As the leaders of Asia and the Pacific prepare to head to Glasgow for the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), they can be sure that our region will be in the spotlight: Many of the most vulnerable countries to the impacts of climate change are located here; the seven G20 members from this region are responsible for over half of global GHG emissions; and five of t...

Too bad we as a species don’t have the luxury of worrying about just one existential threat at a time. We’re already rather busy with one -- a pandemic -- and about to talk our heads off about another -- climate change -- at the COP26 convention in Glasgow. Now we’re also reminded of a third, nuclear annihilation. This summer, China apparently tested new hypersonic missile systems -- as recently...

On Oct. 25, the electric-vehicle producer Tesla’s market capitalization reached $1 trillion -- more than the combined value of the next 10 global car manufacturers. Even after discounting for exuberance, this is a strong indicator of how the threat of climate change is triggering a transformation of capitalism. To be sure, polluters still abound, and green washing is pervasive. But it would be a ...

“The taxation system has tilted toward the rich, and away from the middle class, in the last ten years. It is dramatic, and I don’t think it’s appreciated. And I think it should be addressed.” So said the billionaire investor Warren Buffett 18 years ago. He illustrated his claim by surveying his office staff: Although he was then the world’s second-richest person, he was paying a lower percentage...

A cacophony of images, a riot of colors. That is what I saw at an exhibition in Itaewon, central Seoul, heralded as a hip show. It surely had all the elements of an of-the-moment show: Provocative images, saturated colors, all the glamour of glossy artwork. “Toiletpaper: The Studio” at Hyundai Card Storage in Itaewon is a literal replica of the photography-based magazine Toiletpaper’s Milan stu...

America is in a bad mood. Granted, this is a subjective impression, but it is common, and there is no shortage of analyses of it, examining everything from social media to income inequality. I would like to try on for size the simplest possible explanation: If Americans are much more negative than they used to be, it is mostly about politics, and in recent decades political failure has become muc...

Russian hackers are still rummaging through global computer networks despite headline-grabbing Russian and Chinese attacks over the past several months that should have prompted corporations to tighten security and the White House to take more pointed and forceful action. Sure, some companies have said they want to communicate better about digital breaches and the Biden administration slapped so...

Han Chang-ki led Britannica Korea when South Korean society was on the threshold of rapid economic growth. Modernization was often synonymous with Westernization, and having a set of Encyclopedia Britannica bestowed instant status onto families. Han, in his early 30s, took advantage of the trend, introducing modern marketing strategies in direct consumer sales for the first time in the country. ...

At the end of October, an intergovernmental working group will meet again to push for an international treaty governing multinational companies’ responsibility for upholding human rights. The working group, created in 2014 by the UN Human Rights Council, holds annual sessions that are attended faithfully by a large cohort of human rights advocates, environmentalists and members of social developm...

In March 2022, South Korea will hold its next presidential election. All Koreans are anxiously awaiting the important day when they will have a new leader. Indeed, there is a compelling reason why the Korean people are eager to have an extraordinarily competent leader as their new president. South Korea is now facing an unprecedented series of economic, diplomatic and national security crises on...

“We must be able to think about unthinkable things because when things become unthinkable, thinking stops and action becomes mindless.” So spoke the late US Sen. William J. Fulbright, who founded the famous Fulbright scholarships under which so many have been able to study in foreign countries and expand their horizons. Fulbright has always struck me as an unusually wise man. So I try to follow h...

Outsiders often view Africa as one large zone of war, poverty and tragedy. It’s not, but armed conflict is ongoing today in about a dozen of Africa’s 54 countries. While all of these conflicts are tragic, some are more relevant to the outside world than others. Ethiopia’s conflict is one of them. It began in November 2020, and the scale of suffering is massive. With Ethiopia’s size, geography an...

Around six years ago, many people interested in classical music received shocking news: a winner of the Chopin International Piano Competition was an unfamiliar pianist named Seong-jin Cho. He was the first Korean to be awarded first prize since the competition was established. The Chopin International Piano Competition is one of the most prestigious piano competitions in the world and was made t...

The philosopher Immanuel Kant famously said, “Whoever wills the end also wills … the indispensably necessary means to it that is in his control.” Put simply, when we set a goal, we ought to take the actions needed to achieve it. This is an essential maxim for our governments, and it should guide G-20 leaders when they meet in Rome at the end of October to confront the climate crisis. The world s...

On Oct. 4, Fumio Kishida became Japan’s 100th prime minister, succeeding Yoshihide Suga, who held the office for only a year. Kishida secured the top job by prevailing in the four-person race to lead the Liberal Democratic Party. On Oct. 31, he and the LDP will face a national election for the House of Representatives, the lower but more powerful chamber of the Japanese Diet. Together with its c...