Most Popular
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[AtoZ into Korean Mind] Korea's broken ladder of social mobility
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Top 4 conglomerates convene strategy meetings to navigate uncertainties
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Yoon visits ancient Uzbek city, wraps up Central Asia trip
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N. Korean military's construction activities spotted inside DMZ: source
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[Weekender] IV drips: A quick energy shot for overworked Koreans
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Doctors to go on indefinite walkout as government rejects final demands
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Yoon returns amid tensions over Putin's Pyongyang visit
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[Drama Tour] Follow Suwon’s fortress to find traces of ‘Lovely Runner’
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[KH explains] Why Korean battery companies are key to Tesla's 2170 upgrade strategy
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Unlicensed driver rams day care center van into wall
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[Robert B. Reich] American jobs recovery stalls
However one looks at last Friday’s jobs report, it’s a stunning reminder of how anemic the recovery has been ― and how perilously close America is to falling into another recession.Not only has the unemployment rate risen for the first time in almost a year, to 8.2 percent, but, more ominously, May’s payroll survey showed that employers created only 69,000 net new jobs. The Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics also revised its March and April reports downward. Only 96,000 new jobs have
June 7, 2012
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Elizabeth Warren’s Cherokee chicanery
Elizabeth Warren, who on Saturday claimed the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate from Massachusetts, still has Indian trouble. Her claim to American Indian ancestry entered a new phase last week.At first Warren said she learned that her employer, Harvard Law School, had cited her as a minority faculty member only after the Boston Herald informed her of it several weeks ago. Then last week she conceded that she herself had told Harvard that she was American Indian, though she said she told the
June 6, 2012
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[J. Bradford DeLong] The economic costs of fear
BERKELEY ― The S&P stock index now yields a 7 percent real (inflation-adjusted) return. By contrast, the annual real interest rate on the five-year U.S. Treasury Inflation-Protected Security (TIPS) is -1.02 percent. Yes, there is a “minus” sign in front of that: if you buy the five-year TIPS, each year over the next five years the U.S. Treasury will pay you in interest the past year’s consumer inflation rate minus 1.02 percent. Even the annual real interest rate on the 30-year TIPS is only 0.63
June 6, 2012
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You can’t fix the death penalty ― just end it
Californians will vote this fall on an initiative to abolish the death penalty. Proponents of the measure say it is necessary because capital punishment is too costly. Opponents argue that costs can be cut by streamlining the system.But whether one is for or against capital punishment, trying to make the process cheaper and quicker is a terrible ― and dangerous ― idea.Recently, my co-authors and I published the results of an extensive four-year investigation into the Texas execution of Carlos De
June 6, 2012
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Olympics and rise of the humble, ubiquitous ball
When the caldron is lit in London this summer and the XXX Olympics begins, one familiar participant will play a more active role than any other, taking center stage at 23 individual events. To the delight of billions, and without concern for its own well-being, it will be thrown, kicked, punched, slapped and struck with no fewer than three different instruments of torture. That abused but beloved participant is, of course, the humble, ubiquitous ball.This universal object of play has become so i
June 6, 2012
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Investing in green sectors to come out of crisis
PARIS ― Underpinning European integration is the belief that unity between nations should bring shared prosperity instead of social, political, and economic turmoil. But today’s debt crisis has exposed a fundamental weakness in the eurozone’s architecture: insufficient integration.This adds another layer of complexity, compared to the United States or Japan, to the economic challenges that the European Union faces. To paraphrase Leo Tolstoy, the European family is unhappy in its own way.The Euro
June 6, 2012
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[Daniel Fiedler] Are courts prepared to do justice?
Anyone who follows the news in South Korea is aware of the historic nature of the recent decision by the South Korean Supreme Court in favor of eight individual Korean plaintiffs who are suing the Japanese company Mitsubishi for forced labor during World War II. Especially those who read the opinion sections of the local newspapers will have seen the laud and adulation heaped upon the Supreme Court by the South Korean media.And while this decision is a step towards the judiciary becoming an equa
June 5, 2012
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Formula 1 legend makes a smart car for the street
Apple Inc., we are confident, will not be selling cars anytime soon. But the auto industry ― like music, film or, dare we say, publishing ― could use a little bit of old-fashioned disruptive innovation, and maybe Gordon Murray can provide it. Murray, the famed London-based automotive designer and entrepreneur responsible for some of the most successful Formula 1 race cars, has lately turned his attention to a less expensive, less speedy pursuit: He wants to provide a small, light, efficient car
June 5, 2012
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Why U.S. airlines need to adapt to slow growth
As the economy recovers and fuel prices ease, U.S. airlines are doing better. Prospects for the summer and the rest of 2012 look brighter, particularly because there are fewer carriers after the mergers of the last five years. Yet U.S. airlines face a long-term challenge that should concern industry executives as well as investors. That impediment isn’t wages, fuel prices or a stagnant economy. It’s growth in demand for air travel, which has been anemic at best for more than a decade, even when
June 5, 2012
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Fired up about the magic of flame at end of candle
Lately I’ve spent a lot of time trying to help scientists explain in simple words what it is they do. Why in the world, you might wonder, should a nonscientific person worry about a thing like that? There are two pretty good reasons.For one thing, before a surgeon slices me open, I’d like him or her to do at least two minutes on what this is all about. What’s the problem? What are the chances this will work? Will I be able to play the violin when I wake up?In a way, scientists are operating on u
June 5, 2012
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[Kim Seong-kon] Humanity prevails over ideology in ‘Cranes’
Hwang Sun-won’s “Cranes,” which was published in 1963, beautifully captures the tragedy of a torn country divided by political ideologies and vividly renders the Korean people’s secret wish for reconciliation of the estranged two Koreas. The story is set in a small village near the 38th Parallel during the Korean War. As North Korean troops occupy the village, Songsam flees with other refugees, but his friend Tokchae decides to remain because he cannot abandon his old father and rice field. Simp
June 5, 2012
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[David Ignatius] Finding an arena in Langley
WASHINGTON ― CIA Director David Petraeus spoke first at an April 19 memorial dinner for agency officers killed in action. He delivered well-scripted remarks and an evocation of the agency’s heroes. Then came Leon Panetta, his predecessor at the CIA and the evening’s main honoree, who delivered a stem-winding emotional speech to fervent applause. The freewheeling Panetta, now secretary of defense, has been a tough act to follow at the CIA, especially for a former four-star Army general who thrive
June 4, 2012
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How ‘death panels’ can prolong life in U.S.
