Most Popular
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Korea enters full election mode
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Seoul bus drivers go on general strike, cause morning rush hour delays
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Immigrant woman stabbed to death by Korean husband
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Official campaigning kicks off for April 10 elections
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Court upholds jail term for man who attempted to murder ex-girlfriend
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S. Korea to boost support for single-parent families
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Yellow dust engulfs S. Korea, advisory alert issued
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Lee Jong-sup resigns as envoy to Australia
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Kia EV9 wins world car of year
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Korea misses out on global bond index boost
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Growing demand for high-tech health care
Healthsense, a technology company based just outside Minneapolis, uses wireless sensors to provide an early warning system for health problems among the elderly or frail. The sensors send out an alert when they detect trouble ― a fall, for example, or a significant change in sleep patterns. Demand for this kind of innovation is soaring, and companies are responding with a host of new products that
Jan. 20, 2011
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[Gregory Rodriguez] Politics’ dark passions
Once you get a look at the evil smirk captured by the mug shot of Jared Lee Loughner, it’s hard to believe that mere heated political rhetoric was the decisive factor in his allegedly pulling the trigger over and over and over again.But that doesn’t mean there’s no link between politics and violence, or even, to some degree, mental illness.A psychologist will tell you that plenty of factors may pu
Jan. 20, 2011
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[David Ignatius] Help is there if sought for the mentally ill
WASHINGTON ― But what should we do about the mentally ill who walk among us, stumbling toward what may be violent confrontations with authority? That question was asked by dozens of readers after a column last week about our inability to stop an obviously unstable Jared Lee Loughner on his way to the rampage in Tucson. The anguished e-mails were a reminder that milder versions of the Tucson traged
Jan. 20, 2011
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[Alden C. Mayfield] Asian and Euro-American economic crises
When the needles of greed, corruption, and cronyism popped the economic bubbles of Asia between 1997-98, much of the Western world gloated and wasted little time in criticizing irrational Asians for their lack of financial transparency in borrowing and expanding beyond their means. From their mighty computers, some Euro-Americans thought it was self-evident that Asians were not only irrational, bu
Jan. 20, 2011
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[Doyle McManus] A nuclear Iran around the corner? Not so fast
After years of warning that an Iranian atomic bomb is right around the corner, Israeli officials now say Iran is at least four years away from deploying a nuclear weapon, maybe more. And Obama administration officials agree, although they shy away from endorsing a specific time frame. “We’ve gained some breathing space,” a senior U.S. official told me last week. “The good news is that we have slow
Jan. 20, 2011
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[Joel Brinkley] A popular uprising ... but then what?
Across much of the world, including most every Middle Eastern state, citizens and some national leaders are cheering the fall of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia’s longtime dictator. They are voicing the fervent hope that Tunisia’s revolution will be the first of many dominoes to fall. My advice: Be careful what you wish for.Arab commentators and others, tapping a wellspring of popular d
Jan. 20, 2011
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[Sylvester Eijffinger and Edin Mujagic] Qualifications for next ECB president
TILBURG, the Netherlands ― Two years ago, the leaders of the world’s central banks were considered heroes for their efforts in preventing financial crisis from turning into Great Depression II. Today, however, central banks are being sharply criticized, and their independence is coming under severe pressure in many countries, particularly in the eurozone, as Mario Draghi, the head of the Bank of I
Jan. 19, 2011
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Chinese jet fighter highlights need for dialogue
As far as stealth fighters are concerned, the Chinese prototype J-20 is perhaps too eye-attracting. On Dec. 22, 2010, photos of a taxiing test at the Chengdu Aircraft Design Institute of the fifth-generation twin-engine fighter aircraft emerged on the Internet and triggered a firestorm in the international media. On Jan. 11, hours before U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates met with Chinese Preside
Jan. 19, 2011
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[Eric Chaney] Euro’s Spanish showdown needs some ‘shock and awe’
The major battle in the fight for the survival of the euro will be fought on Spanish soil. Greece, Ireland and soon Portugal should be regarded as skirmishes. But Spain is different, in terms of scale and solvency.If the strategy implemented by European Union policy makers is appropriate, the markets will shift their attention to other risks, such as inflation, after the decisive event has taken p
