Most Popular
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[Weekender] Geeks have never been so chic in Korea
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N. Korea says it test-fired tactical ballistic missile with new guidance technology
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NewJeans members submit petitions over court injunction in Hybe-Ador conflict
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[News Focus] Mystery deepens after hundreds of cat deaths in S. Korea
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S. Korea's exports of instant noodles surpass $100m for 1st time in April: data
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[Herald Interview] Byun Yo-han's 'unlikable' character is result of calculated acting
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US military commander in S. Korea during Gwangju uprising dies
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[Photo News] Seoul seeks 'best sleeper'
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[KH Explains] Why Korea's so tough on short selling
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US expert says N. Korea might ignore Trump if he returns to White House
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[Robert Reich] The stark reality in America
While all eyes are on Syria and on America’s response, the real economy in which most Americans live is sputtering.More than four years after the recession officially ended, 11.5 million Americans are unemployed, many of them for years. Nearly 4 million have given up looking for work altogether. If they were actively looking, today’s unemployment rate would be 9.5 percent instead of 7.3 percent.The share of the population working or seeking a job is the lowest in 35 years. The unemployment rate
Sept. 13, 2013
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Obama should now mobilize the world
In his White House address last night, President Barack Obama laid out a clear case to Americans for upholding the international taboo against the use of chemical weapons in Syria. He had the right argument ― just the wrong audience.Obama is no longer asking the U.S. Congress for an immediate vote to support missile strikes against Syria, in retaliation for the Aug. 21 sarin-gas attack that killed more than 1,400 civilians near Damascus. Now, the people who face an imminent choice on Syria don’t
Sept. 12, 2013
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[Michael J. Boskin] The stake in China’s reform
STANFORD, California ― The recent trial of Bo Xilai highlighted the biggest challenge facing contemporary China: the corruption and abuse of power by some government and party officials. Until his fall, Bo, a former Politburo member and party leader of Chongqing, a megacity of 30 million people, was a potential candidate for China’s ruling seven-member Politburo Standing Committee.Bo’s trial occurred at what is a critical moment for China. Millions of rural Chinese annually flood into the countr
Sept. 12, 2013
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SCO a force for regional stability
With the 13th summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to be held in Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan, on Friday, a look back at the preceding 12 years will reveal that the SCO has progressed in leaps and bounds and made enormous achievements in the region and beyond.Since it was founded 12 years ago, when Uzbekistan joined the members of the Shanghai Five China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan and the six heads of state signed the Declaration of the Establishment of the Shang
Sept. 12, 2013
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Those deemed unwelcome are simply that: unwelcome
Mark Chen, who openly called Singapore a mini-state resembling a piece of snot while he was foreign minister in 2004, has made another gaffe. Now a lawmaker, Chen called a press conference at the Legislative Yuan together with a couple of his Democratic Progressive Party colleagues last Wednesday to blast the Immigration Bureau for restoring efforts to screen people’s political thoughts and to blacklist unwelcome visitors, denying them entry to Taiwan. He said that it hurt Taiwan’s image as a de
Sept. 12, 2013
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[Bharat Jhunjhunwala] Of India’s imports: Swiss chocolates and gold
The immediate reason for the steep fall of the rupee against the dollar is that imports are more than exports. We are getting fewer dollars from our exports while we need more for our imports. The supply of dollars is less than the demand. This is leading to an increase in the price of the dollar vis-a-vis the rupee. The government believes that reduction of imports will solve the problem. The focus is especially on reducing gold imports that are considered “unproductive.” It is incorrect, howev
Sept. 12, 2013
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Russia’s dangerously appealing Syria proposal
If Syria follows through on its apparent agreement to submit its chemical weapons to international control and then destroy them, it will be a stroke of luck akin to genius for one of the more inept episodes of U.S. foreign policy.There is good reason to be skeptical of Syria’s declaration, which follows a Russian proposal, which was born of an American gaffe ― namely, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s “rhetorical” response, as his spokeswoman put it, to a reporter’s question about what Syria
Sept. 11, 2013
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[David Ignatius] On Syria, the plot thickens
WASHINGTON ― When the ancient Greek or Roman playwrights had painted themselves into a corner, plot-wise, they sometimes resorted to the device known as the deus ex machina, in which one of the gods was hoisted over the stage and dropped in to resolve the otherwise inchoate drama. Something similar happened this week with Syria. The drama had progressed into a mix of international tragedy and domestic political bathos. President Obama’s threat of military action against Syria was right in princi
Sept. 11, 2013
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America’s Islamist allies of convenience
NEW DELHI ― In just one decade, the United States has intervened militarily in three Muslim-majority countries and overthrown their governments. Now the same coalition of American liberal interventionists and neoconservatives that promoted those wars is pushing for punitive airstrikes in Syria without reflecting on how U.S. policy has ended up strengthening Islamists and fostering anti-Americanism. Indeed, the last “humanitarian intervention” has clearly backfired, turning Libya into a breeding
Sept. 11, 2013
