Most Popular
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[H.eco Forum] H.eco Forum calls for transition to clean, carbon-free energy
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[Exclusive] LACMA admits it needs further research on donated Korean paintings
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Russia likely offering N. Korea technology aid to expand threats to US, others: Pentagon official
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[Bridge to Africa] Africa-Korea partnership: Why it matters for future
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[Herald Interview] Korean adoptees embark on journeys to find roots
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[Graphic News] Medical tourists visiting Korea reach record high
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‘Gimflation’ in S. Korea as dried seaweed prices grow on rising global demand
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Yoon to resume diplomatic activity via 3-way summit with Japan, China
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S. Korea's gender pay gap worst in OECD
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Revote on Marine probe bill to be held next week
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[Mohamed A. El-Erian] Egypt’s economic siren sounds need for cooperation
NEWPORT BEACH ― Facing a turbulent political situation and recurrent street protests, Egypt’s political elite would be well advised to focus on the economic implications of the current turmoil, whether they are in government or in opposition. Doing so would lead them to recognize seven compelling reasons why a more collaborative approach to solving Egypt’s problems is in the country’s collective interest, as well as in their own individual interests.First, if the social and political disorder pe
Feb. 17, 2013
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North Korea throws nuclear tantrums again
Over the next days, we’ll learn more vital details about Tuesday’s nuclear test by North Korea.We’ll discover how powerful the blast was ― Pyongyang’s first test in 2006 was widely seen as a partial dud. Its second in 2009 was more impressive but still smaller than expected. Early estimates of Tuesday’s blast suggest the North Koreans are beginning to master nuclear devices with substantial explosive power.We’ll likely learn if Pyongyang has built a nuclear weapon of enriched uranium, a major st
Feb. 15, 2013
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[Jeffrey Frankel] The battle of bond benchmarks
TOKYO ― Some prominent institutional bond investors are shifting their focus from traditional benchmark indices, which weight countries’ debt issues by market capitalization, toward GDP-weighted indices. PIMCO, one of the world’s largest fixed-income investment firms, and the Government Pension Fund of Norway, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, have both recently made moves in this direction. But there is a risk that some investors could lose sight of the purposes of a benchmark index.Th
Feb. 15, 2013
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With Chavez absent, Venezuela is in limbo
Venezuelans are hungry.Food shortages in this oil-rich state are reaching record levels, and many consumers now have to lurk around behind grocery stores, hoping the merchant will open the back door and sell them corn flour, sugar, cooking oil, chicken ― even toilet paper ― for as much as double the state-set price. An average loaf of bread now costs almost $10.Those high prices are illegal. The socialist state of President Hugo Chavez long ago set price controls for most consumer items. But wit
Feb. 14, 2013
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[Robert Reich] The hoax of austerity economics
We are in the most anemic recovery in modern history. The president is talking about boosting the economy and rebuilding the middle class, but Washington isn’t doing squat.In fact, apart from the Fed ― which continues to hold down interest rates in the quixotic hope that banks will begin lending again to average people ― the government is heading in exactly the wrong direction: raising taxes on the middle class and cutting public spending. It’s called austerity economics.Washington is still acti
Feb. 14, 2013
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North Korea’s reckless nuclear explosion
Signaling that it has no intention of bowing to international demands that it cease its efforts to become a nuclear power, North Korea on Tuesday at 11: 57 a.m. local time detonated a nuclear device, a first for the regime of Kim Jong-un and the country’s third experimental nuclear explosion following tests in 2006 and 2009.The latest nuclear test will further destabilize the East Asian region and the implementation of tougher sanctions in response will only serve to deepen North Korea’s isolati
Feb. 14, 2013
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Is another disaster waiting to take place?
