Most Popular
-
1
Probe of first lady on Dior bag allegations set to begin
-
2
Over 80,000 millionaires, 20 billionaires in Seoul: report
-
3
Korean battery makers heave sigh of relief over 2-year IRA reprieve
-
4
Young Korean doctors seek plan B: cosmetic dermatology or overseas
-
5
South Korea open to Indonesian proposal to cut KF-21 payments
-
6
Indonesia’s KF-21 fighter jet deal cut back -- what’s next?
-
7
Police seek arrest warrant for med student who killed girlfriend
-
8
Yoon apologizes over first lady’s Dior bag scandal, but accuses special probe attempt as political maneuvering
-
9
Coupang earnings hit hard by losses from ailing Farfetch
-
10
Local filmmakers criticize ‘The Roundup: Punishment’ monopoly of screens
-
[Robert Shiller] Economy, insure thyself
NEW HAVEN ― The basic principle of financial risk management is sharing. The more broadly diversified our financial portfolios, the more people there are who share in the inevitable risks ― and the less an individual is affected by any given risk. The theoretical ideal occurs when financial contracts spread the risks all over the world, so that billions of willing investors each own a tiny share,
June 2, 2011
-
[Michael Spence] The IMF leadership and global governance
MILAN ― The departure of Dominique Strauss-Kahn as head of the International Monetary Fund has presented the G20 group of advanced and emerging economies with an opportunity and a challenge as they vie to select a new leader.It is a critical moment of transition because the emerging economies that have been in the shadows during most of the IMF’s existence will be dominant in the not-too-distant f
June 2, 2011
-
[Dominique Louis] Japanese nuclear industry: A regrettable exception
PARIS ― Due to its dramatic nature as well as to the worldwide media attention it has generated, the nuclear accident of Fukushima Daiichi has become a catastrophe that, in the minds of many, overshadows one of the most destructive tsunamis of recent centuries. It has shamed an entire industry and has pushed some countries into urgently adopting moratoria and others into demanding the outright dis
June 2, 2011
-
[Fan Ying] Slow progress toward FTA
In the just-concluded fourth trilateral meeting of the leaders of China, Japan and South Korea, all three countries agreed to speed up the process toward finalizing a free-trade agreement (FTA).Promoting a trilateral FTA at this time is significant, mainly because major changes occurred in the world economy after the global economic crisis, and Japan and South Korea strongly hoped to “take a free
June 2, 2011
-
French appeal for Strauss-Kahn: Ironic Einhorn echo
Philadelphians know better than anyone why Dominique Strauss-Kahn should remain anchored to New York City.Two words: Ira Einhorn.Einhorn, the slovenly, self-appointed hippie guru of 1960s and ‘70s counterculture with a history of abusing women, was convicted in 2002 of murdering his former girlfriend Holly Maddux, a Texas-born cheerleading beauty.The road to that elusive conviction, however, took
June 1, 2011
-
[David Ignatius] War on terror: How lines blurred
WASHINGTON ― One consequence of the early “war on terror” years was that the lines between CIA and military activities got blurred. The Pentagon moved into clandestine areas that had traditionally been the province of the CIA. Special Forces began operating secretly abroad in ways that worried the CIA, the State Department and foreign governments. The Obama administration is now finishing an effor
June 1, 2011
-
[Mario I. Blejer] Greek day of reckoning looms in Ponzi Europe
One of the undeniable features of the European debt crisis is the tendency to obscure, verbally and politically, the real issues at play. Euphemisms, statistical gimmicks, meaningless institutional squabbling, undecipherable acronyms, and plain double talk proliferate as part of the debate. In my experience as central-bank governor in Argentina during the worst financial crisis in our history, at
June 1, 2011
-
[Albert R. Hunt] Republicans can stop waiting for white knight
Godot isn’t likely to show up for the Republicans. Like the characters in Samuel Beckett’s play, the Republican establishment probably will wait in vain for a white knight ― Jeb Bush, Chris Christie and Paul Ryan are the most oft-cited ― to rescue the party’s presidential prospects. The Republican field seems set, with the major contenders likely to be former Governors Mitt Romney of Massachusetts
June 1, 2011
-
[J. Bradford DeLong] Construction boom: Built to bust
BERKELEY ― In the mid-2000s, the United States had a construction boom. From 2003-06, annual construction spending rose to a level well above its long-run trend. Thus, by the start of 2007, the U.S. was, in essence, overbuilt: about $300 billion in excess of the long-run trend in construction spending.When these buildings were constructed, they were expected to more than pay for themselves. But th
June 1, 2011
-
Provide food aid to N.K. with conditions attached
North Korea has fallen victim again to floods, severe cold and failed harvests ― and the case for food assistance to stave off famine is again being dictated by strategic considerations. Serves the North right, critics of Pyongyang’s duplicitous ways would say.South Korean President Lee Myung-bak has shocked his people’s kin sensibilities by withholding any form of cooperation (not just food shipm
May 31, 2011
-
More work needs to be done for Medicare reform
It’s risky to read too much into Kathy Hochul’s upset victory in a special congressional election in western New York on Tuesday ― it was, after all, just one race. Still, Hochul’s fellow Democrats are touting the outcome as a voter rebellion against the House Republican plan to transform Medicare into a subsidy program for private health coverage. If the election prompts Republicans to rethink th
May 31, 2011
-
[Trudy Rubin] After bin Laden, will Taliban talk?