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Putin’s hypocrisy on Syria is galling
Vladimir Putin may be the world’s most hypocritical leader.The debate over the Syrian chemical weapons attack has brought this into sharp focus. The Russian president has repeatedly called the idea that the Syrian government carried out the attack “absurd” and “utter nonsense.”That leaves only one alternative: Syrian rebels did it ― an idea that is absurd, utter nonsense. First of all, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is already responsible for the brutal killing of more than 100,000 of his own
Sept. 11, 2013
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[Peter Singer] Internet access for all: A dream for digital age
PRINCETON, New Jersey ― Fifty years ago, Martin Luther King dreamed of an America that would one day deliver on its promise of equality for all of its citizens, black as well as white. Today, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has a dream, too: he wants to provide Internet access to the world’s 5 billion people who do not now have it.Zuckerberg’s vision may sound like a self-interested push to gain more Facebook users. But the world currently faces a growing technological divide, with implications
Sept. 11, 2013
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Tokyo reaches for 1964 Olympic magic
Shinzo Abe’s joy at winning the 2020 Summer Olympics for Japan must have been deeply personal. His grandfather, Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi, brought the 1964 Olympics to Tokyo. That event confirmed Japan’s phoenixlike rise from defeat in World War II. Its bullet trains, avant-garde stadiums and neon-lit skyline advertised a country and an economy prepared to take the lead in Asia and indeed the world.Pundits are already predicting a similar rebirth for Abe’s Japan after two decades of deflatio
Sept. 10, 2013
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[Ian Bremmer] Syria poses G-Zero problem
NEW YORK ― The G20 has concluded its meetings and dinner discussions of what to do about charges that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has used poison gas to kill more than 1,400 of his own people. France, Britain, Turkey, and Canada expressed varying degrees of support for U.S. President Barack President Obama’s call for military action, while Russian President Vladimir Putin called U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry a liar and claimed that the evidence against Assad is inconclusive. Russia and
Sept. 10, 2013
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Crack down on costly, improper farm payments
Officials at the U.S. Department of Agriculture must be glad summer is winding down. It’s been a rough few months as federal auditors have issued two reports that found problems with administration of the nation’s bloated farm bill.Agencies erroneously awarded millions of dollars, and because of poor documentation, many recipients will never be found. Both the department and Congress have roles to play in reducing future incidents.The first audit came in June. The Government Accountability Offic
Sept. 10, 2013
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Reinvention time for Australia’s Abbott
If ever an election was lost not won, it was the weekend’s vote in Australia. Exhausted by the Labor Party’s feuding, the country ditched Kevin Rudd’s government and elected the Liberal-National coalition led by Tony Abbott. The new prime minister, once seen as gaffe-prone and unelectable, has said he’ll grow into the role. He’d better, or it won’t be long before Australia regrets its choice.To call the coalition’s platform weak would be generous. Mostly, it was empty ― and its few specific idea
Sept. 10, 2013
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A failure of leadership in handling Assad
In November 2001, George W. Bush issued a warning to Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and other rogue nations: “If they develop weapons of mass destruction that will be used to terrorize nations, they will be held accountable. And as for Saddam Hussein, he needs to let inspectors back in his country, to show us that he is not developing weapons of mass destruction.”Political folklore holds that Bush rushed the nation into the Iraq war. But this warning came nearly 17 months before the U.S. invasion
Sept. 10, 2013
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[Kim Seong-kon] Is Korea a republic of jealousy?
“What’s the secret of South Korea’s economic success?” This is the question I am frequently asked whenever I encounter foreign public officials at the Korea International Cooperation Agency or the Central Officials Training Institute. I tell them that the key to our success is our strategy of manufacturing electronics and automobiles, and the creation of an export-oriented economy. Then I always add that behind Korea’s fantastic success are the Korean people’s diligence, dedication and determina
Sept. 10, 2013
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Stand firm against use of chemical weapons
For a war-weary nation still feeling the tragic effects of two hard-fought foreign conflicts, the very thought of intervening militarily in another nation’s chaos should give us pause.And that is exactly what is happening as Americans of all walks of life ― from those meeting on Capitol Hill to the ones gathered around kitchen tables and water coolers ― debate whether the United States should strike at the Syrian regime in retaliation for a chemical weapons attack on its own people.The president
Sept. 9, 2013
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[J. Bradford DeLong] A central bank’s primary role
BERKELEY, California ― Broadly speaking, for at least 115 years (and possibly longer) ― that is, at least since the publication of the Swedish economist Knut Wicksell’s “Geldzins und Guterpreis” (Interest and Prices) in 1898 ― economists have split into two camps with respect to what a central bank is and the purposes it should serve.One camp, call it the Banking Camp, regards a central bank as a bank for bankers. Its clients are the banks; it is a place where banks can go to borrow money when t
Sept. 9, 2013
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Summers could face a bruising confirmation fight
Throughout the Federal Reserve’s 100-year history, the Senate has generally deferred to the president’s choice of leader for the central bank. If Larry Summers is picked for the job, however, the debate around his nomination would be unlike any that has come before.For reasons that make a great deal of political sense, some Republicans and more Democrats will resist the nomination. Such a roll of the dice by the Barack Obama administration could have short-term unsettling consequences for financ
Sept. 9, 2013