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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[Volker Perthes] A Syrian farewell to arms
BERLIN ― The Geneva II conference on Syria, set to begin in Montreux, Switzerland, on Jan. 22, is unlikely to achieve its goal of forming a transitional governing authority with full executive powers. But what it can do is launch a much-needed political process and, more important, produce a cease-fire agreement between government and opposition forces. Only when the fighting has stopped can Syria make genuine progress toward a political transition.Of course, al-Qaida-linked jihadist groups like
Jan. 19, 2014
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Iran claims a nuclear victory over the West
In November, the United States and its allies reached an interim deal to curb Iran’s nuclear program. The two sides released a four-page outline, then began to jockey over details of what the language meant and how the deal would be put into action.On Sunday, the West and Iran finally completed an agreement that details how the temporary nuclear freeze will work over the next six months.So what are those details? All of them?Americans don’t know the full scope of this deal, and the Obama adminis
Jan. 19, 2014
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[Michael Raska] Time to rethink Asia-Europe security cooperation?
East Asia in 2014 is increasingly compared to Europe in 1914: a region beset by great power rivalry, obsessed with military power and arms races and often hovering perilously on the brink of conflict. This is reviving new debates not only on the applicability of European experiences in building cooperative security, but also greater strategic involvement of the EU in East Asia.East Asia’s emerging strategic landscape is changing with the convergence of both conventional security focused on prese
Jan. 19, 2014
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[Yu Kun-ha] Sifting through conflicting views on health care
A debate is raging on the government’s health care reform plans. Last October, the government announced a scheme to start providing telemedicine in 2015. In December, it also unveiled a plan to allow hospitals to set up subsidiaries to engage in for-profit businesses such as medical tourism and welfare facilities.The plans triggered a strong backlash from physicians, health care workers and opposition parties. They denounced the government for pushing for the privatization of medical services, w
Jan. 19, 2014
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John Kerry’s bicycle diplomacy in Middle East
Peace negotiations, a wise U.S. diplomat once said, are like riding a bicycle: No matter how slow you’re moving, it’s best to keep going ― because if you try to stand still, you’ll fall.Secretary of State John F. Kerry is putting that principle to the test in his dogged work on three of the world’s most tangled problems: Iran’s nuclear program, Syria’s civil war and Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians. Kerry hasn’t quite arrived anywhere yet on any of the three, but he is at least keeping th
Jan. 19, 2014
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[William Pesek] Can N. Korea save the South?
As Park Geun-hye searches for ways to compete with China and Japan, the South Korean president is eyeing a rather surprising ally: Kim Jong-un.“Unification will allow the Korean economy to take a fresh leap forward and inject great vitality and energy,” Park told Bloomberg News on Jan. 10. “People would even sing, ‘We dream of unification even in our dreams.’”The idea isn’t as dippy as it sounds. Economists generally rate Park’s first year in office as a dud. She arrived at the presidential Blue
Jan. 17, 2014
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Did the government just break the Internet?
Ten years ago, the Federal Communications Commission wandered away from 100 years of communications history, labeling high-speed Internet access services as “unregulated.” Theoretically, competition would take the place of any regulation.So, even though high-speed Internet access is the modern-day equivalent of the telephone ― basic to everything we do in life ― providers have been treated not as “common carriers” but as private businesses.Now the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columb
Jan. 17, 2014
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[David Ignatius] America’s bright energy future
WASHINGTON ― For decades, Americans have talked about “energy policy” as if it were the political equivalent of a migraine. The phrase connoted pain ― in ever-rising gas prices, costly government schemes and dependence on imports from precarious Middle East regimes. But recent developments involving energy production and technology have been so astonishing that they should puncture this long-running pessimism. The amazing fact is that on nearly every front, America’s energy prospects have improv
Jan. 16, 2014
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French media’s pathetic coverage of Hollande
The most disappointing thing about the news that French President Francois Hollande allegedly has been rendezvousing with an actress in the privacy of her apartment is that it’s a testament to how pathetic and petty some segments of French society are allowing public discourse to become in a country historically renowned for grand ideas and debate.You might ask: So the nation that produced scientists such as Pierre and Marie Curie, Louis Pasteur and Jacques Cousteau; artists such as Claude Monet
Jan. 16, 2014
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[James C. Hsiung] Without remorse, Japan is out to distort history
Shinzo Abe continues to disown the country’s dark past by visiting the Yasukuni Shrine and doctoring textbooks. In the ongoing Sino-Japanese conflict, we have again heard people asking Japan to atone for its war crimes. Many years ago, one such plea came from John Rabe, a German who witnessed the 1937 Rape of Nanking (Nanjing) but later declined to testify at the Allied Tokyo Trials, saying that “judgement must be spoken only by (the Japanese).” Rabe’s plea is touching, almost noble. But the Jap
Jan. 16, 2014
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Grotesque show of faith
It has become widely known as an awesome display of faith and fervor ― a showcase of Filipinos’ profound devotion to an image believed to have wrought miracles in many lives, miracles as wondrous as the healing of a patient deemed “terminal,” or as commonplace as a job that materialises when urgently needed, a folk devotion that commands men (and a number of women) to set out barefoot before first light to take part in a ceremony that begins early in the morning and ends way past midnight, that
Jan. 16, 2014
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What does the future hold for Thailand?
