Most Popular
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Court refuses injunction on medical school expansion
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Is NewJeans headed for a long 'break'?
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Jimin of BTS, actor Song Da-eun suspected to be dating, again
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Police raid popera singer Kim Ho-joong's house over hit-and-run suspicions
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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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Kepco to raise electricity prices as total debt soars past W200tr
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Woman falls to death from acquaintance's home after exhibiting ‘unexplained' behaviors
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N. Korea slams planned S. Korea-US military drills, warns of 'catastrophic aftermath'
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N. Korea fires short-range ballistic missiles toward East Sea: JCS
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[Jonathan Eyal] Why crisis in faraway Ukraine matters to Asia
China’s diplomats have every reason to feel satisfied with their handling of the Ukraine crisis.On the one hand, China expressed its support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity, an implicit rebuke to Russia, which seized Ukraine’s Crimea region.But at the same time, Beijing has abstained from all anti-Russian votes at the United Nations, and let it be known that it won’t be supporting anti-Russian sanctions.Beijing’s determination to have its cake and eat it, to be caught neither on Russia’s sid
April 3, 2014
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[David Ignatius] U.S. may expand Syrian aid
WASHINGTON ― The Obama administration, stung by reversals in Ukraine and Syria, appears to have decided to expand its covert program of training and assistance for the Syrian opposition, deepening U.S. involvement in that brutal and stalemated civil war.The White House announced that President Obama discussed “the crisis in Syria” along with other subjects when he met Friday in Riyadh with Saudi King Abdullah, but the statement didn’t mention any details of the stepped-up Syria assistance progra
April 2, 2014
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Did America lose its libido in recession?
The Census Bureau reported last week that the financial crisis, aside from wrecking the economy, also helped drive down U.S. fertility rates to levels not seen since the late 1990s. The number of births for every 1,000 women aged 15 to 44 has dropped, to 62.7 in 2013 from 69.3 in 2007.No shock there. Historical demographers have long recognized that when it comes to fertility, recessions are the equivalent of a cold shower.The best evidence for this comes from the mother of all financial crises:
April 2, 2014
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[Kim Myong-sik] Can ‘sixth industry’ save our rural communities?
Have you ever heard of “the sixth-order industry,” “the senary industry” or simply “the sixth industry?” Some may have, but many haven’t even heard of a fourth or fifth industry. When I first spotted this novel term in a news item, I regretted the poor updating of my small economic glossary, which only contained entries for primary, secondary and tertiary industries. Yet, a box at the end of the article saved me. It kindly explained that the concept is a combination of the first (growing, raisin
April 2, 2014
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Fascism with face of feminism in Europe
NEW YORK ― Western feminism has made some memorable theoretical mistakes; a major one is the frequent assumption that, if women held the decision-making power in society, they would be “kinder and gentler” (a phrase devised for George H.W. Bush in 1988 to appeal to the female vote). Indeed, so-called “second-wave” feminist theory abounds in assertions that war, racism, love of hierarchy, and general repressiveness belong to “patriarchy”; women’s leadership, by contrast, would naturally create a
April 2, 2014
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Why political partisans don’t like facts
To paraphrase an observation attributed to the late Senator Daniel P. Moynihan, people are entitled to their own opinions, not to their own facts. But on some politically charged issues, people’s ideological commitments sometimes settle their judgments about questions of fact.A revealing body of research, coming largely from Yale Law School professor Dan Kahan, finds that “cultural cognition” shapes our reactions to science ― and that our values affect our assessment of purely factual claims, ev
April 2, 2014
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[Lee Jae-min] WTO dispute over rare earths
A WTO dispute settlement panel issued a critical decision on March 26 faulting China for its export quotas and export duties for rare earths, tungsten and molybdenum. These raw materials are essential for the production of key industrial products such as smartphones, electric car batteries and defense-related items.The complaint was lodged by three WTO members ― the United States, the European Union and Japan ― back in June 2012, who argued that Beijing’s export restraints and restrictions of th
April 1, 2014
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Taiwan’s position between U.S. and China
Taiwan’s Ma Ying-jeou is learning a very valuable lesson the hard way: If you want to cozy up to China, it’s best not to be too Chinese about it.The point is being driven home by hundreds of thousands of student protesters, enraged by the Taiwanese president’s attempt to enact a trade pact with China in the dark of night. The deal to open up the island’s service industries is controversial enough. But when Ma reneged on a promise to allow a clause-by-clause review before implementing it, he infu
April 1, 2014
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Chuck Hagel ― the Asia pivot is still on
Russian troops are massing menacingly on Ukraine’s eastern border. The civil war in Syria is still raging, and 33,000 American troops fight on in Afghanistan. So where is Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel headed this week? To Hawaii ― for a meeting with defense ministers from Asia, the region the Obama administration still considers its top foreign policy priority.“Asia is one of the great success stories of the world,” Hagel told me in an interview in his Pentagon office last week. “There is really
April 1, 2014
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Millennials may provide opening for high-speed rail
