The Korea Herald

[Kim Seong-kon] What ‘Tender Buttons’ teaches us

ViewpointsApr 24, 2012

Professor Neil Schmitz has been teaching Gertrude Stein’s “Tender Buttons” for the past 40 years. Recently, during the English Department reunion at the State University of New York at Buffalo, Professor Schmitz once again gave a talk on “Tender Buttons” to his students he taught 40 years ago. “Thank you so much, Professor Schmitz,” said a former student of Schmitz’s after the talk, now an old man with frosted grey hair, “‘Tender Buttons’ changed my life forever. It was worth coming here today.”
[Editorial] Pyongyang’s hysteria

EditorialApr 24, 2012

North Korean hysteria against the South has reached new heights with its military, government and party organizations competing to hurl the worst-ever verbal provocations, with threats of imminent “retaliatory attacks” on President Lee Myung-bak and other “anti-North” forces here. The harsher its words become, the calmer our response should be.On Monday, a People’s Army outfit called the “Special Operations Action Group” made a “notice” to the South via the North’s official Central News Agency,
[Editorial] All the president’s men

EditorialApr 24, 2012

Choi Si-joong resigned from his second term as chairman of the Broadcasting and Communications Commission earlier this year when one of his close aides was accused of corruption. The former journalist who is known as a “mentor” of President Lee is now under investigation for receiving hundreds of million won from a construction businessman while he was helping Lee’s presidential campaign in 2007.Over the past four years, Choi is considered a senior member of the president’s inner circle, along w
[VOICE] Should Korea increase its missile range?

Apr 23, 2012

With North Korea developing new long-range weapons ...Should Korea increase its missile range?The display of a new type of missile by North Korea during its celebrations for the centenary of its founder’s birth was no doubt intended as a show of military might. But it also sharpened focus on South Korea’s comparable missile capabilities ― and whether they are up to the task of national defense. Seemingly keen to make a statement of its own, the Ministry of National Defense on Thursday revealed i
[Editorial] East Sea, Sea of Japan

EditorialApr 23, 2012

For millennia, East Asians called the sea located to the east of the Eurasian continent East Sea, and in more recent centuries, Western navigators called it the equivalent of the East Sea or Sea of Korea or Corea. Only from the late 19th century when Japan became an imperial power, did growing political influence lead “Sea of Japan” to overtake “East Sea” in international usage. Japanese official emphasis on the Sea of Japan is connected with Tokyo’s territorial claim to Dokdo, which it calls Ta
Climate inaction will block economic growth

ViewpointsApr 23, 2012

More than two dozen countries, including China, France, Korea, Mexico, Russia and the United States, face potential leadership transitions this year. A central factor determining the outcomes of these events is the prospect for more jobs and incomes. A topic not on the political radar, however, is climate change. Yet, it should be ― because our growing understanding of climate science and economics warns us that sustaining people’s well-being, in large and small economies, hinges on confronting
Hunger striker becomes Russia’s opposition hero

ViewpointsApr 23, 2012

Demoralized as the Russian capital’s protest movement may be, there are still plenty of angry people out in the hinterlands. They have less to lose than well-fed Muscovites, and president-elect Vladimir Putin has yet to figure out how to handle them.In the southern provincial capital of Astrakhan, population 520,000, a soft-spoken, bespectacled historian named Oleg Shein has emerged as the new hope of the opposition. As of this writing, he has been on hunger strike for more than a month, putting
[David Ignatius] The dark side of China’s rise

ViewpointsApr 23, 2012

WASHINGTON ― The Bo Xilai affair offers a reality check for anyone who’s worried that a rising China will supplant the United States anytime soon: First, the Chinese know that the scandal is just the tip of an iceberg of corruption menacing the country; and second, the leadership in Beijing understands that the scandal could have been much messier if the White House hadn’t kept quiet the past two months. The story surrounding Bo, the deposed party chief in the southern city of Chongqing, is so
Software Engineers Will Work One Day for English Majors

ViewpointsApr 23, 2012

Which of the following describes careers in software engineering? A. Intellectually stimulating and gratifying. B. Excellent pay for new bachelor’s degree grads. C. A career dead-end. The correct answer (with a “your mileage may vary” disclaimer) is: D. All of the above. Although the very term “coding” evokes an image of tedium, it is an intellectually challenging activity, creative and even artistic. If you like puzzles and are good analytically, software development may be your cup of tea. You
E-book overkill: Justice trustbusters should‘ve left Apple and book publishers alone

ViewpointsApr 23, 2012

The Justice Department filed suit last week against Apple Inc. and two major book publishers, Macmillan and Penguin Group USA, accusing them of colluding in 2010 to raise the prices of e-books. Three other publishers that were investigated -- Hachette, Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins -- agreed to a settlement, which Sharis A. Pozen, the acting director of the Justice Department’s antitrust division, said “will begin to undo the harm caused by the companies‘ anticompetitive conduct, and will r
Hunger Striker Oleg Shein Becomes Russia‘s Opposition Hero

ViewpointsApr 23, 2012

Demoralized as the Russian capital’s protest movement may be, there are still plenty of angry people out in the hinterlands. They have less to lose than well-fed Muscovites, and president-elect Vladimir Putin has yet to figure out how to handle them.In the southern provincial capital of Astrakhan, population 520,000, a soft-spoken, bespectacled historian named Oleg Shein has emerged as the new hope of the opposition. As of this writing, he has been on hunger strike for more than a month, putting
It‘s climate inaction that will block economic growth

ViewpointsApr 23, 2012

More than two dozen countries, including China, France, Korea, Mexico, Russia and the United States, face potential leadership transitions this year. A central factor determining the outcomes of these events is the prospect for more jobs and incomes. A topic not on the political radar, however, is climate change. Yet, it should be -- because our growing understanding of climate science and economics warns us that sustaining people’s well-being, in large and small economies, hinges on confronting
[Yuriko Koike] North Korea’s teachings of a ghost

ViewpointsApr 23, 2012

TOKYO ― At 7:39 a.m. on April 13, North Korea fired a missile (which it called a satellite launch) in the face of opposition from almost the entire international community. In a perverse way, the world got its way, because the vehicle exploded a minute after takeoff, its debris falling harmlessly into the sea.North Korea typically goes silent after such episodes: “failure” does not exist in its political lexicon, so it cannot be reported or discussed. The country’s media routinely meets any fail
[Editorial] Starting presidential race

EditorialApr 23, 2012

The race for the Dec. 19 presidential vote has begun. The election management commission opened its registry for “provisional candidates” Monday. Earlier on Sunday, Gyeonggi Province Gov. Kim Moon-soo declared his candidacy first for the Saenuri Party. Park Geun-hye, Chung Mong-joon and Lee Jae-oh will follow soon.Both Saenuri and the main opposition Democratic United Party will hold nomination conventions in August. The focal issues in the two parties will be what rules they will adopt for the
Technology can keep publishers from perishing

ViewpointsApr 23, 2012

A few years ago, according to the Justice Department, publishers decided on a strategy to fight the grave and gathering menace posed to their business model by the rise of digital books: They would meet about it. “These meetings took place in private dining rooms of upscale Manhattan restaurants,” says the department’s complaint in its antitrust lawsuit. Later meetings took place in Europe, though presumably not at the Paris Chipotle. The case will turn on whether the publishers were meeting to