Most Popular
-
1
Key suspects grilled over alleged abuse of power in Marine death inquiry
-
2
Marine Corps commander summoned by CIO for questioning on alleged influence-peddling case
-
3
S. Korean children, teens grow taller, mature faster than before: study
-
4
Army takes group action against Hybe for neglecting BTS
-
5
Some junior doctors are returning: Health Ministry
-
6
Debate rages over ‘overly fatty’ samgyeopsal
-
7
Ador CEO's request for exclusive right to terminate NewJeans' contract with Hybe refused in February
-
8
[Weekender] Korean psyche untangled: Musok
-
9
Naver will consider company benefits in deciding on selling Line shares: CEO
-
10
Woman dangling from power lines rescued by residents holding blanket
-
Japan should reactivate nuclear reactors
The bitter winter chill is gradually easing. It looks like the nation has been able to meet peak demand for electricity over the winter and avoid a greatly feared electricity crisis.However, industry and individual households must not let their guard down. Power suppliers across the country are walking on a tightrope, and the electricity shortage has become chronic.Almost one year has passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake. Most nuclear reactors across Japan have been left idle even after
March 6, 2012
-
China’s slow march to the free market economy
The World Bank has warned China that its economic growth model, which depends heavily on exports and state-owned enterprises (SOEs), is unsustainable. Though criticized for some past judgments, this advice from the World Bank is sound. It comes in a report, co-authored with the Development Research Center of China’s State Council, which recommended that Beijing reduce the dominant role of SOEs in order to promote the free market.Having amazed the world with the dramatic results of the economic r
March 6, 2012
-
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 DRAM
March 6, 2012
-
Unleashed spending floods Americans in negativity
This may come to be known as the Samuel Alito election. The U.S. presidential contest is predominately about Barack Obama’s stewardship of the economy and the political-cultural divide in the Republican Party. It’s also about the huge sums of money sloshing around, after Justice Alito replaced Sandra Day O’Connor on the Supreme Court and provided the swing vote in the 2010 Citizens United case. Supporters claimed that allowing unlimited contributions from individuals, corporations and unions wou
March 6, 2012
-
[Kim Seong-kon] The absurdity of opposing for the sake of opposition
Whenever a new policy or a new system is proposed, we Koreans tend to oppose it immediately. In the late 1960s, for example, we opposed the construction of the Gyeongbu Expressway from Seoul to Busan that was proposed by the Park administration. At that time, poets wrote elegies lamenting the disappearance of traditional serpentine roads and thatched-roof farmhouses in the name of modernization. Others worried that the expressway would allow North Korean ground troops to reach Busan within a day
March 6, 2012
-
Unleashed Spending Floods Americans in Negativity
This may come to be known as the Samuel Alito election. The U.S. presidential contest is predominately about Barack Obama’s stewardship of the economy and the political-cultural divide in the Republican Party. It’s also about the huge sums of money sloshing around, after Justice Alito replaced Sandra Day O’Connor on the Supreme Court and provided the swing vote in the 2010 Citizens United case. Supporters claimed that allowing unlimited contributions from individuals, corporations and unions wou
March 6, 2012
-
Slow march to the free market
The World Bank has warned China that its economic growth model, which depends heavily on exports and state-owned enterprises (SOEs), is unsustainable. Though criticized for some past judgments, this advice from the World Bank is sound. It comes in a report, co-authored with the Development Research Center of China‘s State Council, which recommended that Beijing reduce the dominant role of SOEs in order to promote the free market.Having amazed the world with the dramatic results of the economic r
March 6, 2012
-
[J. Bradford DeLong] A case for larger national debt
BERKELEY ― Across the Euro-Atlantic world, recovery from the recession of 2008-09 remains sluggish and halting, turning what was readily curable cyclical unemployment into structural unemployment. And what was a brief hiccup in the process of capital accumulation has turned into a prolonged investment shortfall, which means a lower capital stock and a lower level of real GDP not just today, while the recovery is incomplete, but possibly for decades.One legacy of Western Europe’s experience in th
March 5, 2012
-
Middle-class welfare state is invisible by design
What is a government program? And are you on one right now? Those are the questions Cornell University political scientist Suzanne Mettler has been posing. For her book “The Submerged State,” she asked a scientifically selected sample of 1,400 Americans whether they had ever used a government social program. Only 43 percent copped to having done so. Then she read off 21 social programs, such as Medicare and the home-mortgage interest deduction, and asked the same question again: Have you ever us
March 5, 2012
-
The forces that hold up Assad’s regime in Syria
After a year of political unrest and thousands of civilian casualties at the hands of government forces, the common assumption is that the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad has lost all legitimacy in the eyes of the Syrian people. But the reality is far more complex, with key factions continuing to see their fates as intrinsically linked to the Assad regime’s survival.The core of Assad’s support still lies within the minority Alawite sect, of which he is a member. Many Alawites, who make u
