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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Med schools expect 1,500+ new admission slots next year
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[Grace Kao] Hybe vs. Ador: Inspiration, imitation and plagiarism
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Nominee for chief of anti-corruption body pledges 'independence, effectiveness'
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[Yu Kun-ha] What it takes to safeguard personal information
While Korea is one of the most wired nations in the world, it is a laggard when it comes to protecting personal information. Despite the unending series of disastrous data breaches at public and private organizations, security awareness still remains woefully low among companies, regulators and citizens.The recent debacle involving the three credit card companies ― KB Kookmin, Nonghyup and Lotte ― clearly shows how serious the problem is. Due to the card issuers’ security negligence, more than 1
Feb. 2, 2014
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India’s women on the march
CHENNAI India ― Sometimes countries suddenly take a mighty leap forward, forcing everyone else to take notice. On one critical issue ― sexual harassment and rape ― India has moved far into the lead. Following a number of brutal rapes that became notorious worldwide, Indian women are pushing back in radical, innovative, and transformational ways.The attacks have been ceaseless and indiscriminate. A 51-year-old Danish tourist and an 18-year-old German aid worker are among the most recent non-India
Feb. 2, 2014
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Defining your destiny in the year of the horse
The Lunar New Year is one of the biggest holiday events in Asia. It is celebrated in China, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam and other Asian nations. In some countries, it is the longest holiday of the year. In parts of China, the Spring Festival is a family affair, a local extravaganza, and for the labor class, more than a few work-free days for rest and relaxation. The festivities generally begin on Jan. 31, and continue for days; in some regions, lasting more
Feb. 2, 2014
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[Dominique Moisi] Hollande makes a fool of himself
PARIS ― National stereotypes do not fade easily, especially if those with the greatest influence seem to be doing their best to justify them. Consider the case of France. To outsiders, the land of Moliere is a country where political leaders’ extramarital relationships are tolerated, while badly needed economic reforms are not.But the world could be in for a surprise ― or at least half a surprise. When it comes to politicians’ liaisons, continuity may prevail in France; but on the issue of refor
Jan. 28, 2014
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Obama’s chance to drive inequality debate
Much of the substance and tone of President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address this week are predictable. So is the reaction: It won’t change many minds or political stands.The speech is potentially significant, nonetheless, in shaping the agenda and dialogue of this U.S. election year. Income inequality, with the emphasis on enhancing opportunities and intergenerational mobility, will be centerpieces; how effectively the president raises these issues will affect politics, and possibly a
Jan. 28, 2014
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[Kim Seong-kon] Penetrating and hilarious jokes from Korea
The sense of humor of Koreans these days is quite penetrating and hilarious. According to a widely circulating joke, a Korean man died and was taken to hell by the grim reaper. As he was about to enter hell, he saw an “Under Renovation” sign hanging on the closed gate. When he asked Hades about the renovations, the ruler of the Underworld told him, “We’re working on raising the temperature of the hellfire because you Koreans are so accustomed to ‘Jimjil-bang (dry saunas)’ and ‘Bul-gama (fiery fu
Jan. 28, 2014
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Syria talks in Geneva are headed for failure
On a trip last month to the Turkish-Syrian border, I met an impressive young Syrian opposition journalist named Adnan Hadad, who had just fled Aleppo because he was being targeted by both the regime and al-Qaida militants.When talks finally began in Switzerland on Wednesday between the Syrian regime and opposition, a testy exchange between Hadad and Syrian Information Minister Omran Zoubi caught my eye. At a news conference, Hadad asked Zoubi to comment on the deadly barrel bombs being dropped b
Jan. 28, 2014
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The end of childhood in Asian societies
Bollywood’s biggest international success, after many expensive and absurd attempts to break through abroad, was the 2009 film “3 Idiots.” Based on a novel by the Indian writer Chetan Bhagat, the movie follows three engineering students struggling to realize their deepest desires against the punitive strictures of teachers and parents. Meeting young people from China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan early this month at a conference in Hong Kong, I had a clearer sense of why East Asian millennials
Jan. 28, 2014
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[Kim Kyung-ho] Time for creative engagement
Last December’s execution of Jang Song-thaek, the uncle and mentor of North Korea’s young leader Kim Jong-un, has benefitted fortunetellers in the impoverished totalitarian state, sources familiar with the North’s internal situation say.Despite the authorities’ crackdown on superstitious behavior, many of the wives of high-ranking officials have recently visited fortunetellers out of concern for the fate of their husbands and family members. On some occasions, they have invited fortunetellers in
Jan. 27, 2014
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What’s behind emerging market meltdown
Emerging-market economies had a brutal week. For years, during the crash and its aftermath, they did well as the advanced economies slumped. Recently, not so much. Many developing countries are seeing their currencies drop and their bonds and equities hammered. Just as the global recovery appeared to be strengthening, a fresh source of instability has presented itself.The issue now is how to keep the turmoil from derailing the global expansion. In a way, this was not an unexpected development: T
Jan. 27, 2014
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[Jeffrey Frankel] Final nail in the coffin of U.S. global hegemony
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts ― The U.S. Congress has now carelessly blocked a long-awaited reform of the International Monetary Fund. That would be bad enough if it were an isolated episode. But this is just the latest in a series of self-inflicted blows since the turn of the century that have needlessly undermined the United States’ claim to global leadership.The IMF reform would have been an important step in updating the allocations of quotas, which determine member states’ monetary contributions
Jan. 27, 2014
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Can athletes in Sochi Olympics be diplomats?
