Most Popular
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Opposition-led Assembly unilaterally passes bill to probe Marine's death
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Inflation eases in April, continues bumpy ride
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Golden chance to liquidate babies’ gold rings?
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Seoul to more than double military drones by 2026 to counter NK threats
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Seoul alerts overseas missions to NK terror threats
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[New faces of Assembly] Architect behind ‘audacious initiative’ believes in denuclearized North Korea
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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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Over 60% of S. Koreans support W100m childbirth incentive: survey
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‘Inside Out 2’ adds four new emotions, explores teenage life
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Questions raised over fair promotion of RM, NewJeans
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Middle class pays for financial market mistakes
At one level, all financial crises are the same. A relatively small group of people, typically bankers, find the opportunity to take very big risks. For a while, financiers show high profits, justifying rising stock prices for their companies and large bonuses for their top executives. But these profits are never properly adjusted for what will actually materialize over five to 10 years, meaning that they understate risk and overstate true earnings. Greater short-term returns are often available
Nov. 9, 2011
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[Park Sang-seek] Different crises in the West and in the Middle East
The U.S. and Western European countries are still mired in the economic crisis and Arab countries have not recovered from the political crisis. These two different crises have engulfed the whole world and left it hanging it in the balance. The economic crisis has been caused by hyper-economic development, and the political crisis by political mal-development. In the West, financial capital has incapacitated the free market and corrupted industrial capital and undermined the entire capitalist sys
Nov. 9, 2011
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Unintended consequences of assassinations
There is no denying that 2011 has been a banner year for taxpayer-funded assassinations ― Osama bin Laden, Anwar Awlaki, five senior Pakistani Taliban commanders in October and many more. Given the crucial U.S. backup role in Libya, and the ringing exhortation for the Libyan leader’s death issued by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton just before the event itself, we can probably take a lot of credit for Moammar Gadhafi’s messy end too.Once upon a time, U.S. officials used to claim that we
Nov. 8, 2011
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[Daniel Fiedler] Absurdity of law student quotas
Recently law professors in South Korea were asked their opinion on the latest version of the Korean bar exam, the test the new law school graduates must pass to become lawyers. Yet nowhere in the questionnaire was there opportunity to address the biggest issue, that of the quota system. Despite repeated attempts to open up the legal market in South Korea, the current members of the Korean bar have managed to retain a quota of around 1,500 new lawyers per year for the foreseeable future. This abs
Nov. 8, 2011
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[Meghan Daum] Living in denial ― Madoff family style
I didn’t see any Ruth Madoff masks on Halloween night, but it wouldn’t have surprised me if I had. The wife of disgraced Wall Street Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff was Pariah No. 1 last week, followed closely by her son, Andrew. The two, along with Andrew’s fiance, appeared on “60 Minutes” on Sunday night (Oct. 30) to promote their “authorized family biography,” “Truth and Consequences.”“I have been eager, I would say almost desperate, to speak out publicly and tell people that I’m absolutely not
Nov. 8, 2011
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MF signs death warrant for short-term funding
People ask me all the time: How could Wall Street powerhouses such as Bear Stearns Cos., Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co. disappear virtually overnight? How could MF Global Holdings Ltd. be here one day and gone the next? Why was Jefferies Group Inc., the midsized investment bank, whipsawed last week by rumors about its very survival because of questions about its exposure to European debt? What the demise of Bear, Lehman, Merrill, MF Global ― and the near collapses of Jeffe
Nov. 8, 2011
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[Kim Seong-kon] Danger of binary value judgments
Koreans often seem to be confused by the question, “Do good people build a good society, or does a good society foster good people?” The former claim may be the basis for a liberal, democratic society and the latter for a socialist country. Living in a group-oriented society, many Koreans ultimately seem to be inclined to the latter, believing in the power of a good society rather than in the strength of the individual. As someone who studies and teaches literature, however, I believe in the pow
Nov. 8, 2011
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[Shlomo Ben Ami] Ransoming the chance for peace
MADRID ― The exchange of prisoners between enemies is often a prelude to political reconciliation. Unfortunately, the recent exchange between Israel and Hamas, in which the Islamist organization gained the lion’s share of more than 1,000 prisoners in exchange for the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, does not augur well for the chances of an Israeli-Palestinian peace.Contrary to appearances, the deal is not a reflection of both sides’ interest in beginning a political rapprochement that might lead t
Nov. 7, 2011
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Up to Cain to clear the air
Comparisons with Clarence Thomas began as soon as Herman Cain announced he was running for president as a Republican. Now, Cain is having his own Anita Hill moment.Two women reportedly accused Cain of sexual harassment when he ran the National Restaurant Association from 1996 to 1999. Apparently, the unidentified women were paid settlements, though association officials had not confirmed that. The New York Times reported that one woman received $35,000, which was a year’s salary.An attorney for
Nov. 7, 2011
