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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[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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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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[Robert J. Fouser] AI changes rationale for learning languages
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Woman dangling from power lines rescued by residents holding blanket
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Ador CEO's request for exclusive right to terminate NewJeans' contract with Hybe refused in February
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History is a nightmare ― sometimes in 3-D
Comedy, epic, drama, romance, action, sci-fi and more: the choice is almost endless for film-lovers. But enjoyment usually trumps everything ― including some precious lessons hidden among the flickering images.The influential Los Angeles Film Critics Association obviously enjoyed “Her” a lot, naming it Best Film of 2013 in a tie with “Gravity.”Along with Joaquin Phoenix’s performance, the unusual plot must have wowed the critics. The sci-fi comedy romance tells of a guy who develops deep feeling
March 20, 2014
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Taiwan’s lawmakers stuck in legislative kindergarten
On March 12, the Legislative Yuan for the first time held deliberations over the Cross-Strait Trade in Services Agreement, after the pact was submitted by the Cabinet more than three months ago. However, the deliberation failed to be processed due to physical altercations and non-stop disputes between ruling party and opposition lawmakers.Many DPP lawmakers on Tuesday night brought their own sleeping bags into the meeting room where the deliberation would be held, and stayed overnight in order t
March 20, 2014
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ASEAN must stand up to China over Uighurs
This is not the first such group to have arrived in this region in recent years. But our neighbors in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have always dealt with these migrants harshly, deporting them to face prosecution in China. Beijing is no doubt pleased by this policy, but it damages ASEAN’s reputation.Some 220 Uighurs were found hiding on a rubber plantation in Songkhla province last Thursday. The speculation is that they come from western China’s Xinjiang Uighurs Autonomous Region,
March 20, 2014
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[Karim Raslan] Technocrats toying with politics
Political considerations have not served Indonesians well in several sectors, and capable and honest administrators are needed.On Jan. 31, 2014, Gita Wirjawan, who was Indonesia’s trade minister, surprised everyone by resigning from his Cabinet post in order to concentrate on his nascent political career.Gita ― a Harvard-educated investment banker turned government official ― is running in the ruling Democratic Party’s presidential primaries.He’s also a close confidant of President Susilo Bamban
March 20, 2014
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What does the West want from Ukraine?
Now that Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced his country’s annexation of Crimea, how should the European Union and the U.S. respond? With tougher sanctions, certainly, and with plans to lessen the West’s economic dependence on Russia ― but also with clearer thinking about Ukraine’s future than has been demonstrated up to now.The sanctions announced so far are too puny. Travel bans and asset freezes can hurt, but only if they are aimed at a sufficient number of sufficiently influential
March 19, 2014
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[Park Sang-seek] Korea between China, Japan
A month ago Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe compared the current China-Japan relationship to that of Britain and Germany in the early 20th century, and the former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said that there are similarities between the current security environment in East Asia and 19th-century Europe. Their remarks touched off a debate in the intellectual community and mass media in South Korea. Such a reaction is quite natural, considering that the Abe government openly advocates
March 19, 2014
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How to market Korean tourism to the young
The Korean National Tourism Organization seems to have no concept of how to market Korea overseas to anyone under the age of 40. Although there are problems with its anaemic print advertising, and with its boring and complicated website, the key embarrassment to the organization has got to be its video advertising.In video after video, the KNTO ― and other related organizations ― has tried to sell a Korea nobody overseas is interested in; or at least, nobody who is young enough to want to travel
March 19, 2014
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[Kim Myong-sik] Random thoughts of a worried mind on Japan
Here in Korea and other countries of East Asia that suffered from Japanese imperialist aggression, people often ask why the Japanese do not learn from the German model of historical contrition, best exemplified by Willy Brandt’s “Warsaw Genuflection” in 1970. The answer, I believe, lies in the psychological differences between the two peoples, rooted in their religious cultures.For Germans, their basically Christian faith requires repentance ― for any guilt, sin or crime committed individually o
March 19, 2014
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China’s stimulus is no model for the U.S.
If only America’s leaders were more Chinese. That’s the provocative suggestion made in a paper published by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, and it’s sure to elicit a smile among Communist Party bigwigs.Before this goes to Beijing’s head, let’s consider how silly this insinuation by economists Yi Wen and Jing Wu really is ― and how China is a much bigger worry for the world economy than the U.S. is.Was the U.S. response to the 2008 financial crisis state of the art? Far from it. Should law
March 19, 2014
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[Lee Jae-min] Customs rules behind the times
Let’s dial back to 1988. The year 1988 was the year of many changes in Korea. Nationwide preparation for the Seoul Olympics held in September of that year brought the first wave of globalization in the country. That summer, imports of foreign cigarettes were first permitted and the first McDonald’s branch opened in Seoul. It was also July of that year when mobile phone services were first introduced in Korea ― the price of a mobile phone was 4 million won while a “Pony” passenger sedan was 5 mil
March 18, 2014
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Signs of philanthropic revolution in the U.S.
