMLA life when I become too aged to revoke KMLA school life without any clue. When I was a child, I always felt reluctant to stand in front of a camera. I did not like the dark, cold gaze of an inanimate object, and I was afraid of the thought that I might lose my sense of uniqueness after being depicted on a white coating film by a camera. But as I grew up, I began to accumulate so many valuable memories and experience that I failed to recognize their worth at the moment when I was a part of them. However, I realized that without photographs I could not recollect the experience and sensation that I long to remember. No matter how much effort I put in to cling to such precious reminiscence, the flow of time is inexorable and will eventually sweep away what I value from my head. Thus, I felt the strong need to record my daily experience and events that I consider negligible or insignificant in the present but will be regarded as invaluable moments in the future. The photo above is another part of my effort to inscribe details of my daily life. Though I felt resentful about visiting Hyun Choongsa(and I still do feel mild resentment about it), I have no doubt that such experience will become an another essential possession stored in my memory chamber that I will visit again and again. When I visit the chamber, photographs will serve me as a guide to find specific memories that I want when I am no longer able to find the trace of KMLA life among hodgepodge of memories in my head.

       The most important element of a photograph is the messages it implies, not what it depicts. When you look at a photo, try to sense the world it attempts to convey. A photo that looks humorous on the surface may indirectly portray a brutal world, while a photo tainted with a mark of depression may suggest a hint of hope. You can see how deep the implied messages of photographs can be by looking at my two paragraphs of long, serious contemplation derived from the photo that seems ridiculous and meaningless. A photograph is an extremely attractive piece of art that contains unfathomable depth which can be observed only by those who have keen eyesight. 

Chapter 1 reading journal of 'The picture of Dorian Gray'

With its beautiful fragrance and fluorescent colors, a flower attracts insects to make them disseminate its pollens. The first chapter of the novel serves a purpose analogous to that of a flower, in that the initial chapter is responsible for drawing readers to read and contemplate on a book’s content, gradually ‘disseminating’ the value and magnificence of the book itself. I would like to describe the chapter 1 of the novel ‘The picture of the Dorian Gray’ as a flower that emanates irresistible redolence, making the readers of the novel immersed in its eloquent use of vivid visual descriptions and intellectually refined conversation between Basil and Lord Henry.

Oscar Wilde’s mastery of visual descriptions in chapter 1 was an element that nourishes the elegance and beauty of chapter 1. While I found the content of chapter 1 itself not so much intriguing, which was mainly about intellectual concern of a morose artist Basil who refuses to publicize his masterpiece, vivid descriptions of sceneries were so graceful that I managed to keep my gaze on each page of the novel, ardently seeking for more literary sketches that would inspire my imagination and evoke the sense of beauty that the garden emanates. For instance, there was a phrase

‘Lord Henry Wotton could just catch the gleam of the honey-sweet and honey-colored blossoms of the laburnum, whose tremulous branches seemed hardly able to bear the burden of a beauty so flame-like as theirs.’  

In fact, branches of the laburnum are drooped down as if they are incapable of sustaining the weight of their flowers. However, instead of describing laburnum as ‘flowers that are too heavy to be sustained by their branches’, Oscar Wilde described that branches as incapable of bearing the ‘flame-like beauty’ of the flowers. Such description  not only elaborately expresses the splendor of laburnum but also demonstrates a beautiful creativity in expression by endowing ‘weight’ to emphasize florid beauty of the flowers. There were certainly other visual descriptions that served as great pleasures during reading but unable to be carried on this essay, or the journal will be a heap of citations.

     Lord Henry’s eloquence was another element worth noticing in chapter 1. I conceive the content of the conversation between Basil and Lord Henry not so much inspiring or impressive, since the artistic concern and credo of Basil seemed to exist in dimension different from that where my perception and comprehension lay. Nevertheless, Lord Henry’s ability to endow powerful cogency on his immoral beliefs was very impressive. For example, Lord Henry stated that ‘one charm of marriage is that it makes a life of deception necessary for both parties.’ Who would perceive such statement as moral? However, such phrase no longer seems so much unethical when Lord Henry states

‘When we meet,—we do meet occasionally, when we dine out together, or go down to

the duke’s,— we tell each other the most absurd stories with the most serious faces. My wife is very good at it,—much better, in fact, than I am. She never gets confused over her dates, and I always do.’

