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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Nominee for chief of anti-corruption body pledges 'independence, effectiveness'
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KT launches new mobile plans for foreign residents
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[William Pesek ] Asia’s crisis of leadership
The day Asian leaders have long dreaded is here: The era of rapid growth is over.It has taken five years, but the fallout from what Asians call the “Lehman shock” is finally hitting gross domestic product and living standards. These risks are the talk of Bali, where Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation nations are mulling what to do about a world where “risks remain tilted to the downside.” There, Michael Taylor, chief credit officer for Asia at Moody’s Investors Service, said chaotic markets and a
Oct. 8, 2013
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How Obama can apologize for snubbing Asia
President Barack Obama’s decision to cancel his already truncated trip to Asia has elicited shrugs in Washington and politely clenched jaws from Bali to Tokyo. What else could he do, say those focused on the high-stakes U.S. budget stalemate. What else is new, say those hoping that the administration will deliver on its promise of a “pivot” or a “rebalancing” toward Asia.Much of the criticism of the cancellation comes from those worried about China’s growing economic and strategic heft. The Chin
Oct. 8, 2013
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[Kim Seong-kon] What makes ‘The Great Gatsby’ so great?
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” is known to be a uniquely American novel that reflects the social milieu of the American 1920s, also known as the “Jazz Age” or the “Roaring Twenties.” In this monumental novel, Fitzgerald laments the loss of innocence and the demise of the American pastoral dream in the age of hedonism and materialism. Readers come to realize that Gatsby was the last Romanticist who naively believed in the pure, pastoral American Dream, symbolized by the green light on t
Oct. 8, 2013
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The U.S. debate on regulating e-cigarettes
Americans are becoming more familiar with e-cigarettes, which are beginning to appear in restaurants, bars and coffeehouses where regular cigarettes have long been banned. An e-cigarette is, in effect, a battery-operated nicotine delivery system that works by heating a mixture of water, nicotine and other chemicals. The user inhales and exhales the resulting vapor rather than smoke.E-cigarettes look like regular cigarettes and, for many people, substitute for them. But enormous questions remain.
Oct. 8, 2013
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Government workers: Nonessential until they are gone
Calvin Beale, a federal employee for more than 50 years, was an expert on the town of Fayette, Mississippi. He was also an excellent source of information if you happened to be traveling to Grand Forks, North Dakota; Estes Park, Colorado; or Ephrata, Washington.As the national correspondent for a chain of daily newspapers, I traveled all over the U.S. and each time I set off for a new destination I would call Beale, a senior demographer at the Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Servic
Oct. 8, 2013
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[Noah Feldman] Where Jewish intellectual life thrives in America
Forget the teeth-gnashing already occasioned by a new study on Jewish identity in the U.S. by the Pew Research Religion & Public Life Project. The only thing every generation of Jews has in common is the conviction that it will be the last. What matters for the continuity of Jewish life is quality, not quantity. And in today’s America, Jewish intellectual, cultural, spiritual and religious life is flourishing. Case in point: Beth Medrash Govoha of Lakewood, New Jersey, known as BMG or simply “La
Oct. 7, 2013
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To protect antiquities of Syria don’t buy them
The conflict in Syria is destroying not only the lives of the Syrian people but their heritage ― the world’s heritage ― as well.Syria is a treasure house of history. Damascus, Aleppo, Palmyra and almost 10,000 other archaeological sites there hold the remains of thousands of years of culture. Greeks, Romans, Persians, Christians and Muslims lived and fought in what is now Syria. As the U.N. special envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, explained at a recent UNESCO meeting, “Few countries are as rich
Oct. 7, 2013
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Republican insurgents forget political ABCs
“I am not a member of any organized political party,” the humorist Will Rogers said. “I am a Democrat.”Even Will Rogers would be shocked at the disjointed and self-destructive congressional Republican Party of today. By forcing a government shutdown and possibly a credit default in a few weeks, a minority of rank-and-file Republican members have run roughshod over the leadership. They are pushing a futile effort to kill President Barack Obama’s health-care law, enacted in 2010, upheld by the Sup
Oct. 7, 2013
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[Arthur C. Brooks] Obama ducking leader’s duty
A vast scholarly literature spanning more than six decades exists on the subject of leadership. The characteristics of effective leaders have been pored over, cataloged and debated. Among them, one trait stands out as axiomatic: Effective leaders take responsibility for problems around them; they do not shift blame to others. As Winston Churchill put it, “The price of greatness is responsibility.”Indeed, studies show that taking responsibility is one of the key traits people expect from a leader
Oct. 7, 2013
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In China, golf has a new hazard: Killer smog
This weekend, the Ladies Professional Golf Association demonstrated its willingness to sacrifice player safety for its own long-term financial health.The occasion was the conclusion of the Reignwood LPGA Classic ― the LPGA’s first tournament in China. The importance of this event for the association’s desired future in China’s rapidly expanding golf market cannot be underestimated. At the top of the leader board going into Sunday’s final round was Guangzhou-born Shanshan Feng. As the LPGA websit
Oct. 7, 2013
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[David Ignatius] A big opportunity for Obama
WASHINGTON ― President Obama is approaching one of those moments when a big turn in foreign policy is possible. People can debate whether it’s the equivalent of the opening to China or the end of the Cold War, but there’s no doubt that this is a time of opportunity ― and that, as the old English proverb put it, “there’s many a slip twixt cup and lip.” What was unthinkable only a few months ago with Iran and Syria now appears to be in motion. On Iran, Obama has talked directly with President Hass
Oct. 6, 2013
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Al-Qaida targets Americans throughout world
Only a few months have passed since President Obama last boasted that al-Qaida is on “the path to defeat.”But then, just a few days ago, his State Department issued what it called a “worldwide caution” on “the continuing threat of terrorist actions and violence against U.S. citizens and interests throughout the world.” State warned that al-Qaida is now threatening Americans in Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia, Africa and Central Asia ― practically the entire world.What happened?
