Most Popular
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Key suspects grilled over alleged abuse of power in Marine death inquiry
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Marine Corps commander summoned by CIO for questioning on alleged influence-peddling case
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S. Korean children, teens grow taller, mature faster than before: study
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Army takes group action against Hybe for neglecting BTS
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Some junior doctors are returning: Health Ministry
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Debate rages over ‘overly fatty’ samgyeopsal
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Ador CEO's request for exclusive right to terminate NewJeans' contract with Hybe refused in February
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[Weekender] Korean psyche untangled: Musok
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Naver will consider company benefits in deciding on selling Line shares: CEO
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Woman dangling from power lines rescued by residents holding blanket
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[Kim Ji-hyun] Why we all need a backup
Call me outdated, but I’m not on a cloud, not even Google Drive. Despite having covered tech news for some time and written about the endless potential of cloud computing, I just never got around to actually get myself that kind of backup. My laziness finally came to bite me in the back when my phone suddenly died last week. Yes, yes, I know it happens to everyone at one point in their lives but I truly had not imagined it would happen to me.Or at least I wanted to ignore it because I had starte
June 11, 2014
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[Kim Myong-sik] Old and new meet graciously in DDP exhibition
“Gansong” Jeon Hyeong-pil was born in 1906 and died in 1962. Anyone who regrets that the great art collector’s 56-year life was too short can feel his rebirth while viewing the Gansong Exhibition in the new Dongdaemun Design Plaza.The dedication in March of the DDP as a center for promoting industrial and artistic design was no doubt one of the greatest cultural events in decades along with the opening of the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul late last year. The huge amoeba-shaped edi
June 11, 2014
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Obama’s swap for Bergdahl: A presidential power play?
In the wake of the prisoner swap that resulted in Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s release by the Taliban, questions are rightly being asked about the deal’s legal justifications. In fact, the Obama administration did not comply with statutory requirements that it provide notice to Congress before transferring prisoners from Guantanamo Bay, and it has not fully explained how it believes its unilateral decision can be legally justified.It seems likely, however, that the administration is relying on inherent
June 11, 2014
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GM’s scandal is a warning to all of us
The opening sentence of the 325-page internal investigation report on a death-dealing scandal at General Motors paradoxically runs too long yet gets right to the point:“In the fall of 2002, General Motors personnel made a decision that would lead to catastrophic results ― a GM engineer chose to use an ignition switch in certain cars that was so far below GM’s own specifications that it failed to keep the car powered on in circumstances that drivers could encounter, resulting in moving stalls on
June 11, 2014
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[Lee Jae-min] Remember-me-not and Korea
People are set to forget. German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus’ (1850-1909) famous research shows that we start to forget 10 minutes after the study, losing 50 percent after an hour, 70 percent after one day, and 80 percent after one month. This human forgetfulness is sometimes a blessing. During his lecture trip to Korea in 2013, Eran Katz, an Israeli record holder for “memory” in the Guinness Book of World Records, praised “forgetting” as good for a healthy mind by releasing one’s brain spac
June 10, 2014
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China and India, made for each other
Ten years ago, Indian economist and politician Jairam Ramesh coined a word that captivated pundits and investors: “Chindia.”The idea that China and India might join forces, to cooperate as much as they compete, was both seductive and fleeting. Observers were heartened by promises from then-Chinese President Hu Jintao and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to enact sweeping internal reforms and embrace regional cooperation ― neither of which happened. The leaders of the world’s most populous na
June 10, 2014
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England’s football decline is good for economy
In England, soccer loyalty is to club rather than country. For more than 50 years, I have watched and supported Aston Villa, one of the most famous, if not the most successful, clubs in the world. During that half century, there have been many ups and downs. And the same could be said of the British economy.I first visited Villa Park on Oct. 8, 1960. Aston Villa beat Newcastle United, 2-0. The great stadium stretched out in front of us as the autumn mist fell over the Holte End. The club has a p
June 10, 2014
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[Kim Seong-kon] The ‘affluenza’ disease in Korean society
Recently the term “affluenza” has come into use all over the world. According to “Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic,” the term is a portmanteau of “affluence” and “influenza,” which indicates a contagious condition of “anxiety and waste, resulting from the dogged pursuit of more.” In “Affluenza: Too Much Is Not Enough,” Clive Hamilton and Richard Denniss argue that affluenza causes “luxury fever,” “psychological distress” and the tendency to “self-medicate with excessive alcohol consumption.
June 10, 2014
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On Google and the curse of the permanent record
Once, we came of age under the shadow of something called a Permanent Record. Nobody ever actually saw one, but as youngsters we understood we had to keep our own clean, since stains could do lasting damage.Plainly, the idea of an authoritative, ineradicable ledger on individual behavior is a powerful one. Widespread too. You see it in everything from the divine Book of Life to the gift list kept by Santa, who knows if you’ve been bad or good.That permanent record meant somebody was paying atten
June 10, 2014
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[Robert Reich] Freedom Summer II in U.S.
