Most Popular
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Jimin of BTS, actor Song Da-eun suspected to be dating, again
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Police raid popera singer Kim Ho-joong's house over hit-and-run suspicions
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What's next for the government's push in quota hike?
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Trump may like to 'solve' N. Korean nuclear problem if reelected: ex-official
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Woman falls to death from acquaintance's home after exhibiting ‘unexplained' behaviors
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N. Korea slams planned S. Korea-US military drills, warns of 'catastrophic aftermath'
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‘Malice should not undermine the system, social order,’ says Hybe's Bang
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N. Korea fires short-range ballistic missiles toward East Sea: JCS
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[Robert J. Fouser] Social attitudes toward language proficiency
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[Graphic News] How much do Korean adults read?
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Israeli vote settles little
Here’s a pop quiz for those who have been too busy to notice the surprising results of last week’s Israeli election: Was the key issue (1) Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu’s testy relationship with President Obama; (2) whether Israel should bomb Iran’s nuclear sites; or (3) whether to revive the mummified peace process?Answer: None of the above. Issues of war and peace had little to do with the sliding support for Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition. (He’ll still be prime minister but will
Jan. 29, 2013
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[Kim Seong-kon] Time to put an end to ‘guilt by association’
In Korea, the specter called “guilt by association” is rampant. Recently, a member of the presidential transition committee resigned from his post. As usual, newspapers immediately jumped to all sorts of conclusions, assuming that he must have had some fatal flaws in his career which did not pass the government’s background check. The reporters conjectured that a possible reason for his abrupt resignation was because his wife’s family is ridiculously wealthy. Some other ungrounded guesses includ
Jan. 29, 2013
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Taiwan must put a stop to brain-drain cycle
Two sets of figures published this week concerning Taiwan’s employment indeed show some of the country’s problems. The lesson, though, is less about the labor market itself and more about its educational, social and economic development.The government’s monthly report on employment showed that the December jobless rate dropped to 4.18 percent, improving by 0.09 percentage points compared to November. Despite the improvement, unemployment among the young and educated is on the rise.Meanwhile, a p
Jan. 28, 2013
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[Alfred Gusenbauer] The American comeback kid
VIENNA ― As is customary at the start of a new year, imposing statistics and trend forecasts are being trumpeted worldwide. For example, in 2016, China is expected to replace the United States as the world’s largest economy. And, by 2040, India’s population will have reached 1.6 billion, surpassing China’s, which will have stagnated a decade earlier. Perhaps the most startling projection is that the U.S. will become an energy exporter by 2020, and will become energy self-sufficient 15 years late
Jan. 28, 2013
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Paul Krugman’s worn-out ideas for Japan
Let’s get over this honeymoon for Japan’s new prime minister, Shinzo Abe, and do a reality check on his idea that the economy is about to boom now that voters have returned him to office. At first, I wondered if I had lost my bearings. Was I just hopelessly cynical after 11 years in Tokyo, watching a numbing parade of inept leaders come and go as the Liberal Democratic Party pledged change that never arrived? The steps Abe has taken in the first few weeks of his latest premiership restored my fa
Jan. 28, 2013
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Science and vaccine diplomacy for Korea
Could “vaccine diplomacy” work on the Korean peninsula? The short answer is yes.North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, in a New Year’s Day speech, called for reductions in international tension and an end to confrontation with South Korea, while raising the prospect of reunification between the North and South. Ultimately, science diplomacy could play an essential role in helping catalyze improved North-South relations in 2013, with joint programs for elimination of neglected diseases as a cornerstone
Jan. 28, 2013
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[Peter Sutherland] Cameron heralds a new era of turbulence for U.K.
LONDON ― Unlike some in Britain’s Conservative Party, Prime Minister David Cameron has not previously given the impression of being obsessed with Europe. He demonstrated no enthusiasm for the European Union, but he appeared clearly less exercised by its supposed iniquities than many Tories are.This view of Cameron’s position is now difficult to sustain. His long-gestating speech on Europe, although containing elements that many might share, also sows the seeds for a prolonged and acrimonious deb
Jan. 28, 2013
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[David Ignatius] Barack Obama ― politician
WASHINGTON ― In his essay “Politics as a Vocation,” the German sociologist Max Weber famously wrote that “politics is a strong and slow boring of hard boards.” In this sense, it seems possible that Barack Obama has finally come to embrace the vocation of politics as he begins his second term as president. I’m saddened by some of what Obama has learned on the way to becoming the politician who can drill those hard boards. I like his voice better when he tries to speak to all Americans, including
Jan. 27, 2013
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Web fuels fight for free speech in China
We all understand the way the Internet has changed everything in the United States, from the way goods are sold to how news is distributed and political campaigns are run.But in China, the growth in number of users, size of e-commerce markets, and profitability of the Internet has already exceeded, or will soon surpass, what has happened here. Some 564 million of the nation’s 1.3 billion people were accessing the Internet in 2012, up 10 percent in a year. And the changes that behavior will bring
Jan. 27, 2013
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Buried history of the Vietnam War in Hanoi
Out beyond the swank poolside bar at Hanoi’s Metropole hotel, which I visited last month, a gated entrance opens onto a dark set of stairs. At the bottom is a dank and musty bomb shelter, and, for those who can read Vietnamese, a sign in golden lettering explaining that Joan Baez and Jane Fonda once took refuge there.I did too, though not at the same time they did.I was a 25-year-old antiwar activist when I traveled to Hanoi in December 1965. I was working as a community organizer in Newark, New
Jan. 27, 2013
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Clinton’s exit highlights Obama’s weaknesses
With her old friend Senator John McCain attacking her and Senator Rand Paul asserting that she should have been fired, Hillary Clinton’s last appearances before Congress last Tuesday seemingly made for an ugly stage exit. We see it differently. In the hearings, Clinton displayed some of her best attributes. She was in command of the facts. She focused on what could be done better. She rose above ideology. And with flashes of both anger and sorrow, particularly at the memory of meeting the famili
Jan. 27, 2013
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[Mohamed A. El-Erian] Beggar thy currency or beggar thy self?
