Most Popular
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Marine Corps commander summoned by CIO for questioning on alleged influence-peddling case
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Debate rages over ‘overly fatty’ samgyeopsal
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[Weekender] Korean psyche untangled: Musok
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40 flights canceled on Jeju Island due to bad weather
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[Eye Interview] 'If you live to 100, you might as well be happy,' says 88-year-old bestselling essayist
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From fake prostitution ring to nonexistent robber, prank calls hamper police
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N. Korea slams US, other countries for seeking alternative to UN sanctions monitoring panel
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Missing S. Korean traveler in Paris found safe after 2 weeks
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Defense chiefs of US, Australia, Japan decry NK-Russia military cooperation
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S. Korea, China, Japan in talks to hold trilateral summit May 26-27: official
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[Park Sang-seek] Live up to, not just uphold, Mandela’s spirit
Nelson Mandela, the symbol of peace and harmony, has left the world and the whole world has vowed to live up to his spirit and ideals. But many countries continue to suffer from conflict and discord. His message to the world can be summarized in three words: freedom, equality and solidarity. These three ideals are the same as those of the French Revolution and the first three universal values stated in the U.N. Millennium Declaration. Mandela’s view is that the U.N. should be the foundation of w
Dec. 18, 2013
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Obama’s trade deal with Asia: Not so fast
The free-trade agreement being negotiated by the U.S. and 11 other nations is considered the economic keystone of the Barack Obama administration’s much-vaunted “pivot” to Asia. If successful, the Trans-Pacific Partnership will liberalize a $2 trillion market, reinforce U.S. standing as the lead promoter of “21st century” trade practices, and revolutionize economic relations between the U.S. and its most important ally in the region, Japan.Given the complexities of negotiations involving economi
Dec. 18, 2013
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Obamacare: A bad deal for young age groups
By now, young adults have heard that they are key to making Obamacare work, and the Obama administration has spent ample resources trying to convince them that the law is a good deal for them.But they don’t seem to be buying in. A new Harvard poll shows that 57 percent of young adults polled disapprove of the health care law. And with good reason: The law will impact young adults’ wallets far more negatively than those of older adults in two big ways.1. Higher premiums. First, it’s the Obamacare
Dec. 18, 2013
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[David Ignatius] U.S. causes anxiety among allies
DUBAI ― Is President Obama an American version of Mikhail Gorbachev, the leader whose well-intentioned reforms led to the demise of his country’s global power? That’s the anxiety a traveler hears these days from worried U.S. allies, and it’s mirrored in a provocative article published recently. This concern about erosion of American power is powerfully stated in “The End of History Ends” by Walter Russell Mead in The American Interest. Mead warns that Obama’s attempts to disengage from the over-
Dec. 17, 2013
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‘Kill switch’ could curb smartphone thefts
Every time you pull out your smartphone in public, you’re making yourself a target.The mobile gadgets are easy to spot, easy to steal and fetch hundreds of dollars quickly on the black market.Protect Your Bubble, a company that sells insurance for personal electronics, says 113 smartphones are stolen every minute in the U.S. In New York, those thefts account for 14 percent of all crime.Cops have a name for it ― Apple picking ― but the iPhone maker is actually out front in the effort to curb gadg
Dec. 17, 2013
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[Kim Seong-kon] Gambling and sports idioms in American English
Recently, several Korean newspaper columnists have complained that U.S. Vice President Joe Biden’s remarks on the Korea-U.S. relationship were inappropriate. They were especially unpleasant because they thought Biden had compared the Korea-U.S. relationship to gambling. When he was in Korea recently, Biden reportedly said, “The United States never says anything it does not do. It’s never been a good bet to bet against America ... and America will continue to place its bet on South Korea.” One mi
Dec. 17, 2013
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Raising minimum wage is a bad way to help people
Enthusiasm for a big increase in the federal minimum wage is building in the U.S. It’s a shame to see so much energy devoted to a policy that’s not only dubious but also sidelines better ideas.In his State of the Union address in February, President Barack Obama called for an increase in the federal minimum wage to $9 an hour from $7.25. Recently he said he supports a measure that would raise it in stages to a little more than $10. State and local governments across the country have been going a
Dec. 17, 2013
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China should rein in unpredictable N.K. leader
Just when it seemed Hu Jintao’s record as China’s president couldn’t look any worse, Kim Jong-un adds another black mark to his legacy.Last week’s dramatic execution of Kim’s uncle and No. 2 ― the China-friendly Jang Song-thaek ― has many people looking to see how Beijing reacts. China is Kim’s main benefactor and, despite protestations to the contrary, the only government with real leverage over North Korea’s leader. In the weeks to come, current President Xi Jinping should do all he can to wie
Dec. 17, 2013
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[David Miliband] A plan for Syria’s refugees
BEIRUT, Lebanon ― After spending just three days with refugees and aid workers in Lebanon and Turkey, the apocalyptic nature of the Syria crisis is all too apparent: more than 100,000 deaths, nine million people displaced, two million children out of school, diseases like polio resurfacing, and neighboring countries struggling to cope with waves of refugees.Countless heartrending stories of lost husbands, wives, siblings, and children, to say nothing of homes and livelihoods destroyed, provide y
Dec. 16, 2013
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North Korea’s purge message to China: Pay up
Chinese President Xi Jinping must have felt pretty pleased with himself earlier this year, after he dispatched rival and former Politburo member Bo Xilai in a dramatic, humiliating show trial. When it comes to staging purges, though, North Korea’s brash young leader Kim Jong-un has him beat.Kim didn’t just arrest his uncle, Jang Song-thaek, the second-most powerful man in the country. The boy-dictator appears to have had Jang brought out of seclusion in order to arrest him again at a televised l
Dec. 16, 2013
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[Mohamed A. El-Erian] America’s partisan peril undermines economy
NEWPORT BEACH, California ― The United States’ reputation for sound economic policymaking took a beating in 2013. Some of this was warranted; some of it was not. And now a related distorted narrative ― one that in 2014 could needlessly undermine policies that are key to improving America’s economic recovery ― is gaining traction.The 2008 global financial crisis left the U.S. economy mired in a low-level equilibrium, characterized by sluggish job creation, persistently high long-term and youth un
Dec. 16, 2013
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Mastering English ― the impossible dream?
