The administration promised to halve the fiscal deficit next year and balance the budget in 2013 when it sent its 2012 budget bill to the National Assembly on Oct. 2. But it looks extremely difficult for the administration to make good on its promise.As a consequence of its earlier decision to spend its way out of the 2008-09 global economic crisis, the administration targeted a budget deficit of 25 trillion won for this year and 12.3 trillion won for 2012. Then it committed itself to producing

It is regrettable that the parliamentary ratification of the free trade agreement with the United States on Tuesday was marred by violence, as is often the case with the passage of bitterly contested bills. But free trade is what Korea needs to pursue as a nation whose economic progress has been driven by exports.The trade bill deserved bipartisan support, given that it was initiated by the opposition when it was in power. The least that could be expected was for the bill to be put to a vote in

The forthcoming Durban conference comes at a major crossroads in international relations, with continuing economic malaise in the West being counterpoised with the increasingly rapid shift of power to emerging economies. Mirroring this structural change is a fundamental shift in the center of gravity of the global climate change debate that few have yet to recognize. While the outlook for Durban is highly uncertain, a critical mass of countries are currently advancing landmark domestic climate c

You’ve probably never heard of Taunus Corp., but according to the Federal Reserve, it’s the U.S.’s eighth-largest bank holding company. Taunus, it turns out, is the North American subsidiary of Germany’s Deutsche Bank AG, with assets of just over $380 billion. Deutsche Bank holds a large amount of European government and bank debt; it also has considerable exposure to lingering real estate problems in the U.S. The bank, therefore, could become a conduit for risk between the two economies. But wh

One area where the U.S. indisputably leads the world is incarceration. There are 2.3 million people behind bars, almost one in every 100 Americans. The federal prison population has more than doubled over the past 15 years, and one in nine black children has a parent in jail. Proportionally, the U.S. has four times as many prisoners as Israel, six times more than Canada or China, eight times more than Germany and 13 times more than Japan. With just a little more than 4 percent of the world’s pop

President Lee Myung-bak returned home Tuesday wrapping up his 2011 round of East Asian diplomacy conducted through a series of summit talks in mostly duplicating regional frameworks. After attending the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Honolulu, Hawaii, the president took part in three ASEAN-based summit sessions in Bali, Indonesia, and then held talks with Philippine President Benigno Aquino III in Manila on Monday.The president’s diplomatic circuit also included attendance at

Oh Kil-nam met Marzuki Darusman, the special U.N. envoy on North Korean human rights, in Seoul Monday to seek his help in getting the return of his wife and two daughters now in captivity in North Korea. Last week, the 69-year-old retired economist was in Washington, D.C., to appeal to a meeting of legislators from around the world in his desperate efforts to be reunited with his family, which he had taken to the North from Germany in 1985 and was left behind when he returned to Europe a year la

Germany, with the help of the European Central Bank, has achieved a level of dominance in Europe it hasn’t enjoyed since World War II. It is to that period, and a bit earlier, that it might look for lessons on how to save a troubled European project. The rapid fall of euro-area governments in recent days demonstrates the enormous influence Germany and the ECB have gained over sovereign nations. By withholding the money needed to restore confidence in struggling countries’ finances, they have hel

Jamie has felt terrible pain in his stomach for a few weeks. So he squeezes some time out of his hectic schedule and knocks on the door of the regular clinic near his place. After undergoing 20 minute-long endoscopy, he staggers to a seat opposite the doc, and find himself hearing the words, the very words breaking his dizzy body into tiny splinters ... “You have gastric cancer, I’m sorry, it’s terminal...”After that, Jamie’s battle for life begins, leaving no stone unturned to catch even the la

Soaring student debt is a problem that only Congress can answer. Until it acts, students and their families will keep falling deeper into debt.For years, state support of higher education has dropped drastically, pushing tuitions up. At the same time, most American families have seen their incomes shrink, forcing them to borrow more and more if they want to send their kids to college. It’s no wonder the total amount of money Americans owe for higher education is now more than what we owe on cred

The White House decision to back a California-based maker of advanced solar panels with a $535 million loan guarantee in 2009 looks seedier by the day. By all appearances, this deal and subsequent debacle had more to do with campaign cash and hoodwinking voters than it did with green energy.Solyndra Inc. burned through its loans in just two years, filed for bankruptcy and threw its employees on the street.If the story stopped there, it would be bad enough. But a trail of emails trickling out ove