The Korea Herald

Israel-Palestine face-off at the United Nations

ViewpointsSept 22, 2011

The looming United Nations vote on Palestinian statehood is not a cause for celebration ― for Palestinians or anyone else. It is merely further evidence of the utter stalemate of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, which once promised to deliver a two-state solution but which during the last few
[Mohamed A. El-Erian] Countering the contagious West

ViewpointsSept 22, 2011

NEWPORT BEACH ― Imagine for a moment that you are the chief policymaker in a successful emerging-market country. You are watching with legitimate concern (and a mixture of astonishment and anger) as Europe’s crippling debt crisis spreads and America’s dysfunctional politics leave it unable to revive
Strong countries, not Greece, should ditch euro

ViewpointsSept 22, 2011

Europeans can’t say they weren’t warned. For a decade before the euro was launched, critics ― and many economists ― argued that one currency wouldn’t fit all, or even most, of the nations of the European Union. The unfolding euro-area crisis is proof that the critics were right. Now it’s up to the s
[Ron Klain] Middle-class Americans suffer in silence, for now

ViewpointsSept 22, 2011

President Barack Obama’s proposed tax on millionaires has restored the issue of “class warfare” to the forefront of politics. The new tax plan follows a week of intense campaigning by the president for his jobs bill, and of considerable attention devoted to a Census Bureau finding that poverty rose
[Yang Sung-chul] Two beggars in classic tragedies

ViewpointsSept 22, 2011

Even in this age of homo electronicus, the eternal question of love and hate or good and evil never ceases to lose its flame. One critical ingredient of a classic is to arouse in us such an emotion from the innermost depth of our heart.Filial ingratitude seems to be the overriding theme of both Soph
[Joel Brinkley] Obama’s Middle East dilemma

ViewpointsSept 21, 2011

As Palestinians head to the United Nations this week, President Obama faces one of the most excruciating dilemmas of his presidency, a predicament partly of his own making.After four decades of failed negotiations with Israel, Palestinians are hoping the U.N. will finally grant them a sovereign stat
[Editorial] Split among conservatives

EditorialSept 21, 2011

Conservative groups that are disillusioned with the ruling Grand National Party are rallying behind Lee Seog-yeon, a former minister of government legislation, who has decided to run in the Oct. 26 Seoul mayoral by-election. In response, the ruling party has abandoned the idea of encouraging him to
[Editorial] Debt and budget balance

EditorialSept 21, 2011

Public attention is drawn to an alarming increase in debt again, this time by lawmakers inspecting government agencies, state-invested corporations and state-funded organizations. Chastised for its failure to put debt in check, the administration has committed itself to curbing spending to balance t
[Noah Feldman] Abbas’ U.N. offensive might be a step toward peace

ViewpointsSept 21, 2011

Just what is Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas thinking? At the new United Nations session, he has announced, the Palestinian National Authority will ask the Security Council to recognize Palestine as a state. The application will be dead on arrival: the U.S. has already said it will veto. Abbas, in
[David Ignatius] Mistrust among European banks

ViewpointsSept 21, 2011

WASHINGTON ― Global financial markets depend on trust. So it wasn’t a good sign when Laurence Parisot, the head of the French business federation known as “Medef,” last month charged that reports about the weakness of French banks were an American plot. “There has been a kind of psychological warfar
[Glenn Hubbard] Short-term stimulus won’t help U.S. in the long run

ViewpointsSept 21, 2011

Joblessness and sluggish growth are hampering the economic recovery and Barack Obama’s political standing. Raising taxes on the rich, as the president called for on Monday, isn’t going to turn things around. To get a sense of how severe the situation is, consider this: Bringing the unemployment rate
[Frida Ghitis] Waiting for revolution in Cuba, Burma, N.K.

ViewpointsSept 21, 2011

For all the luxuries they enjoy, dictators live in a state of constant fear.Without the trust of their people they must always protect themselves against real, imagined, or even potential plots. They may be paranoid, but they’re right to be afraid. That’s true now more than ever.These are scary time
[Editorial] Mutual flexibility

EditorialSept 20, 2011

North Korea’s party and state media these days are churning out “commentaries” that call for a thaw in relations between the two Koreas. The wording is so earnest and enthusiastic that one cannot but wonder that some tectonic changes might be taking place in the North, at least in the editorial depa
Move ahead on pipeline from Canada

ViewpointsSept 20, 2011

It’s a boom time in the Canadian province of Alberta, where technological advances and sky-high commodity prices have turned the region’s oil sands into a sticky, tarry gold mine.Here’s a safe prediction: The United States will share in this bounty, one way or another. Canada will ship oil to its la
[Lee Jae-min] Settlement of comfort women issue

ViewpointsSept 20, 2011

“Much as we may feel for the plight of the (comfort women), the court of the United States simply is not authorized to hear their case.” That was the final sentence of the judgment of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in Hwang Geum Joo et al. v. Japan issued in June 2005, which was