Most Popular
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Hybe-Ador CEO conflict gets messier
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Battery makers ramp up efforts to diversify graphite supply chain
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Seoul vows action over Naver's Line, Yahoo dispute
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[KH Explains] Hyundai Motor’s plan for new landmark keeps hitting bumps
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[LLG] Unseen inheritance: Trauma of transnational adoption 'trickles down' to adoptees' children
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Key S. Korean, USFK special operations officials to hold rare meeting amid NK threats
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Samsung doubles down on Vietnam
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In Beijing, S. Korean top diplomat aims to jumpstart ties with China
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Prosecutors summon pastor involved in Dior bag scandal
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S. Korea, China agree to work for successful trilateral summit with Japan: Seoul ministry
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Obama’s game interventionism no help to Europe
U.S. President Barack Obama, the premature Nobel Peace Prize winner, appears to have finally pried himself away from the gaming console and gone outside for some fresh air. Hopefully he’ll stay there so Europe can recover from its hangover ― and from some of the most egregious, pointless and destructive interventionism in recent times.Obama was supposed to be the anti-interventionist president who was going to focus on creating jobs and making America a more comfy place. The only difference betw
Jan. 11, 2015
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[Ram Garikipati] Corruption and business ethics in Korea
On most occasions, the Korean government latches on to any new international report or study that commends the country, be it on competitiveness, ease of doing business, regulatory reforms or education. However, there has been remarkable silence from bureaucrats and government officials regarding the latest Corruption Perceptions Index recently released by Transparency International.In its much-awaited yearly report, the nongovernment organization ― calling itself the “global coalition against c
Jan. 11, 2015
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Terror in France
Most Americans never encountered the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. But they know today that the magazine was fearless in the face of threats. Fearless to the death.On Wednesday, two masked gunmen stormed into the magazine’s Paris headquarters near the Bastille monument and shot a dozen staffers, including the magazine’s editor. Gunmen allegedly shouting “Allahu akbar!” ― God is great ― also killed two police officers before escaping by car. It was Europe’s worst terror attack since th
Jan. 11, 2015
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Modi’s chauvinism problem
NEW DELHI ― As the New Year dawns, it has become increasingly clear that India’s new government faces a dilemma entirely of its own making ― one that its predecessor never had to confront.Narendra Modi’s election as Prime Minister in May 2014 was initially hailed worldwide as marking the advent of a more business-friendly government in the world’s largest democracy. Encouraged by Modi’s pro-market sound bites ― he vowed to “replace red tape with a red carpet,” declared that the government has “n
Jan. 11, 2015
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[David Ignatius] Learning from the oil market
WASHINGTON ― The recent plunge of oil prices to below $50 a barrel offers the same lessons as previous sharp fluctuations: Energy markets work and politicians who try to steer them almost always get it wrong. It’s ironic that, amid this demonstration of the inexorable power of supply and demand, Congress is beginning its debate on the symbolic issue of the Keystone XL pipeline. The premise on both sides of the aisle is that legislative decisions will shape the supply of crude oil. But 40 years o
Jan. 9, 2015
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Trans-Pacific Partnership is a pending disaster
Republicans, who now run Congress, say they want to cooperate with President Obama and point to the administration’s Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, as the model. The only problem is that the TPP would be a disaster.If you haven’t heard much about the TPP, that’s part of the problem right there. It would be the largest trade deal in history ― involving countries stretching from Chile to Japan, representing 792 million people and accounting for 40 percent of the world economy ― yet it’s been d
Jan. 9, 2015
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[Kim Kyung-ho] Korean society in anger
In the eyes of many psychiatrists here, what put Cho Hyun-ah, a member of the family that owns Korean Air, in her current predicament is her lack of ability to control her anger.She ordered the chief flight attendant to deplane over the way she was served macadamia nuts when the plane she was on was taxiing at a New York airport to depart for Seoul early last month. Cho might have been justified for becoming angry with the crew’s failure to follow what she believed to be the proper procedure for
Jan. 8, 2015
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Kiev’s brutal strategy in eastern Ukraine
In mid-December, President Obama signed into law the Ukraine Freedom Support Act, which, among options for more sanctions against Russia, calls on the White House to provide Kiev with assistance for internally displaced persons as well as to cooperate with international organizations to distribute aid in Ukraine.Such aid is sorely needed in eastern Ukraine. Much of the infrastructure of Donetsk and Luhansk ― the main cities in the Donbass region ― has been destroyed, coal and food supplies are d
Jan. 8, 2015
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[Endy M. Bayuni] No more big-bash weddings
If president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has his way, expect fewer invitations to lavish wedding parties this year. In fact, expect fewer wedding invitations altogether.Administrative and bureaucratic reform minister Yuddy Chrisnandi, at Jokowi’s behest, has issued a circular telling all members of top government echelons, particularly Cabinet ministers and heads of local government, to limit the invitation lists for the weddings of their offspring to no more than 400 names, or a maximum of 1,000 guest
Jan. 8, 2015
