Most Popular
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Yoon's approval rating plunges to all-time low
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S. Korea votes in favor of Palestinian bid for UN membership
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Russia's denial of entry of S. Korean national unrelated to bilateral ties: Seoul official
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Bae Doo-na shares portraying Korean identity in Hollywood's 'Rebel Moon'
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[From the Scene] Monks, Buddhists hail return of remains of Buddhas
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Medical schools granted enrollment quota flexibility for next year
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Yoon offers first one-on-one meeting with opposition leader next week
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Iran fires air defense batteries in provinces as sound of explosions heard near Isfahan
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France rejects opening Paris flight routes to T'way Air, deals blow to Korean Air merger
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Chinese man behind drug scam targeting teens nabbed in Cambodia
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[Lee Jae-min] Jurisdiction over captured pirates
Last Friday’s rescue of the 21 crew members of Samho Jewelry in the Gulf of Aden was successfully completed against all odds. Korea’s swift action was rather unexpected given that it has preferred low-profile negotiations in previous hostage takings abroad. The Korean naval commando team is now holding five pirates in custody. The successful rescue operation will definitely force future pirates to
Jan. 25, 2011
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Could a foreigner be elected mayor in Korea?
It is pretty amazing reading the story of Jung Heung-won. This Korean lived in Argentina for 10 years, then another five in Lima, until finally moving to Chanchamayo, where he has helped many of those in need. In reward for his efforts, he was easily elected mayor of the latter city this year, since any “foreigner granted residence in Peru can run for public office if he or she lives in the same e
Jan. 25, 2011
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[Caroline Baum] China can just say ‘No’ to one American export
At a joint press conference to welcome Chinese President Hu Jintao to the U.S. on Jan. 19, President Barack Obama downplayed contentious issues, such as China’s undervalued currency, and focused instead on areas of economic cooperation. “We want to sell you all kinds of stuff,” Obama said. “We want to sell you planes, we want to sell you cars, we want to sell you software.” One thing not on his ex
Jan. 25, 2011
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[Kevin Hassett] Slow-growth U.S. now ripe for consumption tax
The prospect of meaningful tax reform has become the hot topic in the hearing rooms and, just as important, the back rooms of Washington.House Ways and Means Committee Chairman David Camp, Republican of Michigan, devoted his first hearing to the topic, and President Barack Obama’s team is talking up the subject in private and in public.“We’re examining whether we can find the political support for
Jan. 25, 2011
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[Kim Seong-kon] Koreans never rest but work and play
In his essay, “Work and Play,” George Santayana discusses the Western concept of work and play. He writes, “We may call everything play which is useless activity, exercise that springs from the physiological impulse to discharge the energy which the exigencies of life have not called out. Work will then be all action that is necessary or useful for life.” Although he proposes the importance of pla
Jan. 25, 2011
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Prime Minister Naoto Kan begins Diet hurdles
The Diet opens its ordinary session today. The results will greatly influence the fate of Prime Minister Naoto Kan and his Cabinet. By his recent Cabinet reshuffle, Kan has made it clear that he will give priority to unified reform of the tax system ― which would include a consumption tax hike ― and the social welfare system as well as to Japan’s participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a r
Jan. 24, 2011
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Aisle-crossing centrists diminishing in Senate
When independent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut announced Wednesday that he wouldn’t seek a fifth term, there was hardly a wet eye in the house. It’s hard to find anybody, conservative or liberal, who has nice things to say about Lieberman, who is so disliked in his home state that the threat of competition from a former pro-wrestling promoter was apparently enough to scare him away from the 20
Jan. 24, 2011
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[Linda P. Campbell] Overdoing it on rights of corporations
If a corporation is a “person” under the law, does it get the kinds of “personal privacy” protections real people enjoy ― just because the adjective personal derives from the noun person?AT&T claims it does.But if that’s what federal law means, it will be one more way in which corporate interests trump those of ordinary Americans.Here’s why: Corporations will be able to use the federal Freedom of
Jan. 24, 2011
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[Yuriko Koike] Peace offensive, not peace, from N.K.