With his charming eloquence and ability to cover his unconventional unethical thoughts with an intelligent sense of humor, Lord Henry conveys his unacceptable thoughts like a flow of water that furtively permeates into unconsciousness and alters listeners’ philosophy and beliefs. Maybe because of such incredible yet baneful talent of Lord Henry, Basil ardently rejected Lord Henry’s desire to meet Dorian Gray in order to prevent Lord Henry from taking Dorian Gray away from the realm of Basil’s fantasy and admiration. Nevertheless, Lord Henry’s overwhelming speech ability made Basil’s assertions almost seem merely as a whining of a child. In fact, Lord Henry reminded me of an extremely talented attorney that defends his guilty client with such a compelling persuasion that he seems to be able to trick the entire court to believe the suspect as innocent despite blatant egregiousness of the client’s crime. On the other hand, Basil seemed to be a hapless lawyer who cannot defend his client even with compelling and copious evidence. In other words, Lord Henry’s great talent as a persuasive speaker served as a pleasure for me during reading chapter 1.

     In a nutshell, Oscar Wilde successfully made the first chapter of his novel impressive by his skillful use of visual descriptions and eloquence of immoral yet charming character Lord Henry. Overall, chapter 1 was a carefully adorned entry of the novel, greeting readers to continue their journey on ‘The picture of Dorian Gray’. How will Lord Henry affect Dorian Gray? What will be the fate of the relationship between Basil and Dorian Gray? With these questions lingering inside my head, I am ready to step further into the novel through the beautiful and graceful entrance.   

Baskin Robbins or shit-flavored ice cream?

Ever since I knew the existence of ice cream, Baskin Robbins has been my best friend. Its 31 flavors of ice cream have always enticed my tongue, and I used to feel ecstasy when I felt a soft, cool bunch of ice cream rolling into my tongue during a hot, dry summer time. Among the mighty 31 flavors of Baskin Robbins ice cream, I loved  'Shooting star' ice cream the most, since I loved the way it pops like popcorn inside my mouth. However, a video about 'shit-flavored' ice cream that I watched during Junior writing class changed my perspective towards Baskin Robbin's fantastic ice cream.
 'Shit-flavored' ice cream? If someone tries to shove such ice cream into my mouth and tries to violate the beauty of my tongue, I am ready to fight until death. However, despite my great antipathy towards the taste itself, 'shit-flavored' ice cream is definitely a creative idea. Today's ice cream mostly tastes like vanilla, chocolate or strawberry. Different types of berries or ingredient are often added, but the product is mostly another different combination of typical ingredients. In other words, ice cream today NEEDS CHANGE. Let's take a look at Baskin Robbin's 31 flavors. There are various types of ice cream with splendid names, such as 'My mom is an alien', but most of them are combinations of cherry, vanilla, chocolate, and cookies. They definitely taste great, but don't consumers also deserve something novel? I don't believe that 'shit-flavored' ice cream would taste better than my favorite 'Shooting star', but the former one is a type of unprecedented attempt in the ice cream industry! Setting the flavor aside, there should be more novel attempts in the ice cream industry, since consumers are only accustomed to limited variety of flavors. 'Shit-flavored' ice cream may be a failure of new attempts, but who knows? Such attempts may create ice cream that outweighs previous types of ice cream!
 Because the ice cream industry is also another aggregation of businesses that seek profits, risky attempts or trials can be difficult to be made. However, ice cream companies have to consider the possibility of targeting the 'Blue Ocean' and following financial profits it would beget. I would not urge Baskin Robbins to produce 'shit-flavored' ice cream, but I sincerely want a unprecedented flavor that will serve as a great breakthrough in the history of ice cream.

Jukai forest and suicide.