I spent several days in New York last week with students from around the country who were preparing to head into the heartland to help organize Walmart workers for better jobs and wages. (Full familial disclosure: My son Adam is one of the leaders.)Almost exactly 50 years ago, a similar group headed to Mississippi to register African-Americans to vote, in what came to be known as Freedom Summer.Call this Freedom Summer II.The current struggle of low-wage workers across America echoes the civil r
June 9, 2014
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Obama’s destructive war on the media
Few presidential candidates enjoyed better press than Barack Obama in 2008. He reciprocated by promising unprecedented “openness in government” and a new era of transparency.He has fallen far short of the promise. This administration has prosecuted more whistle-blowers for leaks and gone after more journalists than any of its predecessors.In a report last year, Leonard Downie, the former executive editor of the Washington Post, said the administration’s efforts to crack down on information seepi
June 9, 2014
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[Peter Singer] The ethical cost of high-price art in our time
MELBOURNE, Australia ― In New York last month, Christie’s sold $745 million worth of postwar and contemporary art, the highest total that it has ever reached in a single auction. Among the higher-priced works sold were paintings by Barnett Newman, Francis Bacon, Mark Rothko, and Andy Warhol, each of which sold for more than $60 million. According to the New York Times, Asian collectors played a significant part in boosting prices.No doubt some buyers regard their purchases as an investment, like
June 9, 2014
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Investing with the drums of warfare
The rise of the Crimea conflict and territorial disputes in the South China Sea suddenly raise the specter that warfare may no longer be a thing of the past. After all, politics is cultural mixing without violence and war is cultural mixing with violence. The reason why we need to think seriously is that war will disrupt any plans for the future of Asia and our investment strategies.We have gone through the longest peace time enjoyed in recent history (1945-today), longer than the four decades o
June 9, 2014
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Four teams to be bullish on at Brazil World Cup
One of the things I enjoyed most in my professional career was indulging a couple of my favorite interests simultaneously ― football (which some of you call “soccer,” for some reason) and economics.On five occasions, I presided over the publication of special booklets about the World Cup and economics, starting in 1994 in my days at Swiss Bank Corp., and then for each tournament from 1998 onward at Goldman Sachs, all the way to the 2010 tournament World Cup in South Africa. Not only did I have a
June 9, 2014
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Bergdahl swap a retro moment in new Cold War
PARIS ― U.S. President Barack Obama recently agreed to the release of five Taliban leaders from Guantanamo Bay prison in exchange for an alleged U.S. military deserter. It’s great trade for the soldier, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who will be reunited with his loved ones back in America. Nonetheless, it’s a bad precedent for America.Obama said he expressed his personal gratitude to Qatar for having negotiated the Bergdahl swap. What could possibly be in this deal for Qatar?In June 2013, Qatar hosted tal
June 8, 2014
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[Yun Byung-se] Korean unification, global peace
While the United Nations celebrates its 70th anniversary in 2015, Koreans will lament 70 years of national division. Considering all of the challenges and opportunities that the divided peninsula faces ― and will continue to confront in the coming years ― unification remains an important goal that we must continue to pursue.Founded formally in 1948 under U.N. auspices, the then-fledgling Republic of Korea immediately became engulfed in Cold War power politics, which hampered its efforts to join
June 8, 2014
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[Yu Kun-ha] Poll outcome signals left turn in education policy
One notable result of the June 4 local elections was the sweeping victory of liberal candidates in the education superintendent races. They emerged triumphant in 13 of the 17 metropolitan cities and provinces, assuming responsibility for the education of more than 80 percent of the nation’s 7.2 million children from kindergarten to high school.Conservative candidates carried only three metropolitan cities of Daegu, Ulsan and Daejeon plus North Gyeongsang Province, a sharp contrast to four years
June 8, 2014
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Pope, politics and the downgrading of dogma
Practitioners of purity push young people who embrace diversity and freedom to opt out of political structures.“The dogmatic and moral teachings of the church are not all equivalent.” ― Pope FrancisI entered the Catholic seminary at 13. I have worked for Cesar Chavez’s farm worker movement and labor unions since I was 19. And I have run political campaigns for Democratic politicians and causes for 40 years.Watching these institutions, my personal “trinity,” struggle to remain relevant has been h
June 8, 2014
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Australia mines for mediocrity
Tony Abbott, Australia’s climate-change skeptic in chief, may be in for some heated exchanges at the White House next week.Abbott visits Washington just as President Barack Obama is moving in the opposite direction. A year ago, Australia was in the vanguard of global efforts to set a price on carbon emissions, build a cap-and-trade exchange and tax miners. Abbott has spent his nine months as the nation’s prime minister scrapping those trailblazing policies. Now he’s letting Obama grab the mantle
June 8, 2014
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[David Ignatius] Our cycles of national worry
WASHINGTON ― When CBS News brought Dwight Eisenhower back to Normandy for the 20th anniversary of the D-Day landings in 1964, you might have expected the former commander of Allied forces to conclude with a triumphal comment. Instead, CBS captured an anguished Eisenhower against the backdrop of crosses at the American cemetery at St. Laurent, ruminating: “We must find some way ... to gain an eternal peace for this world.” The 70th anniversary of D-Day this week offers a moment to reflect on Amer
June 5, 2014