The Korea Herald

BOJ seen holding fire, cutting growth forecast

World BusinessApr 28, 2011
Hyundai, Kia hybrids pack in new features

IndustryApr 28, 2011

At the recent Seoul Motor Show, Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp. each unveiled their first gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles based on their midsized sedan’s Sonata and K5.While the carmakers had introduced hybrid electric vehicles based on the compact cars Avante and Forte powered by a combination of an electric motor and a liquefied natural gas engine, the hybrid Sonata and K5 mark their fi
LG Electronics back on track with smart appliances

IndustryApr 28, 2011

LG Electronics this week posted an operating profit, signaling that the global electronics maker is getting back in the groove with well-paced strategies and cutting-edge technologies.LG Electronics, the world’s second-largest flat-screen television maker and third-largest handset maker, has been avidly making its way up in the smart device industry under the guidance of its CEO Koo Bon-joon to pr
[Editorial] Enhancing looks

EditorialApr 28, 2011

Veteran singer Yoon Bok-hee said in an interview last week that she was afraid of watching TV these days because she sees so many entertainers who have undergone cosmetic surgery. “With your skin yanked and bone carved, can you correctly express your emotion? With your mouth reconstructed, can you sing normally?” she asked.The 65-year-old singer insists that a truly dedicated actor or singer shoul
[Editorial] Post-poll plans

EditorialApr 28, 2011

The electorate in the Bundang B district said no to the status quo and, instead, endorsed a call for change when it elected Sohn Hak-kyu, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, in the April 27 parliamentary by-election. Of great concern to the conservative ruling party and the liberal opposition party is whether the electoral outcome will prove to be a tempest in a teacup or a prelude to
Japan’s economy feels the effects of quake

ViewpointsApr 28, 2011

The government in its monthly report released in mid-April downgraded its basic assessment of the Japanese economy for the first time in six months. It said the March 11 catastrophe is causing downward pressure on exports, production and consumption.Although there is a view that the economy will start to pick up around July, partly assisted by increased demand linked to reconstruction projects, th
Cuba needs to adapt to economic realities

ViewpointsApr 28, 2011

Last week, Cuban President Raul Castro endorsed sweeping economic reforms, proposed term limits for government and Communist Party officials, and conceded that the party’s failure to groom a new generation of leaders will make it harder to find a successor.The proposed reforms could usher in major changes. For the first time since the 1959 revolution, the government would allow Cubans to own and s
[Tim Rutten] In Libya, ‘mission creep’ sets in

ViewpointsApr 28, 2011

In the think-tank argot popular in foreign policy circles, “mission creep” is an idiom for one of the garden-variety mistakes most people were warned against at their mother’s knee. Think “don’t throw good money after bad” and you’ve pretty well got the essence of the thing.Predictably, though, mission creep is what’s occurring in Libya. Each halting step the United States and its NATO allies take
[Yuliya Tymoshenko] Meaning of the Chernobyl meltdown

ViewpointsApr 28, 2011

KIEV ― It began as a grey and muddy spring day, like so many others in my homeland. It ended in dread and mourning.Of course, none of us knew the precise moment when catastrophe struck at Chernobyl 25 years ago. Back then, we lived under a system that denied ordinary people any right whatsoever to know about even essential facts and events. So we were kept in the dark about the radiation leaking f
Hoping the message and works of author are not tarnished

ViewpointsApr 28, 2011

I’ve long been an admirer of Greg Mortenson, the author of the phenomenal best-seller “Three Cups of Tea.” The book tells how he began building girls’ schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan after making a pledge to the villagers of Korphe, who had rescued him from a failed attempt to summit the world’s second-highest peak, K-2.To see his work, I traveled with Greg in 2007 to visit schools he’d built
[Edward Wasserman] Lawsuit exposes musty values of Internet economy

ViewpointsApr 28, 2011

In 1991 a lawsuit filed by a freelance journalist was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that the New York Times owed money to independent writers it had published for reselling their work from its archives. This was a big deal ― in theory, anyway.In fact, all it did was force publishers to get their lawyers to write bulletproof waivers for freelancers to sign. That waiver is a thing o
[Andrew Sheng] The flawed global monetary system

ViewpointsApr 28, 2011

In 1944, the historic meeting on the international monetary system was held in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. The British delegation was led by Lord Keynes, the foremost economic thinker of his day. The U.S. delegation was effectively led by Treasury adviser Harry Dexter White. Even though all the Allies attended the meeting, including China and India, it was essentially a debate between the declin
Baathists quit over Syria’s crackdown

World NewsApr 28, 2011
U.N. fails to agree on condemning Syria

World NewsApr 28, 2011

UNITED NATIONS (AP) ― The deeply divided U.N. Security Council failed to agree on a European and U.S.-backed statement condemning Syrian violence against peaceful protesters on Wednesday, with Russia saying security forces were also killed and the actions don’t threaten international peace.“A real threat to regional security in our view could arise from outside interference in Syria’s domestic sit
Violent storms smack Southern U.S., kill at least 85

World NewsApr 28, 2011

TUSCALOOSA, Alabama (AP) -- Fierce storms obliterated large swathsof land from Mississippi to Georgia, wiping out homes and businesses, causing a nuclear power plant to use backup generators and even forcing the evacuation of a National Weather Service office.The death toll was staggering _ at least 85 people killed in five states, including 61 in Alabama alone, a number that was likely to increas