The Korea Herald

[Ruti Teitel] Operation justice in Uganda

ViewpointsNov 6, 2011

NEW YORK ― Barack Obama has promised to send a group of 100 armed United States military personnel to Uganda ― a high-powered posse to help bring to heel (and to justice) the notorious war criminal Joseph Kony, the leader of a brutal rebel group known as the Lord’s Resistance Army. “These forces will act as advisers to partner forces that have the goal of removing from the battlefield Joseph Kony and other senior leadership of the LRA,” Obama wrote in a letter submitted to the leadership of the
[Editorial] Korea-Russia gas pipeline

EditorialNov 4, 2011

The proposed construction of a gas pipeline linking Russia and South Korea via North Korea is expected to gain momentum following a summit between President Lee Myung-bak and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in St. Petersburg on Wednesday.At the meeting, the two leaders reaffirmed joint efforts to promote the project, saying it would benefit all three countries. The scheme calls for laying a 1,700 km-long pipeline to transport 10 billion cubic meters of Russian natural gas per year to South Kor
[Editorial] A die-hard practice

EditorialNov 4, 2011

Bad practices die hard. For example, you need not look further than the kickbacks pharmaceutical companies give to doctors and pharmacists in return for prescribing their medicines. To root out this deeply entrenched corrupt practice, the government revised the law in November last year. It made doctors and pharmacists, as well as pharmaceutical companies, subject to punishment when found to have been involved in illegal deals.Under the amended laws, doctors and pharmacists who receive illegal m
[William Pesek] Mona Lisa will look great hanging on China’s wall

ViewpointsNov 4, 2011

Oh, to be a fly on the wall to hear what Chinese officials want in return for saving the euro. Yes, President Nicolas Sarkozy, we will take France’s Arc de Triomphe and the Louvre as collateral. The Mona Lisa will look grand hanging in Beijing. Toss in the Champs-Elysees and Louis Vuitton’s flagship store and we’ll consider swapping more of our $3.2 trillion of reserves for your bonds. Hi, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Aside from invitations to your bunga-bunga parties, we would be happy wit
[Andrew Sheng] A multipolar monetary system

ViewpointsNov 4, 2011

Most people think of the international monetary system as an architecturally designed system made in Bretton Woods at the end of the Second World War. This may be true for the international financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank, but the existing system is a messy legacy of rules, regulations and foreign exchange systems and institutions that facilitate trade and payments between countries. Unlike a national monetary system, where there is one currency issu
Floods highlight again the worst of Thai politics

ViewpointsNov 4, 2011

Bangkok has become not only the last front in the battle against surging flood waters, but also a big question mark for future mapping of Thailand’s policies. The debate on how far the Thai government should go to protect the capital has been largely politicized at present, which is sad, but somewhat understandable. When a crisis reaches its climax, self-interests naturally come to the fore. This debate, however, needs to be addressed with a totally open mind after the waters recede.The crux of
Ultimate objective

ViewpointsNov 4, 2011

Was it, indeed, a victory for President Aquino’s “all-out justice” campaign in Mindanao? That’s how the Armed Forces of the Philippines is characterizing the fall of a rebel stronghold in Zamboanga Sibugay province a few days ago. Described as a former camp of a dissolved faction of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the site is said to have very thick vegetation riddled with land mines, and is twice the size of Camp Aguinaldo. It was overrun by government troops following the Aquino administrat
Restoring Tohoku fisheries after disasters

ViewpointsNov 4, 2011

In an attempt to restore fisheries in the Tohoku region devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, the government on Oct. 15 decided to allow new private enterprises to engage in coastal fishery farming if certain conditions are met. It plans to submit a related bill to the current Diet session. The proposed idea will be only applied to coastal fishery farming in “special restoration zones.”The total damage to Tohoku’s fisheries from the tsunami is estimated at 1.2 trillion yen. The prop
UNESCO makes right decision on Palestinians

ViewpointsNov 4, 2011

The decision of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization on Monday to grant Palestine full membership should not be used as an excuse for the United States to cut funding for the cultural arm of the U.N. Nor does it justify the Israeli response to expand its new Jewish settlement plans. Both countries should recognize the trend of our times, which sees the Palestinian pursuit of rights and interests on the international stage as righteous. Though regarded as a symbol
[Chen Weihua] Reclaiming lost moral ground

ViewpointsNov 4, 2011

Chinese traveling abroad three decades ago were often amazed by how modern the outside world was ― everything from skyscrapers and highways to cars and home appliances.The picture today is totally different. China has become the world’s manufacturing workshop, supplying home appliances and clothing to people all over the world. The skyline in Shanghai looks more futuristic than New York City and China’s infrastructure such as airports and high-speed trains is now the envy of the world.So it’s no
[Editorial] Gender equality ranking

EditorialNov 3, 2011

The “glass ceiling” refers to a barrier ― invisible, yet unbreakable ― that prevents women from climbing the corporate ladder. But many highly educated Koreans are denied access to the corporate ladder itself, let alone rising above the glass ceiling, simply because they are women.A recent recruitment survey shows how much Korean women are discriminated against in their search for jobs. According to the poll, women accounted for 18.5 percent of those fresh out of university that were recruited b
[Editorial] New labor group

EditorialNov 3, 2011

It is a matter of course that all labor groups, be they national or local, put the interests of workers before anything else. But the two national labor umbrella groups ― the Federation of Korean Trade Unions and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions ― have often been accused of pursuing their own political agenda or those of their leaders at the expense of the interests of unionized workers.Against this backdrop, a third national labor umbrella group was launched earlier this week. In its in
Wall Street occupiers misdirect their anger

ViewpointsNov 3, 2011

“You reap what you sow” used to be a widely understood principle. Today, we seem to have lost that understanding as we watch the occupation of Wall Street and cities across the country. For three years, we have been hearing how big business is bad and how the rich are avoiding their fair share of taxes. President Barack Obama has been leading that charge, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that we are now seeing the spread of the class warfare he has helped to kindle. Let me say from the outset that
[J. Bradford DeLong] ECB battle against central banking

ViewpointsNov 3, 2011

BERKELEY ― When the European Central Bank announced its program of government-bond purchases, it let financial markets know that it thoroughly disliked the idea, was not fully committed to it, and would reverse the policy as soon as it could. Indeed, the ECB proclaimed its belief that the stabilization of government-bond prices brought about by such purchases would be only temporary.It is difficult to think of a more self-defeating way to implement a bond-purchase program. By making it clear fro
The know-nothing candidate

ViewpointsNov 3, 2011

If you’re astounded by Herman Cain’s rise to the top of the Republican pyramid, remember that Americans have long had a soft spot for the mythological outsider who rides to the rescue.Movie director Frank Capra was great at mining that fantasy, most notably in 1939, when Jimmy Stewart used his aw-gosh gumption to clean up corruption in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.” And, far more recently in “Dave,” Kevin Kline played the amiable, innocent owner of a temp agency who accidentally becomes preside