Most Popular
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Tensions heighten ahead of first president-opposition chief meeting
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Seoul to provide housing subsidy to married couples with newborns
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[KH Explains] No more 'Michael' at Kakao Games
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Rapper jailed after public street fight with another rapper
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Woman gets suspended term for injuring boyfriend with knife
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Samsung chief bolsters ties with Germany’s Zeiss
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NewJeans pops out ‘Bubble Gum’ video amid troubles at agency
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[Grace Kao] Hybe vs. Ador: Inspiration, imitation and plagiarism
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Med schools expect 1,500+ new admission slots next year
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Nominee for chief of anti-corruption body pledges 'independence, effectiveness'
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Philippine businesses should help fight poverty
“Inclusive growth” has become the buzz phrase in the Aquino administration with the noticeable lack of impact of the stellar economic expansion in the past two years on alleviating poverty. Inclusive growth simply means making the fruits of economic progress trickle down to the poor, or those who have less ― or even none ― in life.One sure way of making growth inclusive is by generating as many jobs as possible. This can be done by investing in economic activities that have a big multiplier effe
Feb. 6, 2014
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[Karim Raslan] The force behind urban villages
Migrants from rural communities have changed the complexion of politics in urban areas, creating a new demographic that political parties should be aware of.Last year, on May 5, Malaysia’s urban voters once again upset ruling coalition Barisan Nasional’s carefully prepared ― if unrealistic ― plans.With leading component party, the United Malays National Organization (Umno) fully expecting a surge to victory in Selangor, the prime minister instead was confronted by a resounding rebuff as the oppo
Feb. 6, 2014
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Thailand revisiting Myanmar’s dark age
The sounds of furious renovation work are emerging from our neighbour Myanmar. I have had my ear to the wall for the past year.Companies from around the world are jumping on the bandwagon, looking for business opportunities in a country dubbed the globe’s final frontier. At big Yangon supermarkets, it’s now easy to find Coca-Cola, Heineken and snacks from Thailand.Freed from tight censorship, journalists are starting to ask tough questions of authorities. One concerns the government’s contracts
Feb. 6, 2014
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[Danny Leipziger] South Korea’s Japanese mirror
Given the daunting challenges facing Japan, one can only admire Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s determination to end the country’s two-decade-long period of economic stagnation. His strategy ― the “three arrows” of massive monetary expansion, increased government spending, and structural reform ― is theoretically sound. But only one and a half arrows have been launched so far.The stimulus package is being offset by consumption-tax hikes aimed at reducing Japan’s massive debt burden ― a process that
Feb. 5, 2014
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Palestinian leader’s good idea for Israel
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is on to something smart. His proposal that U.S.-led NATO troops patrol a future Palestinian state would resolve one of the toughest disputes standing in the way of ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The impasse centers on Israel’s concern about invasion ― a justifiable worry given the nearly catastrophic coordinated attacks by neighboring countries in 1973. By occupying the West Bank, Israel can man early warning systems that look east into the Jordan V
Feb. 5, 2014
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[Kim Myong-sik] ‘Unification bonanza’ is misleading slogan
The primary question about Korean reunification is how we achieve it. Discussing what we can get from it at this juncture is like putting the cart before the horse. It will depend entirely on how the two Koreas become one. Last month in Davos, Switzerland, President Park Geun-hye said that reunification of the Korean Peninsula would bring “daebak” not only to Korea but to the surrounding region. Her interpreter translated the word as “breakthrough” but it did not correctly convey the meaning of
Feb. 5, 2014
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An inconvenient truth on the kitchen table
[Letter to the editor] This is Patrick’s diet: A glass of soy milk for breakfast, Chinese food and coffee for lunch, chicken and coke for dinner, and beer and French fries as a late night snack. Patrick’s diet looks fairly “normal” to most people. But, unbeknownst to him, the food he eats is almost completely made up of genetically modified food. Genetically modified organisms are animals, plants or other organisms whose genetic structures have been altered or created with the use of genetic eng
Feb. 5, 2014
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Dangerous strongman nostalgia in Asia
Indonesia is growing at 6 percent, has rejoined the ranks of investment-grade nations, and after decades under the corrupt and repressive Suharto, has reaffirmed its place as the world’s third-largest democracy. Yet somehow enough Indonesians remember the Suharto years fondly that his Golkar Party has hopes of regaining power in upcoming elections. Golkar isn’t alone in trying to exploit nostalgia for past strongmen (and ―women). India’s Congress Party is trying to squeeze any remaining good fee
Feb. 5, 2014
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[Lee Jae-min] Tapping the old heritage
When first introduced in Joseon late in the 16th century, tobacco immediately became popular on the peninsula. The widespread consumption even led to a government-imposed ban on the product at one point (from 1692-1717) because of fire risks. In the early years of tobacco consumption, Lee Ik (1681-1763), a well-known scholar of the “realist” school of Confucianism, praised it as a cure-all medicine. The revered King Jeongjo (1752-1800), also known as a heavy smoker, noted in his book “Hongjaejeo
Feb. 4, 2014
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There’s still hope for Obama’s change
Perhaps, in about a week, House Speaker John Boehner, majority leader Eric Cantor, Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, Representative Paul Ryan and a handful of other top Republicans will gather at Tortilla Coast in Washington’s Logan Circle and decide on a new political strategy. It’s possible they’ll look at the country’s demographics and decide that they need to get immigration reform done ― and fast ― if they’re going to win the White House in 2016. Perhaps they’ll realize it would be be
Feb. 4, 2014
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How Kerry put Netanyahu in a bind
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is obviously getting somewhere in his attempt to achieve a framework agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, because all the right people ― the far-right people ― are going a little nuts.At a security conference this week in Israel, Naftali Bennett, the leader of the Jewish Home party ― reacting to an earlier suggestion made by the leader of his governing coalition, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that Jewish settlers could conceivably find t
Feb. 4, 2014
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Assured mutual dependence on resources
LONDON ― During the Cold War, the certainty of “mutually assured destruction” steered the nuclear arms race away from catastrophe: a would-be attacker would face immediate retaliation, inevitably ending in both sides’ annihilation. Today, a very different race is taking place ― a race for the earth’s vital resources, and it threatens to undermine stability in key regions of the world. The growing dependence of countries on one another’s food, water, and energy requires that the global response t
Feb. 4, 2014
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[Kim Seong-kon] Is Korea a strange, enigmatic country?