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Abenomics package to be put to test
Can Japan pull out of deflation, thereby securing a foothold for reconstructing the national economy?This will likely be the year that the Abenomics economic policy mix, which Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called “the only way” for Japan to overcome deflation, is put to the test.Having the sluggish pace of the business recovery pick up significantly; increasing companies’ growth potential and reining in declines in regional economies outside the megacities; dealing effectively with the problems of t
Jan. 8, 2015
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Do not teach children to be materialistic
A recent survey conducted by a major local Chinese newspaper reveals that Hong Kong primary school children are very materialistic. They equate success with money. Psychologists warn against parents indoctrinating their children with materialistic thoughts.In an environment where many parents preach “money is everything” to their children, young people would dream of becoming rich and living in “luxury” apartments when they grow up. This is exactly what a recent newspaper survey has discovered.D
Jan. 8, 2015
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AirAsia, Indonesia, effective crisis management
In his run for president this year, Joko Widodo pledged to bring greater openness and accountability to Indonesia. As his administration faces its first international crisis, the mysterious crash of an AirAsia jet, he’s proving to be a man of his word.You can tell a lot about a nation from its response to great tragedy, whether it’s Japan’s 2011 Fukushima crisis, Malaysia’s lost Boeing 777 in March or South Korea’s deadly ferry accident in April. So far, Widodo has performed admirably.Since news
Jan. 7, 2015
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[Jeffrey D. Sachs] Krugman and Obama recovery
NEW YORK ― For several years, and often several times a month, the Nobel laureate economist and New York Times columnist and blogger Paul Krugman has delivered one main message to his loyal readers: deficit-cutting “austerians” (as he calls advocates of fiscal austerity) are deluded. Fiscal retrenchment amid weak private demand would lead to chronically high unemployment. Indeed, deficit cuts would court a reprise of 1937, when Franklin D. Roosevelt prematurely reduced the New Deal stimulus and
Jan. 7, 2015
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[Kim Myong-sik] Helping North Korea become a normal state
Thanks to one of my social media-active friends, I saw the Hollywood comedy “The Interview” on my desktop computer on the last day of 2014. With the grisly scene of the young North Korean supreme leader’s fiery death still fresh in my memory, I had an eerie feeling when I watched a live Kim Jong-un deliver his New Year’s address on TV the following day. Korean-American actor Randall Park’s elongated face did not match the round outline of the real Kim’s countenance, but their voices were strange
Jan. 7, 2015
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Cheap oil is rich opportunity for Asia
For China and India, 2015 should be a pivotal year. Both Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have for months been making grand pronouncements about structural change, while moving only timidly to fulfill them. With oil dropping below $50 a barrel, some of the urgency to implement those painful reforms is sure to fade away. So too, however, will the excuses for not acting.Across Asia, the lowest crude prices since 2009 are an almost unmitigated boon. Already, they
Jan. 7, 2015
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Lab safety protocols should factor in human error
Christmas Eve brought the unwelcome news that a lab worker at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may have been exposed to the Ebola virus. It was the latest in a series of similar lapses. Citing such problems, the Obama administration in October suspended some government-funded research projects involving genetic modification of viruses that have the potential to set off a worldwide epidemic. The lapses reported so far have not involved serious injuries or fatalities. But is the lack
Jan. 7, 2015
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[Robert J. Fouser] Predictions for Korea in 2015
Korea struggled in 2014 to come to terms with the immense loss of life in the Sewol ferry accident in April. As Korea enters 2015, the national mood remains gloomy and anxiety hangs in the air. Predictions are risky, but 2015 shows signs of continuing anxiety, but with less gloom.Politics. 2015 marks the third year of President Park Geun-hye’s term. Interest will gradually shift away from the president as politicians position themselves for the next presidential election in December 2017. The pr
Jan. 6, 2015
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Here’s what economics gets right
Criticizing economics for not being scientific enough is a crime of which many of us ― I’ve done it ― are guilty. But there’s a right way to do it and a wrong way to do it. Alex Rosenberg and Tyler Curtain, writing in the New York Times, have done it the wrong way.Here are Rosenberg and Curtain:Over time, the question of why economics has not (yet) qualified as a science has become an obsession among theorists, including philosophers of science like us... The trouble with economics is that it la
Jan. 6, 2015
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[Kim Seong-kon] Insights from outsiders can illuminate us
Recently, I came across an intriguing interview in a Korean daily of an American professor specializing in North Korea. As an outsider, the foreign professor was able to perceive many things that we Koreans are unable to see or recognize. Reading his insightful interview, I came to realize how an outsider can provide a fresh new insight into Korean culture and society, and how we are blind to certain aspects of our society that are inscrutable to foreign eyes.First, the foreign professor thought
Jan. 6, 2015
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Our unrealistic expectations of public figures
A few years ago, Charles Barkley got into a lot of trouble for making the audacious observation that sports figures didn’t need to be role models. Legions of fans and professional journalists (who are simply glorified fans with a byline) were outraged at this attack on the fundamental principle that the person who jumps highest must aim highest, the person who tackles the running back must also be able to tackle life’s problems with grace, the person who hits it out of the park must swing for th
Jan. 6, 2015