Most Popular
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Russia sent more than 165,000 barrels of refined petroleum to N. Korea in March: White House
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Key suspects grilled over alleged abuse of power in Marine death inquiry
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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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Marine Corps commander summoned by CIO for questioning on alleged influence-peddling case
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[Graphic News] Number of coffee franchises in S. Korea rises 13%
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Some junior doctors are returning: Health Ministry
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[Robert J. Fouser] AI changes rationale for learning languages
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Ador CEO's request for exclusive right to terminate NewJeans' contract with Hybe refused in February
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Woman dangling from power lines rescued by residents holding blanket
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[Robert J. Fouser] How to promote Korean culture
Efforts to promote Korean culture to “foreigners” have a long history that follows the contours of Korea’s rise over the last 50 years. The Korean government has been actively involved in many of these efforts, but the results have been mixed, which has raised questions about the effectiveness of the efforts.First some history. During the military dictatorship of Park Chung-hee, promoting Korean culture was part of the competition for international recognition with North Korea. To compete, South
March 25, 2014
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Kuroda needs to bridge Japan’s timidity gap
One year into its risky experiment with monetary easing, Japan has a confidence problem on its hands.Let’s dispense with all this “Abenomics” stuff. Until Prime Minister Shinzo Abe serves up even just one of the epochal reforms he promised 15 months ago, Japan’s drive to end deflation and restore growth should bear the name of the man doing all the heavy lifting and taking all the risks: central bank Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda.As he marks his first anniversary at the Bank of Japan, Kuroda has some rem
March 25, 2014
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Who should be in charge of overseeing Internet?
A group of nerds and wonks is having some hideously boring meetings this week in Singapore. You should care: What they produce could change the nature of the Internet.On March 14, the U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration said it would relinquish oversight of ICANN, the nonprofit group that has managed the name-and-address system of the Internet since 1998. To simplify a bit, ICANN ― the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ― is what ensures that you magi
March 25, 2014
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Think Russia’s land grab is unique? Think again
It has become a truism in discussions of Russia’s takeover of Crimea that in the post-World War II international order, countries no longer rewrite borders through force ― or if they do, rarely find themselves faced with determined opposition from other states. As Secretary of State John F. Kerry put it, the Crimea campaign is a “19th century act.”Such statements ignore major pieces of inconvenient history. Though it is too early to say much about the 21st century, the late 20th century saw coun
March 25, 2014
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[Kim Seong-kon] Why are zombies so scary?
Recently, the term “zombie” has become fashionable all over the world. For example, there are a plethora of American zombie movies such as “Land of the Dead,” “Diary of the Dead” and “Survival of the Dead,” and British ones such as “Shawn of the Dead,” “28 Days Later” and “28 Weeks Later.” American TV shows such as “The Crazies” and “The Walking Dead” have also been watched by millions of viewers around the world. The same phenomenon can be found in academia as well. Several American universitie
March 25, 2014
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U.S. must insist on Internet remaining free and open
As we note the 25th anniversary of the birth of Tim Berners-Lee’s World Wide Web, the integrity of the Internet is threatened as never before. China and Russia are launching cyberattacks at unprecedented levels, and the NSA’s hacking and spying are destroying trust in technology.In that context, the Obama administration has announced it will give up U.S. control of the Internet to an international governing body. This has been in the works for more than a decade ― but the president needs to be c
March 25, 2014
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Cruz and Paul vie for fractured conservatives
Two newcomers, Senators Rand Paul of Kentucky and Ted Cruz of Texas, are the hottest figures in the dominant conservative wing of the Republican Party. In markedly different ways, they both claim to be the heirs to the party’s contemporary patron saint, Ronald Reagan.In a short time, these first-term lawmakers have electrified elements of the party’s base and rattled the Senate establishment. The top two Republican leaders in the chamber, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and John Cornyn of Texas, hav
March 24, 2014
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[Andrew Cockburn] Why sanctions don’t really work
In 1919, after allied sanctions on food shipments had starved the Kaiser’s Germany into submission, President Woodrow Wilson endorsed the continued use of sanctions to settle international disputes as an “economic, peaceful, silent, deadly remedy.” Almost a century later, the weapon is more popular than ever, mostly because of a wholly mistaken belief that it makes the targets do what we want. Currently, the United States is enforcing no fewer than 24 separate sanctions regimes directed at targe
March 24, 2014
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The Beatles 50 years late: All you need is love, and a lasting legacy
LONGVIEW, Washington ― Fifty years after their first appearance in the United States seems an adequate amount of time to assess the cultural and musical legacy of the Beatles. The 15-year-old girls from Brooklyn and Queens who shrieked and swooned at first sight of them on “The Ed Sullivan Show” were last seen cashing Social Security checks. Hey, they’re 65. When they swoon these days, concerned relatives call 911.It’s been a while.And it bears remembering that it’s always been presumed the Beat
March 24, 2014
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[Robert J. Shiller] The global economy’s tale risks
TOKYO ― Fluctuations in the world’s economies are largely due to the stories we hear and tell about them. These popular, emotionally relevant narratives sometimes inspire us to go out and spend, start businesses, build new factories and office buildings, and hire employees; at other times, they put fear in our hearts and impel us to sit tight, save our resources, curtail spending, and reduce risk. They either stimulate our “animal spirits” or muffle them.Visiting Japan on a speaking tour, I am s
March 24, 2014
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Goodbye, flexible work arrangements
Millions of salaried workers may soon lose flexibility in how they work. President Barack Obama plans to cover them under federal overtime regulations. This won’t raise their pay. It will, however, effectively convert them into hourly workers ― putting the kibosh on the flexible work arrangements many employees value.Hourly employees get paid time-and-a-half for working more than 40 hours a week. However, under the “white collar exemption,” businesses can pay many salaried employees for getting
March 24, 2014
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[Giles Merritt] The Post-Russian world order
BRUSSELS ― Russia’s intervention in Ukraine and the ensuing Crimea crisis is wrongly seen as the start of Cold War II. But, while the fallout from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s defiance of international law and public opinion will be very different from that of the Soviet Union’s long campaign to defeat capitalism, the geopolitical ripple effects are certain to be just as far-reaching, if not more so.Russia is set to sideline itself from the global economy, and by doing so it will usher in
March 23, 2014
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Don’t widen political divide in U.S.