Jan. 19, 2011
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[Hu Zhengyue] China strengthening ties with Asian nations
Last year saw good momentum in China’s strengthening ties with other Asian countries, as indicated by the frequent high-level exchanges and the expansion of two-way economic and trade links. The high-level exchanges greatly boosted bilateral political trust, while China remained the largest export market for Asian countries ― its imports from the rest of the region totaling $446.5 billion, up 41.1
Jan. 19, 2011
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[Kenneth Lieberthal] Hu’s visit to readjust U.S. ties
President Hu Jintao’s state visit to the United States starting from Jan. 18 comes 14 months after President Barack Obama’s November 2009 visit to China. The intervening period has seen many problems in U.S.-China relations, despite progress on some fronts. President Hu’s visit will, therefore, be especially important for recalibrating the tone and direction of U.S.-China ties. The U.S.-China join
Jan. 19, 2011
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[Trudy Rubin] Two attacks on political moderation
Three days before the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, a courageous Pakistani politician was shot dead by one of his guards.The circumstances of the two shootings, of course, were very different. Salman Taseer had infuriated conservative Muslims by criticizing his country’s apostasy law, which prescribes death for insulting Islam. Much of Pakistan’s media made excuses for the killer,
Jan. 19, 2011
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[Editorial] Mercy killing
Children cry watching the TV news as a dozen piglets and their mother are shown being dumped into a hole in a farm in a foot and mouth disease-infected area. Internet users are saddened to read the diary of a young man in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, who had to kill and bury 121 cattle because a truck that visited his farm the day before was found to have earlier stayed in a confirmed FMD-infected pla
Jan. 18, 2011
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The use of yuan as international currency
The dazzling steps China has taken recently to expedite wider and better use of the yuan in cross-border trade and investment mark the country’s latest efforts to make its currency truly international. This accelerated pace to internationalize the yuan was long overdue. But given the complexity and problems with the global financial and currency systems, Chinese policymakers need not go too fast o
Jan. 18, 2011
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A new culture of giving as a social movement
The year of the rabbit has just begun, but in the first few weeks of 2011, it has been the tiger gaining all the attention. In a spontaneous Tiger Mask movement, anonymous citizens throughout Japan have been donating school backpacks and other items to orphanages and child welfare centers in the name of Naoto Date, the hero of the “Tiger Mask” manga and anime popular some 40 years ago. Date, a wre
Jan. 18, 2011
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[Matthew Lynn] Portuguese bailout will make euro crisis worse
New year, new crisis. No sooner had Europe’s bond traders, politicians and central bankers gotten back to their desks than it was time to begin tussling over the fate of a small economy on the periphery of Europe.This time around, it’s Portugal. And yet the script seems very similar to the one played out already in Greece and Ireland. Bond yields surge. The government denies furiously there is any
Jan. 18, 2011
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[Aryeh Neier] Is blasphemy a form of hate speech?
NEW YORK ― The assassination of Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab province in Pakistan and an outspoken critic of religious extremism, has focused attention on his country’s draconian blasphemy law. Adopted in its present form by General Mohammad Zia ul-Haq’s military dictatorship more than three decades ago, the blasphemy law imposes a mandatory death penalty on anyone convicted of insulting
Jan. 18, 2011
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[Albert R. Hunt] GOP’s immigration stance bodes 2012 risk
Republicans, riding high in Washington and in most state capitals, are sitting on a time bomb: immigration.There’s a division coursing through the party; many of the Tea Party types and social conservatives believe the tough-on-immigration posture paid dividends in the November congressional elections and want to ratchet up the pressure. Congressional leaders want to put the issue on the back burn
Jan. 18, 2011
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[Ann Woolner] Appealing a case against Facebook
In the film, “The Social Network,” one of the Winklevoss twins digs in his heels when his furious brother urges a lawsuit against a fellow Harvard student for stealing their idea and turning it into Facebook.(Which twin was which, I don’t know. Who could tell the difference between Cameron and Tyler, played by the same actor?)But one of them, along with their partner, really, really wanted to sue
Jan. 18, 2011
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[Kim Seong-kon] American counterparts to the seven enigmas of Korea
Reading my recent column, “Seven enigmas of Korea to Westerners,” Ogan Gurel, a medical doctor who had been affiliated with Harvard and Columbia until recently joining Samsung, sent me feedback in which he insightfully compared the Korean enigmas with American culture. As for the first enigma concerning candlelight vigils, Dr. Gurel writes: “There were no candlelight vigils when Ronald Reagan died
Jan. 18, 2011