North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has sent a verbal message to Chinese President Xi Jinping to congratulate China on the "successful" closing of the Beijing Winter Olympics, according to Pyongyang's state media Tuesday. "In the message the respected Comrade Kim Jong-un extended heartfelt warm congratulations to General Secretary Xi Jinping upon the splendid proceeding of the Beijing Winter Olympics as a novel and special grand sports festival," the North's Korean Central News A

We begin today’s respite with an easy, one-question pop quiz: QUESTION: At the end of the 20th century’s Cold War, the three nations with the largest nuclear arsenals were: the United States, Russia, and -- (A) Britain, (B) France, (C) China, (D) none of the above? And the correct answer, as you probably know, is: (D). When the Soviet Union collapsed, about one-third of the former Soviet nuclear weapons were still in Ukraine, the suddenly untethered Soviet region just southwest o

On Feb. 21, 1972, US President Richard Nixon arrived in China for what would become a transformative weeklong visit. Beyond establishing diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic, Nixon’s trip deepened the estrangement between China and the Soviet Union, thereby laying the foundations for a new world order. But, 50 years later, China and Russia are pursuing their own entente, with far-reaching implications. Even if Russian President Vladimir Putin withdraws some of the troops

The inheritance tax bill faced by Samsung Group’s leader Lee Jae-yong was again mentioned in the televised debate among key presidential candidates on Monday as People Power Party’s Yoon Suk-yeol and Justice Party’s Sim Sang-jung quarreled over Yoon’s pledge to abolish capital gains tax on stocks. Sim first asked Yoon, “Do you know why the tax was introduced?” When Yoon said no, Sim said, “The introduction of the tax stems from Samsung Lee Jae-yong&rs

Lee Jae-myung, presidential candidate of the ruling Democratic Party, apologized to small business owners and self-employed people who sustained losses from the social distancing measures, drawing a clear line with the Moon Jae-in administration’s quarantine policies. “The first duty of the state is to protect the lives and safety of the public, and protecting the lives of the people from infectious disease is also a part of the state’s responsibility,” Lee said in a te

Presidential nominee Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea attacked his main rival Yoon Suk-yeol of the main opposition People Power Party for his possible involvement in the Daejang-dong development scandal during the presidential TV debate Monday. The ruling party candidate held up a sign showing excerpts of a conversation between Kim Man-be, owner of Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management, and Jeong Young-hak, a public accountant and a stakeholder in the development project, that hi

Yoon Suk-yeol, candidate of the main opposition People Power Party, put forward the idea of “digital data economy” in Monday’s televised debate, inciting criticism from Ahn Cheol-soo, the opposition People’s Party’s nominee. “It is an era of slow growth. It is difficult to resolve the economic polarization and encourage social mobility at a time like this. We have to strengthen the digital data economy, creating a new paradigm,” Yoon said during a TV pr

Presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea was accused of mimicking former conservative President Lee Myung-bak’s vision for economic growth of South Korea. Rep. Sim Sang-jung of the left-wing Justice Party asked during a televised presidential debate Monday if Lee Jae-myung, a liberal, was copying Lee Myung-bak in promising specific figures for target in laying out his economic initiatives even though the two figures have wildly different political ideol