WASHINGTON ― Renewed calls by Republican hotheads for an independent special prosecutor to investigate whether the IRS engaged in criminal conduct during the 2012 campaign should fall on deaf ears.It would be silly to elevate what appears to be an egregious mistake by bureaucrats to the level of a constitutional crisis ― particularly at a time when the nation faces what is arguably its widest partisan divide of the 21st century.Moderate GOP congressional leaders declined to call for a special pr
March 23, 2014
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[Yu Kun-ha] Cutting red tape helps economy pick up speed
When it comes to government regulation, Korea is still a Third World country. This is well illustrated by the low rankings it has continued to receive in the category of “burden of government regulation” in the World Economic Forum’s annual Global Competitiveness Reports.Korea’s overall rankings in the past three years were 24th in 2011, 19th in 2012 and 25th in 2013. But in the regulatory burden category, it placed 117th among 142 countries in 2011, 114th among 144 countries in 2012 and 95th am
March 23, 2014
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Crimea’s democracy trampled its constitution
Constitutionalism and democracy go together like chocolate and peanut butter, right? Wrong ― as events proved this week in Crimea.Ukraine’s constitution doesn’t allow for the secession of Crimea and its incorporation into Russia. Yet 96 percent of voting Crimeans chose secession, raising the question of why the constitution should even be followed. Does anyone seriously doubt that the overwhelming majority of Crimeans welcome integration into Russia? The democratic impulse contradicts the consti
March 23, 2014
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Can you see Beijing from the Eiffel Tower?
Last week, as Parisians were choked by the city’s worst, Eiffel Tower-obscuring smog since 1997, they were left to ask the same, depressing question: How does this compare with Beijing?As it happens, not well. For a few days at least, the air quality in Paris was much worse than in Beijing. (This was partially due to an unusual clean spell in Beijing.)Paris responded by imposing an alternating-day driving ban, starting Monday with even-numbered plates and continuing on Tuesday with odd-numbered
March 23, 2014
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[David Ignatius] America’s challenge in Ukraine
WASHINGTON ― Vladimir Putin baptized his conquest of Crimea with a powerful, unsettling speech that should be a warning that an embattled Russia is fighting for what it sees as its national dignity ― in ways that require a firm and patient U.S. response. Putin played all the strings of the balalaika in his speech Tuesday announcing the annexation of Crimea. He was, by turns: sentimental, sarcastic, resentful and intimidating. He put the world on notice that he is determined to restore Russia’s p
March 21, 2014
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The Russian Godfather’s paranoid world
WARSAW ― Russian President Vladimir Putin is behaving like a Mafia boss. In invading, occupying, and finally annexing Crimea, he pointed Russia’s guns at Ukraine and said: your territorial sovereignty or your life. So far, extortion has worked ― and Putin knows it.Indeed, in his speech announcing the annexation of Crimea, Putin spoke his mind: his regime fears no punishment and will do whatever it pleases. Crimea is just the first step toward realizing his dream of revived Russian greatness.His
March 21, 2014
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[David Ignatius] What we learned in Crimea
WASHINGTON ― From the photographs we’ve seen of the Russian special operations, or “Spetsnaz,” troops that intervened in Crimea, several things are obvious: They’re secretive, moving without insignia and often covering their faces; they’re disciplined and they’re decisive. The diplomatic response to the Russian intervention is continuing. But Pentagon officials are beginning to assess the military “lessons learned.” The bottom line is that Russia’s move into Crimea was a study in the speedy depl
March 20, 2014
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Sanctions on Russia symbolic of a hollow culture
PARIS ― There are fewer things more pathetic than watching someone take a running dive off a high board only to end in a spectacular belly flop and still think that they’re scoring a perfect 10. That’s U.S. President Barack Obama right now on the issue of sanctions against Russia. It’s a worrying attitude that increasingly permeates Western culture.Europe and America supported a coup d’tat against a democratically elected government and president in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev, which in turn l
March 20, 2014