TOKYO ― When a North Korean dove clutching an olive branch suddenly appears, the world should challenge it to reveal its hidden talons. This is only prudent because Kim Jong-il’s recent soothing words to America’s special envoy to North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, have been heard before.Indeed, what Kim is now offering is not peace, but a “peace offensive” ― a tactic used by the North repeatedly sinc
Jan. 24, 2011
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[Meghan Daum] Gift that can come from experience of failure
Amy Chua, a Yale law professor and mother of two, was unknown to most of the world until two weeks ago. On Jan. 8, the Wall Street Journal published an excerpt from her then-forthcoming, now-bestselling book, “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.” Part memoir and part manifesto, the excerpt was titled “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior” and led with a list of activities and behaviors that Chua’s two da
Jan. 24, 2011
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[Doyle McManus] Health care, one more time
On the most important domestic issues of the day, our two political parties don’t merely lay out competing arguments; they inhabit alternative realities.The chasm was apparent over the last few days as the House of Representatives churned relentlessly toward its vote to repeal President Obama’s health-care law. The two-day debate, carried out in a marathon series of two-minute speeches, remained c
Jan. 24, 2011
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[Ian Bremmer] Lebanon provides lessons for Iraq
NEW YORK ― After watching the collapse of Lebanon’s government last week, it is hard not to think about efforts to build a stable Iraq. The two countries have so much in common. Both are volatile democracies where any political question can provoke not just intense debate, but also the threat of violence.Both countries have relative freedom of speech, at least relative to their Arab neighbors, and
Jan. 24, 2011
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[Tim Rutten] Political speech today, it’s not Kennedy’s America
Is our political speech really more bitter and poisonous than it’s ever been?No, though it’s certainly more debased and lacerating than it was just a few short years ago. We’ve been through eras of bitterly expressed politics more often than we’d probably care to admit. The Federalists and anti-Federalists bickered ferociously. Contention over the Bank of the United States during the Jacksonian er
Jan. 23, 2011
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[DAVID IGNATIUS] ‘Smart power’ can be ‘smartly done’
WASHINGTON ― It’s hard to imagine Rome giving a state dinner for the marauding Barbarians. Or ancient Athens feting a rising Sparta. So before you make any assumptions about inevitable conflict between America and China, consider the image of President Hu Jintao tapping his toe to the music of Herbie Hancock in the East Room of the White House. The social whirl of a state visit is as short-lived a
Jan. 23, 2011
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[Su Hao] Peace on Korean Peninsula is common goal
The situation on the Korean Peninsula is crucial to maintaining peace in Northeast Asia. It plays an important role in the security and economic development of the Asia-Pacific region, and has a great impact on overall global stability. Hence, the peninsula has a special place in Sino-U.S. ties. Though the Cold War ended two decades ago, people on the Korean Peninsula are still living in its shado
Jan. 23, 2011
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[Dick Polman] Civility talk is fine, but where are new calls for gun control?
Behold the silence of the lambs. Naturally, I’m talking about the Democrats.One of their own House members has been plugged in the head by a nut job armed with a Glock and a high-capacity magazine, yet even now they can’t muster the courage to talk about sensible gun curbs. That issue is off the national agenda because Democrats have been rendered mute by their terror of the gun lobby.The timidity
Jan. 23, 2011
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[Robert B. Reich] GOP and democrats on health care
Forget the symbolic vote to repeal health care. Republicans don’t have the votes to override Obama’s sure veto.The real move happens later, when Republicans try to cut the money needed to implement the law’s requirement that all Americans buy health insurance.On its face it’s a smart tactic. The individual mandate is the lynchpin of the heath-care law because it spreads the risks. Without the part
Jan. 23, 2011
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Will frustration lead to a tequila uprise?
Many Latinos have grown frustrated by the failure of Democrats and Republicans to craft a comprehensive reform of national immigration policy. Those disaffected voters may have a new home: the Tequila Party, an independent, grassroots effort designed to mobilize Latinos much as the tea party movement has seized on the anger and frustration of fiscal conservatives.The Tequila Party remains more an
Jan. 21, 2011
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Haiti should hold Duvalier accountable
As if Haiti needed another plague, former dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier made a surprise return to the country on Sunday after 25 years of exile, raising alarm about his intentions and complicating efforts to resolve a paralyzing electoral crisis.The one-time “president for life” is a polarizing figure who governed Haiti during one of its most wretched eras. His return is yet another dos
Jan. 21, 2011
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[Caroline Baum] No jobs? No income? No problem for U.S. shoppers
The pieces just don’t add up.Credit card debt outstanding has fallen 27 straight months for a total decline of $177.2 billion.The unemployment rate has been stuck above 9 percent for 20 months.Average hourly earnings rose 1.9 percent in 2010.Personal income rose less than 4 percent in the 12 months ended November.About 23 percent of homes with mortgages are worth less than the amount of the loan.F
Jan. 21, 2011