He can still dunk like a butterfly, but in the personally tragic case of former basketball pro Dennis Rodman in North Korea, the embrace of Kim Jong-un and his policies sting like a bee. Rodman is only the most recent example of sports diplomacy gone awry. And with the Sochi Olympics just over a week away, it is inevitable that a new cadre of unpredictable athlete-diplomats will make it to center stage.It is a time-honored tradition to use athletes as diplomats in the international arena. They a
Jan. 27, 2014
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Yale’s inevitable surrender to technical change
Yale University ran up the white flag this week in its battle to keep seniors Peter Xu and Harry Yu from creating an easier-to-use and more informative version of its online course catalog. The school’s real battle, however, was against technological change ― and so defeat was inevitable.Xu and Yu, who are twins, invented an ingenious way to combine the catalog with course evaluations. The popular site soon had more than 1,800 student users. Yale tried to shut it down, partly on intellectual pro
Jan. 27, 2014
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[David Ignatius] From Tunisia, hopeful signs
WASHINGTON ― For three years now, the Arab world has been struggling to create a political culture of tolerance that could anchor the revolution for citizen rights known as the Arab Spring. So far, it has largely been a disillusioning story, but there are some rare hopeful signs in Tunisia, the country where the upheaval began. Tunisia has written a new constitution that could be a breakthrough for Arab democracy. Among other provisions, it commits the state to “parity between men and women in e
Jan. 26, 2014
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Thailand is only the tip of Asia’s iceberg
Rather than add my voice to the chorus pointing out how much damage ongoing protests are doing to Thailand’s economy, I’m tempted to skip ahead and write its obituary. Cause of death: suicide.What else is there to say about the semi-permanent state of emergency and political gridlock in Bangkok? Sooner or later, foreign companies are going to start voting with their feet, as Kyoichi Tanada, president of Toyota Motor Corp.’s Thai unit, warned this week. Tourists fearing canceled flights and the o
Jan. 26, 2014
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[Yu Kun-ha] Reflecting on the past to march forward together
Amid escalating conflict over history between Korea and China on the one hand and Japan on the other, a memorial hall for Ahn Jung-geun, a revered Korean independence fighter, has recently opened in Harbin in northeast China. The 100-square-meter memorial is located at Harbin Railway Station, where Ahn assassinated Hirobumi Ito, the architect of modern Japan who played a central role in Japan’s colonization of Korea, on Oct. 26, 1909. The commemorative hall, which displays a bust of Ahn and othe
Jan. 26, 2014
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Asian-Americans and the ‘model minority’ myth
Previews of Amy Chua’s forthcoming book, “The Triple Package” (co-written with husband Jed Rubenfeld), detonated a social media uproar among Asian-Americans. Many were infuriated by the New York Post’s report that Chua, the self-styled Tiger Mom, was identifying eight superior “cultural” groups in the United States: Jewish, Indian, Chinese, Iranian, Lebanese, Nigerian, Cuban and Mormon. For Asian-Americans, the problem is about another Chua production that seems to perpetuate the “model minority
Jan. 26, 2014
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Achieving economic escape velocity
NEWPORT BEACH, California ― It is not often that one can confidently claim that a single remedy could make billions of people around the world significantly better off; do so in a durable and mutually supportive manner; and thus improve the well-being of both current and future generations. Yet that is the case today.The remedy I have in mind, of course, is faster economic growth ― the one thing that can raise living standards, reduce excessive inequalities, improve job prospects, alleviate trad
Jan. 26, 2014
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[Robert B. Reich] Too cowed to make a ruckus
The recent massive spill of the toxic chemical MCHM into West Virginia’s Elk River illustrates another benefit to corporate interests of high unemployment, economic insecurity and a safety-net shot through with holes. Not only are employees eager to accept whatever job they can get, but they are also unwilling to demand healthy and safe environments.The spill was the region’s third major chemical accident in five years, coming after two investigations by the federal Chemical Safety Board in the
Jan. 24, 2014
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Syrian refugee plan poses security risks
PARIS ― What’s the point of intervening in a foreign country under the guise of humanitarianism, or sending aid, if you’re just going to end up importing its citizens en masse anyway? Isn’t the whole idea to shape up the place so that its people can safely remain there?The Obama administration is in such an apparent rush to import thousands of refugees from the Syrian crisis ― which will probably go down in history as the conflict featuring the highest number of different Islamist groups fightin
Jan. 24, 2014