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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Nominee for chief of anti-corruption body pledges 'independence, effectiveness'
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Med schools expect 1,500+ new admission slots next year
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KT launches new mobile plans for foreign residents
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Crisis averted; now invest in Asia’s future
The latest announcement from the U.S. Federal Reserve delaying the start of a slowdown in asset purchases gives Asian markets a bit of a reprieve but does not change the basic picture that the U.S. is embarking on a gradual normalization of its monetary policy.The big question is whether that normalization will keep driving investors out of Asia’s markets, further sapping the wind from the region’s economic sails and all but wrecking the most vulnerable economies, as happened in 1997 during the
Sept. 26, 2013
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[David Ignatius] Syrian chemicals on the move?
WASHINGTON ― A high-level defector has provided a disturbing new account of Syrian chemical weapons operations ― including an allegation that some of these weapons have been moved since Russia proposed an international monitoring scheme to destroy the toxic munitions. The revelations came in a lengthy telephone interview Sunday with Brig. Gen. Zaher al-Sakat, who was a chemical-weapons specialist for the Syrian army until he defected to the rebels in March. Sakat spoke by Skype from a city in Jo
Sept. 26, 2013
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Xi wages ideological war against liberals
The first half year of Xi Jinping’s tenure as China’s president has been marked by tighter control over the ideological sector. In less than six months, he has launched two salvos against liberals who asked for political reform.Two months after assuming the presidency in mid-March, Xi issued Document No. 9. This banned discussions on constitutionalism, universal values, civil society, the independence of the judiciary, press freedom, crony capitalism and the past mistakes of the Chinese Communis
Sept. 26, 2013
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Time running out to address problems ahead of AEC launch
Looking at the potential downside of things can be useful ― and now would be a good time for countries in ASEAN to consider and prepare for any problems relating to the ASEAN Economic Community they could face in the not-too-distant future.Countries in Southeast Asia are seeking ways to come together under the name of the AEC, scheduled for launch by the end of 2015. The 10 countries in the region will integrate themselves politically, economically and socially.It is very logical for them to get
Sept. 26, 2013
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[Martin Khor] Global agriculture system favors rich countries
A fight taking place in the World Trade Organization shows how the rules on agriculture allow rich countries to continue huge subsidies whilst penalizing developing countries’ farmers.Food is one of the most important and emotive of all issues. As consumers, we can’t survive without it.Agriculture also employs the most people in most developing countries. Ensuring farmers have enough income is key to development and social stability.Some countries that did not achieve this have faced rural disgr
Sept. 26, 2013
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[Kishore Mahbubani] Silver linings for a golden age
SINGAPORE ― Are prospects for global stability and prosperity improving or deteriorating? With enlightenment and progress in some parts of the world accompanied by atavism and stagnation elsewhere, this is not an easy question. But we can gain greater purchase on it by considering three other questions.The first is whether the United States will regain its standing as a source of moral leadership. Despite its flaws, America did provide such leadership, beginning at the end of World War II. But t
Sept. 25, 2013
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Is Xi ready to roll out pro-market reforms?
As a judge sentenced him to life in prison yesterday, a smile spread across Bo Xilai’s face. Perhaps he grasped the irony. He’d lost inside the courtroom. At the top levels of China’s leadership, though, his methods have won.Chinese state media have tried to proclaim Bo’s conviction as a triumph for the rule of law and a powerful blow in the party’s battle against corruption. Editorials have praised President Xi Jinping for his fearlessness. In fact, most Chinese understand that this was a polit
Sept. 25, 2013
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U.S. federal government faces shutdown again
“The American people don’t want the government shut down, and they don’t want Obamacare. The House has listened to the American people.”That’s what Speaker John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, said at the GOP’s victory rally Friday after the House voted to pass a spending bill that cut all funding for the president’s health care law ― and took the country one step closer to a government shutdown on Oct. 1.The American people, alas, weren’t in the room to speak for themselves. But was Boehner right about the
Sept. 25, 2013
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What if insurgents close the Suez Canal?
Most of the attention these days is on Syria, but there is also a growing problem in Egypt with global implications. Nine Egyptian policemen were wounded by a bomb in the northern Sinai Peninsula on Monday. The week before, suicide bombers killed nine soldiers in the peninsula. Shootings, kidnappings and bombings ― roadside, car and suicide ― have become routine occurrences in Sinai. And the burgeoning Islamist insurgency is spreading to other parts of Egypt. In early September, the interior min
Sept. 25, 2013
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[Kim Myong-sik] Why I would rather bet on Chae in paternity row
As the Chae Dong-wook affair lingers on, disdain grows not only on the nation’s law enforcement mechanism but on the state authority at large. This adds to the public fatigue from watching the protracted confrontations between rival political parties. Everyone offered a scenario on the relations between the prosecutor general and the mother of the boy the Chosun Ilbo claimed to be his illegitimate child and the way the mysterious paternity question could be resolved once and for all. Conspiracy
Sept. 25, 2013
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Seoul politics still ridden with control, deception
Controversy over the resignation of the prosecutor general, Chae Dong-wook, has swept the country. Led by a major conservative newspaper, some conservatives are accusing Chae of having an extramarital affair and fathering a child through it. The opposition parties and some liberal newspapers suspect that Cheong Wa Dae leaked files to the conservative daily to damage the character of the chief in the court of public opinion and force him out of his post. Some pundits claim that Chae was at odds w
Sept. 24, 2013
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[Lee Jae-min] An SPS dispute on the horizon?