Average life expectancy is one of two statistics commonly used to compare the health-care systems of different nations. (The other is infant mortality.) One of the puzzles about the U.S. system is that we spend far and away the most money per capita for health care, but we rank 50th in average life expectancy ― after Macau, Malta, and Turks and Caicos, among others. We are all familiar with statistics about how much of health-care spending takes place in the last year of life, and with stories a
June 4, 2012
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[Meghan Daum] Overbearing parents do more harm than good?
Since the release of the May 21 issue of Time magazine ― the one with an attractive if rather indignant-looking young motherbreast-feeding a nearly 4-year-old child on the cover ― much of the country has been abuzz with both admiration and condemnation of the child-rearing philosophy called “attachment parenting.” Known for its hyper-protectiveness, not to mention its plain-old hype, attachment parenting concerns itself with issues like the benefits of home schooling, the value of “co-sleeping”
June 4, 2012
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European Commission must be democratic
DUBLIN ― The greatest and most undeniable economic achievement of the euro is to have saved the European economy from fracturing in the economic and financial crisis unleashed by the collapse of Lehman Brothers. We know from the example of the 1930s how tempted national governments are to believe in times of economic crisis that devaluation and protectionism will serve the interests of their electors, and how devastating it is for all involved when national governments succumb to that temptation
June 4, 2012
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[Naomi Wolf] Exit the traditional political wife
NEW YORK ― France’s new president, Franois Hollande, is not married to his partner, the glamorous political journalist Valerie Trierweiler, and no one seems to care. Germany’s president, Joachim Gauck, is not married to his partner, the journalist Daniela Schadt, and no one seems to care. Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, is not married to his partner, the domesticity guru Sandra Lee, and no one seems to care. The list could easily be continued.Is the adoring political spouse ― so much a p
June 4, 2012
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[Robert B. Reich] Why ‘pro-growth centrists’ are wrong
Some self-styled “pro-growth centrists” in the Democratic Party are worried the president is going too far in emphasizing widening inequality. They “wish the administration’s focus was on growth over fairness,” says the highly respected National Journal.They’re wrong. Fairness isn’t inconsistent with growth. It’s essential to it. The only way the economy can grow and create more jobs is if prosperity is more widely shared.For years, conservative “supply-side” economists have told America not to
June 3, 2012
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Romney must find tactical advantage
Now that it’s a virtual certainty Mitt Romney will be the Republican presidential nominee, and all the other candidates have likely dozed off with the rest of us during this preliminary series of political skirmishes, it’s time to wipe the sleep from our eyes and get ready for presidential playoffs. What should be included in Romney’s tactical playbook? Here are a few suggestions:― The world isn’t the same as it was when President Obama was elected at the outset of the economic crisis. The whiny
June 3, 2012
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Is this the beginning of the end for civil liberties?
Indonesia may have lost a lot more than the opportunity to see Lady Gaga when she canceled her June 3 concert in Jakarta last weekend. The episode could mark the beginning of the end for Indonesia’s civil liberties as radical groups continue unabated in their assault on the nation’s freedoms. Those who care about their freedom should speak up and fight to defend it rather than busily trying to distance themselves from Lady Gaga and whatever it is they believe she represents through her songs and
June 3, 2012
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Facebook’s Saverin left U.S. as a taxpayer, not a traitor
Eduardo Saverin, the co-founder of the social network and Facebook Inc., stands accused of violating the social contract ― the idea that government is based on an agreement among its citizens to ensure mutual protection of person and property. His decision to give up his American citizenship before the Facebook initial public offering drew criticism for his perceived breach of financial and patriotic duties, including the duty to pay income taxes. He is even the target of legislation called the
June 3, 2012