Two questions: Why doesn’t our nation have more passenger trains? And does the younger generation’s declining interest in driving imply an opening for the expansion of public high-speed rail?Last May the New York Times reported that all of us, and especially the so-called millennials, are driving less. The Times cites a report from U.S. Pirg, a nonprofit advocacy organization, that documents a 6-decade increase in distance driven per capita, and then a surprising 8-year decline in total distance
April 1, 2014
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[Kim Seong-kon] A curious ideological blend
Foreigners are often impressed by the commendable characteristics of the Korean people such as their admirable community spirit, astonishing diligence and warmth. They praise the Korean spirit of dogged persistence, which eventually enables Koreans to accomplish remarkable achievements, both economic and political. Foreigners also admire Koreans’ superb craftsmanship, which has made South Korea one of the best in IT technology.At the same time, however, foreigners are perplexed by some of the pe
April 1, 2014
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Erdogan channels Putin in Turkey
Turkey’s religious conservatives are rejoicing at Sunday’s local-election win for the ruling Justice and Development Party. For the country as a whole, there’s little to celebrate. As Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan made clear in his victory speech, retribution against his enemies and a polarizing presidential election campaign will follow.Sunday’s result is undeniably impressive. The prime minister managed to boost his party’s share of the popular vote to 46 percent from 39 percent, despite
April 1, 2014
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[Trudy Rubin] Help Syrians under siege
When Bashar Assad’s forces gassed the Damascus suburb of Moadamiyeh in August, the fumes penetrated Qusai Zakaria’s apartment within minutes. A female neighbor knocked on his door with two unconscious children, but he couldn’t breathe or talk.The 29-year-old struggled to the street, where women and children were running about wildly and dropping dead; he saw a young teenager with pale blue eyes on the ground “staring at nothing.” Then his heart stopped, and his body was thrown on a pile of corps
March 31, 2014
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Beware the rise of Putin the Terrible
At the moment, our preoccupation is President Vladimir Putin’s next move outside Russia. Will he invade eastern Ukraine? Will he move into Moldova? But even more worrisome than these territorial issues is what Putin may have in mind for Russia itself.The Russian president did not engineer the Ukrainian crisis, but he has exploited it to begin forging something far more dangerous than land grabs: namely, a political arrangement that could secure his rule of Russia for life. The annexation of Crim
March 31, 2014
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Sex is only one way to spoil a news relationship
Sleeping with a source seems like such a transparently bad idea there wouldn’t seem to be much point exploring why journalists shouldn’t do it.But with the Los Angeles Times summarily firing one of its top investigative reporters after he told his bosses he’d had a brief affair with an informant, it seems worthwhile to look at what the limits ought to be in the relations between journalists and sources.Physical intimacy is only one of many powerful off-screen entanglements that can develop amid
March 31, 2014
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[Angela Stent] No more resets in Washington-Moscow relations
WASHINGTON ― With Ukraine in turmoil and the United States and Russia warily eyeing each other’s every move, the world seems to be on the brink of a prolonged confrontation similar to the Cold War. But is it?Russia, accusing the West of supporting a coup d’etat by “fascists” and “terrorists” in Kyiv, has annexed Crimea, tested an inter-continental ballistic missile, and reserved the right to intervene militarily in eastern Ukraine to protect the Russian population there. The U.S. has sanctioned
March 31, 2014
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Crowdfunding is not a scam, it’s market research
Crowdfunding sites such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo represent a classic entrepreneurial phenomenon: Once you roll out your great idea, customers use it in ways you didn’t imagine, and you wind up in a different business than you expected.Kickstarter’s founders wanted to help artists raise money. Indiegogo co-founder Danae Ringelmann pictured aiding capital-strapped small-businesses owners like her parents. Neither intended their site to act as a test market. But, as the rags-to-riches story of
March 31, 2014
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[David Ignatius] Philanthropy with a wallop
WASHINGTON ― Money may be the root of all evil, as the saying goes, but I was reminded last week of the overwhelming good it can do when put to work at a place like the Children’s National Health System here.Big medicine, funded by the wealthiest and most generous philanthropists, is achieving astonishing breakthroughs. I was lucky enough to see some of them on a tour of the Joseph E. Robert Jr. Center for Surgical Care and the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation. Robert die
March 30, 2014
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Obama’s critics aren’t communists
PARIS ― There’s no faster or easier way to shut down legitimate debate than to slap an undesirable label on someone based on their views. Criticize same-sex marriage and you’re a bigot. Take issue with immigration policy and you’re dismissed as a racist. In the latest incarnation of this phenomenon, any conservative who dares to criticize U.S. President Barack Obama’s stance against Russia on the issue of Ukraine runs the risk of being called a Putin-loving communist.Senate Majority Leader Harry
March 30, 2014
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[Yu Kun-ha] Park unveils plans to make unification a bonanza
President Park Geun-hye has recently upended the conventional wisdom about unification of the two Koreas. Thus far, the prevailing view has been that unification would be hugely costly for the South in light of the wide economic gap between the two.Yet Park dismissed this widely accepted view, boldly asserting that unification would be a “bonanza.” She rightly noted that the benefits of unification would be much greater than the costs as it would create immense investment opportunities in the No
March 30, 2014