Most Popular
-
1
Korean labor force to shrink by 10 million by 2044: report
-
2
[AtoZ Korean Mind] Does your job define who you are? Should it?
-
3
Allegations surrounding BTS resurface, enraged fans demand apology
-
4
Students with history of violence will be barred from becoming teachers
-
5
Medical feud leaves hospitals in financial crisis
-
6
Top prosecutor pledges 'speedy, strict' probe into first lady's luxury bag allegations
-
7
Samsung mocks Apple over iPhone alarm glitch
-
8
Chip up cycle won’t stay long: SK chief
-
9
'Queen of Tears' riding high on Netflix chart
-
10
Speaker floats dual citizenship as solution to falling births
-
[Yuliya Tymoshenko] Holiday season for me as prisoner
LUKYANIVSKA PRISON, KYIV ― It has been said that there are no atheists in a foxhole. Here, after my show trial and four and a half months in a cell, I have discovered that there are no atheists in prison, either.When, despite unbearable pain, you are interrogated ― including in your cell ― for dozens of hours without a break, and an authoritarian regime’s entire system of coercion, including its media, is trying to discredit and destroy you once and for all, prayer becomes the only intimate, tru
Dec. 28, 2011
-
Americans need better care instead of more care
A silver lining in the dark cloud of the deficit reduction supercommittee’s failure is that it gives Americans another chance to do the right thing to control health care costs. To save money, we must move beyond administrative fiat and put patients first.The problem is illustrated by the “sustainable growth rate” legislation to control physician payments by Medicare. The sustainable growth rate has been repeatedly countermanded by Congress, an issue that might have been addressed by the superco
Dec. 28, 2011
-
Ivy League grads choose teaching over Wall Street
We are witnessing the decline and fall of the investment-banking profession as we have known it for the past 40 years. The evidence is everywhere. The increasing regulations on Wall Street ― as required by the Dodd-Frank law and still being written by the Federal Reserve, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission and others agencies in the U.S. and Europe ― will require the remaining companies to increase their capital, curb their risk-taking and reduce t
Dec. 28, 2011
-
[Park Sang-seek] Kim regime: Absolute monarchy or totalitarian regime?
When I read a Korea Herald report on North Korean defectors’ reactions to Kim Jong-il’s death, it made me wonder how I would react to it if I were born and living in North Korea.One defector says, “When Kim Il-sung died, we were bawling our eyes out and cried till our throats bled. But when I look at the videos of people crying now, there isn’t as much genuineness behind their tears.” Another defector says that there is a huge difference between the death of the two: “It’s like heaven and earth.
Dec. 28, 2011
-
[William Pesek] Japan’s crisis adds to inflation pressure
Dec. 27, 2011
-
In defense of Wal-Mart, or at least its heiress
In cultural commentary about the American economy, one company at a time always seems to be the goat. Everything it does is interpreted as evil. In the 1950s, it was General Motors. GM’s CEO, Charles “Engine Charlie” Wilson, became a national figure of ridicule for telling a congressional committee, “What’s good for General Motors is good for America.” Except that he actually said, “For years I thought that what was good for the country was good for General Motors and vice versa” ― which is quit
Dec. 27, 2011
-
[Lee Jae-min] WTO accession: Here comes Russia
One of the major missing pieces has been finally inserted into the big puzzle picture of the World Trade Organization. At the eighth Ministerial Conference in Geneva from Dec. 15-17, Russia was accepted by the WTO as a new member of the global trade body, ending Moscow’s 18-year bid since 1993 involving changes and amendment of more than 300 laws and regulations. Russia has been the only major country that has been left outside the global trade body.Approval of Russia’s accession was hailed as o
Dec. 27, 2011
-
Envoy’s plight reflects decline of U.S.-Pakistan ties
The scary decline of relations between the United States and Pakistan ― the world’s most dangerous nuclear-armed country ― is illustrated by the perilous plight of one man.Husain Haqqani was, until recently, the savvy and energetic Pakistani ambassador to Washington, dubbed by Bloomberg “the hardest working man in DC.” His job was thankless: trying to maintain ties between two countries that deeply distrust each other.Pakistan’s military disliked Haqqani because of his long-standing opposition t
Dec. 27, 2011
-
One exam shouldn’t decide your future
Kim Seong-kon in “One exam decides your future” wrote an interesting piece in this paper last Wednesday (Dec. 21). Whilst sympathetic to the view of the writer, there was a hint that creative education was somehow linked to the “foreign” issue and that, yet again, Koreans are having to adapt to the external whims of foreigners. I would like to add a few reflections. On meeting President Obama earlier last month, President Lee in classic Korean style “complained” that the problem with Koreans is
Dec. 27, 2011
-
How the insurance industry tried to ban Christmas
In December 1908, the insurance industry declared war on Christmas. The New York Board of Underwriters issued an announcement to every client of every fire-insurance firm in the city.It read:Your attention is hereby respectfully called to the fact that the introduction about the premises of Christmas green, harvest specimens and other inflammable materials, such as cotton, to represent snow, and the like, and the use of moving picture machines, introduces additional hazard not contemplated by th
