Most Popular
-
1
Court refuses injunction on medical school expansion
-
2
Why Korean crime stories typically feature nameless, faceless perpetrators
-
3
Debate on 'no-seniors zones' heats up
-
4
Is NewJeans headed for a long 'break'?
-
5
Jimin of BTS, actor Song Da-eun suspected to be dating, again
-
6
S. Korea, Cambodia forge strategic partnership
-
7
Police raid popera singer Kim Ho-joong's house over hit-and-run suspicions
-
8
[KH Explains] Hyundai-backed Motional’s struggles deepen as Tesla eyes August robotaxi debut
-
9
Trump may like to 'solve' N. Korean nuclear problem if reelected: ex-official
-
10
What's next for the government's push in quota hike?
-
[Robert J. Shiller] Asset bubbles will never end
NEW HAVEN ― You might think that we have been living in a post-bubble world since the collapse in 2006 of the biggest-ever worldwide real-estate bubble and the end of a major worldwide stock-market bubble the following year. But talk of bubbles keeps reappearing ― new or continuing housing bubbles in many countries, a new global stock-market bubble, a long-term bond-market bubble in the United States and other countries, an oil-price bubble, a gold bubble, and so on.Nevertheless, I was not expec
July 24, 2013
-
Putin infiltrating American media, institutions
Russian President Vladimir Putin cares a lot about what you think ― about NSA contractor-turned-defector and Russian asylum seeker Edward Snowden, and pretty much everything else ― to the point of spending $300 million of state funds last year on the external audiovisual service RT, designed primarily to spoonfeed the Kremlin worldview to a global audience. And unearthed records show that’s just the tip of a much more insidious iceberg.Why, you might ask, would an iron-fisted authoritarian care
July 24, 2013
-
Europe’s continental drift
RIMINI, Italy ― You think we have it bad, caught between a stagnant economy and gridlocked politics? Then take a trip to Europe, where the economy is going not sideways but backward ― and the politics are too.Europe’s numbers should be familiar by now, but they’re still awful. In the United States, President Obama’s much-derided stimulus package helped end our recession in 2009; in Europe, with no comparable stimulus, the recession isn’t over. Unemployment in the 17 countries that share the euro
July 24, 2013
-
[Kim Myong-sik] To understand the North, read its constitution
Last week around the July 17 Constitution Day, I read both our Constitution and the constitution of North Korea, the latter rather more carefully. My curiosity about the basic law of the North had in fact been rising as I watched all the extraordinary developments in Pyongyang over the past few years since the death of Kim Jong-il and his son Jong-un’s succession. Rule of law does not seem to be a foremost principle in the other half of the Korean Peninsula when we hear the shocking stories of s
July 24, 2013
-
Why Buffett decided to give up on India
India has long been viewed as a value investor’s dream: rapid growth, 1.2 billion people pining for a taste of globalization, and underdeveloped industries ripe for turnarounds. So it surprised few when the genre’s guru, Warren Buffett, placed a bet on the world’s ninth-biggest economy. What did come as a surprise, though, was last week’s decision by the billionaire’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. to give up on India’s insurance market after just two years. Adding to the drama, the withdrawal came the
July 23, 2013
-
[Lee Jae-min] To make a long story short
French mathematician Blaise Pascal once apologized to the recipient of his letter for its length by saying “I did not have time to write you a short letter, so I wrote you a long one.” It was Mark Twain who said, “If you want me to give you a two-hour presentation, I am ready today. If you want only a five-minute speech, it will take me two weeks to prepare.” They were trying to say how difficult it is to write short but precise statements. Interestingly, this very statement of Twain was quoted
July 23, 2013
-
New sexual harassment rules openly defy reason
The new federal guidelines for how colleges should handle sexual-harassment cases aren’t just unreasonable. They’re hostile to reasonableness in principle. The Justice Department and the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights set forth the rules in a letter they sent in May. The letter was addressed to the University of Montana but says it should serve as “a blueprint for colleges and universities throughout the country.” The letter criticized the university for defining “sexual harassme
July 23, 2013
-
Don’t sanitize Helen Thomas’ toxic prejudices
Helen Thomas’ death on July 20 brought to mind my last encounter with her, a couple of years ago, not long after she gave full vent to her almost comically hostile anti-Israel views. In 2010, if you recall, Thomas, a longtime reporter and columnist, was asked by a rabbi with a video camera outside a White House Jewish heritage day celebration (of all things) if she had any thoughts on Israel. It turns out she did. Here is what she said: “Tell them to get the hell out of Palestine.” The rabbi, Da
July 23, 2013
-
Cuba, North Korea and the Chong Chon Gang
The seizure in Panama of the Chong Chon Gang, a rusty old North Korean ship carrying last century’s Soviet-era weapons from Cuba hidden under 250,000 sacks of brown sugar, may seem to have the wacky trappings of a “Gilligan’s Island” episode with a Cold War flashback that includes a rioting crew and a captain threatening to kill himself when Panamanian soldiers boarded his ship.But as the ship’s containers begin to be cleared of the 100-pound bags of sugar and the weapons systems are exposed and
July 23, 2013
-
[Kim Seong-kon] Independence versus family ties
