Most Popular
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Actor Song Jae-rim dies at 39
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'Are you a T?' is a new put-down in S. Korea
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Bitcoin hits record in Korea, even without ‘kimchi premium’
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Trump sours K-food outlook in US
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Korean study finds 'obese' BMI may actually be healthiest
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Boston Dynamics robot dog joins Trump’s security detail
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Hyundai’s Atlas robot takes the spotlight as Tesla's Optimus stumbles
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[Rising virtuosos] From Pororo to Paganini: 13-year-old violinist Lee Hyeon-jeong’s journey to the world stage
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Leaked cables reveal Kim Jong-un’s orders to oppose human rights pressure at UN
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Who are the K-pop stars taking Suneung this year?
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[David Scheffer] Keeping Gadhafi on a leash
On Thursday evening the U.N. Security Council hit the right target when it authorized a no-fly zone over Libya, as well as “all necessary measures” against loyalist forces of Moammar Gadhafi. With the tide recently turning against the rebellion, the no-fly zone and airstrikes against advancing armor and troops are needed more than ever to protect millions of Libyan civilians and help deter the atr
March 21, 2011
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[David Ignatius] Contrarian thinking about dialogue
In a rapidly changing Islamic world, the Obama administration is weighing how best to talk with adversaries such as the Taliban and, perhaps, Hezbollah. One model for the administration, as it thinks about engagement of enemies, is the British process of dialogue during the 1990s with Sinn Fein, the legal political wing of the terrorist Irish Republican Army. That outreach led to breakthrough peac
March 21, 2011
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[William Pesek] Japan’s ‘BP moment’ troubles global economy
You never want to kick a nation when it’s down. It’s time, though, to consider the depth of Japan’s coming recession. A week ago, before radiation fears prompted a mass exodus from Tokyo, a downturn was of the “if” variety. Japan’s prospects then dimmed with each passing day of blackouts and panicked news reports. The questions now are when the recession will officially begin, how bad it will be a
March 21, 2011
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[Thitinan Pongsudhirak] Thai voters in yellow and red set for crucial elections
BANGKOK ― After three consecutive years of deadly street protests, Thailand has arrived at the point where it will need to hold new elections, as the current term of its national assembly expires this December. Indeed, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has indicated that he will call for the dissolution of the lower house by the first week of May. This follows a parliamentary no-confidence motion,
March 21, 2011
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[Caroline Baum] Rich feel good again about what they do best
The world is beset by crises, from an earthquake and tsunami in Japan to revolution and repression in the Middle East. For one small segment of the population, however, it’s party time.The rich are spending again; the more conspicuous the consumption, the better. Gone are the exhortations to bankers in the dark days of 2008 and 2009 to temper extravagant behavior, act more like an everyman. Shun t
March 21, 2011
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Trapping National Public Radio of the U.S.
Did National Public Radio get a raw deal when an executive was secretly taped making indiscreet political comments about conservatives, provoking calls from Republicans to cut off its federal funding? Could be. It turns out that the unedited video ― according to Glenn Beck’s website “The Blaze” ― shows “questionable editing and tactics” designed to misrepresent executive Ron Schiller’s attitudes.I
March 20, 2011
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[Jay Winter] The birth of the Muslim Brotherhood
To understand the Muslim Brotherhood, and to assess its role today in a shifting Middle East, it is necessary to first examine the forces that led to the organization’s birth. And that takes us back to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire during World War I.The Ottoman Empire had been, before World War I, the strongest and most visible face of Islam in the world. At its height in the 16th and 17th c
March 20, 2011
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[Andrew Sheng] Economic impact of disaster in Japan
I was at an IMF conference on capital flows in Bali when the Japanese earthquake and tsunami occurred. As the tragedy unfolded over the weekend, it became clear that the crisis was complicated by nuclear considerations. All of our sympathies and condolences go with our Japanese friends as they go through this terrible natural disaster, possibly larger than the Kobe earthquake. When the Year of the
March 20, 2011
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[Craig D. Turner] New technology seduces us when death beckons
The decision to opt for medical care that relies on the most costly technology is often based on blind faith that newer, elaborate and expensive must be better.The sentiment is understandable. We look to the miracles of medical technology to solve all sorts of problems, from weight loss to wrinkle removal. We place even greater faith in this technology when engaged in life’s inevitable losing batt
