The Korea Herald

Local bellwether elections in Osaka and Aichi

Jan 13, 2011

The results of coming local elections in Osaka and Aichi prefectures could have a great impact on the shape of Japan’s local government. The people concerned need to carefully watch and consider the ...
[Kevin Horrigan] Selective wussification

Jan 13, 2011

For eight years, Ed Rendell was governor of Pennsylvania. The eight years before that, he was mayor of Philadelphia. In all that time, he never got the national attention he’s received in his last tw...
[David Ignatius] Cries Americans choose to ignore

Jan 13, 2011

WASHINGTON ― Did our angry political culture help motivate Jared Lee Loughner on what authorities say was his mad shooting spree? Maybe, but a more troubling question for me is why nobody stopped thi...
[Greogry Rodriguez] Image of Americans in post-American era

Jan 13, 2011

The ugly American ― the stereotypically brutish, ethnocentric, bumbling traveler abroad ― is dead. He’s gone the way of global U.S. hegemony, the strong dollar and mid-20th century American naivete. ...
[Catherine Collins and Douglas Frantz] CIA needs sunlight, and Tinners case might shine some on it

Jan 13, 2011

By its nature, an intelligence service is antithetical to the transparency and accountability that are hallmarks of a democracy. When the Central Intelligence Agency was created in 1947, diplomat Dea...
[Joel Brinkley Back to ‘normal’ in the Middle East

Jan 13, 2011

Life is returning to normal in Israel and the Palestinian territories, now that the latest round of peace talks is dead. Militants in Gaza are firing dozens of missiles into Israel once again, forci...
2011 promises to be year of electric car

Jan 12, 2011

This year can be the year in which electric cars make headway in attracting a large number of customers who want to buy a vehicle that has no gas emmissions over a vehicle that runs on fossil fuels. ...
Tobacco companies behind the smoke screen

Jan 12, 2011

Cigarette makers do a lot more than shred tobacco and roll it up in thin sheets of paper. A December report by the surgeon general’s office outlined a host of changes that tobacco companies have made...
[Mike Matz] A gift of wilderness

Jan 12, 2011

When most Americans hear the words “public lands” they think of our national parks or national forests or perhaps even our national wildlife refuges. Yet, what might surprise them is that the largest...
[Erik Berglof] Emerging Europe’s reform for growth

Jan 12, 2011

LONDON ― After the 1997-98 financial crisis, policymakers in Asia’s major emerging markets ― South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, and even Indonesia ― vowed “never again” to be humiliated by internationa...
[Matthew Lynn] Beatles ‘Revolution’ returns decades later

Jan 12, 2011

“You say you want a revolution,” the Beatles sang in a song that was released in the year that students across Europe famously took to the streets to protest against the established order. It may no...
[Albert Hunt] Shooting reveals dark side of U.S. exceptionalism

Jan 12, 2011

Violence isn’t endemic to America. Gun violence is. The tragic killings of six people including a federal judge and a 9-year-old girl and serious injury to Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford...
[Robert B. Reich] Stealth attack on American education

Jan 12, 2011

Over the long term, the only way we’re going to raise wages, grow the economy and improve American competitiveness is by investing in our people ― especially their educations. Yet we’re falling behi...
[Editorial] Mayor Oh’s challenge

Jan 11, 2011

In his desperate challenge to the opposition-dominated city council over the school free lunch issue, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon has proposed a referendum in the capital city. Thus he is offering himself...
Don’t remove the ‘N-word’ from ‘Huck Finn’

Jan 11, 2011

The “N-word” has become so emotionally charged that its casual use can end a career, as radio shrink Laura Schlessinger discovered the hard way last year. But that doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to ex...