Most Popular
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Jimin of BTS, actor Song Da-eun suspected to be dating, again
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What's next for the government's push in quota hike?
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Trump may like to 'solve' N. Korean nuclear problem if reelected: ex-official
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Woman falls to death from acquaintance's home after exhibiting ‘unexplained' behaviors
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‘Malice should not undermine the system, social order,’ says Hybe's Bang
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N. Korea slams planned S. Korea-US military drills, warns of 'catastrophic aftermath'
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[Robert J. Fouser] Social attitudes toward language proficiency
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N. Korea fires short-range ballistic missiles toward East Sea: JCS
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[Graphic News] How much do Korean adults read?
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N. Korea says it test-fired tactical ballistic missile with new guidance technology
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Setting up unelected Thai government not possible
The idea of using the Constitution’s Article 7 to set up an unelected government to help pull the country out of the current political crisis is impossible both legally and practically.The anti-government protesters and some senators have been working hard to twist the Constitution so they can topple the government. In fact, some senators are even trying to get their newly appointed Speaker to call on His Majesty to appoint a new premier. They believe they can apply Article 7 to give their actio
May 15, 2014
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Is $2 per day right measure for defining poverty?
Governments world over take measures to lessen poverty and develop such policies which ensure sustainable supply of necessary food and other livelihood goods to the vulnerable.However, the main problem in the eradication of poverty is the definition of poverty. Many governments measure poverty by just setting a poverty line in terms of number of dollars earned by a person. For example, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar recently declared a person will be poor who earns less than $2 per day. He said the
May 15, 2014
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Limits of dynastic politics seen in Indian elections
India’s just-concluded parliamentary elections have shown up the limits of dynastic politics to the country’s ruling Congress party, dominated by the Gandhi family that has produced three prime ministers.The party’s likely response to the crisis: More of the same.“We do not place much trust in the exit polls since they have been pretty wrong in the past,” said a serving Cabinet minister and senior Congress party source.“But if there is going to be a debacle, it will be the responsibility of the
May 15, 2014
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[Ban Ki-moon] Reviving hope for South Sudan
By the end of this year, half of South Sudan’s 12 million people will either be in flight, facing starvation or dead. That was the shocking but all too real prognosis presented to me on arrival Tuesday in Juba, the nation’s capital.Over the last five months, this newest of nations, and one of the world’s poorest, has been plunged into a maelstrom of violence that has displaced more than 1.2 million people and raised the specter of ethnic cleansing. With more than 4 million already desperately hu
May 14, 2014
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Quit playing games with Benghazi
The deaths of four Americans ― including Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens ― in Benghazi, Libya, in September 2012 was a tragic (though sadly not unprecedented) loss of life as well as an indictment of security measures at the U.S. mission there. But Benghazi isn’t a mystery that needs to be plumbed by yet another congressional investigation.Benghazi has already been investigated by the independent Accountability Review Board and several congressional committees, including four House panels and
May 14, 2014
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[Kim Myong-sik] Safety slighted in survival-oriented environment
A few weeks ago, placards with colored block letters appeared at the front and rear gates of my apartment complex: “Congratulations (for) Passing the Precision Safety Checkup for Reconstruction!” Similar signs on large white sheets were also posted on the walls and fences of nearby apartments. It is not clear who posted them but security guards say that the apartment management office did the advertising. Of course, I know what the placards mean and why the landlords felt justified spending mone
May 14, 2014
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U.S. Republicans do the climate change dance
Last week, the White House issued a new and alarming edition of its national report on climate change. How did leading Republicans respond?Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, the GOP’s leader in the Senate, scoffed at President Obama for “talking about the weather,” dismissing the issue as a hobbyhorse of “liberal elites ... who leave a giant carbon footprint and then lecture everybody else about low-flow toilets.”After pointing out that the president is “not a meteorologist,” Sen. Marco Rubio, R-
May 14, 2014
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China’s dangerous college graduate glut
Even during China’s most feudal phases, higher education has offered a reliable means of meritocratic advancement. Well into the 1990s, the limited number of university graduates meant that all of them were virtually assured places among the economic elite.As China tries to evolve from “the workshop of the world” into a more technologically advanced service economy, however, a swelling glut of graduates is threatening this age-old compact. This year alone, Chinese universities are expected to pr
May 14, 2014
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[Lee Jae-min] Virtual battlefields on the rise
How would you define “air force pilot?” One might respond that an air force pilot is a soldier in the cockpit of a jet fighter flying through enemy airspace, under attack from surface-to-air missiles and antiaircraft guns. The advent of the drone age is now changing the definition and has also brought forth new questions. Air force operators of drones (officially dubbed “Unmanned Aerial Vehicles”) are now being categorized by some countries, including the United States since 2009, as military pi
