The Korea Herald

Korea’s mark on an expectation-defying Iran

InternationalAug 10, 2011

Anti-American sentiment not prevalent among ordinary people TEHRAN ― For Koreans, Iran is quite an interesting country where Korean-made electronics goods and automotive products have carved out a significant market share and Korean dramas have gained enormous popularity.Unlike the general expe
[Simon Tilford] Eurobonds: Lifeboat for eurozone

ViewpointsAug 10, 2011

LONDON ― The eurozone’s institutional weaknesses have been laid bare. The attempt to run a common monetary policy without a common treasury has failed. Investors do not know what they are buying when they purchase an Italian bond ― is it backstopped by Germany or not?We now know that the best credit
[Doyle McManus] Job creation is Obama’s biggest challenge

ViewpointsAug 10, 2011

The central question facing Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign is this: Can the president persuade voters to let him keep his job when so many of them have lost theirs?Last week, after another run of bad economic news, the president and his staff tried their best to sound upbeat. In public, the
[Editorial] East Sea campaign

EditorialAug 10, 2011

Korea has lodged a formal protest with the U.S. government for ignoring its request that it use both “East Sea” and “Sea of Japan” in calling the body of water between Korea and Japan. The East Sea is Korea’s preferred name for the maritime area.According to reports, the U.S. government has confirme
[Editorial] Irrational politicians

EditorialAug 10, 2011

To leaders of the ruling Grand National Party and the main opposition Democratic Party, the twin sovereign debt crisis in Europe and the United States is a fire on the other side of the river. They are watching the flames without bothering to find out what caused it or learn its lessons.The main cau
[Virginia Postrel] Obama glamour can’t fix charisma deficit

ViewpointsAug 10, 2011

One thing is clear in the aftermath of the debt-limit debate: U.S. President Barack Obama has lost his glamour. The alluring icon of hope and change has become just another pol, derided by his supporters as well as his opponents. As one headline succinctly put it: “Obama succumbs to the ways of Wash
[Editorial] Falling bank stocks offer a too-big-to-fail wakeup call

ViewpointsAug 10, 2011

Bank of America and Citigroup stood out for all the wrong reasons in Monday’s market meltdown. Shares of the two banks led the decline amid new doubts about the quality of the assets buried on their balance sheets. Investors now believe that Bank of America’s net worth is only about a third of what
[Brahma Chellaney] Ethnic minority lands emerge as China’s Achilles heel

ViewpointsAug 10, 2011

NEW DELHI ― In the face of spreading civil unrest among China’s Uighur population, the Chinese government’s love-fest with its all-weather ally, Pakistan, may be starting to sour. Indeed, the authorities in China’s Xinjiang province are charging that a prominent Uighur separatist that they captured
International pressure on Syria grows

World NewsAug 10, 2011

Turkey urges Damascus to stop violence, U.S. will demand Assad to goBEIRUT (AP) ― Syrian President Bashar Assad came under a new barrage of international pressure Tuesday with the Turkish foreign minister urging him to stop killing protesters and U.S. officials saying the Obama administration is pre
Perry seeks to shake up GOP race

World NewsAug 10, 2011

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) ― Though he’s not officially a candidate, Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s visits this weekend to three important presidential nominating states threaten to overshadow any lift his would-be rivals hope to gain from a big week in Iowa.Perry’s expected entrance into the Republican race lo
Obama honors troops killed in Afghan attack

World NewsAug 10, 2011

DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Delaware (AP) ― For the second time in his presidency, Barack Obama was at Dover on Tuesday, saluting troops who died on his watch.Sadness hung everywhere. For Obama, it was a day to deal with the nation’s single deadliest day of the decade-long war in Afghanistan. For the fami
GKL names new CEO

PeopleAug 10, 2011

Grand Korea Leisure has said it named former Paju Mayor Ryoo Hwa-sun as the new CEO at an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting on Wednesday. Ryoo received his bachelor’s degree in sociology from Seoul National University and an MBA from Sogang University. GKL CEO Ryoo Hwa-su (GKL)He served as m
EIDF celebrates non-fiction films

FilmAug 10, 2011

EBS event to screen 51 documentaries on TV and in theatersA total of 51 documentary films from 29 countries will be screened on TV and in theaters in Seoul this month, along with educational workshops and pitching sessions for newly emerging filmmakers.The 8th EBS (Educational Broadcasting System) I
Report: Suicides in movies tripled

FilmAug 10, 2011

PHILADELPHIA (AP) ― A movie analysis shows depictions of explicit and graphic suicides tripled from 1950 to 2006.An analysis by Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center of 855 top box office films also says there’s no difference between PG-13- and R-rated films in the most explicit portrayals o
U.N.-themed photo exhibit opens in Seoul

TheaterAug 10, 2011

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon joined other influential figures in Seoul on Wednesday for the opening of photo exhibition aimed at rallying support for the United Nations’ development goals.Hosted by Yonhap News Agency, South Korea’s key wire service, the show features more than 80 award-winning