Most Popular
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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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[Grace Kao] American racism against Stray Kids
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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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NewJeans' members' parents complained to Hybe, email shows
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Controversy brews over shakeup of prosecutors amid probe of first lady
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Suspect behind murder of Korean tourist in Pattaya arrested
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Prosecutors summon pastor involved in Dior bag scandal
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[Lee Jae-min] To err is human, but not granted
What would it be like to watch a live broadcast of a court decision on a highly political territorial dispute with another country? Just ask those who are in Bangkok and Phnom Penh. As the critical decision on the 100-year-old Thai-Cambodian territorial dispute was being rendered two weeks ago by the U.N.’s International Court of Justice in The Hague, the two nations were holding their breath. This proceeding, a sequel to the 1962 dispute between the two at the same court, concerns an 11th centu
Nov. 26, 2013
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In Iran, Obama achieves 50 percent of his goals
U.S. President Barack Obama has had two overarching goals in the Iran crisis. The first was to stop the Iranian regime from gaining possession of a nuclear weapon. The second was to prevent Israel from attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities.This weekend, the president achieved one of these goals. He boxed-in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu so comprehensively that it’s unimaginable Israel will strike Iran in the foreseeable future. Netanyahu had his best chance to attack in 2010 and 2011,
Nov. 26, 2013
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Japan’s losing fight against ‘Goldman Sachs with guns’
Hollywood has long fetishized Japanese gangsters, with their full-body tattoos, missing pinkies and harems of buxom groupies. Ever since Sydney Pollack’s “The Yakuza” in 1974, the colorful mafiosi have provided regular fodder for directors including Ridley Scott and Quentin Tarantino.Curiously, studios are again abuzz with a flurry of Japanese mob projects. Warner Bros. is developing “The Outsider,” about an American prisoner of war who joins the yakuza after World War II. Robert Whiting’s 1999
Nov. 26, 2013
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A response to Catholic priest Park’s remarks
As a Catholic and long-term resident of Korea I feel a need to respond to the remarks made by Catholic priest Park Chang-shin as reported on the front page of your paper on Nov. 25.The statement attributed to Park, “What should North Korea do if South Korea-U.S. military exercises are being carried out (near) the problematic NLL? North Korea needs to open fire. That was the shelling of Yeonpyeongdo Island,” spoken at a Catholic Mass held on Friday, has no place in the Catholic church, and in fac
Nov. 26, 2013
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Hope trumps experience in deal with Iran
The Obama administration has cut an interim nuclear deal with Iran that gravely worries some of America’s strongest allies in the Middle East and even gives pause to some of President Barack Obama’s allies in the U.S. Senate.It’s easy to see what Iran gets out of this: a reprieve from crippling economic sanctions worth some $6 billion to $7 billion in cash.It’s more difficult to figure that Iran views this as the first step toward giving up its nuclear ambitions. Iran will stall some of its deve
Nov. 26, 2013
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[Kim Seong-kon] ‘Life of Pi’ and life of Psy
I often think about how much more interesting the world would be if we could free ourselves from the confines of conventions and see things from different perspectives. For example, we customarily think of refrigerators and televisions as two different things. What if, however, we were to combine the two and create a refrigerator with a built-in TV and MP3 player so people could watch a television drama or listen to their favorite music while cooking in the kitchen? By thinking outside of the bo
Nov. 26, 2013
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[Albert R. Hunt] Iran deal: the least-bad option
Critics of a deal on Iran’s nuclear program, both in the U.S Congress and the Israeli government, need to answer a question: Is there a better alternative?Even before we know all the details of the agreement hammered out in Geneva this weekend, there’s reason to worry about an interim accord that eases a few of the painful economic sanctions imposed on Iran in return for Iran’s freezing its drive to develop nuclear weapons. The Iranian regime has been untrustworthy for decades, and the desire fo
Nov. 25, 2013
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Senate Democrats pull trigger on “nuclear option”
While there may be some bruised feelings and anger left behind in the aftermath, the so-called “nuclear option” unleashed Thursday by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and the Democrats hardly seems worthy of its destructive billing. It means only that from now on in judicial nominations other than those for the Supreme Court, the majority will no longer have to muster 60 votes to win confirmation.That Senate Republicans immediately compared the change in Senate rules to Obamacare ― a non sequit
Nov. 25, 2013
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[Jeffrey Frankel] The U.S. dollar and its rivals
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts ― Since 1976, the U.S. dollar’s role as an international currency has been slowly waning. International use of the dollar to hold foreign-exchange reserves, denominate financial transactions, invoice trade, and as a vehicle in currency markets is below its level during the heyday of the Bretton Woods era, from 1945 to 1971. But most people would be surprised by what the most recent numbers show.There is an abundance of explanations for the downward trend. Since the Vietn
Nov. 25, 2013
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East Asia needs united approach to climate change
