The Korea Herald

[Editorial] Japan politics

EditorialMar 7, 2011

Controversy over illegal political donations of 200,000 yen (2.7 million won) over four years has further shaken the fragile Naoto Kan administration of the Democratic Party of Japan with the resignation of Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara. As the donor happens to be a Korean restaurant owner in Kyoto named Jang, who says she did not know foreigners were banned from political donations, some may be
Dealing with Japan’s population trends

ViewpointsMar 7, 2011

Preliminary findings in the 2010 census released Feb. 25 by the internal affairs ministry underline the overall trend of a shrinking and graying population as well as a demographic imbalance characterized by a population rise in a few prefectures and a population drop in most prefectures. Japan cannot lose any time in working out policies that will effectively cope with undesirable effects from th
[Doyle McManus] No-fly zone in Libya is a war cry

ViewpointsMar 7, 2011

It didn’t take long for well-meaning members of Congress last week to come up with an easy sounding proposal to help the Libyan opposition topple Moammar Gadhafi: Just impose a no-fly zone.“We spend $500 billion on defense and we can’t take down Libyan air defenses?” Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., told the Washington Post. “You tell those Libyan pilots that there is a no-fly zone, and they are not goi
[David Ignatius] Obama’s calculated gamble in Mideast

ViewpointsMar 7, 2011

WASHINGTON ― President Obama has been so low-key in his pronouncements about events in Egypt and Libya that it’s easy to miss the extent of the shift in U.S. strategy. In supporting the wave of change sweeping the Arab world, despite the wariness of traditional allies such as Israel and Saudi Arabia, Obama is placing a big bet that democratic governments will be more stable and secure, and thereby
[Meghan Daum] Michelle Obama’s campaign against obesity

ViewpointsMar 7, 2011

A few weeks ago I was at the Denver airport when I overheard a conversation between two men sitting near me. They were eating some form of grab-and-go airport lunch when one man, between bites, suddenly raised his voice and called Michelle Obama something that can’t be printed in a family newspaper.“She wants to control what we eat!” he continued. “She wants the government to be in charge of what’
[Letter to the editor] Playing chicken with prosperity

ViewpointsMar 7, 2011

Economics is founded on the principle of gains from trade. If economic activity is considered as a kind of game, then all players are made better off when they cooperate. Of course, political science knows other types of “games,” notably the prisoner’s dilemma. In this situation, a player may be better off by refusing to cooperate. Hence a situation where prisoner’s dilemma is prevalent will foste
[Naomi Wolf] The feminist revolution behind Middle East upheaval

ViewpointsMar 7, 2011

OXFORD ― Among the most prevalent Western stereotypes about Muslim countries are those concerning Muslim women: doe-eyed, veiled, and submissive, exotically silent, gauzy inhabitants of imagined harems, closeted behind rigid gender roles. So where were these women in Tunisia and Egypt?In both countries, women protesters were nothing like the Western stereotype: they were front and center, in news
Korea to promote Daegu tourism in Japan

TravelMar 7, 2011

The Korea Tourism Organization said it will attract Japanese tourists to Daegu through a series of promotional meetings in five major cities of Japan from March 7 to March 12.Daegu is scheduled to host the International Association of Athletics Federations World Championships from Aug. 27 to Sept. 4, and the KTO has set the year 2011 as “Visit Daegu Year” to boost tourism in the city.The KTO’s iti
Photos to take you out of the city

TheaterMar 7, 2011

Hong Mi-sun, Michael Kenna, Min Byung-hun showcase photos of natureThough many dream of taking time off work for several months or even years to travel the world, not many have the courage to do so. But for some lucky photographers, global travel even makes them a living. Three established photographers are holding solo exhibitions in Seoul to show beautiful photos of nature they took during their
As shoppers demand customization, companies say: Do it yourself

Food&BeverageMar 7, 2011

CHICAGO ― Blame it on Starbucks. Consumers seem to be looking for ways to personalize everything they buy. It’s not just picking apps for their phones, special touches for their shoes or music for their iPods, but down to customizing everything from mashed potatoes to the water they drink.Alexander Chernev, an associate professor of marketing at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, said co
S. Korean rights group raps forced slimming drive

NationalMar 7, 2011

SEOUL (AFP) - A South Korean company that penalised tubby workers for failing to lose weight was guilty of employment discrimination, the country's human rights watchdog said Monday. Hyun Byung-chul, chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, speaks at a meeting of the panel executives in Seoul on Monday. (Yonhap News)The National Human Rights Commission accepted an appeal by a 31-year-old
U.S. tornado kills mother, displaces 1,500

World NewsMar 7, 2011

RAYNE, Louisiana (AP) – Officials worked Sunday to get people back into their homes a day after a tornado ripped through this southwestern Louisiana town, killing a mother shielding her child from the fierce winds and leaving 12 hurt.Many of the 1,500 residents who had been evacuated were being allowed to return to their homes in this community about 70 miles (112 kilometers) west of Baton Rouge,
S. Korea's savings rate well below OECD average: report

Mar 7, 2011

South Korea's household savings rate stayed far below the average for major economies in the world, a report showed Monday, apparently indicating that the latest economic crisis resulted in a decline in income reserved for banksavings.According to the report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), South Korea's household savings rate -- the ratio of savings to total di
Zombie computers in DDoS attack begin to destroy own hard drives

Social affairsMar 7, 2011

Sixty-two hard disc drive destructions were reported as of Sunday among an estimated 34,000 zombie computers mobilized to carry out massive cyber attacks on the web sites of South Korea's key government agencies and financial institutions on Friday and Saturday, government officials said.The web sites of about 30 government agencies and financial institutions came under a so-called "distributed de
Korean students less happy than Asian peers

Social affairsMar 7, 2011

Survey shows youths here have higher sense of gender equality than in China, Japan (The Korea Herald)Korean students were less happy than their peers in China and Japan, while they had the highest sense of gender equality, a three-nation survey found Sunday. According to the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, the survey ― the third of its kind ― questioned on Oct. 4, 597 middle and high schoo