I was nervously walking under a grey sky, trying to pretend to be as casual as possible. But my legs were wobbling, and my heart was pumping as if it was about to face its demise. Yes, I was on my way to check my SAT biology score. I thought I would collapse on my way to Ms. Min’s office, who was my biology teacher, but somehow my legs managed to support my limbs. At last, the dramatic moment came upon me. I closely looked at the front of my exam paper, and when I checked my score written black on a grey sheet of paper, a Japanese suicide forest swept in my head like a panorama.  For a short moment, I was in the middle of the Japanese suicide forest where trees emit the scent of death and animals greet decaying human corpses. I escaped from my horrid delusion, but my miserable reality awaiting me in Ms. Min’s office was more horrible. Letting out a deep and sorrowful groan, I got out of Ms. Min’s office and dragged my legs towards my dormitory.

 Of course, I did not commit suicide. But that momentary dread and sorrow when I checked my score made me to ponder about a video of the Japanese suicide forest that I watched during Mr. Garrioch’ s class. I still vividly remember human corpses, traces of suicide, and rusty cars that lost their owners.  Not surprisingly, the video stated that more than one hundred people commit suicide in the Japanese suicide forest, or Jukai forest, annually, proving that Jukai forest is indeed a suicide forest.

 When I was imagining how I would feel like when I encounter rotten corpses right in front of my eyes in Jukai forest, one question popped into my mind: why do people commit suicide? How much misery did the corpses in Jukai forest had to suffer when they had their fleshes on? I can’t imagine. But I firmly believe that people commit suicide when their mind becomes irreparably diseased. Furthermore, a society’s negative view people who commit suicide would also play a major role. Instead of perceiving them as people who were in dire help, many people tend to scorn them for being weak and incapable of surviving in harsh reality. However, such view is a serious paradox. No one blames people whose bodies are sick or hurt. Then why do they blame those whose heart and soul are impaired? People who committed suicide should be also conceived as patients who need attention, affection, and hope to cure their chronic diseases. Furthermore, it is our society’s duty to be a doctor for them.

 No one deserves to be lonely, and no one deserves to be sad. Jukai forest should not be merely considered as an eerie spot that often serves a small issue among media, but a symbol of deep sadness and desperation that our society yet refuses to expose.  

50 years later after writing that arrogant letter to Brad

I stopped writing a letter of resignation and put my pen down on a polished oak desk with deep brown color. Looking out the window, I stared at a large green field embellished with various flowers emitting their beauty under golden sunshine and deep blue sky. On a shelf next to me, there were numerous awards with the effulgence of my past golden time. Everything looked so beautiful and grand, evoking a sense of reminiscence that my desperate struggle for accomplishment once demolished. I closed my eyes and prepared myself to start introspection to see what I had lost and what I had gained during past years as a mathematician. Just before I was about to plunge into a deep swirl of memory, someone knocked on my door. It was Brad, my old friend.  Holding a loaf of butter bread in his right hand and a piece of stained paper in his left hand, Brad was smiling at me at the door. But that smile was a mask that belied his sadness.

“Hey Justin, this one is for you, your favorite butter bread. Think of it as a small gift to celebrate your honorable retirement, my friend.”

I gratefully received his present and welcomed him into my office. Brad quietly sat on my old sofa, one of few things that had been with me ever since my debut in the society of mathematicians. Brad and I looked at each other quietly, but no words were necessary in front of 45 years of friendship to convey our feelings each other. Our eyes were all that we needed. I felt my eyes becoming watery. To break overly sentimental atmosphere, Brad opened his mouth first.

“I coincidentally found out a letter that you sent me 50 years ago. I guess this letter is the only one that shows our naive and immature past days.”

Brad laughed softly and handed me a stained piece of paper that he was holding in his left hand.

 ‘Hi, I bet you still remember me. It has been nearly 5 years since I threw your golden math trophy to a passing truck. I still remember the lucid dismay and antipathy on your face. Your eyes were red with tears and anger, and my eyes were filled with happiness after my successful achievement of retribution. Do I fill guilty today? No. In fact, I am writing this letter not to apologize, but to remind you the miserable past trophy-incident to make you humble, since I heard you are participating in IMO...’

‘….I can take you as my 'apprentice mathematician' if you are willing to buy and deliver me bread every lunch time. I will give you three hundred won. With it, buy one of each bread in the bread store next door and bring the remainder of money you have left which should be one thousand won, every day….’

