Most Popular
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Korean labor force to shrink by 10 million by 2044: report
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[AtoZ Korean Mind] Does your job define who you are? Should it?
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Allegations surrounding BTS resurface, enraged fans demand apology
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Students with history of violence will be barred from becoming teachers
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'Super Rich in Korea' will leave viewers appreciating Korea more: producers
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Probe of first lady on Dior bag allegations set to begin
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Top prosecutor pledges 'speedy, strict' probe into first lady's luxury bag allegations
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Medical feud leaves hospitals in financial crisis
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'Queen of Tears' riding high on Netflix chart
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Samsung mocks Apple over iPhone alarm glitch
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[Javier Solana] Iran’s last chance to end standoff
MADRID ― The latest round of negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program between Iran and the so-called “5+1” group (the United Nations Security Council’s five permanent members ― the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, France, and China ― plus Germany) has now begun. Following more than a year of deadlock, after negotiations in January 2011 led nowhere, this dialogue is for many the last chance to find a peaceful solution to a nearly decade-long conflict (in which I participated closely from
April 25, 2012
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Who will rule the world in the next century?
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts ― Voices of both those convinced that China will eclipse the U.S. as a global economic and military power and those who are confident of continued U.S. leadership are getting louder. Much of this debate focuses on the size of the Chinese economy relative to the U.S. economy or issues of military might.But what matters for global leadership is innovation, which is not only the key driver of per capita income growth but also ultimately the main determinant of military and
April 25, 2012
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Patriotism, the Korean way
Koreans are among the most patriotic people in the world. Their love for their country is unequalled. Outside being hard working, everything that they have achieved so far was spurred by an undying love for their country and the sheer zeal to place their country on the world map. Such attitudes deserve paean and fete.Recently, during the just-concluded nuclear summit in Seoul, Koreans showed their devotion and love for their national cause when they cancelled a proposed demonstration that was su
April 25, 2012
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Why an open primary?
After reading The Korea Herald editorial, “Starting presidential race,” appearing on April 23, I became even more concerned about Korea’s future. What has happened to Gyeonggi Province Gov. Kim Moon-soo?It isn’t like Gov. Kim is new to politics. He has had a long political career, so he knows how the political process works. He understands how his actions are going to impact the upcoming presidential elections, so why is he advocating an open primary system in Korea? Could he be a Democratic Uni
April 25, 2012
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[Eli Park Sorensen] We’re long past time to forget the Titanic template
When RMS Titanic sank on the night between April 14 and 15, 1912, the modern world’s greatest metaphor of disaster was born. During the hundred years that have passed, we have returned ― again and again ― to this epic story of catastrophe; countless of tragic situations of downfall and breakdown have been compared to the Titanic ― from the collapse of buildings, visions, economies, to the most recent maritime accident, the Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia in January 2012. The Titanic myth is
April 25, 2012
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Asia’s arms race puts everyone on edge
Global tension is reaching fever pitch.Yesterday India displayed its defence prowess by successfully test firing a new long-range missile. It demonstrated that the country has joined the league of nuclear powerhouses.“This launch has given a message to the entire world that India has the capability to design, develop, build and manufacture missiles of this class, and we are today a missile power,” said VK Saraswat, head of India’s Defence Research and Development Organization, which developed an
April 24, 2012
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[Daniel Fiedler] Redefining rape in South Korea
Rape is in the South Korean news headlines once again. However, this time it is not the brutality of a U.S. soldier but the perfidy of a Korean talent agency chief that occupies the front page. While the story is an old one, that of men using alcohol and position to coerce women into sex, the alleged addition of an “aphrodisiac” is the twist that changes a Korean dating norm into the crime of rape. This change occurs because the addition of a drug, rather than only soju, to the beer gives the vi
April 24, 2012
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North Korea’s threat of ‘special actions’
We are approaching a dangerous precipice in South and North Korea relations. The North says that it is preparing for “special actions” to take place. There should always be a degree of skepticism, but in lieu of their failed rocket launch and Kim Jong-un’s rise to power, most likely there will be yet another provocative and aggressive action. Yet, another aggressive action is not so insignificant this time. Many South Koreans who live in Seoul, not far from certain destruction if a war were to s
April 24, 2012
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Punishing N. Korea’s people
North Korea is threatening “retaliatory measures” for a decision by the United States to withhold 240,000 metric tons of food promised as part of an agreement announced less than two months ago. Never mind that the cancellation followed Pyongyang’s failed launching of a missile designed to put a satellite into space, an operation the U.S. considered a violation of that same agreement, not to mention U.N. Security Council resolutions. The regime’s chutzpah and hypocrisy know no bounds.At the same
April 24, 2012
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An India-Pakistan thaw?
