Lawmakers of the ruling Grand National Party are taking another crack at curbing the time-old practice of public officials landing high-paying jobs at private companies immediately after retirement. The latest attempt comes in the midst of public anger over officials of the Financial Supervisory Service who have all but monopolized the auditor posts at financial companies after retirement.To addre

Rep. Hwang Woo-yea, an independent-minded four-term lawmaker, was elected new floor leader of the ruling Grand National Party on Friday, signaling a power shift in the party and the collapse of its mainstream faction loyal to President Lee Myung-bak.Hwang beat Reps. An Kyung-ryul and Lee Byung-suk, both from the pro-Lee camp. In the first round of voting, Hwang won 64 votes out of 159, while An an

Last year, California added 28 inmates to the state’s death row, eight of whom were sentenced in Los Angeles County. They aren’t in much danger of an early demise, however, thanks largely to legal delays, including a decision Tuesday by state officials not to pursue executions in 2011. The seemingly never-ending court battles mean that convicts in capital cases are far more likely to die of natura

Although the Americans have been gloatingly bandying about the death of Osama bin Laden since their “successful” operation at Abbottabad on Monday (May 2), doubts have continued to persist about the man whom they had identified as al-Qaida’s chief before taking his life. In fact, the burial of the body at sea tends to reinforce the suspicion of a questionable identity of the murdered person; if pr

In evaluating Osama bin Laden’s dubious legacy, it is important to note that there was nothing new about religiously inspired terrorism when this rich Saudi exile convened a small group of jihadists in his Peshawar, Pakistan, home in 1988 to found al-Qaida ― an organization designed to carry on the war waged so successfully against the Red Army in Afghanistan.Two of the earliest known terrorist gr

“Al-Qaida. Bin Laden. Old news. This is the time to move forward.”So said President Obama’s counterterrorism adviser John Brennan last week, and his words couldn’t be more true.For Americans, for President Obama, for the landscape of security threats we face, for the war in Afghanistan, bin Laden’s death is a game changer. Yes, there is still a terrorist threat, but the death of this killer change

With the Korea-EU free trade agreement ratified earlier in the week and set to take effect in July, Korean companies are gearing up for an opportunity to expand their exports to the 27-member European Union. At the top of the list of potential beneficiaries are automakers, television manufacturers and footwear companies, whose products would be exempted from high tariffs.The EU is set to phase out

It is a matter of course that prevention is better than cure. But an Asian financial safety net, designed to fight off future financial crises, cannot be relied to prevent them. Instead, it may be used to take action only when a financial crisis is confirmed to have dealt a blow to a country.This weakness in the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization (CMIM) program, a $120 billion pool of funds

When you cut the head off a snake, it dies. U.S. officials would be wise to stop making allusions to decapitated reptiles when referring to al-Qaida after Osama bin Laden’s death because this organization remains alive and active across the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Europe and, yes, the United States.Killing bin Laden deals a significant blow to al-Qaida, but be assured, it lives to fight again.T

MUNICH ― Why did Greece, Ireland, and Portugal have to seek shelter under the European Union’s rescue umbrella, and why is Spain a potential candidate?For many, the answer is obvious: international markets no longer want to finance the “PIGS.” But that is only half true. In fact, international markets have not financed any of them to a considerable extent for the past three years; the European Cen

Japan on Tuesday marked the 64th anniversary of the enforcement of the postwar Constitution just as the entire nation, including its people, private enterprises, and the central and local governments, is struggling to overcome the consequences of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that devastated northeastern Japan.The anniversary also came at a time when the lives of the people in Fukushima Pref