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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[KH Explains] Why Korea's so tough on short selling
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[Herald Interview] Byun Yo-han's 'unlikable' character is result of calculated acting
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Actors involved in past controversies return first via streaming service originals
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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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Time to reconsider Korean management style
It’s no question that Koreans work more hours than in any other country in the world. However, in terms of management efficiency they are ranked among the lowest. What could possibly be the reason for such inefficiency? Is it Confucianism ― employees looking back, embracing tradition and refusing to adapt to a changing world? Is it their military training in which all men are required to dedicate nearly two years of their lives? I believe that it is a combination of both that creates a business
Nov. 14, 2012
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A student’s plea for someone to comfort him
When a student of mine called me to ask for some advice, I listened calmly, expecting him to inquire about his grades or request that I look over one of his essays. Instead, his dilemma was a rather unique one. He had decided to apply to Swarthmore, a top-ranked liberal arts school in America, and wanted to submit a rock album that he had been recording but that was still incomplete. Not only was his counselor against the student’s decision to apply to Swarthmore, insisting that his scores were
Nov. 14, 2012
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[Kim Myong-sik] Reconsider security measures for ex-presidents
Here’s a good tip for the three presidential candidates that is sure to add at least a hundred thousand votes, quite a figure in this very close election: Declare that, if elected, he or she would decline the secret service protection upon retirement after the mandatory single five-year term.This may not be in compliance with the Law on the Treatment of Former Presidents and the Law on the Presidential Security Service, but legal matters can be fixed when any president-elect so decides and does
Nov. 14, 2012
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Right-leaning Japan relives 19th century
Japan’s leaders just can’t seem to put the 19th century behind them. It may be 2012, and the world surrounding this island nation of 126 million is changing at a blistering pace, but Japanese officialdom seems oddly stuck in the late 1800s. Back then, reformers adopted the slogan “rich nation, strong army.” This rabid nationalism culminated, of course, in World War II and a crushing defeat. Fast-forward a hundred years or so. Here is the hauntingly similar motto Shinzo Abe, very possibly Japan’s
Nov. 13, 2012
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[Lee Jae-min] The naming season again?
Imagine someone whose name changes every five years. Confusion would reign for a while, to say the least. In Korea, changing a person’s name even requires an approval from the court. Situations in other countries are not that different.Check this out: It was 1993 when the Ministry of Trade and Industry, and the Ministry of Energy and Resources were merged to become the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (known as “MOTIE”). In 1998, the ministry’s name was changed as the Ministry of Commerce,
Nov. 13, 2012
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Syria needs a tougher Obama in second term
ATMA, Syria ― Traveling inside war-wracked Syria on the U.S. Election Day was a stark reminder of how lucky we are to have a vibrant democracy, whatever its failings.It was also a reminder that Syrian rebels who want democracy, not an Islamic emirate, hope a second-term President Obama will finally move beyond anti-regime rhetoric and take firmer action to end Bashar al-Assad’s rule.I’m not certain their hopes will be met. But what I saw and heard in two forays into Syria, and meetings inside th
Nov. 13, 2012
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[Kim Seong-kon] James Bond and older men’s wisdom, knowledge
As I grow older, I begin to look back upon my past with remorse and regret. During my lifetime, I must have done quite a few good things and did others favors numerous times. Sadly, however, I am oblivious of all the good things I have done and can only think of all the mistakes I have made, whether unwittingly or intentionally. Full of regrets, I often whisper to myself silently, “I shouldn’t have done that. How could I have been such an imbecile?” Perhaps the peculiar psychological phenomenon
Nov. 13, 2012
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Choices for new U.S. treasury secretary
President Barack Obama needs a new treasury secretary. Timothy Geithner has made clear that he intends to leave. Furthermore, it is time to bring some fresh thinking to two vital issues: fiscal policy and financial-sector oversight. On fiscal policy, the need is obvious. The framers of the Constitution took great care to divide powers within our government. We can act decisively only when one party controls all branches, or when we agree that there is a grave national emergency. Whatever spin yo
Nov. 13, 2012
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The political inevitability of immigration reform
Having helped power President Barack Obama to victory over Mitt Romney, Hispanic voters are suddenly the “it” demographic in U.S. politics. Hispanics made up 10 percent of the total vote and gave Obama almost three votes for every one earned by Romney. Obama may even have won a majority among Florida’s Cuban voters, who were once a Republican mainstay. With more than 60,000 Hispanics turning 18 every month between now and 2016, we doubt many Republicans are still in denial about the demographic
Nov. 12, 2012
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[David Ignatius] Obama’s foreign policy test