Too much stain made rest of the part illegible, but it certainly reminded me of the past days when Brad and I loathed each other.

“Brad, why did we used to hate each other so much? I can’t remember.”

Brad smiled and said,

“What I want to show you with this old letter is not the cause of antipathy towards each other in the past. Look at the bottom of the letter.”

I looked at the bottom that I missed, and I had to laugh at what I wrote.

‘This is the perfect chance! You and me together, we will be Newton of 21st century. So please do consider my proposal-live as a failure or a revolutionary figure.’

Looking at my smiling face, Brad firmly grabbed my shoulder and said,

“Are you really going to leave? I was actually very mad when I first read your arrogant letter 50 years ago. But after 5 years of contemplation, I decided to accept your suggestion, and somehow have been working with you for 45 years. We were enemies at first, but hard time we weathered through together made each other best friend and best companion. The reason I showed you this letter is to persuade you not to retire. I wanted you to revive your initial passion after reading this letter and continue to remain as my best companion.”

Brad looked at me with sorrowful eyes. But I had to leave. I had to persuade him. I solemnly looked at him and said,

“Brad, take a closer look at the last sentence of my letter. Can you believe it? I, a mathematician, a person with rationality sharp as a dagger and cold as ice, was once emotional and careless enough to burst out such grandiose words! Brad, I had passion when I was young. Yes, the passion that you want me to revive. In the past, it was heart that moved me, and it has been my heart that has kept us robust despite numerous harsh competitions and hardships we had to endure. With my pure passion and energy, I endeavored to make further progressions in mathematics. But harsh society and endless competitions have eroded my initial resolution and passion. I no longer have enthusiasm in mathematics to attempt new tasks, and my rationality keeps preventing myself from seeking new challenges in fear of potential risks as I age. Rationality is an essential value, but I am starting to think that it is now causing ennui in my life and devastating my soul, since brain without heart is merely being a machine. Then, I reached a conclusion: I need to retire. I need to retire to revive my passion! But Brad, the passion I am talking about right now is not passion for mathematics anymore, but passion for my own life and happiness. I wish I could smile like the moment when I snatched your math trophy and ran away when we were in an elementary school. Brad, I want to be ebullient again as I did when I was a teenager. I have had enough glory in mathematics. It is time to pass my throne to others.”

Brad sighed, but he did not make further attempts to persuade me. Then he smiled again. The next word he spoke still rings in my ear.

“Ok, fine. You have made enough discoveries in mathematics and have endeavored enough to seek truth in mathematics. Now, it is time to seek truth in yourself and in your life.”

Brad stood up, and shook my hands with affectionate look on his face. Then, he gave me one thousand won. Looking at my flustered face, Brad said

“One thousand won, don’t you remember?”

We both laughed, and Brad left my office.

Sun was still brightly shining in a deep blue sky, and the flowers on the green field were waving for me, saying goodbye. 

Should the U.S take stronger actions against N.K to stop its nuclear tests?

After the Cheonan submarine sank deep into the ocean in 2010 March 26, my ethics teacher’s face was red with resentment. Standing on the podium, the teacher ardently criticized South Korean politicians for blaming North Korea with no specific evidence in the Cheonan issue. She merely viewed the issue as political artifice by the South Korean government in order to distract citizens’ attention away from domestic politics. Despite two hours of debate, the ethics teacher, a former North Korean refugee, was firm on her stance that most reported North Korean threats were flawed and did not exist. Though she might have said this in such way due to her love towards her hometown, it is incontrovertible that threats from North Korea do, in fact, exist. With Kim Jeong-Un clutching a switch for a nuclear missile launcher, feeling relief in the Korean Peninsula is premature. For the sake of peace and safety for all, the U.S, a country that can wield the strongest international power, should tighten its grip on Kim Jeong Un. North Korea has refused denuclearization suggestions by other nations, and their nuclear weaponization technology has progressed enough to manufacture more destructive weapons.