It seems that no matter how chaotic our politics get, the economic outlook for Thailand remains bright.This week, global insurer ACE announced its 6.15-billion-baht ($186 million) move for a 61 percent stake in Siam Commercial Samaggi Insurance. Evan G Greenberg, chairman and chief executive officer, said, “Thailand is the second-largest economy in Southeast Asia and at the heart of Indochina ― a region that includes Vietnam and Myanmar.”On Channel 3, a foreign investor forecast Thailand was in
Jan. 16, 2014
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[Peter Singer] A statue for Stalin unjustified
PRINCETON, New Jersey ― Hitler and Stalin were ruthless dictators who committed murder on a vast scale. But, while it is impossible to imagine a Hitler statue in Berlin, or anywhere else in Germany, statues of Stalin have been restored in towns across Georgia (his birthplace), and another is to be erected in Moscow as part of a commemoration of all Soviet leaders.The difference in attitude extends beyond the borders of the countries over which these men ruled. In the United States, there is a bu
Jan. 15, 2014
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How Xi can help China stop smoking
Skeptics are waiting for Chinese President Xi Jinping to prove he’s serious about economic reform ― perhaps by shuttering one of the country’s big, loss-making state enterprises. In fact, if Xi really wants to transform China, the place to start is by reining in one of its most powerful and profitable firms.China National Tobacco Corp. is a state monopoly, as well as the largest producer of cigarettes in the world: 2.375 trillion in 2010, more than 40 percent of the global total. In 2011, the co
Jan. 15, 2014
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[Cass R. Sunstein] Robert Gates’ memoir raises ethical questions
Robert Gates has been an extraordinarily distinguished public servant. A recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, he has worked for eight presidents, serving as defense secretary under both President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama. The nation owes him a deep and enduring debt of gratitude. But his new memoir, “Duty,” raises troubling ethical questions.A former public official has a special obligation ― in fact a duty ― not to betray the confidence of a sitting president, especi
Jan. 15, 2014
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Miss Venezuela’s murder is the price of politics
When a former beauty queen and her husband are killed by highway robbers on a Caracas freeway in front of their 5-year-old daughter the issue inevitably becomes political.The shooting death of Monica Spear, the 2004 Miss Venezuela, along with her husband, Thomas Henry Berry, on Monday happened in one of the world’s most dangerous countries, where the government regulates almost every facet of life, yet tolerates the social rot and corruption that breed rampant crime.The government’s initial resp
Jan. 15, 2014
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Why Chinese leaders are picking fights now?
It would be difficult to believe that China’s leaders didn’t expect a negative reaction from its neighbors and the United States when it announced the creation of an expansive air defense identification zone over the East China Sea in late November. But that raises the question of why those leaders are behaving the way they are when China has so many domestic problems that need urgent attention, and when China’s continued growth and ability to deal with those problems depends on a stable interna
Jan. 15, 2014
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[Park Sang-seek] The paradoxical Korean mind
Most conservative leaders and mass media in South Korea say that Koreans live well but are not appreciative of it, and they live in a very serious security environment but are not aware of it. On the other hand, most progressive leaders and mass media claim that a majority of people are not well-off because the wealth disparity is wider than ever and that South Koreans live in a serious security environment because the past conservative governments failed to ameliorate the situation.These percep
Jan. 14, 2014
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The word that’s pulling Malaysia apart
Father Lawrence Andrew could be excused for wondering whether he’s been cast in a John le Carre conspiracy thriller ― or a farcical dispatch from the Onion.Police in Malaysia are investigating the Roman Catholic priest under Section 4 of the nation’s Sedition Act, one that allows for the detention of anyone deemed a threat to the state. Father Lawrence’s offense? He used the word “Allah” when referring to God. As bizarre as that sounds, the priest’s plight reveals much about why many internation
Jan. 14, 2014
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[Kim Seong-kon] Escape from a haunted house of spiteful ghosts
An American in Seoul recently confessed to me that when he first came to the city, he woke up terrified one morning, hearing a man shrieking in a hair-raising voice, “Sa-tan! Sa-tan!” Momentarily, he thought he had awoken in a haunted house and shuddered in horror. Later, he found that it was the voice of a laundryman collecting and delivering laundry in his apartment building. He also realized that what he had heard was not “Sa-tan!” but “se-tak (laundry)!” Hearing his nightmarish but humorous
Jan. 14, 2014