May 13, 2014
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The economist who can rescue India
Few central bankers have had as much success in so short a period as India’s Raghuram Rajan.Eight months ago, when Rajan took over as head of the Reserve Bank of India, the rupee was in a free fall, speculators were betting on a debt crisis, and economists buzzed about India being the first BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) nation to have its credit rating cut to junk. Today, India’s central bank is back to battling more conventional foes such as inflation, not financial Armageddon, thanks
May 13, 2014
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[Kim Seong-kon] Call for a long memory span and professionalism
When the issues of responsibility and failure become the primary concern of our society, the memory of the tragic Sewol disaster will surely haunt us. Even though our beloved young children who died in that ill-fated ferry forgive us and take us in, we cannot ever forget our unbearable guilt. Indeed, the enormous gulf of guilt cannot be bridged, no matter how hard we try to atone. Even though we are grief-stricken, we will soon forget the disaster as usual because we have an incredibly short mem
May 13, 2014
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Can Asians think?: Still a relevant question
“Can Asians Think?” is a provocative book written in 1998 by the Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, Kishore Mahbubani, a prolific and brilliant thinker. The book is a combative rebuttal of the idea that the dominant Western (read American) ideas are universalist, arguing that the Rest (of the World) has a lot to teach the West.Rereading it after more than 16 years, the questions raised by Mahbubani are as relevant as ever. Personally, I foun
May 13, 2014
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Battle for free speech neither lost nor won
Twenty-five years ago, in 1989, four big things happened that still shape our world. The Berlin Wall came down, and with it the empire that Vladimir Putin would love to restore. The Tiananmen Square massacre launched China on a new trajectory, which has made it what it is today. A then little-known British scientist named Tim Berners-Lee invented what would become the World Wide Web. And Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini delivered his fatwa on Salman Rushdie.On May 4, I sat down with Rushdie in New Yo
May 13, 2014
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How to make death penalty less unfair
Capital punishment is unjust, immoral and prone to error, as most of the world’s developed nations have figured out. But the United States, unwilling to put aside a desire for revenge, continues to kill its own citizens; 32 states and the federal government still impose the death penalty. At the very least, they ought to perform that barbaric task as fairly and humanely as possible.A report released Wednesday by the Constitution Project, a bipartisan think tank that includes both death penalty a
May 12, 2014
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[David Ignatius] Winging it regarding Ukraine
WASHINGTON ― In the chess game that is the Ukraine crisis, it’s increasingly clear that Russian President Vladimir Putin hasn’t thought his way through to the endgame. He’s aggressive in his moves, but also calculating. He wants success, but not at any cost. This complex picture of Putin is emerging as analysts study his latest contradictory moves in eastern Ukraine. After several weeks of encouraging Russian-speaking separatists there, Putin said Wednesday that he wanted them to delay a referen
May 12, 2014
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[Joseph E. Stiglitz] Forward-thinking cities are a beacon of hope
NEW YORK ― Last month, a remarkable gathering occurred in Medellin, Colombia. Some 22,000 people came together to attend the World Urban Forum and discuss the future of cities. The focus was on creating “cities for life” ― that is, on promoting equitable development in the urban environments in which a majority of the world’s citizens already live, and in which two thirds will reside by the year 2050.The location itself was symbolic: Once notorious for its drug gangs, Medellin now has a well-des
May 12, 2014
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America’s enduring global leadership
WASHINGTON ― Many observers have cited the crisis in Ukraine as yet another example of American retrenchment and declining global influence. Some have also interpreted it as evidence of a Russian-led effort to mobilize the major emerging economies ― Brazil, India, and China ― against the West. While there is a kernel of truth in both narratives, each is a gross exaggeration, as is the notion that America’s capacity to shape a secure and prosperous international system is in decline.The U.S. has
May 12, 2014
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Republicans replay 1998 on Benghazi
With political indicators and historical cycles in their favor, Republicans are pushing the envelope to further energize their base with a full assault on the head of the opposition.It’s 1998, and House Republicans have moved to charge President Bill Clinton with an impeachable high crime for lying about sex.Parties that don’t control the White House invariably gain in midterm elections. But the anti-Clinton drive energized Democrats. That year, Republicans failed to gain congressional seats in
May 12, 2014
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[Robert Reich] Right-wing lies about inequality
Even though French economist Thomas Piketty has made an airtight case that we’re heading toward levels of inequality not seen since the days of the 19th-century robber barons, right-wing conservatives haven’t stopped lying about what’s happening and what to do about it.Herewith, the four biggest right-wing lies about inequality, followed by the truth.Lie No. 1: The rich and CEOs are America’s job creators. So we dare not tax them.The truth is, the middle class and poor are the job creators throu
May 11, 2014
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Australia does not need a Tea Party
America’s Tea Party might be excited to see that its tactics are being replicated as far away as Australia. Australian voters shouldn’t be.None other than failed U.S. presidential candidate Rick Santorum has congratulated Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott for his scaremongering about government debt. Santorum calls Abbott a “hard-liner” ― high praise indeed ― who is forcing his conservative vision on a nation that doesn’t know what’s good for it. Yet the more Abbott and his team indulge in T
May 11, 2014