Most Popular
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Korean labor force to shrink by 10 million by 2044: report
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[AtoZ Korean Mind] Does your job define who you are? Should it?
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Allegations surrounding BTS resurface, enraged fans demand apology
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Students with history of violence will be barred from becoming teachers
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Top prosecutor pledges 'speedy, strict' probe into first lady's luxury bag allegations
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Medical feud leaves hospitals in financial crisis
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Samsung mocks Apple over iPhone alarm glitch
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'Queen of Tears' riding high on Netflix chart
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'Super Rich in Korea' will leave viewers appreciating Korea more: producers
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Chip up cycle won’t stay long: SK chief
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[Philippe Maystadt] How to compete in Europe
LONDON ― Interest in the European Union’s competitiveness did not begin with the euro crisis. Safeguarding Europe’s advanced position in the world economy was, after all, a key motivation behind the creation of the single market. Since then, interest in EU competitiveness has risen further, spurred in particular by the challenge posed by countries like China.In order to ensure sustainable and inclusive economic growth in Europe, policymakers and the public must, above all, regard international t
April 29, 2012
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Political futures hinge on Romney’s ‘Veepstakes’
With Mitt Romney all but officially anointed the Republican presidential nominee, the national political narrative now turns to the “Veepstakes”: who Romney will choose for his running mate. From a policy point of view, this is arguably the most important decision Romney will make in his presidential race.The importance of the vice president is not for electoral reasons ― even the most disastrous choices have been found to have a negligible impact on the electorates’ voting decision. Instead, as
April 29, 2012
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Eritrea may be world’s most repressive nation
It might seem a daunting challenge to determine which of the world’s repressive nations offers the least-free news media. We have so many to choose from ― Iran, North Korea, Belarus ...But you may be surprised by the unanimity among organizations that study such things, like Reporters Without Borders, a French group. The consensus choice is Eritrea, a tiny nation most people cannot even pinpoint on a map.Eritrea, a desperately poor desert state about the size of Pennsylvania, lives in an ugly ne
April 29, 2012
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How to put the IMF’s war chest to good use
Singapore’s decision to pledge $4 billion loan to the International Monetary Fund to help troubled economies must be seen as part of a broader international effort. It is necessary because, as a trading nation, Singapore is critically dependent on the health of the global economy. Should Europe’s crisis deepen, it could also spread far beyond the region. Singapore’s contribution is therefore an investment made in enlightened self-interest. Even if the funds are drawn down, the money will remain
April 29, 2012
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Cows, pigs, chickens have drug problem
Much of the beef, pork or chicken we eat contains small amounts of antibiotics. The drugs are fed to animals so they can thrive in the crowded, often-fetid factory farms that dominate U.S. meat and poultry production. But giving animals a steady diet of these medicines has contributed to the increase of antibiotic-resistant bugs that can pose grave risks to humans. This isn’t news to the Food and Drug Administration, which has known since the early 1970s about the misuse of antibiotics in agricu
April 27, 2012
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[Jeffrey D. Sachs] A world adrift without a leader
NEW YORK ― The annual spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have provided a window onto two fundamental trends driving global politics and the world economy. Geopolitics is moving decisively away from a world dominated by Europe and the United States to one with many regional powers but no global leader. And a new era of economic instability is at hand, owing as much to physical limits to growth as to financial turmoil.Europe’s economic crisis dominated this year’
April 27, 2012
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Responding to provocations from Vietnam
Taiwan claims sovereignty over two archipelagoes in the South China Sea. They are the Spratlys and Pratas, with troops being stationed on an island of each archipelago. The Spratly Island where some 100 Coast Guardsmen are deployed is known as Taiping Island, or “Peace Island,” though it isn’t quite peaceful any more.The vernacular China Time Magazine reported in a scoop last Friday that two Vietnamese armed patrol vessels came so close to Taiping on March 22 as to compel the Coast Guard Adminis
April 27, 2012
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Tasks for TEPCO head
The government on April 19 picked Kazuhiko Shimokobe, a bankruptcy lawyer with vast experience in corporate restructuring, as chairman of Tokyo Electric Power Co. He headed the decision-making body of the Nuclear Damage Liability Facilitation Fund, a public entity that injects funds into TEPCO to help it pay compensation to victims of the accident at TEPCO’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.So far, Shimokobe has been in a position to make demands on TEPCO concerning its management from outsid
April 27, 2012
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Settle oil dispute peacefully
The escalation of tension between Sudan and its newly independent neighbor South Sudan has showed no sign of easing this week, feueling deep concern among the international community.Both sides should exercise the utmost restraint and refrain from making reckless moves. Khartoum and Juba should understand it serves neither side’s interests if a full-scale war breaks out between them.U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday strongly condemned the recent aerial bombardments in South Sudan by t
April 27, 2012
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Dark clouds over Europe