Oct. 6, 2013
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[Peter Singer] Founding Fathers are to blame for fiscal crisis
PRINCETON, New Jersey ― Americans are fond of speaking in reverential tones about “the wisdom of the Founding Fathers” ― that is, the men who wrote the United States Constitution. But the manner in which the House of Representatives has been able to bring the government ― or, at least, its non-essential services ― to a halt is making the Founding Fathers look rather foolish.The fundamental cause of the fiscal crisis lies in the Founding Fathers’ belief in the doctrine of the separation of powers
Oct. 6, 2013
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Growing Islamist threat
The high cost of ideological extremism was on full display in Washington this week, where a radical faction of the Republican Party forced a government shutdown. Mercifully, radicals in Congress, unlike, say, those in Syria, use parliamentary maneuvers rather than guns.But their antics distract U.S. attention from truly serious issues _ such as the growing threat posed by Islamist militants in Syria, where the rising strength of radical Islam could endanger Europe and the entire Mideast.Let me m
Oct. 6, 2013
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Putin’s power play in Syria is win-win
PARIS ― Boy, was that ever painful, watching Russian President Vladimir Putin attempting to pry U.S. President Barack Obama’s fingers off the Tomahawk missile trigger and convince him not to go ahead with an attack that Obama most likely didn’t want to launch in the first place.America won, and so did Russia. I realize that sounds bizarre, but this isn’t a football game with a winner and a loser. It’s not like Obama is going to have to give his Nobel Peace Prize to Putin as if it were the Lombar
Oct. 6, 2013
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[Robert B.Reich] Don’t give in to extortionists
As a child I was bullied by bigger boys who threatened to beat me up if I didn’t give them what they wanted. But every time I gave in to their demands, their subsequent demands grew larger. First they wanted the change in my pocket. Next it was the dessert in my lunchbox. Then my new Davy Crockett cap. Then the softball and bat I got for my birthday.Finally I stopped giving in. When the bullies began roughing me up on the playground, some older boys came to my rescue and threatened my tormenters
Oct. 4, 2013
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Congress plays with fire as Asia examines debt
The U.S. doesn’t deserve Asia’s money, not with half of its government in financial jihad mode, damn the global consequences.The biggest economy has long taken its reserve-currency status for granted, but the events of recent days raise Washington’s hubris to entirely new levels. Chinese President Xi Jinping didn’t mention Ted Cruz, John Boehner or the Tea Party this week when he urged major developed economies to adopt responsible policies that avoid negative spillover. He didn’t have to. Their
Oct. 4, 2013
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[Yoon Young-kwan] Filling global leadership vacuum
Has the world entered a new era of chaos? America’s vacillating policy toward Syria certainly suggests so. Indeed, the bitter legacy of the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, followed by the 2008 financial crisis, has made the United States not only reluctant to use its military might, even when “red lines” are crossed, but also seemingly unwilling to bear any serious burden to maintain its global leadership position. But, if America is no longer willing to lead, who will take its place?China’s
Oct. 3, 2013
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Heroes and soldiers of the supreme court
As the Supreme Court prepares to begin its new term, observers have been discussing the familiar divisions among the justices. Judicial activism is opposed to judicial restraint, liberalism is opposed to conservatism, and those who believe in an evolving or “living” Constitution are opposed to those who believe that the document’s meaning was fixed when its provisions were originally ratified.But there is another division. For more than two centuries, the court’s members have adopted one of four
Oct. 3, 2013
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[Kor Kian Beng] China’s lenient ‘self-criticism’
The practice of public self-criticism ― de rigueur in the 1960s and 1970s during the Mao Zedong era ― has made a comeback under Chinese Communist Party supremo Xi Jinping.Last week, Chinese viewers watched as the main state broadcaster CCTV showed top officials of northern Hebei province giving themselves and each other a verbal lashing.Provincial party boss Zhou Benshun chided himself for his poor work ethic. Governor Zhang Qingwei admitted he “liked to criticize others.” A couple of senior off
Oct. 3, 2013