You’ve probably never heard of donor-advised funds, but they are taking over the philanthropic world.It all started as a matter of economics. A million dollars to most of us is a lot of money. But as start-up cash for a philanthropic foundation it’s chump change. A million-dollar foundation can easily cost more to run than it gives away.So an alternative was created by the IRS to give modest philanthropic efforts a cheaper, easier path to existence, bundling them together under an umbrella nonpr
March 18, 2014
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North Korea 2014 meets Rome A.D. 65
Last week, as the Ides of March approached ― the March 15 anniversary of the assassination of Julius Caesar, a determined but ultimately fruitless attempt by Roman senators to stop their government from sliding toward dictatorship ― the minds of some ancient historians may turn in a seemingly unlikely direction: toward modern North Korea.The dark and menacing regime of Kim Jong-un seems a long way off from the Augustan “Golden Age” of ancient Rome, an era that produced art and literature still a
March 18, 2014
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[Kim Seong-kon] Difference between social piranhas, social pariahs
As we get older and wiser, we try not to make any enemies, whether personal or political. After all, life is too short to spend struggling with and retaliating against our foes. When we grow old, therefore, we want to reconcile with our adversaries, practicing the “forgive and forget” policy. What is the use of being revengeful or harboring a grudge when we await the arrival of the carriage of death? Would it not be better to enjoy emotional serenity and peace, instead of hating someone until de
March 18, 2014
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Crimea won’t be enough to satisfy Putin
There is a grim logic to today’s shotgun referendum in Crimea that leads toward an expansion of Russia’s land grab into eastern and southern Ukraine. Exit polls suggest a massive 93 percent of the region’s voters were in favor of joining Russia, a poll on Crimea’s future that was colored by armed intimidation, a crackdown on opposition media and a nine-day excuse for a campaign. It seems all too likely that Russian President Vladimir Putin, riding a wave of popular support at home for returning
March 18, 2014
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[Michael J. Boskin] Tectonic shift in governance
STANFORD ― Millions of people worldwide watched the athletic achievements at the Sochi Olympics and the opening and closing ceremonies’ majestic portrayals of Russian history and culture. But the cost was immense, the alleged corruption dispiriting, and the contrast with the political situation in nearby Ukraine alarming.After lining up for an Association Agreement with the European Union, former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych instead opted for closer ties with Russia, following immense p
March 17, 2014
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A conservative approach to fighting inequality
In Washington right now, the debate over how to address inequality ― whether of income or opportunity ― rages almost daily, as scholars, policy wonks and politicians often far-removed from these problems wrangle over whose solution is best and whose affirmatively do harm.And for Robert Woodson these detached academic notions and political food fights are part of the problem.Woodson, a community development leader, founder of the Center for Neighborhood Enterprise and product of the civil rights
March 17, 2014
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Hiring like Google a bad idea for most companies
Laszlo Bock, the head of human resources at Google, made quite a splash with his announcement last year that the technology firm has changed the way it hires people. Gone are the brainteaser-style interview questions that so many candidates abhorred. But also gone, it would seem, is any concern with discovering how smart applicants really are. “GPAs are worthless as a criteria for hiring, and test scores are worthless. ... We found that they don’t predict anything,” Bock told the New York Times.
March 17, 2014
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[Jeffrey Frankel] Why the ECB should buy U.S. treasuries
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts ― The European Central Bank needs to ease monetary policy further. Eurozone-wide inflation, at 0.8 percent, is below the target of “close to 2 percent,” and unemployment in most countries remains high. Under current conditions, it is hard for the periphery countries to reduce their costs to internationally competitive levels, as they need to do. If inflation in the eurozone as a whole is below 1 percent, the periphery countries are condemned to suffer painful deflation.T
March 17, 2014
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Democratic pageant in largest democracy
NEW DELHI ― Last week, India’s independent Election Commission announced the dates for the next general election. The world’s largest single exercise of the democratic franchise will take place over a staggering 37 days in nine “phases,” some a week apart, from April 7 to May 12. Some 814 million eligible voters will elect, for the 16th time, a new parliament and government, casting their ballots at more than 930,000 polling stations ― after choosing from an estimated 15,000 candidates belonging
March 17, 2014
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[David Ignatius] In Syria, rebel with a cause
WASHINGTON ― With the Ukraine crisis, any fleeting hope that the U.S. and Russia could soon broker a political settlement in Syria has vanished. The U.S. needs an alternate strategy for strengthening Syrian moderates who can resist both the brutal Bashar al-Assad regime and al-Qaida extremists.A new Syrian opposition leader who may help get the balance right is Jamal Maarouf. He heads a group called the Syria Revolutionaries Front and is the leading moderate rebel commander in the north. I spoke
March 16, 2014