The Korea Herald

[Jean Pisani-Ferry] UK and EU should prevent mutual assured damage

Dec 5, 2019

Nothing can be taken for granted in the United Kingdom these days, but it is now very likely that 2020 will be the year when Brexit finally happens. A majority of UK citizens will probably be relieve...
[Kim Myong-sik] Trump’s gamble in USFK cost-sharing deal

Dec 4, 2019

Negotiations are underway on US President Donald Trump’s demand for a fivefold increase in South Korea’s payment for the cost of stationing 28,500 US troops here. The talks in Washington and Seoul m...
[Noah Smith] US economy defying recession odds

Dec 4, 2019

It’s impressive how well the US economy has held up during the past year. As early as 2018, leading indicators were suggesting a heightened risk of recession in 2019 or 2020. Then early this year the...
[Kim Seong-kon] Korea needs the ‘Factionless’ and ‘Divergent’

Dec 3, 2019

“Divergent” is a 2014 dystopian science fiction film based on Veronica Roth’s novel of the same title. This futuristic movie is set in Chicago, where five factions divide society: Abnegation, Amity, ...
[Robert J. Fouser] Thinking about language and respect in Italy

Dec 3, 2019

A two-week visit to Italy recently revealed much about the state of language in the early 21st century. Apart from sightseeing, I was interested in seeing how much Italian I could learn casually as I...
[Jeffrey Frankel ] The case for old-fashioned tariff cuts

Dec 2, 2019

The “bicycle theory” used to be a metaphor for international trade policy. Just as standing still on a bicycle is not an option -- one must keep moving forward or else fall over -- so it was said tha...
[Jeffrey D. Sachs] How World Bank arbitrators mugged Pakistan

Dec 2, 2019

Wall Street hedge funds and lawyers have turned an arcane procedure of international treaties into a money machine, at the cost of the world’s poorest people. The latest shakedown is a $5.9 billion a...
[Chung Jae-suk] Remaking cultural heritage signs

Dec 1, 2019

When I arrive at a cultural heritage site, I linger at the entrance to carefully read the information sign. I formed this habit long before I became the lead administrator of the Cultural Heritage Ad...
[Leonid Bershidsky] Malta proves oligarchs aren’t all Eastern European

Dec 1, 2019

The government crisis in Malta, one of the smallest European Union members, shows that oligarchs who purchase political influence -- and who may do just about anything, including commit murder, to av...
[Mark Buchanan] Gene editing might alter DNA, but destroy humanity

Nov 27, 2019

Biologists recently revealed a new form of the gene-editing tool known as Crispr that allows researchers to make precise changes to almost any element of DNA, permanently altering cellular biochemist...
[Leonid Bershidsky] Why London has banned Uber — again

Nov 27, 2019

London first banned Uber under its buccaneer of a founding chief executive officer, Travis Kalanick -- and now for a second time under Kalanick’s successor, Dara Khosrowshahi, who was meant to be the...
[Justin Fendos] Where is my data dignity?

Nov 27, 2019

It is an undeniable fact that big data is all around us. Whenever we use the internet, call a taxi, or purchase with credit cards, big data is at work, logging our activities into amorphous balls of ...
[Kim Seong-kon] “Your Republic Is Calling You”

Nov 26, 2019

Kim Young-ha’s celebrated novel, “Your Republic Is Calling You,” is an account of a North Korean spy named Ki-yong who has lived in South Korea since the mid-1980s with no contact from the North. Cut...
[Ann McFeatters] A rare bipartisan show of support for 5G technology

Nov 26, 2019

Amazingly, the US Senate just sent a bipartisan request to the White House. In a hopeful if small sign that there are matters of state that Republicans and Democrats can still agree on, a coalition...
[Martin Schram] Trump Ukraine probe wins one new vote -- Putin’s

Nov 25, 2019

As the House Intelligence Committee has ended its hearings and is racing at a most un-congressional top-speed toward an apparent impeachment of President Donald Trump for crimes including bribery, we...