We know Americans value independence and self-reliance. As soon as you graduate from high school in America, you are regarded as a grown-up and expected to be on your own. Upon entering college, often your parents will help you with either your tuition or living expenses, but rarely both. Of course, the extent of parental support differs by each family, and it is well known that partial financial support for a child’s college education is common in American society. Often, American college stude
July 23, 2013
-
Why U.S. students don’t major in science
In recent years, a lot of people have been concerned about the relatively low numbers of science majors among American college students. The percentage of science and engineering graduates in the U.S. has been far below that in China and Japan. On various math and science tests, the performance of U.S. students has fallen below that of students in South Korea, Singapore, Japan, England, Finland, Israel, Australia and Russia. This is a real problem, because science majors can contribute to econom
July 22, 2013
-
[David Ignatius] An idea stalled in Washington
WASHINGTON ― After the Egyptian revolution in February 2011, the U.S. had a good idea: Why not create an “enterprise fund” to make loans to small and medium-sized Egyptian businesses? President Obama announced the plan “to build networks of entrepreneurs” in Egypt in a speech on May 19, 2011. But more than two years later, the fund has yet to make a single investment. And the question is: What happened? The story of the Egyptian-American Enterprise Fund is another example of why almost nothing w
July 22, 2013
-
J.K. Rowling and the chamber of literary fame
Last weekend’s revelation that J.K. Rowling is the author of the critically acclaimed and ― until now ― commercially unsuccessful crime novel “The Cuckoo’s Calling” has electrified the book world and solidified Rowling’s reputation as a genuine writing talent: After all, if she can impress the critics without the benefit of her towering reputation, then surely her success is deserved. And yet what this episode actually reveals is the opposite: that Rowling’s spectacular career is likely more a f
July 22, 2013
-
Malala’s message
These days the news from abroad is mostly grim. So it was inspiring last week to watch Malala Yousafzai ― the Pakistani teen shot in the head by the Taliban because of her campaign for girls’ education ― standing erect on a U.N. podium on her 16th birthday. It was even more inspiring to hear her moving speech, delivered in a clear, confident voice, which called for free, compulsory schooling worldwide.She recalled the October day when a talib jumped into her school van, aimed at her forehead poi
July 22, 2013
-
[Dominique Moisi] French dream a fleeting escape from reality
PARIS ― Bastille Day, the French national holiday, was glorious this year. The military parade, dominated by the celebration of “victory” in Mali and the joint participation of African and United Nations troops, had the perfection of a gracious, albeit muscular, ballet.The classical concert that preceded the magisterial fireworks that ended the day was the closest thing to a French version of the Proms in London, mixing light classical and popular songs. The Eiffel Tower imbued the evening with
July 22, 2013
-
Russian roadblock to Obama’s nuclear-free vision
MOSCOW ― In a recent speech in Berlin, U.S. President Barack Obama reaffirmed his commitment to nuclear disarmament and proposed steps toward achieving that goal. But Russia has made clear that it does not plan to pursue further reductions to its nuclear arsenal any time soon.In the speech, Obama announced that the United States is prepared to cut its nuclear arsenal by up to one-third. He also proposed major reductions in the number of tactical nuclear weapons (TNWs) deployed in Europe. Moreove
July 21, 2013
-
[Park Sang-seek] Korea between West, non-West
South Koreans share similar views on the political, economic and social-cultural issues. To them, the most important task for the nation is continued economic growth, not national security, although the younger people emphasize the reduction of wealth disparity, while the older people support the business-friendly government policies. Both old and new generations support democracy and capitalism, although the former interprets both systems conservatively and the latter more liberally. Most Korea
July 21, 2013
-
How many recessions has Europe gone through?
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts ― The release of revised GDP data by the United Kingdom’s Office for National Statistics in late June seemed like an occasion for cheer, because growth had not quite been negative for two consecutive quarters in the winter of 2011-12, as previously thought. The point, as it was reported, is that a second UK recession following the global financial crisis in 2008 (a “double dip”) had now been erased from the history books, and that the Conservative government would take s
July 21, 2013
-
Demilitarizing the state is key to Egypt’s future
LONDON ― Egypt’s crisis has been called the worst in its history. But in fact, it bears a striking resemblance to a previous episode, almost 60 years ago.On February 28, 1954, almost a million protesters besieged Cairo’s Abdin Palace, then being used by Gamal Abdel Nasser and other leaders of the July 1952 coup. The protesters’ main demands were the restoration of Egypt’s fragile democratic institutions, the release of political prisoners, and the army’s return to its barracks.The two-month cris
July 21, 2013
-
[Robert Reich] Tax polluters, not students
A basic economic principle is that government ought to tax what we want to discourage, and not tax what we want to encourage.For example, if we want less carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, we should tax carbon polluters. On the other hand, if we want more students from lower-income families to be able to afford college, we should not put a tax on student loans.Sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, congressional Republicans seem intent on doing exactly the opposite.Earlier this year the
July 21, 2013