The Korea Herald

[David Ignatius] Assessing bin Laden’s legacy

May 2, 2012

WASHINGTON ― In the year since Osama bin Laden’s death, it has been a comforting thought for Westerners to say that he failed. And that’s certainly true in terms of al-Qaeda, whose scorched-earth jihad tactics alienated Muslims along with everyone else. But in terms of bin Laden’s broader goal of moving the Islamic world away from Western influence, he has done better than we might like to think. Egypt is a case in point: This has been a year of mostly nonviolent democratic revolution. But it ha
Money equals power in corrupt China

ViewpointsMay 2, 2012

Now it has turned out in China that not only power corrupts, but also money. And what if the two join hand in hand? The results are dramatic, tragic, and ruinous, as the cascading events in China show. For nearly three months since February, the world has been watching a drama with suspense and disbelief. Perhaps some sadness, too.What I am talking about is the purge of Bo Xilai, who until April 10 was a high-flying Politburo member and a contender for top leadership of the Chinese Communist Par
[Howard Davies] Bringing it all back home in the wake of financial crisis

ViewpointsMay 2, 2012

PARIS ― Global policymakers regularly congratulate themselves on having avoided the policy errors of the 1930s during the financial crisis that began in 2008. Led by U.S. Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke, an economic historian of the Great Depression, they remembered the ideas of John Maynard Keynes and loosened monetary and fiscal policy to avoid the worst. We are still coping with the budgetary consequences, especially in Europe, but it is true that the world did not end in 2008.Mon
Gingrich’s quest for glory ends as a punch line

ViewpointsMay 2, 2012

Newt Gingrich never saw it ending this way. The former House speaker, who has long thought of himself as a historic figure, envisioned he would be the candidate of innovative “big ideas” and the agenda-setter for the 2012 U.S. election. This either would catapult him to the White House or ensure a consolation prize: a vice presidential nomination or secretary of State appointment in a Republican administration. In the worst case, he would be a genuine senior statesman in his party. Instead, as h
Germany’s trade unions seeking higher pay could save the euro

ViewpointsMay 2, 2012

At times of economic crisis, politicians like to blame investors, preferably foreign investors. Harold Wilson, the British prime minister in the 1960s, pointed the finger at bankers in Zurich. Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad of Malaysia accused George Soros of undermining his country’s financial stability in the late 1990s. And in parts of Europe today, it is increasingly common to blame hedge funds, “locust”-like investors, or even credit-default swaps for the euro-area crisis. This is almost e
[Editorial] Countdown in the North

EditorialMay 1, 2012

The National Human Rights Commission has offered a glimpse into how the North Korean regime survives its extreme destitution. The independent rights monitoring agency issued its first report on North Korean gulags, where hundreds of thousands of people perceived as threatening to the regime are living lives worse than death.Horror stories defying imagination fill the book, which is based on the testimonies of 60 refugees from the North with first-hand experiences in four concentration camps and
[Park Sang-seek] What’s behind N. Korea’s survival?

ViewpointsMay 1, 2012

The Fund for Peace and Foreign Policy magazine developed the Failed States Index and have measured the degree of failure of states by using 22 quantifiable indicators every year since 2005. North Korea is one of the 20 countries which have been on the list of failed states for the last seven years (2005-11). All these countries are dictatorial, very poor, have experienced civil wars, and all but Ethiopia are former colonies. Excepting North Korea, these former colonies have gone through violent
Spoonful of zinc can save countless Third World kids

ViewpointsMay 1, 2012

Addressing the health needs of the world’s most vulnerable people is often a costly and complicated undertaking. But on rare occasions, if the will is sufficient, it can be simple. So it is with the No. 2 cause of death among children in low-income countries: diarrhea. Weak health and poor nutrition can make these children especially susceptible to deadly dehydration. Among those less than 5 years old, 1.5 million die from the condition annually, mostly in Africa and South Asia. India, Nigeria a
Arab springtime may redraw borders

ViewpointsMay 1, 2012

JERUSALEM ― Two things stand out in the Middle East since the Arab Spring began ― one that happened, and one that did not. What happened was that for the first time in modern Arab history, authoritarian regimes and rulers were toppled, or seriously challenged, by popular demonstrations, not ― as in the past ― through military coups.But what did not happen might be as important as what did. While dictators associated with military juntas were challenged overnight, the Arab Spring never came to th
U.S. Supreme Court should strike down Arizona’s law

ViewpointsMay 1, 2012

This week, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments over Arizona’s controversial immigration law. Initial reports indicated the justices weren’t buying the Obama administration’s arguments against a provision that requires police officers to check the immigration status of people they think are in the country illegally.We hope that’s not the case. We think that provision and others in the law need to be struck down, and we hope the court upholds the primacy of federal law and agencies in dealing w
So long, Newt Gingrich

ViewpointsMay 1, 2012

Never one to eat his words, Newt Gingrich is nonetheless being fed replay after replay of the famous ABC News clip in which he confidently declared, “I’m going to be the nominee.”That was Dec. 1. On Wednesday, the morning after Mitt Romney swept five presidential primaries, Gingrich’s campaign staff signaled that he would soon officially concede the obvious: Romney is the presumptive Republican presidential candidate.That Gingrich lasted this long is a testament to... what, exactly? Monomaniacal
[Kim Seong-kon] Progressives should abandon jingoism, xenophobia

ViewpointsMay 1, 2012

It is quite puzzling that the progressives in South Korea are not progressive at all. In fact, many of them are stubbornly old-fashioned, and even hopelessly conservative. For example, most of them are invariably ultra-nationalists who oppose globalization, foreign cultures, and international cooperation mechanisms such as free trade agreements.They reject the very idea of living in the global village. They only think “our nation and our people” are important, and all others are trivial. Thus th
[VOICE] How effective are the police?

Apr 30, 2012

After a bad month for the reputation of the force ...How effective are the police?April has been a devastating month for the public image of the Korean National Police Agency. The bungled police response at the start of the month to an emergency call from a kidnap victim who was later murdered sparked public outrage. Public ire was further stoked with the revelation that the police in Suwon had attempted to cover up the extent of their incompetence with “brazen lies,” as described by KNPA commis
How to make poor kids $1 million richer

ViewpointsApr 30, 2012

Anyone with half a brain knows that bolstering the middle class is critical to securing the future of the U.S. It’s a matter of national self-interest. Setting aside the misery of poverty for a minute, the rich need a skilled middle-class workforce to make their businesses successful or they won’t stay rich for long. Skills, of course, require education, which is why it’s nutty that Republican House members want to cut Pell grants and are making unreasonable demands in the debate over preventing
[Robert B. Reich] Being ‘on right track’ isn’t enough

ViewpointsApr 30, 2012

Dear Mr. President:So far your election strategy can best be summed up as: “We’re on the right track, my economic policies are working, we still have a long way to go, but stick with me and you’ll be fine.”I’m afraid this won’t be enough to win you the election. The recovery is too anemic, and the chance of an economic stall between now and Election Day far too high.Even now, Mitt Romney’s empty “I’ll do it better” refrain is attracting as many voters as your “we’re on the right track.” Each of