Koreans are rightly angered each time Japan renews an unwarranted claim to Korea’s easternmost rocky islets of Dokdo. This time, however, many of them voiced as much disappointment as anger on hearing that the Japanese government approved of junior high school textbooks describing the islets as part of Japanese territory. They apparently felt disappointed that their goodwill was not reciprocated.S

It must undoubtedly have been humiliating to President Lee Myung-bak to abandon one of his campaign promises ― building a new international airport. On the other hand, it was an act of courage, given that his administration did so at the risk of a voter revolt.On Wednesday, the Lee administration scrapped a plan to construct an international airport in South Gyeongsang Province. A viable alternati

Before President Obama’s address to the nation about Libya, three questions about U.S. involvement there loomed large: Why, among all the places with vulnerable civilian populations, did the U.S. and its allies choose to intervene in Libya? Was the mission designed to prevent civilian suffering or to topple Moammar Gadhafi? How (and how quickly) would the U.S. extricate itself from this engagement

The Obama administration says the goals of its bombing campaign in Libya are crystal clear, but it has tied itself in knots trying to explain them.This isn’t a war, White House spokesman Jay Carney said last week, “it’s a time-limited, scope-limited military action.”“What we are doing is enforcing a (United Nations) resolution that has a very clear set of goals, which is protecting the Libyan peop

I wonder how many liberals would’ve voted for Barack Obama if he had stumped the nation with this campaign vow:“We’re fighting two wars, but as president I pledge to change that policy by ordering up a third. And I will do so by exercising the prerogatives of the imperial presidency. George W. Bush felt it was necessary to get congressional authorization for the war in Iraq, but I will do him one

What’s up with the blue jackets?This is suddenly the question I’m getting when speaking with folks overseas or reading my emails. It’s not whether I feel safe, or if I’m drinking Tokyo’s radioactive tap water or if I plan to make a beeline out of the Fukushima zone. It’s why, oh why, are Japanese leaders dressed like auto mechanics?It’s to show, of course, they are in full-blown crisis-management

Japan is considering pouring concrete into its crippled Fukushima atomic plant as the United Nation’s nuclear watchdog agency warned that a potential uncontrolled chain reaction could cause further radiation leaks.Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano Wednesday ruled out the possibility that the two undamaged reactors at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s six-unit Daiichi plant would be salvaged. Units 1 th

Wyeth Korea said Wednesday that it has reduced the price of its rheumatism medication, Embrel, by 5 percent.As the Ministry of Health and Welfare has decided to cover 90 percent of the medication fee through the national health insurance, the price of the drug will be set to less than 100,000 won a month, the drug distributor said. Previously, the national health insurance covered 90 percent of th

Seoul National University Hospital opened a new cancer center last week. The SNU hospital is the latest addition to the boom in cancer-centers. With SNU famed in Korea for its advanced diagnostic techniques, the center is expected to raise the overall medical service level here. The six-storey building has 26 units, including 15 specialized cancer sections and nine comprehensive units. The center

Hair loss has long been considered a problem of middle-aged men, but nearly half of those visiting medical facilities for the condition are from the younger generation, according to the National Health Insurance Corporation.The public body said the number of those treated for hair loss, which is classified as dermatological disorder, reached 181,000 in 2009, up about 24.8 percent from 145,000 in 2

CHICAGO ― A new minimally invasive procedure designed to shrink the prostate could offer an alternative to surgery for a benign condition that affects millions of men in America.However, doctors cautioned that the benefits found in the small clinical trial presented here need to be duplicated in a bigger, more rigorous study.“The main thing they are showing is that it is safe,” said William Rillin