Few civilized countries would call themselves “a mysterious country.” Yet South Korea can surely be called a mysterious, inscrutable country for many reasons. For example, South Korea has miraculously achieved both splendid economic success and solid democratization in just 60 years. Indeed, foreigners often wonder how a once hopelessly poverty-stricken country like Korea could become such an affluent nation today with stellar achievements: It is the 12th largest economy in terms of output; eigh
Feb. 4, 2014
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[Bulent Aras] Iranian president’s lost chance
ISTANBUL ― Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s charm offensive has stalled. It worked well in the United Nations General Assembly last September, when he had something solid to offer ― a deal on his country’s nuclear program ― raising hopes that Iran’s hardline foreign-policy stance would finally soften. But U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s withdrawal of Iran’s invitation to the Geneva II conference on Syria suggests that Rouhani will need more than charm ― or even a visit by Turkish Prime Mi
Feb. 3, 2014
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Emerging markets’ victimhood narrative
From Istanbul to Brasilia to Mumbai comes a crescendo of complaints about dollar imperialism. Heads of state and central bank governors allege that the policies of central banks in industrial countries, especially the U.S. Federal Reserve, pursued in self-interest, are wreaking havoc in emerging-market economies. This allegation is mostly unfair. Emerging markets aren’t hapless and undeserved victims; for the most part they are simply reaping what they sowed.Start first with the strange symmetry
Feb. 3, 2014
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[J. Bradford DeLong] Is American economy turning Japanese?
BERKELEY, California ― Back in the late 1980s, Japan seemingly could do no wrong in economists’ eyes. They saw a clear edge in Japan’s competitiveness relative to the North Atlantic across a broad range of high-tech precision and mass-production industries manufacturing tradable goods. They also saw an economy that, since reconstruction began after World War II, had significantly outperformed the expected growth of European economies. And they saw an economy growing considerably faster than Nort
Feb. 3, 2014
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No alternative to deep decarbonization
NEW YORK ― Have a look at what happened around the world this past month. Australia’s heat wave filled headlines when temperatures reaching 45 degrees Celsius disrupted the Australian Open tennis tournament. California’s extreme drought forced the governor to declare a state of emergency. Major floods in Indonesia killed dozens and displaced tens of thousands. Beijing’s coal-induced smog forced people to stay in their homes, closed highways, and diverted flights. Such events are daily warnings t
Feb. 3, 2014
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How to locate a paranoid libertarian
In a recent essay in the New Republic, Princeton University historian Sean Wilentz contends that Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald and Julian Assange reflect a political impulse he calls “paranoid libertarianism.” Wilentz claims that far from being “truth-telling comrades intent on protecting the state and the Constitution from authoritarian malefactors,” they “despise the modern liberal state, and they want to wound it.”Wilentz gives credit to Richard Hofstadter for the term “paranoid libertarian
Feb. 3, 2014
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[David Ignatius] The view from Halhul
HALHUL, West Bank ― Hoping to understand the current Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in human terms, I made a visit last week to a Palestinian farmer named Hammadeh Kashkeesh, whom I first met 32 years ago. The encounter reminded me of the pain that’s at the heart of this dispute, and how hard it will be for any diplomatic settlement to resolve the bitterness on both sides.First, try to imagine the landscape, and how it has changed in the years of Israeli occupation. Halhul is an agricultural t
Feb. 2, 2014
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Still stuck in a permanent war economy
During his Big Picture speech, President Barack Obama gave a major milestone short shrift. Obama, a man who cares deeply about history, glided rapidly past the biggest historic shift of his presidency. During the waning minutes of his State of the Union Address, he mentioned that he’s engineering an end to the longest war in our history. His administration, he noted, is now overseeing an end to what Obama called our “permanent war footing.” It’s hardly surprising that he devoted the bulk of the
Feb. 2, 2014