Most Popular
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Russia sent more than 165,000 barrels of refined petroleum to N. Korea in March: White House
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Key suspects grilled over alleged abuse of power in Marine death inquiry
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S. Korean children, teens grow taller, mature faster than before: study
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Army takes group action against Hybe for neglecting BTS
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Marine Corps commander summoned by CIO for questioning on alleged influence-peddling case
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[Graphic News] Number of coffee franchises in S. Korea rises 13%
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Some junior doctors are returning: Health Ministry
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[Robert J. Fouser] AI changes rationale for learning languages
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Ador CEO's request for exclusive right to terminate NewJeans' contract with Hybe refused in February
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Woman dangling from power lines rescued by residents holding blanket
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China must be transparent over its military spending
China is continuing to beef up its military. This is apparent from the country’s defense budget for 2012, which was made public at the opening session of the People’s National Congress on Monday.The country’s defense spending for this year totals about 670 billion yuan (about 8.7 trillion yen), up 11.2 percent over the previous year and the second-largest figure after that of the United States.China has maintained double-digit growth in defense spending since 1989, with the exception of 2010 whe
March 9, 2012
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Third term for Putin spells trouble ahead
He did it again. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin won another presidential election. While the outcome was no surprise, neither was the controversy that greeted his victory. Despite Putin’s claim that he won “an open and honest fight,” the opposition has charged that the outcome reflects vote tampering and outright fraud. The growing antagonism of forces opposed to Putin will make the challenge of governing Russia ― already quite formidable ― even more difficult.The outcome of Sunday’s pres
March 9, 2012
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[Masahiro Matsumura] Japan’s revenge of the mandarins
OSAKA ― Ever since the huge earthquake that hit Japan’s Pacific coast at Tohoku on March 11, 2011, the country’s mass media has obsessively focused on the magnitude of the physical damage and the loss of life. Repeated broadcasts of traumatic video images of the great tsunami and the damaged nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant have been seared into Japan’s collective memory.One year later, the media will be sure to intensify its reports and broadcasts along the same lines, enco
March 9, 2012
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[Bulent Arinc] Turkey: Nation of multiple faiths
ANKARA ― After decades of official neglect and mistrust, Turkey has taken several steps to ensure the rights of the country’s non-Muslim religious minorities, and thus to guarantee that the rule of law is applied equally for all Turkish citizens, regardless of individuals’ religion, ethnicity, or language.Turkey’s religious minorities include Greek Orthodox, Armenian, Assyrian, Kaldani, and other Christian denominations, as well as Jews, all of whom are integral parts of Turkish society. As part
March 8, 2012
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Is the Korean language really an orphan?
Gnothi Seauton ― In Greek, these words mean “know thyself.” Such was the inscription at the ancient Temple of Apollo, where people would visit the sacred Oracle. Moving on to present-day Korea, the Korean people indeed “know themselves.” Korea has a strong sense of national identity and pride, with the largely homogeneous Korean people being in no doubt with regard to their origins from Mongolian tribes and seen with the people’s determination to forge ahead for a better tomorrow and a general s
March 8, 2012
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U.S. food shipments to get N. Korea back to the table
Credit the Obama administration with the patient pursuit of negotiations toward dismantling North Korea’s nuclear program. Once again it may all come to a frustrating impasse.Still, North Korea did announce Wednesday it would allow international inspectors into its Yongbyon nuclear complex and suspend nuclear weapons tests and uranium enrichment in anticipation of talks.The New York Times reports the latest round of contacts began last July with the U.S. offering 265,000 tons of food to get the
March 8, 2012
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Fostering development of small firms in China
The World Bank report, “China 2030: Building a Modern, Hamonious and Creative High-Income Society,” which was released this week, stated that liberalizing interest rates according to market principles is a priority for China’s financial reforms over the next two decades, highlighting the dilemma facing the government. China’s banking system remains a highly regulated sector; policymakers set the interest rates, not the market and most of the large state-owned banks tend to offer credit facilitie
March 8, 2012
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[Naomi Wolf] America’s Islamic blind spots
NEW YORK ― In the wake of the Koran-burning by troops at the United States’ Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, protests continue to escalate, and the death toll mounts. In the process, three U.S. blind spots have become obvious.One is that of the U.S. media, whose coverage simply underscores ― and amplifies ― the stunning cluelessness that triggered the protests in the first place. Professional journalists are obliged to answer five questions: who, what, where, why, and how. But, reading reports fr
March 8, 2012
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Netanyahu gives Obama a Purim message to heed
Earlier this week, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, visited President Barack Obama in the White House. The two met together with their national-security advisers for 90 minutes, then had a 30-minute chat alone, then moved to a lunch together with various high officials of their governments. Many words were exchanged during these meetings, but it turns out they all might have been superfluous. Netanyahu delivered his overriding message quite efficiently, and almost wordlessly, in t
March 8, 2012
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Companies need flexible cybersecurity laws