North Korea has refused to compromise with numerous diplomatic negotiations in order to continue its nuclear tests. The current dictator of North Korea, Kim Jeong Un, has chosen an extremely illogical diplomatic stance in order to pursue further development in nuclear technology. For instance, North Korea has abandoned multi-national food aids provided by the U.S and South Korea in order to maintain its nuclear facilities. I once saw several photos of dead bodies of North Koreans lying on unpaved roads in rural regions. Extremely feeble limbs and swelled abdomens of the dead bodies lucidly suggested that they died due to malnutrition. Why can’t Kim Jeong Un feel such anguish of North Koreans? Is nuclear technology worthy enough to abandon thousands of people whose lives are being eaten away by poverty and famine? Instead of compromising with other nations to aid innocent lives, North Korea conducted the additional underground nuclear explosion experiment on February 12^th 2013. To make a weapon that can destruct 40% of the western continent of the U.S, North Korea is killing thousands people annually with its merciless exploitation . When there are no restrictions on North Korea, no one can guarantee the future of North Korean citizens and other countries. North Koreans will be ceased by poverty, and the world will be ceased by a nuclear war. Therefore, the U.S should perform stronger actions to sanction North Korea’s nuclear tests to ensure North Koreans’ welfare and world peace.

Advancement in North Korean nuclear technology is enabling  more destructive weapons. Instead of investing financial aids from the Sun-Shine policy of South Korea in feeding impoverished North Koreans, Kim Jeong Il covertly accumulated such aids to propel his ambitious nuclear plan. Today, his successor, Kim Jeong Un, is arduously carrying out his father’s grandiose plan by increasing the frequency of the nuclear tests and fatality of potential nuclear missiles. As an example, the Korean Central News Agency recently reported that North Korea has begun to use plutonium in manufacturing miniature nuclear devices. Such devices can be attached on Unha-3, a long-range missile, which North Korea painstakingly manufactured and succeeded in launching on December 2012. Furthermore,Kim Jeong Un had already conducted two long-range missile attacks and one nuclear test during the 2 years of his reign . My science teacher in elementary school said that a war between South and North Korea in the future would end with a push of a missile switch. Such moment seems to be coming earlier than I have expected. Today, all Kim Jeong Un has to do is to push a button to destruct everything that my ancestors have yielded for the past 5000 years. Only ashes and remnants of human civilizations would be left on the Korean Peninsula after a war, and my science teacher’s prediction would turn out to be true. In other words, the U.S should not hesitate to impose stronger regulations on North Korea before its military power begets irreversible chaos.

To sum up, the U.S should strengthen its restrictions against nuclear-fanatic North Korea, since Kim Jeong Un has revealed no signs of denuclearization in order to fulfill his nuclear plans, and improved nuclear technology of North Korea is now in the realm that can impose serious global threats. I and most of my fellow South Koreans are living in modern society that has a weak personal connection to North Korea other than being South Koreans. However, detrimental impacts that Kim Jeong Un can inflict to South Korea do have powerful connections with our lives. The destiny of people I love and everything I possess depends on a capricious dictator living in the North. Truly, this is an inconvenient truth. Persuading obstinate Kim Jeong Un is incontrovertibly a challenging task. But we cannot allow a single dictator to destroy our land and civilizations that our ancestors have established through innumerable historical turmoil and immense sacrifice. With the help of U.S, South Koreans have to struggle to weather through this diplomatic tension that is swaying the destiny of our nation. 

Hi, I'm Roger

     ‘What should I choose for my new English name? Which name has enough significance to overpower my original name?’ I pondered in front of a tiny sheet of paper that I had to write my new English name on. Suddenly, the name ‘Roger’ popped into my consciousness, and my right hand immediately began to scribble it as if it had been waiting for such name. Yes, my new name is Roger, a typical first name in English usage. However, being typical doesn’t degrade the significance of my dear name ‘Roger’, since the name reminds me of a pleasant reminiscence of the past and has linguistic and historical significance.                                               