March 20, 2011
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[Meghan Daum] NPR needs a backbone
Oh, NPR, won’t you please state your game? Are you liberal? Are you neutral? Are your employees secret socialists? Do their screensavers feature slideshows of Noam Chomsky? Do your office Christmas parties serve only free-range eggnog? Do your parking lots offer preferred spaces for vehicles with “Free Tibet” bumper stickers?Yes? No? Tell us, NPR!Was former fundraising executive Ron Schiller repea
March 20, 2011
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Embarrassing times for al-Qaida in Middle East
Al-Qaida’s leaders languishing in their lairs are probably taking Valium right now ― if not something stronger. Watching the revolutions spreading across the Middle East, they look like utter fools.The most obvious point of ridicule is Egypt, where thousands of youths accomplished in a few weeks a feat that Al-Qaida had been pursuing for 20 years: throwing Hosni Mubarak out of office.Worse, howeve
March 20, 2011
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Hoping for an early end to Japan’s crucible
In every natural disaster, there is an arc to the story, the narrative. Earthquakes open with surprise. Scientists can’t predict them with the precision of hurricanes, can’t track them on radar, can’t provide much if any warning. Buildings ― rooms ― start to sway sickeningly, dishes crash. That’s how you know.Tsunamis are more predictable. There’s warning, as there was in Japan last week. Resident
March 18, 2011
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[William Pesek] Tokyo remains stoic amid over-the-top news reports
Of all the things I expected to experience in Tokyo, hugging three Japanese female strangers in their 70s was never part of the plan.This city is no-public-display-of-affection central. The anti-Paris when it comes to spontaneous gestures of intimacy. When the ground begins to shake, protocol is the first casualty. So, when a big aftershock hit Shinjuku train station, we four panicked strangers jo
March 18, 2011
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[David Ignatius] A witch’s brew in the Persian Gulf
WASHINGTON ― The Obama administration and its support for democratic change in the Middle East has been on a collision course with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other traditional monarchies of the Persian Gulf. The crunch finally came this week with a sharp break over how to deal with protest in Bahrain. The stakes in this latest crisis are high, even by Middle East standards, for it
March 18, 2011
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[Editorial] Japanese people will remain calm and overcome
The catastrophe that has happened in Japan over the past few days will not prevent the Japanese people from recovering. It will take a bit longer in comparison to the Kobe earthquake of 1995, but recover they will. Japan is unfortunate to be situated in an area that is prone to natural disasters whether they be earthquakes or tsunamis. The fact that tsunami is a Japanese word is testimony to the f
March 18, 2011
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[Editorial] Philippine officials lack sense of urgency
The principal lesson from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan is that even the richest and most disaster-ready country in the world cannot have enough of disaster preparedness. Historically earthquake-prone and -battered, Japan is also temblor-hardened and -geared-up. But despite its legendary obsessive-compulsive ways that would leave no stone unturned as far as priming up for disasters
March 18, 2011
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[Editorial] But nuke power will still prevail
The disabling of a nuclear power plant in Japan after an earthquake struck is certain to bring new thinking on the issue. This has been flagged by the extreme measures the Japanese authorities have used at the Fukushima Daiichi plant ― pumping in impure sea water that will ruin the reactor core so as to reduce heat buildup and prevent a meltdown. Although this reactor, which dates back 40 years, w
March 18, 2011
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[Zhang Monan] Global response to natural disasters
The devastation caused by the disastrous 9.0-magnitude earthquake in Japan and the potential risks from radiation leaks at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant once again highlight the urgent need to establish a global disaster emergency relief mechanism.The frequent incidence of natural disasters worldwide, with many engendered by greenhouse gas emissions, environmental deterioration and ecologica
March 18, 2011
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[William Pfaff] Intervention in Libya should not fly
PARIS ― To intervene in another country’s internal conflict has always posed a prudential judgment, weighing one’s own national interest, alliances, treaty obligations, the global balance and international law. The 20th century has greatly complicated the matter by adding to this combination humanitarian convictions and considerations, mainly inspired by the modern experience of deliberate atrocit
March 17, 2011
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Crisis bolsters resolve for safe nuclear energy
Entire towns vanished.Simply gone.Thousands dead, thousands more missing and feared dead.Simply gone.And as individual families in Japan and the world as a whole begin to grieve last week’s horrific earthquake and tsunami, we are also learning firsthand about the vulnerability of nuclear energy.The technology that resource-scarce Japan harnessed to become an industrial powerhouse is now becoming a
March 17, 2011