Whether center-right Nicolas Sarkozy or socialist Francois Hollande is elected in the French presidential run-off, the outlook for the nation does not look promising. Neither has enthused the electorate, as indicated in their first-round vote which was less than the 30 percent total cast against them by right- and left-leaning voters. But what either of them will be forced to do to win on May 6 is of interest well beyond Europe ― and that is worrying. Both look beholden to voters of the extreme
April 27, 2012
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[Peh Shing Huei] Hard look at China’s elite politics
Chinese elite politics has often been described as a black box. Few people outside the innermost circle of the Chinese Communist Party really know what goes on behind the walls of Zhongnanhai. Transparency, in the smoggy city of Beijing, is a bad word.In recent years, such opacity seems to have worked. The leadership succession was smooth, major government policies were fairly consistent and competition at the top was not more intense than the usual elite rivalries.People may not know how or why
April 27, 2012
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Companies that help Iran, Syria spy on citizens
The evidence forms a high stack. U.S., European and other companies are selling technologies that enable the repressive Iranian and Syrian regimes to disrupt and monitor the Internet and track down government critics, as documented in media reports, notably by Bloomberg News. On Monday, President Barack Obama acted. He issued an executive order giving the treasury secretary the power to sanction individuals and companies that provide goods or services that can be used for such purposes. Those wi
April 26, 2012
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[David Ignatius] Bo Xilai affairs and China-U.S. ties
WASHINGTON ― The Bo Xilai affair offers a reality check for anyone who’s worried that a rising China will supplant the United States anytime soon: First, the Chinese know that the scandal is just the tip of an iceberg of corruption menacing the country; and second, the leadership in Beijing understands that the scandal could have been much messier if the White House hadn’t kept quiet the past two months. The story surrounding Bo, the deposed party chief in the southern city of Chongqing, is so i
April 26, 2012
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Can Hollywood help China’s silver screen shine?
If films are vehicles for China’s soft power, can they be produced on a conveyor belt like the real thing, with the help of some expertise from Hollywood?This appears to be the hope after Walt Disney and Marvel Studios announced they have partnered with Beijing-based DMG Entertainment to produce Iron Man III, set to appear in a theater near you in May 2013.The reported $1 billion investment in the future of film “will bring Chinese elements to the international film market, and Chinese culture w
April 26, 2012
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Literature and the gift of words to the needy
In this age of Kindle and iPad and e-books, I write by hand, on little notepads, in my car.I have written in my car since I was 22 and working on my first novel. Then, the car was a broken-down pale green Fiat. I sat in the driver’s seat while my then-husband worked on it in our gravel driveway, yelling at me to pump the brakes or start the engine. Now I write in my 2009 Honda CRV while waiting in the high school parking lot for my youngest, or even at the curb in front of my house ― the way Ray
April 26, 2012
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Korea, U.S. work together for the future of Afghans
To a newcomer, Afghanistan initially appears as a land of unforgiving mountains, harsh deserts and a fierce tribal society, but after serving there one also sees its staggering beauty, and the kindness of a long suffering people. In Parwan Province, the snowy Hindu Kush Mountains look down upon Charikar, an historic city where the markets are filled with grapes, almonds, apples and other produce from the surrounding Shomali Plain. This area is home to the Korea Provincial Reconstruction Team and
April 26, 2012
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[Kim Jong-han] Korean volunteers in Cambodia
Several weeks ago, I had an opportunity to accompany my wife and teenage daughter on their mission trip to Siem Reap, Cambodia. Siem Reap is well-known to tourists worldwide for Cambodia’s treasured temple, Angkor Wat, and the Tonle Sap, the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia. It is also a home to Phnom Krom, one of the poorest communities of Cambodia.I was not supposed to be on that trip due to my conflicting working schedule. Taking a mission trip (even if for only a few days) seemed li
April 26, 2012
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Reason why support for Afghan war has crumbled
American support for the Afghan war has collapsed. Several new surveys show that even most Republicans, from the party that is home to the nation’s hawks, now oppose the 10-year-old conflict. And it’s no wonder. The United States military has been deceiving the nation for years.Listen to Army Lt. Col. Daniel Davis, who spent the last year working in Afghanistan.“I covered more than 9,000 miles and talked, traveled and patrolled with troops” across the nation, he wrote in the Armed Forces Journal
April 25, 2012
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[Javier Solana] Iran’s last chance to end standoff
MADRID ― The latest round of negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program between Iran and the so-called “5+1” group (the United Nations Security Council’s five permanent members ― the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, France, and China ― plus Germany) has now begun. Following more than a year of deadlock, after negotiations in January 2011 led nowhere, this dialogue is for many the last chance to find a peaceful solution to a nearly decade-long conflict (in which I participated closely from
April 25, 2012
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Who will rule the world in the next century?
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts ― Voices of both those convinced that China will eclipse the U.S. as a global economic and military power and those who are confident of continued U.S. leadership are getting louder. Much of this debate focuses on the size of the Chinese economy relative to the U.S. economy or issues of military might.But what matters for global leadership is innovation, which is not only the key driver of per capita income growth but also ultimately the main determinant of military and
April 25, 2012