     ‘Roger’ is the name that connects me to the memory of the past. From the fifth grade in my elementary school to second grade in my middle school, the word ‘Roger’ was one of my favorite vocabularies due to its frequent usage in a online FPS game, ‘Sudden Attack’, that I was once immersed in. Masculine soldiers in the online game shooting fancy guns and throwing grenades at the opponent’s headquarter enthralled my once immature spirit, imbuing me full of admiration towards my imaginary soldiers. Among splendid weaponries, strong muscles, and several other military-related factors that those online soldiers demonstrated, their military-style conversation captivated me the most. To elaborate, to increase the reality of the game, the virtual characters within ‘Sudden Attack’ communicated each other by using military jargons, such as ‘fire in the hall.’ The word ‘Roger’, which meant ‘I have received all the messages’, was the most representative and frequently used jargon in the game; therefore, the word ‘Roger’ gradually infiltrated into my everyday dictions after my long exposure to ‘Sudden attack’. Until I realized that using such words could make others perceive me as a military fanatic, I had continuously utilized the word ‘Roger’ in my daily life. When I hear or use the word ‘Roger’ today, the image of me smiling happily in front of a computer monitor flashes in my brain as a pleasant reminiscence, a great refreshment for my present life that has no joy. In other words, the name ‘Roger’ symbolizes my past day’s happiness when I could be infatuated with what I truly desired to do.  

     The name ‘Roger’ is a linguistically and historically interesting name. When I google my current English name, ‘Justin’, only Justin Bieber pops up, indicating that it has not much in-depth meaning. Nevertheless, the name ‘Roger’ indicates a diversity of meanings in different countries and survived over centuries.  For instance, ‘Roger’ in Germany means ‘famous with the spear’, and Normans interpret the name as ‘renown for his sword’. In addition, ‘Roger’ is often referred to as a black flag of pirates with white skulls embedded, a type of meaning that many boys would favor. Furthermore, ‘Roger’ is the name that has some degree of historical significance. As an example, ‘Roger’ was first introduced in England after Norman conquest, implying that it is a historical name that has endured a long period of threats of extinction. Therefore, ‘Roger’ is not a name that should not be underestimated even if it is a prevalent name in today’s society.

     In conclusion, the name ‘Roger’ is a significant name for me, since it refreshes my spirit with pleasant memories it revokes. Furthermore, its various intriguing meanings and  long history  make the name meaningful. Name is not merely a tag. It is an eternal badge of humans that has  a unique meaning  and story. When you are stressed out and need some refreshment, how about searching and thinking about what your name attempts to deliver? I can definitely assure you that you will find your name more astonishing than you have previously thought. 

Debunking myth: Is physical attractiveness related to happiness?

Let's debunk myth!!!

How did I get caught?

The weather was abnormally hot, and the ground under my feet soon became a pool of sweat. My head was dizzy, a signal of impending heatstroke. However, I had to force my legs to move, since I was fully aware of unbearable consequences I would have to bear after being caught. With a shiny trophy inscribed with the name "Brad" clutched in my slippery right hand, I forced myself forward. Believe it or not, I was trying to take away a math olympiad trophy that my haughty Australian friend, Brad, received for achieving the 1st place in the math competition. 

The weather when I first met Brad was stormy and cold, and Brad was standing among windblown leaves with his gruesome braces emitting eerie light despite absence of sunlight. Such atmosphere and ominous braces seemed to imply an inauspicious relationship between me and Brad, who occasionally boasted his mathematic skills and taunted others for being inferior to him in the field. Since I perceived numbers and "x and y" as meaningless pictures that had no relevance with my life, Brad's acrid remarks regarding my pathetic skills in performing simple algebra did not incite any antipathy towards him. One day, however, Brad came to me and began to flaunt his mathematic skills by shoving shiny golden math olympiad trophy right in front of my nose. Such boasting was Brad's everyday repertoire, and paying no attention to his pompous behaviors was my usual reaction towards his math-related invective. But one word aggravated that day: "Stupid Asian."

He chose the wrong diction, and he certainly chose a wrong enemy. 

To repay all the humiliation that Brad kindly gave to me, I decided to steal his trophy and run away. 

