Most Popular
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Korean industries gauge impact of Biden's steep tariffs on China
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Do Korean doctors make too much money?
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Is FTC's conglomerate listing a boon or bane for Hybe?
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NewJeans to headline palace show
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Coupang's Kim Bom escapes chaebol chief designation again
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Why Korean crime stories typically feature nameless, faceless perpetrators
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Rare mid-May heavy snow warning issued over mountainous areas of Gangwon
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CIO chief nominee to explain allegations at confirmation hearing
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Yoon vows to run country 'rightly' on Buddha's birthday
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Debate on 'no-seniors zones' heats up
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[William Pesek] No sex for Japan’s sexists
Where do they find these people? That question is surely on the minds of many Japanese women today, who have good reason to wonder how Yoichi Masuzoe squeaked into public office even after leaving a sordid paper trail of sexist comments.Did you know that menstruation makes women unfit for governing? Or that female politicians are “middle-aged hags”? These are just a couple of theories attributed to Tokyo’s new governor. You’d think a former health minister would be slightly more attuned to gende
Feb. 11, 2014
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Bill Gates ― the world is better than ever
Bill Gates wants you to feel much better about the future of mankind. Things are looking up, he says, way up.“By almost any measure, the world is better than it has ever been,” Gates wrote in his annual letter chronicling the work of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, through which he plans to give away most of the fortune he made from Microsoft.“People are living longer, healthier lives. Many nations that were aid recipients are now self-sufficient,” he wrote. “By 2035, there will be almost n
Feb. 11, 2014
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[Kim Seong-kon] Takano Kazuaki’s ‘Genocide’ a page-turning novel
Takano Kazuaki’s novel “Genocide” is a page-turner. Like Michael Bay’s fast-paced movies, Takano’s novel is so action-packed and thrilling that I could not put it down until I finished the last page. Takano’s experience studying film in L.A. and working with renowned director Kihachi Okamato has undoubtedly shaped his mesmerizing narrative technique. Indeed, the pleasure of reading “Genocide” primarily comes from its beautiful merging of literature and film; the novel manages to explore deep lit
Feb. 11, 2014
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For better or for worse, women reach foul-language equality
WASHINGTON ― The recent brief dust up (let’s hope it’s brief) over Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland’s use of the F- word as an epithet aimed at the European Union does highlight the dramatic change of culture in women in public life, including the highest ranks of the government.While this is a scene that always has been dominated by men, more and more women are breaking through the vaunted glass ceiling to assume important roles in public and corporate affairs. In the process, howev
Feb. 11, 2014
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Hollande’s vacuous ideological rebranding
To the French, the Francois Hollande who arrived in the U.S. for a state visit Tuesday sounds quite different from the man they elected president 21 months ago.Back then, he castigated the world of finance as being “my real enemy,” promised to upend European economic austerity, and proudly declared: “I am a socialist.”Today, he has made peace with the banks and is advocating a new business-friendly plan to reduce the cost of social programs for employers. Rather than expanding the economy, he ha
Feb. 11, 2014
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[Park Sang-seek] Where are Korean intellectuals?
In South Korea today, all kinds of extremism are rampant. They are instigated by two extreme political forces: conservative and progressive. On the other hand, the print and electronic mass media is also divided into the two opposing ideological camps and is trying to “indoctrinate” the general public. Under these tense circumstances, ordinary people are confused and easily manipulated by these political forces and the mass media. These extremist conservative and progressive forces blame each ot
Feb. 10, 2014
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Why there’s no outcry over inequality in U.S.
People ask me all the time why we don’t have a revolution in America, or at least a major wave of reform similar to that of the Progressive Era or the New Deal or the Great Society.Middle incomes are sinking, the ranks of the poor are swelling, almost all the economic gains are going to the top, and big money is corrupting our democracy. So why isn’t there more of a ruckus?The answer is complex, but three reasons stand out.First, the working class is paralyzed with fear it will lose the jobs and
Feb. 10, 2014
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[Joseph E. Stiglitz] U.S. economic malaise caused by flawed policies
NEW YORK ― Soon after the global financial crisis erupted in 2008, I warned that unless the right policies were adopted, Japanese-style malaise ― slow growth and near-stagnant incomes for years to come ― could set in. While leaders on both sides of the Atlantic claimed that they had learned the lessons of Japan, they promptly proceeded to repeat some of the same mistakes. Now, even a key former U.S. official, the economist Larry Summers, is warning of secular stagnation.The basic point that I ra
Feb. 10, 2014
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Will Hollande make American women swoon?