The need to respond effectively to climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time, particularly more so in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan. While no one typhoon can be directly linked to climate change, rising global temperatures and warming oceans provide the conditions that fuel these kinds of monster storms. A recent analysis of the economics of climate change in the East Asian countries of People’s Republic of China, Republic of Korea, Japan and Mongolia delivers two clear mess
Nov. 25, 2013
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[David Ignatius] Backstage brawl over a deal
WASHINGTON ― If there’s a fog of war, there can also be a fog of peace ― in which even the negotiators aren’t sure of the consequences of what they’ve done. Some of that murkiness surrounds the bargaining in Geneva to limit Iran’s nuclear program. There’s sharp disagreement among observers about the potential risks and benefits of this seeming breakthrough between Iran and the West after 34 years of hostility. A cautionary historical note comes from Sir Mark Sykes, who negotiated with his French
Nov. 24, 2013
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Climate change makes any disaster global
Historians may look back at Typhoon Haiyan as a turning point in disaster journalism and the politics of climate change. For the first time, an extreme-weather catastrophe in the tropics has shrugged off its “made in Asia” label and gone global.Coverage of storms, floods and droughts usually begins and ends with war-zone style reporting about dire conditions on the ground. The raw numbers of the dead are interwoven with tragic personal histories of survivors who have lost homes and loved ones. T
Nov. 24, 2013
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[Dominique Moisi] Europe’s anti-Europeans look to power
PARIS ― In 2005, two founding members of the European Union, France and the Netherlands, rejected by popular referendum the EU’s proposed constitutional treaty. Two far-right parties from these countries, the French National Front and the Dutch Freedom Party, have now formed an alliance ahead of the European Parliament elections in May 2014. They hope to attract likeminded parties in other EU countries and form a parliamentary bloc powerful enough to slay “the monster of Europe,” as Geert Wilder
Nov. 24, 2013
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Syd Field gave writers a voice and studios a kit
“Syd Field died today,” I tell my son.“Who’s Syd Field?” he asks.“He came up with a theory that there was a formula that was used in every great screenplay, and if you followed that formula, then you could write a good screenplay.”“He made writing math?” My son squinched up his nose in disgust. Writing is a pleasure for my son and math is not. And there lies the rub with Syd Field.Here is the man who put the first book of film anatomy on the desks of every wannabe film maker. He showed us a diff
Nov. 24, 2013
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Chile versus Argentina in quality of life
BUENOS AIRES/SANTIAGO ― Economists often compare similar economies to isolate the impact of a particular difference. This approach provides a compelling picture of the role of specific factors in driving or undermining an economy’s success.For example, despite their common historical and cultural roots, North and South Korea are very different societies. The former has a considerably lower standard of living, owing to its communist government and centrally planned economy, which contrast sharply
Nov. 24, 2013
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[Joel Brinkley] Worldwide water shortages
Get ready for the water wars.Most of the world’s population takes water for granted, just like air ― two life-sustaining substances. After all, the human body is nearly two-thirds water.But a Hindustan Times blogger said that in India right now, as in so many other places around the globe, drinkable water has become such a “precious commodity” that it’s dragging the world into “water wars to follow the ones for the control of fuel oil.”Climate change is drying up lakes and rivers almost everywhe
Nov. 22, 2013
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Democrats should end quest for Kennedy’s camelot
When she was 22, the future Jacqueline Kennedy won a Vogue contest with an essay in which she dreamed of being “a sort of Overall Art Director of the Twentieth Century.” As first lady, she proved herself a genius at visual persuasion. She crafted her own image, refined her husband’s, re-created the White House’s, and even shaped America’s abroad.Her most evocative and enduring image-making came when John F. Kennedy was assassinated, 50 years ago this week. She art-directed the funeral’s pageantr
Nov. 22, 2013
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[Robert B. Reich] Henry Ford’s lesson for Walmart
Walmart just reported shrinking sales for a third straight quarter. What’s going on? Explained William S. Simon, the CEO of Walmart, referring to the company’s customers, “Their income is going down while food costs are not. Gas and energy prices, while they’re abating, I think they’re still eating up a big piece of the customer’s budget.”Walmart’s CEO gets it. Most of Walmart’s customers are still in the Great Recession, grappling with stagnant or declining pay. So, naturally, the company’s sal
Nov. 21, 2013
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U.S. plan for Libyan military training is a mistake
PARIS ― The U.S. has accepted a proposal by Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan to train as many as 7,000 conventional Libyan soldiers plus counterterrorist forces. What an exceedingly bad idea. This could put the Obama administration’s Hope-and-Change bus on the road to a potential new fiasco in Libya. Think Benghazi ― except everywhere.Speaking at the Reagan Presidential Library in California last week, the man who led the mission to kill Osama bin Laden, Admiral William McRaven of the U.S. Speci
Nov. 21, 2013
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[Ravi Velloor] Asia must prepare for the next horror to come
“Thy hand, great Anarch! lets the curtain fall; And universal Darkness buries All.”Thus concludes Alexander Pope’s The Dunciad.Written in the early 18th century, the three-book poem follows the progress of the goddess Dulness as her minions bring destruction, decay and bestiality to the land.Perhaps Dulness was in full cry over the predominantly Catholic Philippines last week. How else but allegory to make sense of the malevolent power that laid waste to several provinces in this Southeast Asian
Nov. 21, 2013