 One sunny, humid afternoon, I was standing in front of Brad's desk, staring at Brad's golden trophy, his only pride. I might have pondered on 'To steal, or not to steal, that is the question.' in front of Brad's desk if my heart was weak, but my firm decision and strong will to torment our young mathematician made me resolved to steal his golden trophy. I decided to steal it and throw it away into a place that a math genius like Brad could never find until he became too aged and feeble to hold a pencil. I grabbed the trophy and ran away from the classroom with unimaginable speed. Unfortunately, Brad and his parents, who were discussing Brad’s academic achievements with a headmaster, spotted a dark- faced Asian boy fleeting with a gleaming trophy clutched in his right hand. They immediately chased after me, and I ran for my life. I ran across a vast, green football field, sprinting as fast as possible so that old grumpy Brad’s parents and arrogant Brad could not catch up to me. However, their aspiration for getting that trophy was stronger than my antipathy towards Brad, and I was just about an inch away from them at a side walk in front of the school’s dunny. Suddenly, my right hand became loose due to vigorous chasing, and a golden trophy flew towards the path of a passing truck. “Crack!” The trophy broke into two, and I exclaimed “Yes!” for achieving my grand goal. Of course, I got caught immediately after the death of the trophy.

I had to spend all day in my headmaster’s office with my parents, enduring shouts and cries that were incontrovertibly louder than a sonic boom. Brad continued to stare at me, eyes full of detest and misery. In contrast, I stared at him with a benign, pleased look, an arrogant composure that a winner exhibits to a looser. Today, when I solve complicated math problems, Brad’s dismayed face and his golden trophy broken into bits often appear as fond reminiscence in front of my eyes.  It was a pleasing experience

Brief outline of the essay related to North Korea's nuclear test.

Topic: How should the U.S deal with North Korea's nuclear                             test?   

Thesis: The U.S should take stronger action against ongoing North Korea's nuclear test. 

Argument 1. North Korea has abandoned every possible diplomatic negotiation in order to continue 

                   its Nuclear test. 

Supporting details: 

While the U.S and South Korea have attempted to negotiate with North Korea by guaranteeing multi-national food aids, the new leader of North Korea, Kim Jeong-un, has refused to listen to global invocation  and demonstrated further possibility of conducting more nuclear tests. 

Since food-aid no longer works as an effective measures, the U.S should carry out stronger action in order to prevent further provocations. 

Source: 

http://newindianexpress.com/world/article1461993.ece 

         http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2013/01/23/34/0301000000AEN20130123001800315F.HTML 

                        

Argument 2. North Korea is planning to manufacture more explosive and threatening nuclear                

                   weapons 

Supporting details: 

According to KNCA news agency, the North Korea has begun to use plutonium to make miniaturized, lighter nuclear device that can be suitable to be attached on a nuclear missile. 

Furthermore, Kim Jeong-un has been eager to secure more financial investment in order to boost nuclear test while showing no tendency of submitting in to negotiations. As North Korea has managed to manufacture a long-ranged missile in December 2012, North Korea's nuclear technology will become more threatening when there are no resolutions for ongoing nuclear tests. 

Source: 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-22/north-korea-faces-new-un-sanctions-as-china-acquiesces.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/12/us-korea-north-idUSBRE91B04820130212

http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21571938-chagrin-his-neighbours-young-despot-appears-determined-continue-his-familys-atomic

Korea Peninsula is under the threat of North Korea's nuclear experimentation

   North Korea, a country renowned for its capricious diplomatic attitudes, is causing another international turmoil: resuming nuclear research to weaponize nuclear technology. The current technological goal that North Korea is to inject highly concentrated Uranium inside a nuclear bomb in order to reduce its volume, ensuring enhanced mobility when attached on a rocket. After North Korea's abrupt declaration of nuclear program, each leader of three major political parties of South Korea organized an assembly to efficaciously address the nuclear weapon issue as well as to devise a method that can cajole Kim Jeong-en to abandon his nuclear program. Furthermore, the current South Korea's president, Park Geun-hae, has emphasized North Korea's diplomatic isolation and conflicts that a nuclear program can beget when Kim Jeong-en refuses to compromise. Nevertheless, North Korea has not demonstrated any sign of submitting to global pressure, urging South Korea and other developed countries to seek immediate resolutions for North Korea's capricious diplomatic attitudes.

Reference site: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/02/05/world/asia/north-korea-nuclear-test-                 explainer/index.html