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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[KH Explains] Why Korea's so tough on short selling
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US military commander in S. Korea during Gwangju uprising dies
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Actors involved in past controversies return first via streaming service originals
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[Photo News] Seoul seeks 'best sleeper'
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[Eli Park Sorensen] Alienation and emancipation of the self
In the “Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844,” Karl Marx outlines a theory of the bleak consequences of modern industrialization ― the experience of being alienated from one’s work, one’s relations, and ultimately oneself. No longer in control of their work or products, Marx argues, the workers are reduced to replaceable components in a colossal social machine. Building on this analysis, the Hungarian philosopher Georg Lukacs viewed the spread of alienation in the beginning of the 20th
Aug. 25, 2013
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Responding to the massacre in Syria
It may take awhile to determine whether, as the opposition claims, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons to slaughter more than 1,000 of his citizens. If he has, this brazen atrocity not only changes the U.S. calculus in the region but also requires a clear response from the civilized world. Words and resolutions would not do for a massacre of this scale. Ideally the United Nations Security Council would sanction limited international military action to punish and deter Assad. I
Aug. 23, 2013
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[Robert Reich] The loss of the public good
Congress is in recess, but you’d hardly know it. This has been the most do-nothing, gridlocked Congress in decades. But the recess at least offers a pause in the ongoing partisan fighting that’s sure to resume in a few weeks.It also offers an opportunity to step back and ask ourselves what’s really at stake.A society ― any society ― is defined as a set of mutual benefits and duties embodied most visibly in public institutions: public schools, public libraries, public transportation, public hospi
Aug. 23, 2013
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U.S. choices on Egypt run from bad to worse
The bloody images coming out of Egypt invite Americans to pick white hats and black hats: to punish the generals who staged a coup and, rather than listen to American pleas for restraint, killed many demonstrators. Or to hold our noses and work to restore a democratically elected President Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, no matter how much we disagree with his Islamist agenda.In determining what America should do, there’s no satisfying answer. But there is an obvious one: The U.S. shou
Aug. 22, 2013
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[Joel Brinkley] Bitter disputes over sea rights
TAIPEI ― The South China Sea controversy continues to roil the waters. China claims to own almost every square inch, including every island and natural feature in this vast sea ― despite angry protestations from its neighbors.Well, a similar debate simmers just north, in the East China Sea, which borders Taiwan, China and Japan. There, a group of small islands known as the Diaoyu if you’re Chinese, or Senkakus if you’re Japanese, are also objects of covetous contestation.Various passive explorat
Aug. 22, 2013
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Ending scourge of discrepant governance
The pork barrel scam ― whose intricate web of ghost projects, fictitious beneficiaries, and fake nongovernment organizations is unraveling before the nation’s eyes ― is a good example of a “discrepant event.”This is a term used in science education to refer to something that happens contrary to expectation, a phenomenon without a visible cause, begging for explanation. I think we may use the concept to describe the kind of governance we have ― a way of doing things for which no one takes respons
Aug. 22, 2013
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China’s granary embezzlers
It is beyond imagination more than 100 officials and staff are under investigation for allegedly embezzling public money after a probe into the Henan branch of the China Grain Reserve Corporation.The probe was launched after the branch’s head fled to the United States last year with money he had embezzled.The Henan branch of the grain reserve reported to the higher authorities that they had bought a certain amount of fresh grain to keep in reserve and sold the grain they had in storage. They the
Aug. 22, 2013
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Warn youths about dangers of Internet addiction
An increasing number of young people are so obsessed with using smartphones and computers that their health and schoolwork are being undermined. Prompt measures should be taken at school and home to deal with this problem.According to a recent survey by a Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry research team, about 520,000 middle and high school students are addicted to the Internet, particularly for online gaming and e-mailing.The survey shows that 9 percent of middle school students and 14 percent
Aug. 22, 2013
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[Kavi Chongkittavorn] Sino-Japan feud grips ASEAN
The intensifying hostility between China and Japan and the increasing mutual distrust between their peoples will have serious ramifications for ASEAN.For the past three decades, the two Asian giants’ stable relations have helped generate huge volumes of trade and investment and propelled the region’s economic progress. So if the current trend in East Asia continues, ASEAN’s ambitious plan to build a community of 630 million people with a single production base will suffer.A recent survey conduct
Aug. 22, 2013
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Can Xi’s crackdown clean up corruption?
The new regime of Chinese President Xi Jinping is turning up the heat on corruption there, and is making sure you can read all about it. Stories of graft, official excess and corporate malfeasance abound, not only in foreign news outlets but also in China’s emboldened domestic publications and social media.Xi, who took office in March, has responded aggressively to public complaints about official misconduct. He has denounced corruption as a threat to the existence of his ruling Communist Party.
