The Korea Herald

[Robert J. Fouser] Inequality and Korean dream

Jul 29, 2014

Talking to ordinary people is the best way to check the pulse of a nation. Last week, I was lucky to be able to take the pulse of Korea through long talks with friends who also happen to be ordinary people. The talks paint a picture of a nation deeply troubled by worry and self-doubt. Above all, the overwhelming message is that the Korean dream is slipping away.The Korean dream, like its counterparts elsewhere, is about opportunity and advancement. Opportunity comes through reforms that break do
[Kim Seong-kon] Lament of a naive humanist

Jul 29, 2014

What is it that makes us human? What are the decisive differences between men and machines, or humans and animals? When someone is arrested for manufacturing unsanitary or hazardous food, he comes up with an excuse: “I had to make a living, didn’t I?” But in making that living, he could have killed so many people. It surely makes him a mass-murdering monster and a subhuman creature! He just does not know it. Two recent North American television series, “Being Human” and “Almost Human,” nicely de
Containing Ebola requires a Team Africa

Jul 29, 2014

There’s a reason Ebola generates more terror than most viral illnesses: Doctors have no cure, and as many as 9 in 10 of its victims die. The only silver lining is that outbreaks have always been readily contained.Sadly, the new epidemic in Africa is another story. It has killed more than 650 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, and shows no sign of abating. Last week, Sierra Leone’s top Ebola doctor became infected with the virus, and the first case was reported in Lagos, the continent’s
Avoiding leftover mud in relations between Korea and Indonesia

Jul 29, 2014

On July 22, the Indonesian General Elections Commission announced Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, as the victor in Indonesia’s presidential elections. Jokowi, a former small businessman and currently governor of Jakarta, will assume the Indonesian presidency in October 2014. Two days later, President Park Geun-hye sent the Indonesian president-elect a congratulatory message. This would normally go unnoticed, if not for an unexpected event that briefly brought South Korea to the front pag
Democracy’s appeal at stake in Indonesia

Jul 29, 2014

The dangerous stalemate in Indonesia’s presidential election may be resolved tomorrow, when official results are due. But it’s already having a destabilizing effect on another Southeast Asian island nation: the Philippines. As I wrote last week, Suharto-era General Prabowo Subianto still refuses to accept early indications that he lost the July 9 presidential election to Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo, who’s known as Jokowi. The world’s third-largest democracy is now holding its political breath t
[Karen Brooks] Jokowi needs world’s backing

Jul 28, 2014

Democracy prevailed in Indonesia last week. Now leaders there and around the world must quickly get behind the country’s president-elect.After a tense two-week ballot recount in Indonesia’s closest-ever race for the top job, election officials declared the popular governor of Jakarta, Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, the winner in the July 9 presidential election.The world’s most populous Muslim country and 10th-largest economy, Indonesia is also the third-largest democracy, behind India and the United Sta
Best thing for Malaysian Air may be to go bust

Jul 28, 2014

What a difference four months can make. In March, Malaysian leader Najib Razak was widely criticized for mishandling the search for a Malaysia Airlines jet that disappeared with 239 people on board. His government’s unsteady initial response to the Flight 370 tragedy deeply tarnished the Malaysian brand.Critics are seeing a very different Najib after Malaysian Air lost a second Boeing 777 on July 17: steady, circumspect and statesman-like. As world leaders bickered with President Vladimir Putin
Gaza’s victims: civilians and peace

Jul 28, 2014

After more than two weeks of fighting between Hamas and Israel, there is no question which side has the upper hand. Thursday’s strike on a U.N.-run school for Palestinian children increased the Palestinian death toll to more than 760. By that point, the death toll on the Israeli side stood at 35, including a Thai worker in Israel.All but three of the Israeli deaths were soldiers. The U.N. estimates that 70 percent of the Palestinian dead were civilians. More than 120 were children ― roughly 16 p
MH 17 crash a turning point in Ukraine?

Jul 28, 2014

It’s neither pleasant nor polite to say it, but the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 may have been the best thing to happen to President Barack Obama’s policy on Ukraine in weeks.Until the plane went down with 298 passengers and crew last week, the nasty little war in eastern Ukraine had almost dropped from public view. Obama’s strategy of nudging Europe to escalate economic sanctions against Russia was getting nowhere, a victim of Europeans’ desire to protect their business with Moscow. Ukr
[Park Sang-seek] Pope Francis as peacemaker

Jul 28, 2014

Since he became the pontiff, Pope Francis has become actively involved in world affairs and has made efforts to help solve international conflicts. He volunteered to play the role of a mediator between the leaders of Israel and Palestine; he implored Western leaders, particularly, the U.S. and Russian presidents, not to resort to force in the Syrian crisis; and he asked President Putin not to use military force in solving the Ukraine crisis. The world welcomes his initiatives but is divided into
Keep Cold War buried

Jul 28, 2014

International outrage over the downing of a Malaysian passenger plane over Ukraine on July 17 does not appear to have affected either the actions of pro-Russia forces in that country or the material support Russia is offering the rebels. On Wednesday, the separatists apparently shot down two Ukrainian warplanes flying near the border with Russia. Then on Thursday, the U.S. accused Russia of firing artillery from its territory into Ukraine.If Russia continues to abet the Ukrainian armed resistanc
[David Ignatius] In chaotic world, some optimism

Jul 27, 2014

WASHINGTON ― The world has been so chaotic lately that it was easy to overlook two U.S. diplomatic maneuvers ― involving the turbulent nations of Afghanistan and Iran ― that avoided what could have been dangerous ruptures. The architect of these two agreements was Secretary of State John Kerry, who these days seems to be in constant airborne mediation mode. In calmer times, Kerry would have made front-page headlines with his power-sharing pact in Afghanistan that defused talk of a possible civil
Kerry makes dangerous rush to judgment again

Jul 27, 2014

Here we go again with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry leveraging a tragedy to make another “strong case” based on limited evidence. We have already seen this in the case of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and chemical weapons. Now it’s Russian President Vladimir Putin’s turn for the global smear treatment.Presumably we’re supposed to rush to adopt the notion that Russia’s fingerprints are all over last week’s downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over Ukraine ― just as we were supposed to
Liars, cheats and communists

Jul 27, 2014

Repressive political systems turn people into compulsive liars and crooks, and that legacy remains even after those systems are long gone, a recent study done in Berlin suggests. People growing up in market-based democracies are not necessarily naive, but when they come into contact with those of us born behind the Iron Curtain (or even to parents who hail from the former Eastern bloc), they are likely to encounter more duplicity and cunning than they’re used to.The study, conducted by Dan Ariel
[John Kass] Illness threatens the best of barbecuers

Jul 27, 2014

This could be a terrifying tale right out of the Book of Meat Science Fiction, only this one isn’t fiction.It involves the elemental bond between humans and the critters we like to cook on a grill, or roast, or saute.But that could all end, because a tiny bloodthirsty bug known as the lone star tick carries something that can trigger a rare and mysterious meat allergy. And that allergy can cause carnivores to become violently ill when they come in contact with red meat.Symptoms include stuff I r