When the White House invited me to the state dinner for Chinese President Hu Jintao, I knew that I was being used as a symbol ― to signal a tougher approach on human rights. The Obama administration was widely seen as having flubbed the November 2009 summit in China. In the lead-up to his visit, President Obama had refused to meet the Dalai Lama, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had ...

Economics textbooks say the market price of a good is determined by its supply and the demand for it. But demand and supply are not the only determinants in Korea. Not mentioned in the textbooks is the brute power of the Korean government, which can also influence prices. According to a weekly survey conducted on Jan. 7, 48 of the 79 daily necessitates gained and 29 declined in price. There was ...

Two weeks ago, the Korean National Police Agency issued a statement promising to end verbal abuse, beatings and other types of harassment and violence done to recruits and junior combat police. But before the ink was dry, six junior combat police went AWOL, claiming that they had been subjected to all types of abuse in barracks located in Gangwon Province. After deserting the base on the early S...

Although the recent rumour about the impending resignation of celebrated songwriter Nitipong Hornak from music industry leader GMM Grammy has not been substantiated, it reflects the stark challenge facing the local entertainment industry from the pervasive evolution of digital technology. In a telling interview with Channel 3 news talk show host Sorayuth Suthassanajinda, Nitipong admitted that h...

You might think this is a great time for the offshore-banking industry. There is a lot of spare cash sloshing around the world. The mega-rich are still piling up money. Taxes are likely to go up as every developed country tries to cope with huge deficits, creating even more incentive to shift money to some island hideaway. But it’s not so easy anymore. A former Julius Baer Group Ltd. banker has...

FLORENCE ― At the recent annual meetings of the American Economic Association, there was widespread pessimism about the future of the United States. “The age of American predominance is over,” declared one economist. “The U.S. should brace for social unrest amid blame over who was responsible for squandering global primacy,” said another. We have heard this story many times before, not only in t...

In 1966, my father sent a resume to the Peace Corps. A few days later, he found himself sitting across a table from the agency’s director, Sargent Shriver. “Want to go to India?” Shriver asked. My dad was 33 years old, he had three kids, and his only overseas experience was two vacations in Europe. But he had also attended Yale Law School, like Shriver, which made both of them “certified smart ...

It may just be a coincidence that U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was in Oman last week while the South Korean Navy’s Cheonghae Unit rescued all 21 crewmembers of the cargo ship Samho Jewelry from Somali pirates. Some here speculate that Ban’s meeting with Omani King Qaboos bin Said Al Said may have been conducive to Oman’s support for the operation. Among his many duties as the chief executi...

Lawmakers of the National Assembly Defense Committee suggested in a roundtable with Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin Monday that the government consider exchanging the five Somali pirates captured in the Navy commandos’ raid on the Samho Jewelry Friday with the crew of the Geummi 305 now in captivity in Somalia. Minister Kim said it was a good idea, but we do not think so. Ruling and opposition par...

China, which is on the way to superpower status with its economic wealth and military strength, has become increasingly assertive. Moves by this rising nation have the potential to bring structural changes to the balance of power in the Asia-Pacific region. While calling on Beijing for self-restraint, Japan must join hands with neighboring countries and show a resolute stance against China if it...

You know we’ve got problems when Barbra Streisand and Herbie Hancock understand the global economy better than John Boehner and Harry Reid. Singer Streisand and jazz great Hancock were on hand for the Chinese president’s White House dinner last week, while House Speaker Boehner, Majority Leader Reid and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell wimped out and stayed away. Lawmakers are right to ...