NEW DELHI ― India and Pakistan are enjoying one of the better periods in their turbulent relationship. Recent months have witnessed no terrorist incidents, no escalating rhetoric, and no diplomatic flashpoints. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari just made a successful, if brief, personal visit to India (mainly to visit a famous shrine, but with a lunch with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh thrown in). Sixteen years after India granted Pakistan most-favored-nation (MFN) trading status, Pakistan is
April 24, 2012
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[Kim Seong-kon] What ‘Tender Buttons’ teaches us
Professor Neil Schmitz has been teaching Gertrude Stein’s “Tender Buttons” for the past 40 years. Recently, during the English Department reunion at the State University of New York at Buffalo, Professor Schmitz once again gave a talk on “Tender Buttons” to his students he taught 40 years ago. “Thank you so much, Professor Schmitz,” said a former student of Schmitz’s after the talk, now an old man with frosted grey hair, “‘Tender Buttons’ changed my life forever. It was worth coming here today.”
April 24, 2012
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Climate inaction will block economic growth
More than two dozen countries, including China, France, Korea, Mexico, Russia and the United States, face potential leadership transitions this year. A central factor determining the outcomes of these events is the prospect for more jobs and incomes. A topic not on the political radar, however, is climate change. Yet, it should be ― because our growing understanding of climate science and economics warns us that sustaining people’s well-being, in large and small economies, hinges on confronting
April 23, 2012
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Hunger striker becomes Russia’s opposition hero
Demoralized as the Russian capital’s protest movement may be, there are still plenty of angry people out in the hinterlands. They have less to lose than well-fed Muscovites, and president-elect Vladimir Putin has yet to figure out how to handle them.In the southern provincial capital of Astrakhan, population 520,000, a soft-spoken, bespectacled historian named Oleg Shein has emerged as the new hope of the opposition. As of this writing, he has been on hunger strike for more than a month, putting
April 23, 2012
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[David Ignatius] The dark side of China’s rise
WASHINGTON ― The Bo Xilai affair offers a reality check for anyone who’s worried that a rising China will supplant the United States anytime soon: First, the Chinese know that the scandal is just the tip of an iceberg of corruption menacing the country; and second, the leadership in Beijing understands that the scandal could have been much messier if the White House hadn’t kept quiet the past two months. The story surrounding Bo, the deposed party chief in the southern city of Chongqing, is so
April 23, 2012
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Software Engineers Will Work One Day for English Majors
Which of the following describes careers in software engineering? A. Intellectually stimulating and gratifying. B. Excellent pay for new bachelor’s degree grads. C. A career dead-end. The correct answer (with a “your mileage may vary” disclaimer) is: D. All of the above. Although the very term “coding” evokes an image of tedium, it is an intellectually challenging activity, creative and even artistic. If you like puzzles and are good analytically, software development may be your cup of tea. You
April 23, 2012
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E-book overkill: Justice trustbusters should‘ve left Apple and book publishers alone
The Justice Department filed suit last week against Apple Inc. and two major book publishers, Macmillan and Penguin Group USA, accusing them of colluding in 2010 to raise the prices of e-books. Three other publishers that were investigated -- Hachette, Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins -- agreed to a settlement, which Sharis A. Pozen, the acting director of the Justice Department’s antitrust division, said “will begin to undo the harm caused by the companies‘ anticompetitive conduct, and will r
April 23, 2012
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Hunger Striker Oleg Shein Becomes Russia‘s Opposition Hero
Demoralized as the Russian capital’s protest movement may be, there are still plenty of angry people out in the hinterlands. They have less to lose than well-fed Muscovites, and president-elect Vladimir Putin has yet to figure out how to handle them.In the southern provincial capital of Astrakhan, population 520,000, a soft-spoken, bespectacled historian named Oleg Shein has emerged as the new hope of the opposition. As of this writing, he has been on hunger strike for more than a month, putting
April 23, 2012
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It‘s climate inaction that will block economic growth
More than two dozen countries, including China, France, Korea, Mexico, Russia and the United States, face potential leadership transitions this year. A central factor determining the outcomes of these events is the prospect for more jobs and incomes. A topic not on the political radar, however, is climate change. Yet, it should be -- because our growing understanding of climate science and economics warns us that sustaining people’s well-being, in large and small economies, hinges on confronting
April 23, 2012
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[Yuriko Koike] North Korea’s teachings of a ghost
TOKYO ― At 7:39 a.m. on April 13, North Korea fired a missile (which it called a satellite launch) in the face of opposition from almost the entire international community. In a perverse way, the world got its way, because the vehicle exploded a minute after takeoff, its debris falling harmlessly into the sea.North Korea typically goes silent after such episodes: “failure” does not exist in its political lexicon, so it cannot be reported or discussed. The country’s media routinely meets any fail
April 23, 2012
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Technology can keep publishers from perishing
A few years ago, according to the Justice Department, publishers decided on a strategy to fight the grave and gathering menace posed to their business model by the rise of digital books: They would meet about it. “These meetings took place in private dining rooms of upscale Manhattan restaurants,” says the department’s complaint in its antitrust lawsuit. Later meetings took place in Europe, though presumably not at the Paris Chipotle. The case will turn on whether the publishers were meeting to
April 23, 2012