NEWPORT BEACH ― Not many countries nowadays seek a strong exchange rate; a few, including systemically important ones, are already actively weakening their currencies. Yet, because an exchange rate is a relative price, all currencies cannot weaken simultaneously. How the world resolves this basic inconsistency over the next few years will have a major impact on prospects for growth, employment, income distribution, and the functioning of the global economy.Japan is the latest country to say enou
Jan. 27, 2013
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Pakistan: A nation coming apart at the seams
Distracted by the deadly violence in Mali and Algeria, no one seems to be paying adequate attention to the tragicomedy under way in Pakistan.This matters because events of the last week demonstrate without equivocation that Pakistan is an utterly failed state ― but one that possesses nuclear weapons. The country is tumbling down the abyss. Where else could a fundamentalist Muslim cleric who lives in Canada draw tens of thousands of fans to a rally calling for dissolution of the government ― spea
Jan. 25, 2013
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[Jeffrey Frankel] Fixing Europe’s fiscal problems
CAMBRIDGE ― At the start of 2013, the eurozone’s “fiscal compact” entered into force, owing to its ratification on Dec. 21 by a 12th country, Finland, a year after German Chancellor Angela Merkel prodded eurozone leaders into agreement. The compact ― technically called the Treaty on Stability, Coordination, and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union ― requires member countries to introduce laws limiting their structural government budget deficits to less than 0.5 percent of GDP (or less t
Jan. 25, 2013
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Spy secrets portrayed in ‘Zero Dark Thirty’
PARIS ― The realities highlighted by the Oscar-nominated film “Zero Dark Thirty,” which detailed the operation that ended with the killing of Osama bin Laden, don’t begin and end with the debate over what some call “torture” as a means of obtaining intelligence. That’s just the only issue from the film that politicians and the media have glommed onto. More than anything else, “Zero Dark Thirty” is one of the rare films that accurately portrays the realities and frustrations of working in espiona
Jan. 24, 2013
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[Robert Reich] Obama’s debt-ceiling strategy
A week before his inauguration, President Obama said he wouldn’t negotiate with Republicans over raising the federal debt limit.At an unexpected news conference Jan. 14, the president asserted that he won’t trade cuts in government spending in exchange for raising the borrowing limit.“If the goal is to make sure that we are being responsible about our debt and our deficit, if that’s the conversation we’re having, I’m happy to have that conversation,” Obama said. “What I will not do is to have th
Jan. 24, 2013
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Half of worldwide food production never eaten
An alarming new report estimates that between 30 and 50 percent of all the food produced in the world is lost and wasted. This is a shocking finding given the scale of malnourishment and hunger on our planet.While it is tempting to blame governments for this appalling state of affairs, the truth is that almost all of us contribute to this problem. While governments must do the lion’s share of the work, individual citizens can also help to reduce loss, waste and hunger.The new report is by the In
Jan. 24, 2013
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Bad news from oil sector
The oil industry, still reeling from the abrupt disbanding of the upstream oil regulatory body BPMigas last November, has been hit by another piece of bad news that threatens not only Indonesia’s energy security but also its balance of payments and fiscal consolidation, with an adverse impact on inflation and the rupiah exchange rate.The upstream oil regulatory task force that replaced BPMigas revealed last week that several big oil production-sharing contractors (PSCs), including giants such as
Jan. 24, 2013
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ASEAN integration to require a new mindset
Ironically, even though we can hardly miss the acronym “AEC” when browsing through the newspaper each day, some Thai businessmen confessed to a survey recently that they don’t have a true understanding of how to prepare for the regional integration which is due to come into existence in 2015.In spite of the campaign to promote understanding of the AEC ― ASEAN Economic Community ― both in the public and private sectors, some Thai companies are not sure if they have a proper grasp of what this wil
Jan. 24, 2013
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[Shahid Javed Burki] Pakistan near durable order
ISLAMABAD ― Since mid-December, Pakistan has experienced political and economic volatility that is extraordinary even by Pakistani standards. The fragile political structure that began to be erected following the resumption of civilian government in 2008 is now shaking.A key source of this unrest is Tahirul Qadri, a Toronto-based Muslim cleric who arrived in Lahore in early December. Ten days later, he addressed a mammoth public meeting at the city’s Minar-e-Pakistan grounds, where, a year earli
Jan. 24, 2013