March 5, 2012
-
We need to make college education more affordable
For Mexican-Americans and others trying to get ahead, education had been the stairway to the middle class. Education meant security and basics such as health insurance. This heaven meant better jobs and a small house for old age.But now this stairway has fallen into disrepair. One rung after another has been destroyed.The first rung was financial assistance. Many Latino students and poor blacks and whites could afford college only through grants and subsidies. But over the last two decades, coll
March 5, 2012
-
Obama Must Make Red Lines on Iran’s Nuclear Effort Clear to Israel
By many accounts, U.S. President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu don’t much like or trust each other. It’s important that they use their meeting on Monday (March 5) to end at least the mistrust. For many months now U.S. diplomacy has been directed as much at stopping an Israeli preemptive military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities, as at Iran itself. It’s partly thanks to the tension created by Israel’s threats to act that the Obama administration was finally a
March 5, 2012
-
A frightening view of government intelligence
As promised in December, WikiLeaks has begun to release a stash of documents related to the modus operandi of the “private intelligence” sector, using Texas-based Stratfor as a case study. Claiming to have hacked Stratfor’s system to obtain millions of private emails, WikiLeaks has just released the first batch ― and what it suggests about the American intelligence community makes me feel as secure as day-old pizza in a frat house.The CIA has long used private intelligence firms for “black ops,”
March 4, 2012
-
[David Ignatius] Yemen’s peaceful power transfer
WASHINGTON ― In the turbulent annals of the Arab Spring, a ceremony in Yemen a week ago was so quiet it was barely noticed. But it marked the transfer of power from an aging autocrat who had ruled his country for 34 years to a new leader who’s saying the right things about reform. This was a stage-managed change of regime, and one that left some loose ends and unresolved questions. It was a product of backroom dealing and regional realpolitik. But in its very lack of visibility, the Yemen handov
March 4, 2012
-
Romney’s missed chances on role of faith in elections
Mitt Romney has missed several golden opportunities to turn this campaign’s religious fixation to his advantage.Given that polls show he faces prejudice among a sizable share of primary voters because of his Mormon faith, you would think Romney would be eager to try to redefine the role of faith in the election. But he keeps refusing to challenge those who would apply faith-based litmus tests, even though doing so would win him plaudits among the independents who will pick the next president. Th
March 4, 2012
-
When big business and human rights collide
Among the thousands of interviews I’ve conducted as a human rights investigator over the last 24 years, one of the most difficult was in 1996, outside a refugee camp along the Thai-Burma border. I was no stranger to suffering in my country. I had fled from Burma (also known as Myanmar) just a few years before, escaping the brutal military regime after being arrested and tortured.I had gone to the camp to investigate reports that villages were being uprooted and brutalized to make way for a natur
March 4, 2012
-
[Robert Reich] Gasoline price rises benefit Wall Street speculators
Nothing drives voter sentiment like the price of gas ― already up nearly 30 cents from the start of the year and hitting $4 in many places. The last time gas topped $4 was 2008.And nothing energizes Republicans like rising energy prices. House Speaker John Boehner is telling Republicans to take advantage of voters’ looming anger over rising prices at the pump. House Republicans have passed a bill to expand offshore drilling and pressure the White House into issuing a permit for the Keystone XL p
March 4, 2012
-
Greeks today might ask: What would Pericles do?
Greek opinion is divided over the government’s plan to offer the Parthenon and other heritage sites as film and photo backdrops to raise revenue during its current economic crisis. “This is sacrilege!” one Greek tour guide protested. But others thought that, humbling though the measure might be, it was at least better than begging for foreign bailouts.For some Greeks, the debate may have evoked a sense of deja vu. Pericles, the great Athenian statesman, also proposed raiding the Parthenon to mee
March 2, 2012
-
[Joel Brinkley] Youth aren’t served in Saudi Arabia
Thanks largely to Iran, gas prices are rising to heights unseen in years ― $4 or more per gallon in some areas. And one nation more than any other stands to benefit from this.That nation, of course, is Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil producer, an exceedingly wealthy state with a current-account balance of $151 billion, the world’s second largest.So it seems a bit curious that Saudi Arabia has one of the world’s highest youth unemployment rates. At least 40 percent of Saudis under 30 years
March 2, 2012
-
Indonesia’s purchases of arms from abroad
The Indonesian government’s plan to buy 100 used Leopard tanks has sparked debate within the House of Representatives, but apparently the show must go on as part of the country’s long overdue modernization of defense equipment. Deputy Minister of Defense Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin provided the Jakarta Post’s Novan Iman Santosa, Dwi Atmanta and Imanuddin Razak with a broader picture of the issues of primary weaponry system modernisation.Question: What is the latest update on negotiations to purchase sec
March 2, 2012