You probably feel it intuitively. The grids underlying our digital lives ― our bank accounts, mobile phones, e-mail, medical records ― are more vulnerable than ever. Companies such as Lockheed Martin Corp., Citigroup Inc. and Sony Corp. have recently reported serious breaches of their networks. NASA said last week that hackers had launched 13 major attacks against it last year, including one in which they gained access to networks at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages active space miss
March 7, 2012
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[David Scheffer] Fanning flames of justice in Syria
CHICAGO ― Justice will be a long time coming in Syria, but it can begin with a Security Council referral of the situation in that wounded country to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for investigation and, ultimately, prosecution. The obstacles are serious, but the goal is imperative.This week, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay and French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe called for such a referral to the ICC during a session of the U.N. Human Rights Council that shar
March 7, 2012
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Japanese accounting gets rare ray of sunlight
The auditing profession’s top U.S. overseer usually does a flawless job of safeguarding the most embarrassing secrets of accounting firms and their corporate clients. Fortunately, every now and then, the watchdog slips up. Take the case of Kyoto Audit Corp., a Japanese affiliate of the Big Four auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers. On Feb. 14, the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board released its first-ever inspection report on the Kyoto-based firm. The report said the board’s staff reviewed
March 7, 2012
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[Park Sang-seek] The peace theory of Kyung Hee founder Choue
Dr. Choue Young Seek, founder of Kyung Hee University and the Graduate Institute of Peace Studies, passed away on Feb. 18 this year. He devoted most of his life to promoting his peace theory through education, various peace movements and writings. He developed the initial ideas of his peace theory in his book titled “Creation of a Cultural World,” which he wrote during the Korean War. There are as many theories of war as there are major wars in history. Some are based on the aggressive human nat
March 7, 2012
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Kyung Hee founder Choue’s peace theory
Dr. Choue Young Seek, founder of Kyung Hee University and the Graduate Institute of Peace Studies, passed away on Feb. 18 this year. He devoted most of his life to promoting his peace theory through education, various peace movements and writings. He developed the initial ideas of his peace theory in his book titled “Creation of a Cultural World,” which he wrote during the Korean War. There are as many theories of war as there are major wars in history. Some are based on the aggressive human nat
March 7, 2012
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Japan nuclear mobsters don’t share disaster pain
A year after an earthquake in Japan touched off the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl, here’s the question on my mind: Who’s going to jail? The news media are asking the obvious and safe questions ahead of March 11: How well did the government respond? Whither the devastated northeast? What’s the economic effect? When might the 52 of 54 nuclear reactors mothballed since then reopen? This barrage of “anniversary” articles misses the point. Anniversaries commemorate events in the past, ones for
March 7, 2012
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Debt scarier than tsunami, yet no quakes
Nowhere is the epic stoicism of the Japanese more evident than in their approach to a mountain of public debt that leaves government finances in a perilous state. Eclipsing the debt load of Greece, not to mention the advanced economies, Japan has the granddad of government debt at $11 trillion, which amounts to a debt-to-gross domestic product ratio that exceeds 200 percent. A policy board member of Japan‘s central bank was right to warn last month that his country is not immune to a sovereign d
March 7, 2012
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Japanese accounting gets rare ray of sunlight
The auditing profession’s top U.S. overseer usually does a flawless job of safeguarding the most embarrassing secrets of accounting firms and their corporate clients. Fortunately, every now and then, the watchdog slips up. Take the case of Kyoto Audit Corp., a Japanese affiliate of the Big Four auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers. On Feb. 14, the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board released its first-ever inspection report on the Kyoto-based firm. The report said the board’s staff reviewed
March 7, 2012
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Elpida‘s failure means Japan’s loss to S. Korea in semiconductor market
It was a setback for the “flagbearer of Japan‘s semiconductor industry,” and it symbolizes the decline in Japan’s industrial competitiveness.Elpida Memory Inc., the only domestic manufacturer -- and the No. 3 maker in the world -- of dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) used for personal computers and other products, has given up its self-rehabilitation efforts and filed for protection under the Corporate Rehabilitation Law. This means the company has gone bankrupt.Competition is fierce in the DR
March 7, 2012
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U.S. Companies Need Flexible Cybersecurity Laws to Combat Hackers
You probably feel it intuitively. The grids underlying our digital lives -- our bank accounts, mobile phones, e-mail, medical records -- are more vulnerable than ever. Companies such as Lockheed Martin Corp., Citigroup Inc. and Sony Corp. have recently reported serious breaches of their networks. NASA said last week that hackers had launched 13 major attacks against it last year, including one in which they gained access to networks at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages active space mi
March 7, 2012
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[Lee Jae-min] Determined to stay on the course
As the volatile situation in the Middle East has been pushing up the global oil price, the gasoline price in Seoul has just passed, for the first time, the 2,000 won per liter mark. What is more concerning is that the volatility is likely to remain high in the short term.Believing that diplomacy and economic sanctions have run their course, Israel is now seriously touting the idea of a military strike against the nuclear development facilities inside Iran. A concerned United States is trying to
March 6, 2012