The Korea Herald

[Kim Seong-kon] Waking up from Marxism

Sept 24, 2013

The recent arrest of a South Korean lawmaker and his aides for sedition stirred the whole nation. Some people were appalled at the fact that North Korean sympathizers who deny the legitimacy of South Korea had infiltrated the National Assembly. Others were stunned that the lawmaker, using his privileges as a member of the National Assembly, could have accessed and passed to North Korea all sorts of highly classified information, jeopardizing our national security. If the allegations are true, we
House Republicans play dangerous fiscal games

Sept 24, 2013

The behavior of the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives is simply bizarre. An institution with the power and authority to manage government finances and scrutinize the budget instead chooses to play dangerous fiscal games.Friday‘s vote to continue the lazy sequestration funding bill if the U.S. Senate and President Obama agree to shut down the Affordable Care Act was just weird.Scarier still, the federal government faces a mid-October deadline to adjust the borrowing limit so the countr
Indonesia has bigger problems than bikinis

Sept 24, 2013

Indonesians are taking to the streets to demand the government heed their complaints. Are they livid about corruption? No. Fed up with poverty? Not really. Angry over political gridlock? Not so much. It’s those damn bikinis.In recent days, the nation with the world’s largest Muslim population has been consumed by protests against the Miss World pageant finale Sept. 28, originally scheduled to be held near Jakarta. Muslim groups, including radical ones, have threatened violent attacks. The govern
Putin was right about American exceptionalism

Sept 24, 2013

As part of the debate over intervention in Syria, the question of whether the U.S. is an exceptional country has once again bubbled up. Yes, says President Barack Obama, who invoked U.S. exceptionalism in his Sept. 10 speech on the need to respond to chemical weapons attacks in Syria. No, responds Russian President Vladimir Putin, arguing last week in a New York Times op-ed that the U.S. should refrain from striking Syria, and that “it is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves
The best, brightest, and least productive?

Sept 23, 2013

NEW HAVEN, Connecticut ― Are too many of our most talented people choosing careers in finance ― and, more specifically, in trading, speculating, and other allegedly “unproductive” activities?In the United States, 7.4 percent of total compensation of employees in 2012 went to people working in the finance and insurance industries. Whether or not that percentage is too high, the real issue is that the share is even higher among the most educated and accomplished people, whose activities may be eco
[Dominique Moisi] U.S. foreign policy malaise

Sept 23, 2013

PARIS ― “How many divisions does the Pope have?” Joseph Stalin famously quipped when told to be mindful of the Vatican. In an updated lesson in realpolitik, Russian President Vladimir Putin recently was happy to count Pope Francis as an ally in opposing American military intervention in Syria. Presenting himself as the last pillar of respect for international law, Putin offered ethics lessons to the United States ― and specifically to President Barack Obama.With the U.S.-Russian agreement, signe
Bo gets life sentence, now lives for revenge

Sept 23, 2013

On Sunday morning, at the conclusion of Bo Xilai’s sentencing in Jinan, China, the court ― which had been tweeting the proceedings to Sina Weibo, China’s leading microblogging platform ― tweeted one last photo without comment. In it Bo, newly sentenced to life in prison for abuse of power, bribery and embezzlement, stands with his wrists extended outward, displaying the handcuffs that bind them. Posing on either side of him are two towering bailiffs with their white-gloved hands placed awkwardly
Hoping split families in the South meet relatives in the North

Sept 23, 2013

I just read your article “60 years’ longing to reunite” (Sept. 14-15, written by Shin Hyon-hee) with profound emotion because I, too, am one of those octogenarians who has been separated from their loved ones.You mentioned that 87-year-old Joo Hak-yong had come from Seoheung County, North Hwangae Province, which is adjacent to my home county Suan-gun. My hometown (Naedeok-ri, Daeseong-myeon, Suan-gun) borders with Joo’s Seoheung County.This really makes me homesick. I was so emotional that I sto
Pope’s new tone suggests age of change ahead

Sept 23, 2013

Since his papacy began in March, Pope Francis has shown himself to be a man of small but substantial gestures.He exudes a pastoral charm ― whether cleaning the feet of prisoners, hugging a disabled child after Easter Mass or picking up the phone to comfort the distraught ― that didn’t always come naturally to his predecessors. He dresses modestly, lives austerely, speaks constantly of the poor and drives a 1984 Renault. He has reached out to atheists, gays and divorcees.In an interview released
[Eli Park Sorensen] Acedia and the fear of an overpopulated planet

Sept 23, 2013

Among Dante’s illustrious renderings of the seven deadly sins in his epic poem “The Divine Comedy” (1309-1321), “Acedia” ― or sloth ― seems to have particular resonance today. Drowning in the hellish waters of the river Styx, Dante’s slothful sinners were people with whom the poet himself felt some affinity, and for whom he harbored great pity and sympathy. Sometimes translated to “depression,” or “lack of passion for God,” the word “Acedia” ― as Dante’s English translator Dorothy L. Sayers poin
Strong evidence of war crimes in Syria

Sept 22, 2013

A decade ago, weak evidence of the crimes of Saddam Hussein helped lead the U.S. and its allies to war in Iraq. Today, strong evidence of war crimes by Bashar al-Assad may help the U.S. and its allies avoid war in Syria.The damning United Nations report that confirms the Assad regime’s use of chemical weapons also highlights the importance of the Sept. 14 agreement putting Syria’s chemical weapons on the path to destruction ― and the huge challenges of doing so. It also points to the need to lev
[Fidel V. Ramos] Asia’s emerging community

Sept 22, 2013

MANILA ― In recent months, China has sparred with the Philippines, Vietnam, and Japan over its extravagant territorial claims in the South and East China Seas and the West Philippine Sea. These conflicts have undermined regional security, impeded investment planning, and sparked an undeclared military contest between China and its regional counterweight, the United States.Indeed, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden recently made it clear that the resources and attention that the United States is alloc
The West just doesn’t get Vladimir Putin

Sept 22, 2013

U.S. reactions to President Vladimir Putin’s op-ed article in the New York Times last week, from outrage to ridicule, show just how badly much of the Western policy elite are misinterpreting Russia.This is largely the product of dashed and unrealistic expectations that many in the West held after the collapse of communism. They thought Russia would reform itself and become a junior partner to the U.S. in global affairs. Instead, the country was re-established as an authoritarian and fiercely ind
In America, not isolationism but skepticism on show

Sept 22, 2013

President Obama and his aides were surprised this month by the strength of public opposition to their call for military action against Syria. They shouldn’t have been.Americans have almost always been reluctant to go to war. In 1939, polls showed that most Americans not only wanted to stay out of war against Nazi Germany, they weren’t even sure they wanted to send military aid to Britain ― fearing, perhaps, a slippery slope.Today, Americans have additional reasons to be skeptical. There’s the to
[Jeffrey Frankel] Betting on the tortoise in slowly recovering Japan

Sept 22, 2013

CAMBRIDGE ― In April 2014, Japan’s consumption-tax rate is set to rise from 5 percent to 8 percent in an effort to address the long-term problem of high public debt. But will the resulting loss in purchasing power bring an end to the Japanese economy’s fragile recovery, as many fear?The question is reminiscent of April 1997. Larry Summers, who was then deputy secretary of the United States Treasury, repeatedly warned the Japanese government that if it proceeded with a scheduled consumption-tax h