Aug. 21, 2013
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[David Ignatius] A Saudi ‘forward’ strategy
WASHINGTON ― Watching Saudi Arabia and other wealthy Gulf states line up behind the bloody counterrevolution in Egypt, you can’t help suspecting that these conservative monarchies are ready to fight to the last Egyptian against the Muslim Brotherhood ― waging what amounts to a proxy war against the regional threat of Islamist extremism. The events of the past few weeks have been the culmination of a trend building since February 2011, when President Hosni Mubarak was pushed from power in what ma
Aug. 21, 2013
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Climate policy facing twin challenges
Climate change presents two distinct problems. The first is linear: A little more warming causes a little more damage. The second is nonlinear: A little more warming pushes some part of the climate system past a tipping point and the damage becomes catastrophic.We need smart climate policies that address both problems, so we can slow incremental damage while also taking out an insurance policy against the growing risk of catastrophic damage.The Arctic is a prime example of a potential tipping po
Aug. 21, 2013
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Matching technology with humanitarian goals
The benefits of technology are pervasive. We are flooded with the fruits of technological progress ― the iPad, iPod, electronic gadgets like smartphones, smart TVs, etc. The spread of technical progress is like a double-edged sword, creating winners and losers. The Schumpeterian perspective on technological progress under capitalism is well discussed in economics where it endangers creative destruction. Recently, in a book by Evgeny Morozov named “To Save Everything, Click Here: The Folly of Tec
Aug. 21, 2013
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[Kim Myong-sik] Extreme miniskirts challenge idea of voyeur
The dog days of 2013 have gone and the traditional calendar declares “cheoseo,” the withdrawal of heat, on Aug. 23. Koreans who struggled under record-high temperatures hovering near 40 degrees Celsius from the south coast to the DMZ now deserve to be able to relax in the cool air of the early morning and evening hours.A little busier than others will be police, prosecutors and judges who now have to serve justice on the many people who have been arraigned for crimes related to the heat. Of cour
Aug. 21, 2013
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It looks like 1998 all over again in China
Of all the reporting trips I made in my Washington days, flying with Lawrence Summers to Beijing so he could kiss Zhu Rongji’s ring ranks among the most fascinating. Anyone who has spent inside of five minutes with Summers knows he’s not the groveling type. But this was in January 1998, when Summers was deputy secretary of the U.S. Treasury, and Bill Clinton’s White House feared China would devalue the yuan and toss more fuel onto Asia’s already blazing crisis. As we landed in Beijing, Zhu, Chin
Aug. 20, 2013
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[Lee Jae-min] No rest for a busy country
In the heat of the welfare-enhancing policy exploration, at the earliest starting from next year, workers may have one more day off if a public holiday falls on Saturday or Sunday. There are 15 official public holidays in Korea at the moment, and each year 3-4 days on average fall on weekends with no compensatory days off given. Under this system of “letting the chips fall where they may,” the actual number of holidays changes every year and having the full benefit of 15 holidays becomes quite u
Aug. 20, 2013
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The Bank of England’s knockout artist
LONDON ― In Canada, if you say you come from London, the natives often ask if you mean London, Ontario, or London, England. I always find the question somewhat irritating, perhaps revealing the persistence of an arrogant imperial mindset.But soon, perhaps, they will no longer need to ask: in London, we are all Canadians now. With what one commentator described as “his rock star looks and PR charm,” Mark Carney, the former governor of the Bank of Canada, has taken the city by storm in his first w
Aug. 20, 2013
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Pope Francis as CEO
By any standard Pope Francis’ Brazil trip was a great success. Enthusiastic crowds clogged the routes of the papal motorcade and reportedly more than a million people were present for the pope’s final Mass on Copacabana beach. The media no less than Catholic pilgrims seemed enchanted by the new pontiff and his appeals for dialogue, conciliation and social justice.For this pope, who presents himself above all else as a pastor and teacher, the achievements of this first international foray must be
Aug. 20, 2013
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[Kim Seong-kon] Therapy reveals cultural gulf in mental health
Americans are well known to seek clinical therapy when they encounter psychological problems. In fact, American culture, as well as the social system, encourages people to seek therapy for all kinds of issues. For example, if you have an uncontrollable temper, you may be directed to anger management classes. If you have issues with your spouse, you and your spouse will be advised to try marriage counseling. If you are a widow or widower grieving over a deceased spouse, you may be told to try the
Aug. 20, 2013
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[Frida Ghitis] No winners in Egypt’s chaos
It’s nothing short of heartbreaking to remember those heady moments of early 2011, when hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of Egyptians converged on Tahrir Square and stunned even themselves by ending a three-decade-old dictatorship.Gone are the illusions of unity and brotherhood. Gone are the dreams of a smooth, relatively peaceful transition to a democratic system that would make Egyptians proud of their country and command admiration from the rest of the world.Today, the blood-soaked str
Aug. 19, 2013