Dec. 27, 2011
-
[Kim Seong-kon] No return of vanishing dictators
In 2011, we witnessed the fall or death of dictators in various countries. For example, Mubarak in Egypt had to dishonorably resign from his post after 30 years of ruthless rule, forced out by mass protests by the Egyptian people. In October, Gaddafi of Libya was killed by angry rebels after 42 years of iron-fisted rule. Who in the world would have expected that the mighty Gaddafi, who had wielded absolute power as the “King of Kings” in North Africa, and had antagonized the West with various te
Dec. 27, 2011
-
Political predictions for a fast-moving 2012
The pressure is on. Four years ago, I picked Barack Obama to win 353 electoral votes and, twice, I correctly tabbed George W. Bush as a winner, including a 2000 forecast he’d beat Al Gore by four electoral votes. Here is a preview of the road to Nov. 6:January: Texas Rep. Ron Paul edges Mitt Romney in Iowa caucuses, and fast-closing Texas Gov. Rick Perry nips Newt Gingrich for third. Romney rebounds to beat Paul in New Hampshire, but Perry edges former Massachusetts governor in South Carolina, d
Dec. 26, 2011
-
[Mohamed A. El-Erian] New global economic disorder
NEWPORT BEACH ― A new economic order is taking shape before our eyes, and it is one that includes accelerated convergence between the old Western powers and the emerging world’s major new players. But the forces driving this convergence have little to do with what generations of economists envisaged when they pointed out the inadequacy of the old order; and these forces’ implications may be equally unsettling.For decades, many people lamented the extent to which the West dominated the global eco
Dec. 26, 2011
-
Republicans may be dealing Obama a winning hand
Barack Obama probably will have to pull out a familiar card next year: the luck of the draw. In winning the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, the president defeated political heavyweights, starting with Hillary Clinton. His other triumphs were facilitated by lots of luck. In his 2004 race for a U.S. Senate seat in Illinois, the candidacies of both his chief primary opponent and initial Republican rival collapsed when divorce papers were disclosed during the campaign; one was accused of vi
Dec. 26, 2011
-
Quiet Iraq exit won’t have Afghanistan replay
Rarely in U.S. history has the end of a war been marked with less fanfare than the withdrawal of the last troops from Iraq in time for Christmas. Indeed, you could almost be forgiven for failing to notice it at all, so arbitrary does the timing seem. U.S. interests in Iraq will be no different in the first week of 2012 than they are now. Iraq’s government remains shaky, and the dangers of instability and civil war remain. About 16,000 Americans are still there, too, including an unspecified numb
Dec. 26, 2011
-
[Jeffrey D. Sachs] Havel demonstrates the power of living in truth
NEW YORK ― The world’s greatest shortage is not of oil, clean water, or food, but of moral leadership. With a commitment to truth ― scientific, ethical, and personal ― a society can overcome the many crises of poverty, disease, hunger, and instability that confront us. Yet power abhors truth, and battles it relentlessly. So let us pause to express gratitude to Vaclav Havel, who died this month, for enabling a generation to gain the chance to live in truth.Havel was a pivotal leader of the revolu
Dec. 26, 2011
-
‘Bad wind’ blowing through Israel
If Christian pilgrims traveling to Bethlehem for Christmas this week happened to witness violence, for the first time militant Jews, not Palestinians, were most likely to be the perpetrators.Now that a far right-wing government has governed Israel for almost three years, settlers feel emboldened so that Jewish extremists are wreaking havoc and mayhem. West Bank Palestinians, meanwhile, are standing by quietly, largely minding their own business ― even as these settler-marauders repeatedly attack
Dec. 25, 2011
-
[Yoon Young-kwan] Whither North Korea?
SEOUL ― According to North Korean state television, the heart attack that killed Kim Jong-il on Dec. 17 was “due to severe mental and physical stress from overwork.” That report instantly raised a question in my mind: if we accept the regime’s diagnosis, why did Kim need to work so hard, despite his frail health? In some sense, his sudden death seems to symbolize the helplessness of a desperate leader confronting overwhelming challenges.Seen in this light, the more important question is whether
Dec. 25, 2011
-
When it comes to marriage, money matters
Last week, Elizabeth Taylor’s jewels were auctioned for an astonishing $116 million, easily a record for a single collection. Taylor’s talent for amassing jewelry was equaled only by her ability to accumulate husbands. There were eight marriages in all, two of them to Richard Burton, who bought her a 33-carat diamond ring that was auctioned for $8.8 million.By coincidence, the same day’s newspaper had another story about marriage, this one less spectacular but more far-reaching. The news was a f
Dec. 25, 2011
-
How bad ideas worsen Europe’s debt meltdown
Europe is as full of bad ideas as it is of bad debts. Conventional wisdom says that sovereign defaults mean the end of the euro: If Greece defaults it has to leave the single currency; German taxpayers have to bail out southern governments to save the union. This is nonsense. U.S. states and local governments have defaulted on dollar debts, just as companies default. A currency is simply a unit of value, as meters are units of length. If the Greeks had skimped on the olive oil in a liter bottle,
Dec. 25, 2011