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Arab spring in Cairo gives way to Nov. chill
CAIRO ― The massive crowds of rebellious youths have long since left Tahrir Square, which is jammed again with honking cars and trucks stuck in endless gridlock.Egypt’s revolution is stuck in gridlock, too, trapped by a standoff between seculars and Islamists. The Egyptian military is worsening the tensions. As elections approach, the generals are trying to ensure they will continue their dominant role even after the voting.Why have things gone so wrong? I asked three leaders of the Tahrir revol
Nov. 7, 2011
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G20: Key forum for adjusting global power shift
Following is an interview with Henry Kissinger, former U.S. secretary of state. He spoke with Global Viewpoint Network editor Nathan Gardels on Nov. 3. ― Ed.Nathan Gardels: Senior Chinese strategist Zheng Bijian has recently moved on from his doctrine of “peaceful rise” ― a defensive posture which he proposed as a way of saying China is not a threat to the world ― to a doctrine of global engagement: “expanding the convergence of interests to build a community of interests.”Do you see this conver
Nov. 7, 2011
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[Malcolm Fraser] Commonwealth’s lost opportunity
MELBOURNE ― A few weeks ago, representatives of 54 countries, mostly heads of government, attended the bi-annual Commonwealth Meeting. High on the agenda was a report by the Eminent Persons Group (EPG), established to reinvigorate the Commonwealth, strengthen its secretariat, and transform its approach to human rights. The group included former Australian High Court Justice Michael Kirby, former British Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind, former Malay Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, and
Nov. 7, 2011
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In girl’s death video, China sees growth’s perils
I’m on a trip to China this month, and it’s coinciding with some Middle Kingdom soul-searching about what Chinese people owe one another. In an age of “golden collar” workers made rich in the new economy, the Chinese are struggling to locate their social conscience. To move to the next level of development, the government needs to do the same. It’s an important sign that even as China’s leadership continues to censor the Internet, it’s allowing online safety valves to let off steam. The authorit
Nov. 7, 2011
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Mexico’s missing consensus on fighting crime
Mexico, battered by an interminable narco war, hasn’t found a firm consensus on how to combat organized crime. In Spain, which has been plagued by the violence of the Basque group ETA, such a consensus was slow to develop, until the escalating cruelty of the attacks drove the majority to join or support huge, public demonstrations against the separatists. This rejection helped cripple the ETA and drive the organization to its recent repudiation of terrorism. In Colombia, a long and brutal civil
Nov. 6, 2011
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[David Ignatius] Arab past meeting Arab future
CAIRO ― Diplomatic versions of the three-cushion shot in billiards are perilous, but let’s suppose you could accomplish the following: Lift the stature of Egypt’s fragile transitional government, support Israel’s desire for Arab recognition, re-animate the Palestinian peace process and deal a blow to Iran. It’s a tricky shot, and it would take a while to line up, but it strikes me that these goals could gradually be advanced if Egypt could convince the Palestinian group Hamas to recognize that a
Nov. 6, 2011
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Treatments for insomnia: Lobotomy and death
The other day, I came across a recent study by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. It found that insomnia affects about 23 percent of U.S. workers, and it put the annual national cost for the sleeping disorder at $63.2 billion.That night, I lay awake for hours worrying about all that wasted money.OK, I didn’t really. But I have spent countless hours when I wanted to be asleep fretting about things far less important. And I have spent considerable time reflecting on sleeplessness. Here, for t
Nov. 6, 2011
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Doctor’s vision for Medicare
Everybody knows what the federal budget’s long-term problem is. The president knows. The Republicans in Congress know. The Democrats in Congress know. The policy community knows. You know.It’s Medicare.I am a physician who has been studying Medicare data throughout my professional life. But now that I’m closing in on becoming a beneficiary, I am thinking more about what I’d like my Medicare program to look like.My Medicare would be guided by three basic principles:It should not bankrupt our chil
Nov. 6, 2011
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[Ruti Teitel] Operation justice in Uganda
NEW YORK ― Barack Obama has promised to send a group of 100 armed United States military personnel to Uganda ― a high-powered posse to help bring to heel (and to justice) the notorious war criminal Joseph Kony, the leader of a brutal rebel group known as the Lord’s Resistance Army. “These forces will act as advisers to partner forces that have the goal of removing from the battlefield Joseph Kony and other senior leadership of the LRA,” Obama wrote in a letter submitted to the leadership of the
Nov. 6, 2011
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[William Pesek] Mona Lisa will look great hanging on China’s wall
Oh, to be a fly on the wall to hear what Chinese officials want in return for saving the euro. Yes, President Nicolas Sarkozy, we will take France’s Arc de Triomphe and the Louvre as collateral. The Mona Lisa will look grand hanging in Beijing. Toss in the Champs-Elysees and Louis Vuitton’s flagship store and we’ll consider swapping more of our $3.2 trillion of reserves for your bonds. Hi, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Aside from invitations to your bunga-bunga parties, we would be happy wit
Nov. 4, 2011
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[Andrew Sheng] A multipolar monetary system
Most people think of the international monetary system as an architecturally designed system made in Bretton Woods at the end of the Second World War. This may be true for the international financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank, but the existing system is a messy legacy of rules, regulations and foreign exchange systems and institutions that facilitate trade and payments between countries. Unlike a national monetary system, where there is one currency issu
Nov. 4, 2011