KABUL, Afghanistan ― The talk of talks with the Taliban has taken on new momentum in the wake of the death of Osama bin Laden.Even as the Taliban was mounting its spring offensive, Afghan officials told me of recent meetings in Qatar and Germany between U.S. officials and a Taliban official named Tayyeb Agha, who may ― or may not ― be an emissary of Mullah Omar.And there lies the rub.Secretary of
May 31, 2011
-
[Lee Jae-min] Pirates, private security firms, consuls
No. 1: One way to sail through the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden with peace of mind is purchasing security services. Protection Vessels International, Ltd. is one of such security corporations founded by former British special forces personnel. It provides escort and protection services to merchant ships. PVI is a maritime version of Blackwater Inc., which provides security services to officials an
May 31, 2011
-
[Dick Polman] GOP’s wake-up call on Medicare
The conservative ideologues in Washington discovered last week that their fond dream of privatizing Medicare is political suicide.This should not have come as a surprise. Back in early April, when the tea-partying House Republicans were preparing to vote yes on a plan to eradicate guaranteed health care for seniors ― one of the most popular government programs of the last half-century ― their own
May 31, 2011
-
[Meghan Daum] Obama’s fast brain versus slow mouth
Apparently, a lot of people consider President Obama to be bumblingly inarticulate. “The guy can’t talk his way out of a paper bag!” a reader wrote to me recently. “Sarah Palin is a brilliant speaker. It’s the president whose sentences are undiagrammable,” said another in response to a column I wrote about Palin.It’s not just my readers, nor is it exclusively conservatives, who hold this view. A G
May 31, 2011
-
[Kim Seong-kon] Diplomats and cultural interactions
A few days ago, U.S. Ambassador Kathleen Stephens hosted a farewell dinner party for Patrick J. Linehan, minister-counselor for public affairs, who has been newly assigned to Osaka as consulate general. Since Linehan is my good friend, I decided to attend the dinner to bid farewell to him. When I met Linehan at the U.S. ambassador’s residence, he seemed to be genuinely sad to leave Korea, where he
May 31, 2011
-
Kim Jong-il’s China visit points to peace
The leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Kim Jong-il paid a successful visit to China from May 20 to 26. The attention-grabbing event marks the further consolidation of relations between the two neighbors. It also sends a strong signal to the outside world that the two will make joint efforts to maintain peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula. This is Kim’s third visit to China
May 30, 2011
-
This is not the time for infighting in Japan
Voices critical of Prime Minister Naoto Kan appear to be getting louder within the Democratic Party of Japan. One cannot give high marks to Kan for his performance as the nation’s leader in the wake of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.Even so, as Japan faces the difficult task of reconstruction and bringing the nuclear accidents at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant under control, DPJ poli
May 30, 2011
-
[Rachel Marsden] Harper a role model for conservatives
A few years ago, if Americans had been asked to name the world’s most conservative countries, Canada likely wouldn’t have been on most people’s list. But as so many previous top contenders, including the U.S., slide into socialism, Canada is beginning to shine as a beacon of free-market success. After decades of Liberal Party rule, broken only by eight years of Conservative governance in the 1980s
May 30, 2011
-
[David Ignatius] Arab Spring and the whiff of vengence
WASHINGTON ― “Revenge, at first though sweet, Bitter ere long, back on itself recoils.” The wisdom of that couplet from John Milton’s “Paradise Lost” extends in many directions. But let’s consider the context of the Arab Spring and its transition from dictatorship to democracy. Revolutions can go off the rails for many reasons. But history shows that one of the most dangerous (if also understandab
May 30, 2011