WASHINGTON ― On foreign policy, President Obama effectively posted a sign on the White House lawn last summer that said: Come back after Election Day. Now, the moment has arrived and the world’s problems are lining up for Obama’s attention. To manage the global problems coming at him, Obama will have to make decisions of the sort he sometimes deferred during his first term. The time is over for the cautious (if often sensible) approach that was dubbed “leading from behind.” Here’s a look at some
Nov. 12, 2012
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[Meghan Daum] Obama and the single girl
As if it weren’t enough that Lena Dunham, the 26-year-old writing/directing/acting phenom who started a revolution this year with her HBO series “Girls,” scored a $3.5-million book deal and has been granted the unofficial but unimpeachable title of “voice of her generation,” she also appears to have won the presidential election ― or at least to have been one of the driving forces behind the guy who did.In a much-talked-about campaign video for the president, Dunham used her signature combinatio
Nov. 12, 2012
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[Peter Singer] America’s flawed election and ethical benchmarks
PRINCETON ― No doubt many people around the world, if not most, breathed a sigh of relief over the reelection of U.S. President Barack Obama. A BBC World service poll of 21 countries found a strong preference for Obama everywhere except Pakistan. Joy over the election’s outcome, however, should not blind us to its failure to meet a series of ethical benchmarks for democratic choice.According to the U.S.-based Center for Responsive Politics, spending on the election ― for President and Congress,
Nov. 12, 2012
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Cooperation required in Obama’s second act
Second terms have rarely been kind to American presidents.Our last two-term leader, George W. Bush, ended his tenure with a financial crash so disastrous that his own party has tried to erase him from memory. Bush’s predecessor, Bill Clinton, was more successful, but he still spent much of his second term enmeshed in a sex scandal and battling impeachment.Even our greatest modern presidents had rocky second terms: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan are all revered more
Nov. 11, 2012
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[Jonathan Schell] Mitt Romney’s reality check
NEW YORK ― There is a kind of war underway in the United States nowadays between fact and fantasy. President Barack Obama’s reelection marked a victory, limited but unmistakable, for the cause of fact.Events in the days leading up to America’s presidential election provided a stark illustration of the struggle. Among senior aides to Republican challenger Mitt Romney, a belief developed that he was on the cusp of victory. Their conviction had no basis in poll results. Nevertheless, the feeling gr
Nov. 11, 2012
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Mr. Xi, tear down this firewall!
This week’s meeting in Beijing of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, which will inaugurate a new slate of leaders, has not exactly brought a golden dawn of free expression. In addition to cracking down on all forms of media, China’s creatively paranoid security forces are on the lookout for threats such as taxi passengers carrying pingpong balls that they might slip through windows to deliver subversive messages. Such off-the-wall measures, however, usefully highlight on
Nov. 11, 2012
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Tyrant’s leverage wanes without Cognac Pipeline
One would be hard-pressed to accuse South Korea’s Park Geun-hye of holding a grudge. The presidential candidate wants to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to improve relations if she wins next month’s presidential election. That’s mighty big of Park, considering North Korean agents killed her mother in a 1974 assassination attempt on her father when he led the South. It’s also a heartening sign for this increasingly unhinged world of ours. Park, 60, is the ruling party’s nominee and outpollin
Nov. 11, 2012
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Late works reveal maturing of artistic visions
“Does one grow wiser with age,” Edward Said ponders in the book “On Late Style” (2006); “and are there unique qualities of perception and form,” he continues, “that artists acquire as a result of age in the late phase of their career?” Usually, Said argues, we think of late artistic works as the crowning achievements of a career; works that exude resolution, serenity, harmony. Old age is accompanied by an acute awareness that the late artistic work is at the same time the artist’s final word; a
Nov. 11, 2012
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Afghanistan project is money ill-spent
Now it can be told: United States government auditors are finally acknowledging that Afghan security forces will be incapable of defending the nation from the Taliban after Western forces withdraw in 2014.What does this mean? The Taliban, obviously determined to return to power, will most certainly retake most of the nation. The hapless Afghan army will probably just run away. That’s what it did almost as soon as the Soviet Union, the last foreign occupier, pulled out.Does that mean the U.S. has
Nov. 9, 2012
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[Robert B. Reich] The new American civil war
The vitriol is worse than I ever recall. Worse than the Palin-induced smarm of 2008. Worse than the swift-boat lies of 2004. Worse, even, than the anything-goes craziness of 2000 and its ensuing bitterness.It’s almost a civil war. I know families in which close relatives are no longer speaking. A dating service says Democrats won’t even consider going out with Republicans, and vice versa. My email and Twitter feeds contain messages from strangers I wouldn’t share with my granddaughter.What’s goi
Nov. 9, 2012
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ASEM forum is a chance to foster cooperation
Asian and European leaders meeting in Vientiane this week have an opportunity for frank discussion on inter-regional issues of concernThe Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) this week in Laos will mark a good opportunity for leaders to discuss political and economic cooperation and a future direction so that the two regions can work constructively together.The meeting this year is held against the backdrop of many incidents that will shape the future of inter-regional cooperation, including the ongoing c
Nov. 8, 2012