The Thai government is about to award huge contracts as part of its flood prevention plan; is there any hope the plan will be free of corruption?The massive 350-billion baht ($11.7 billion) water management plan that the government initiated in response to the disastrous floods in late 2011 could end up like the aborted Hopewell project or the corruption-plagued Klong Dan Wastewater Treatment Project in Samut Prakan. If the government cannot ensure transparency in the bidding process and engage
Feb. 14, 2013
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World must unite to halt Pyongyang’s nuke ambition
North Korea’s nuclear weapons development has entered a more dangerous stage. In light of the deteriorating security environment, Japan should strengthen its deterrence against Pyongyang in cooperation with the United States and other countries.On Tuesday, North Korea went ahead with its third underground nuclear test. It was the first nuclear test under the regime of Kim Jong-un.Pyongyang boasted that it successfully conducted a “high-level” nuclear test using “a miniaturized and lighter” nucle
Feb. 14, 2013
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[Ching Cheong] Dreams of reform remain just that in China
China’s new leader Xi Jinping has dashed the hopes of those Chinese who long for political reform in his recent warning against a Soviet-style collapse in his country and stressing of the need for the Chinese Communist Party’s grip on the military to avert such a danger.The CCP chief made this tough remark in one of his internal speeches to party cadres during his southern tour to Shenzhen and Guangzhou last December. The content of this speech was disseminated to county-level officials.Extracts
Feb. 14, 2013
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Don’t let Kim blow atomic smoke in your eyes
North Korea would like nothing more than for the U.S. and its allies to hyperventilate over the North’s third test of a nuclear device. Indeed, with two satellite-cum-missile launches and one nuclear test during his first year in power, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has already displayed an appetite for foreign-policy brinksmanship that goes beyond the political need to show his people that he’s large and in charge.That said, there is good reason for the U.S. to remain calm and carry on, build
Feb. 13, 2013
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[David Ignatius] A sea change in Muslim world
WASHINGTON ― Something startling is happening in the Muslim world ― and no, I don’t mean the Arab Spring or the growth of Islamic fundamentalism. According to a leading demographer, a “sea change” is producing a sharp decline in Muslim fertility rates and a “flight from marriage” among Arab women.Nicholas Eberstadt, a scholar with the American Enterprise Institute, documented these findings in two recent papers. They tell a story that contradicts the usual picture of a continuing population expl
Feb. 13, 2013
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North Korea’s nuclear game enters new phase
Kim Jong-un has just carried out North Korea’s third nuclear test and the general mood among experts is, “There they go again.”If history is any indicator, the test will make headlines and the international community’s response will crescendo, followed by near silence. Over the last two decades, alarm bells have quieted despite concerns over continued nuclear and missile testing because experts believe the North Korean nuclear threat is still in its infancy.However, this test is a pivot point. I
Feb. 13, 2013
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Honoring black soldiers who helped free Koreans
The events, during Black History Month, commemorate the 60th anniversary of the truce that ended fighting in the Korean War and the black troops who helped keep South Korea free. It was 65 years ago that Missouri’s own President Harry S. Truman did the unthinkable with an executive order, integrating U.S. armed forces.African-American soldiers had fought in every U.S. war before then ― but in segregated units ― and were never fully recognized or appreciated. It was in the Korean War from 1950 to
Feb. 13, 2013
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[Joseph E. Stiglitz] Complacency in Davos as eurozone crisis eases
DAVOS ― The World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos has lost some of its pre-crisis panache. After all, before the meltdown in 2008, the captains of finance and industry could trumpet the virtues of globalization, technology and financial liberalization, which supposedly heralded a new era of relentless growth. The benefits would be shared by all, if only they would do “the right thing.”Those days are gone. But Davos remains a good place to get a sense of the global zeitgeist.It goes with
Feb. 13, 2013
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Three domestic themes for Obama’s big speech
In his second inaugural address, U.S. President Barack Obama offered a vague but appealing vision. Now it’s time for the more distinct and contentious translation. In his State of the Union address, scheduled for Feb. 12, the president is widely expected to talk about ways to improve the condition of the middle class and increase job growth. The question, given the slow-growing economy and intransigent congressional opposition, is what exactly he can say and do to advance those goals. From our s
Feb. 12, 2013
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[Daniel Fiedler] Learning how to lead in S. Korea
Recently the South Korean Ministry of Justice announced that it was considering the adoption of a comprehensive anti-discrimination law. The impetus behind this announcement was a series of recommendations by the United Nations Human Rights Council contained in the 2012 Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review of South Korea adopted in October. Since that time the Ministry of Justice has been reviewing the 70 recommendations contained in the second section of that Report and
Feb. 12, 2013
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The perpetual delusions of the anti-war crowd
PARIS ― The anti-war types are unhappy with France’s foray into Mali to help that country’s troops eradicate balkanizing terrorism at the request of the Malian government. If even the French aren’t “allowed” to go to war ― and under a Socialist president, no less ― then who can?It would indeed be nice if there were no wars anywhere on Earth. It would also be great to own five BMWs and three private islands. Both are equally unlikely scenarios, yet only the first is accepted as plausible by the p
Feb. 12, 2013
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Pope Benedict’s courage and the church’s challenge
Pope Benedict XVI’s decision to step down as the leader of the Roman Catholic Church was fittingly unexpected for a man who has long defied easy categorization. It was also a brave step at a time when the Catholic Church is facing an array of global challenges. First, we applaud Benedict’s courage in recognizing that he is simply no longer up to the job. He is 85, and by his own admission in failing strength, mentally and physically. His successor, to be selected by the College of Cardinals, wil
Feb. 12, 2013
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Why man returns to Japan when others want to flee
My favorite Haruhiko Kuroda moment was on a Tokyo-bound flight on March 13, 2011, two days after a gigantic earthquake struck northeast Japan. I was in the Philippines when the quake precipitated a nuclear crisis. On the first available flight back, the president of the Manila-based Asian Development Bank sat near me on an almost-empty plane. Manila-to-Tokyo flights are rarely made with a single empty seat, but no one likes to fly into a potential Chernobyl, not with tens of thousands in Japan c
Feb. 12, 2013
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[Kim Seong-kon] Don’t look to government for aid
In his inaugural speech in 1961, John F. Kennedy fascinated the audience with a monumental line: “And so my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you ― ask what you can do for your country.” Perhaps the Korean people should consider what Kennedy said as well, since Koreans tend to expect their country to do everything for them. When the taxi business is slow, for example, Korean taxi companies expect, and sometimes even demand, that the government help them financially. And the
Feb. 12, 2013