Yes, yes, many important economic and foreign policy issues await discussion by the leaders of the U.S. and France during President Francois Hollande’s state visit to the White House on Tuesday.But in their appearances together and at the dinner in the Frenchman’s honor, one question will cross many people’s minds: What in the world do women see in him?This isn’t a question that would be asked about the buff and almost ostentatiously uxorious Barack Obama. We’re talking about the “short man with
Feb. 10, 2014
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Bangladesh’s democracy stands at a crossroads
BRUSSELS ― In the course of just a few weeks, Bangladesh’s fragile democracy ― which had made substantial social and economic progress in recent years ― has deteriorated dramatically. The general election on Jan. 5, which Bangladesh’s Western partners had hoped would consolidate its democratic credentials, was marred by violent protest and the refusal by the European Union and the United States to send observers, following the decision by the Bangladesh National Party, the country’s main opposit
Feb. 10, 2014
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[David Ignatius] A secretary on a mission
WASHINGTON ― Secretary of State John Kerry was trying to choose his words carefully in talking about his negotiations for a comprehensive nuclear deal with Iran and a “framework agreement” between Israelis and Palestinians. As recent experience has shown, one loose statement from Kerry ― say, about the risk of a boycott of Israel if the peace talks fail ― can mean days of damage control. But Kerry isn’t very good at dissembling, and he answered some questions even after saying he shouldn’t. It w
Feb. 9, 2014
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Japan gets its very own Fox News
You know your reputation in North Asia has hit rock bottom when a dictator who recently executed his uncle thinks you’re dangerous. Kim Jong-un’s comparison of Shinzo Abe to Adolf Hitler should prompt a moment of solemn reflection for Japan’s leader. Yes, the Dear Leader isn’t the most sober political observer. (Some reports claimed he did away with his dear uncle and No. 2, Jang Song-thaek, by feeding him alive to rabid dogs.) But this is only the latest Hitler comparison Abe has attracted rece
Feb. 9, 2014
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[Yu Kun-ha] Korea can hardly afford another year of impasses
The two main political parties are relapsing into confrontational mode over the National Intelligence Service’s alleged election-meddling scandal, raising concerns that the ongoing National Assembly session may be disrupted. The scandal has reemerged as a burning issue following the court’s acquittal on Thursday of Kim Yong-pan, a former Seoul police chief who was indicted on charges of hampering a police probe into the allegations that the spy agency had meddled in the 2012 presidential electio
Feb. 9, 2014
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Republicans discover evidence of jobs crisis
The U.S. has been in a jobs emergency since at least 2008. The cause of the crisis ― too little demand ― isn’t mysterious, and neither are the solutions. We could invest in infrastructure to create construction jobs. We could give tax breaks to employers who hire new workers. We could restore the payroll tax cut to workers so they have more money to spend. We could help state and local governments hire back some of the employees they laid off during the recession. Macroeconomic Advisers, an econ
Feb. 9, 2014
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A happier ending for IMF reform?
NEWPORT BEACH ― Despite an elegant solution that involved no new commitments of resources, the U.S. Congress has refused to take up a long-delayed funding proposal for the International Monetary Fund. In the process, it derailed a multilateral agreement that was hammered out back in 2010 ― ironically, in the eyes of the rest of the world, with U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration taking a leading role. And it did so at a time when financial disruption in emerging economies is reminding t
Feb. 9, 2014
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[Melvyn Krauss] Europe needs Fed’s medicine
One of the great ironies of the post-Lehman Brothers financial crisis is that the euro, a currency much of Wall Street thought unable to survive the storm, became a haven. The reason was simple enough: The European Central Bank was the only one in a major developed economy to abstain from quantitative easing. By refusing to follow the U.S. Federal Reserve, the Bank of England and Bank of Japan in flooding markets with the currency that it managed, the ECB ensured that the euro remained strong, e
Feb. 7, 2014
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Can this man save Asian democracy?
One might well despair of democracy in Southeast Asia, judging by the events of recent weeks: crackdowns on protesters in Cambodia, anti-Christian attacks in Malaysia and anti-Muslim riots in Myanmar, an electoral civil war in Thailand. That makes the fate of Joko Widodo important far beyond the confines of Jakarta, the sprawling megacity he currently runs. Polls show the genial “Jokowi,” as he is universally known, to be the overwhelming favorite in Indonesia’s presidential elections, scheduled
Feb. 7, 2014
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[David Ignatius] The limits of cyberspace?
MUNICH ― Edward Snowden’s supporters have portrayed him as the champion of Internet freedom. But when senior European and American experts privately discuss the future of cyberspace, their fear is that the Internet may be closing, post-Snowden, rather than opening. “We may be the last generation to take joy from the Internet,” because of new boundaries and protectionism, as one American glumly put it.Privacy advocates would argue that any dangers ahead are the fault of the pervasive surveillance
Feb. 6, 2014
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Securing the Sochi Winter Olympics
MOSCOW ― In 2007, when Russian President Vladimir Putin traveled to Guatemala City to support his country’s bid to host this year’s Winter Olympics in Sochi, he knew that winning would be the easiest step in the process. Many joked that only Russia would propose a subtropical seaside resort for a winter-sports competition. But, while concerns about a lack of snow in the surrounding mountains, or about Russia’s ability to build the needed infrastructure in time, have gradually receded since Russi
Feb. 6, 2014
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Need for cool heads
Inter-religious incidents in Malaysia occur intermittently, but have usually been settled without much fuss. The belief that religious tolerance is the foundation of inter-communal understanding is dissolving, however, to judge from the hardening of positions over the “Allah” issue. The dispute over its proper use is taking on undertones that, if left unchecked, could undermine the basis upon which a multi-religious, multicultural society organizes itself.The Allah dispute was foremost a doctrin
Feb. 6, 2014