The lingering consequences of the Fukushima disaster are now taking a new form ― trade agreements and international dispute settlement proceedings. Japan is now formally contesting the import ban imposed by the Korean government against fishery products from eight prefectures due to the consumer concern over contaminated water along the Fukushima coastline. The possibility of Japan filing a suit with the World Trade Organization is also being mentioned. If this plan materializes, this will be th
Sept. 24, 2013
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[Kim Seong-kon] Waking up from Marxism
The recent arrest of a South Korean lawmaker and his aides for sedition stirred the whole nation. Some people were appalled at the fact that North Korean sympathizers who deny the legitimacy of South Korea had infiltrated the National Assembly. Others were stunned that the lawmaker, using his privileges as a member of the National Assembly, could have accessed and passed to North Korea all sorts of highly classified information, jeopardizing our national security. If the allegations are true, we
Sept. 24, 2013
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House Republicans play dangerous fiscal games
The behavior of the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives is simply bizarre. An institution with the power and authority to manage government finances and scrutinize the budget instead chooses to play dangerous fiscal games.Friday‘s vote to continue the lazy sequestration funding bill if the U.S. Senate and President Obama agree to shut down the Affordable Care Act was just weird.Scarier still, the federal government faces a mid-October deadline to adjust the borrowing limit so the countr
Sept. 24, 2013
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Indonesia has bigger problems than bikinis
Indonesians are taking to the streets to demand the government heed their complaints. Are they livid about corruption? No. Fed up with poverty? Not really. Angry over political gridlock? Not so much. It’s those damn bikinis.In recent days, the nation with the world’s largest Muslim population has been consumed by protests against the Miss World pageant finale Sept. 28, originally scheduled to be held near Jakarta. Muslim groups, including radical ones, have threatened violent attacks. The govern
Sept. 24, 2013
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Putin was right about American exceptionalism
As part of the debate over intervention in Syria, the question of whether the U.S. is an exceptional country has once again bubbled up. Yes, says President Barack Obama, who invoked U.S. exceptionalism in his Sept. 10 speech on the need to respond to chemical weapons attacks in Syria. No, responds Russian President Vladimir Putin, arguing last week in a New York Times op-ed that the U.S. should refrain from striking Syria, and that “it is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves
Sept. 24, 2013
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The best, brightest, and least productive?
NEW HAVEN, Connecticut ― Are too many of our most talented people choosing careers in finance ― and, more specifically, in trading, speculating, and other allegedly “unproductive” activities?In the United States, 7.4 percent of total compensation of employees in 2012 went to people working in the finance and insurance industries. Whether or not that percentage is too high, the real issue is that the share is even higher among the most educated and accomplished people, whose activities may be eco
Sept. 23, 2013
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[Dominique Moisi] U.S. foreign policy malaise
PARIS ― “How many divisions does the Pope have?” Joseph Stalin famously quipped when told to be mindful of the Vatican. In an updated lesson in realpolitik, Russian President Vladimir Putin recently was happy to count Pope Francis as an ally in opposing American military intervention in Syria. Presenting himself as the last pillar of respect for international law, Putin offered ethics lessons to the United States ― and specifically to President Barack Obama.With the U.S.-Russian agreement, signe
Sept. 23, 2013
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Bo gets life sentence, now lives for revenge
On Sunday morning, at the conclusion of Bo Xilai’s sentencing in Jinan, China, the court ― which had been tweeting the proceedings to Sina Weibo, China’s leading microblogging platform ― tweeted one last photo without comment. In it Bo, newly sentenced to life in prison for abuse of power, bribery and embezzlement, stands with his wrists extended outward, displaying the handcuffs that bind them. Posing on either side of him are two towering bailiffs with their white-gloved hands placed awkwardly
Sept. 23, 2013
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Hoping split families in the South meet relatives in the North
I just read your article “60 years’ longing to reunite” (Sept. 14-15, written by Shin Hyon-hee) with profound emotion because I, too, am one of those octogenarians who has been separated from their loved ones.You mentioned that 87-year-old Joo Hak-yong had come from Seoheung County, North Hwangae Province, which is adjacent to my home county Suan-gun. My hometown (Naedeok-ri, Daeseong-myeon, Suan-gun) borders with Joo’s Seoheung County.This really makes me homesick. I was so emotional that I sto
Sept. 23, 2013