There are over 6,000 international organizations around the world and all of them need a place in which they can set up camp and carry out their mission. Recently the headquarters of the Green Climate Fund, located in Songdo, the new city that is forming near Incheon, was opened to much fanfare with many dignitaries present including President Park Geun-hye, Deputy Prime Minister Hyun Oh-Seok and even World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim. The United States is home to 3,646 international organ
Dec. 16, 2013
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Irrational exuberance overtakes today’s Asia
What does Alan Greenspan have to do with rallies in Indian stocks, hopes for a resurgent Japan and the blind faith that China can grow at a rate of 7 percent forever? More than you’d think.Call it the Greenspanization of Asia. The former chairman’s tenure at the Federal Reserve, from 1987 to 2006, established a new political compact of sorts, whereby governments abdicated responsibilities to unelected central bankers. The “Greenspan put” that flooded markets with cash whenever things got dicey h
Dec. 16, 2013
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[Robert B. Reich] U.S. corruption starts at home
The Justice Department has just obtained documents showing that JPMorgan Chase, Wall Street’s biggest bank, has been hiring the children of China’s ruling elite in order to secure “existing and potential business opportunities” from Chinese government-run companies. “You all know I have always been a big believer of the Sons and Daughters program,” says one JPMorgan executive in an e-mail, because “it almost has a linear relationship” to winning assignments to advise Chinese companies. The docum
Dec. 15, 2013
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The trouble with oil palm trees
What’s so wrong with palm oil, from the palm trees that bear fruit, not coconuts?Well, if you listen to environmentalists and animal-rights advocates along with nutrition and health experts, they’ll tell you it’s something close to poison.Once the United States and other Western countries began condemning and banning trans-fat oils a few years ago, palm oil became a popular substitute. You can find it in shampoo, lipstick, soap and a host of snack and other foods, including some ketchups, margar
Dec. 15, 2013
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[Nina Khrushcheva] Putin’s presidency echoes that of Peron
MOSCOW ― Russian President Vladimir Putin has been compared to many strongmen of the past ― Joseph Stalin, Leonid Brezhnev, and Chile’s Augusto Pinochet, to name a few. But, after nearly 14 years in power, perhaps the best comparison now may be a transgender cross between the former Argentine leader Juan Peron and his legendary wife, Eva (“Evita”).In the early 1940s, Colonel Peron, as minister of labor and secretary of war, was a “gray cardinal” to Argentina’s rulers. Before communism collapsed
Dec. 15, 2013
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Most courageous victory is that of self control
There are times when those who can’t control themselves are held in high esteem and become our leaders. Here are two recent instances of this in the U.S. and Korea. The mayor of San Diego was arrested on the morning of Dec. 10 and now has to wear an electric ankle bracelet for the rest of his life. He was brought in on charges of sexually harassing 19 women in the city government. Of course, he resigned from office and appeared on TV to apologize to the women he wronged as well as to the citizen
Dec. 15, 2013
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How did the 1 percent get ahead so fast?
From 2009 to 2012, the U.S. experienced a significant economic recovery, in which average real income growth jumped by 6 percent. That’s the good news. The bad news is that almost all of that increase ― 95 percent ― was enjoyed by those in the top 1 percent of the income distribution.To appreciate this remarkable finding, set out in an important paper by University of California economist Emmanuel Saez, we need to add some context. From 2007 to 2009, the recession produced a 17.4 percent decline
Dec. 15, 2013
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[David Ignatius] Obama’s pragmatic diplomacy
ABU DHABI ― This has been a year when America re-embraced diplomacy after a frustrating decade of war, displaying a relentlessly pragmatic approach that recalls the days of such deal-making former secretaries of state as Henry Kissinger and James A. Baker III. The secret diplomatic machinations have been dizzying, and sometimes disorienting. President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have opened doors and created opportunities for settling intractable conflicts. But the administration’s t
Dec. 13, 2013
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A report card for U.S. top community organizer
PARIS ― When U.S. President Barack Obama was elected in 2008, it marked the first time that a local “community organizer” had risen to the highest office on the planet. I wasn’t entirely optimistic. Granted, the geopolitical competition (Russia) is also led by a community organizer of sorts, Vladimir Putin, except that the community he was organizing was the Russian domestic intelligence service.At the time, it was hard to see how Obama’s community-organizing background could bode well for Ameri
Dec. 13, 2013