The Korea Herald

[Michael J. Boskin] The stake in China’s reform

Sept 12, 2013

STANFORD, California ― The recent trial of Bo Xilai highlighted the biggest challenge facing contemporary China: the corruption and abuse of power by some government and party officials. Until his fall, Bo, a former Politburo member and party leader of Chongqing, a megacity of 30 million people, was a potential candidate for China’s ruling seven-member Politburo Standing Committee.Bo’s trial occurred at what is a critical moment for China. Millions of rural Chinese annually flood into the countr
SCO a force for regional stability

Sept 12, 2013

With the 13th summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to be held in Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan, on Friday, a look back at the preceding 12 years will reveal that the SCO has progressed in leaps and bounds and made enormous achievements in the region and beyond.Since it was founded 12 years ago, when Uzbekistan joined the members of the Shanghai Five China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan and the six heads of state signed the Declaration of the Establishment of the Shang
Those deemed unwelcome are simply that: unwelcome

Sept 12, 2013

Mark Chen, who openly called Singapore a mini-state resembling a piece of snot while he was foreign minister in 2004, has made another gaffe. Now a lawmaker, Chen called a press conference at the Legislative Yuan together with a couple of his Democratic Progressive Party colleagues last Wednesday to blast the Immigration Bureau for restoring efforts to screen people’s political thoughts and to blacklist unwelcome visitors, denying them entry to Taiwan. He said that it hurt Taiwan’s image as a de
[Bharat Jhunjhunwala] Of India’s imports: Swiss chocolates and gold

Sept 12, 2013

The immediate reason for the steep fall of the rupee against the dollar is that imports are more than exports. We are getting fewer dollars from our exports while we need more for our imports. The supply of dollars is less than the demand. This is leading to an increase in the price of the dollar vis-a-vis the rupee. The government believes that reduction of imports will solve the problem. The focus is especially on reducing gold imports that are considered “unproductive.” It is incorrect, howev
Russia’s dangerously appealing Syria proposal

Sept 11, 2013

If Syria follows through on its apparent agreement to submit its chemical weapons to international control and then destroy them, it will be a stroke of luck akin to genius for one of the more inept episodes of U.S. foreign policy.There is good reason to be skeptical of Syria’s declaration, which follows a Russian proposal, which was born of an American gaffe ― namely, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s “rhetorical” response, as his spokeswoman put it, to a reporter’s question about what Syria
[David Ignatius] On Syria, the plot thickens

Sept 11, 2013

WASHINGTON ― When the ancient Greek or Roman playwrights had painted themselves into a corner, plot-wise, they sometimes resorted to the device known as the deus ex machina, in which one of the gods was hoisted over the stage and dropped in to resolve the otherwise inchoate drama. Something similar happened this week with Syria. The drama had progressed into a mix of international tragedy and domestic political bathos. President Obama’s threat of military action against Syria was right in princi
America’s Islamist allies of convenience

Sept 11, 2013

NEW DELHI ― In just one decade, the United States has intervened militarily in three Muslim-majority countries and overthrown their governments. Now the same coalition of American liberal interventionists and neoconservatives that promoted those wars is pushing for punitive airstrikes in Syria without reflecting on how U.S. policy has ended up strengthening Islamists and fostering anti-Americanism. Indeed, the last “humanitarian intervention” has clearly backfired, turning Libya into a breeding
Putin’s hypocrisy on Syria is galling

Sept 11, 2013

Vladimir Putin may be the world’s most hypocritical leader.The debate over the Syrian chemical weapons attack has brought this into sharp focus. The Russian president has repeatedly called the idea that the Syrian government carried out the attack “absurd” and “utter nonsense.”That leaves only one alternative: Syrian rebels did it ― an idea that is absurd, utter nonsense. First of all, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is already responsible for the brutal killing of more than 100,000 of his own
[Peter Singer] Internet access for all: A dream for digital age

Sept 11, 2013

PRINCETON, New Jersey ― Fifty years ago, Martin Luther King dreamed of an America that would one day deliver on its promise of equality for all of its citizens, black as well as white. Today, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has a dream, too: he wants to provide Internet access to the world’s 5 billion people who do not now have it.Zuckerberg’s vision may sound like a self-interested push to gain more Facebook users. But the world currently faces a growing technological divide, with implications
Tokyo reaches for 1964 Olympic magic

Sept 10, 2013

Shinzo Abe’s joy at winning the 2020 Summer Olympics for Japan must have been deeply personal. His grandfather, Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi, brought the 1964 Olympics to Tokyo. That event confirmed Japan’s phoenixlike rise from defeat in World War II. Its bullet trains, avant-garde stadiums and neon-lit skyline advertised a country and an economy prepared to take the lead in Asia and indeed the world.Pundits are already predicting a similar rebirth for Abe’s Japan after two decades of deflatio
[Ian Bremmer] Syria poses G-Zero problem

Sept 10, 2013

NEW YORK ― The G20 has concluded its meetings and dinner discussions of what to do about charges that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has used poison gas to kill more than 1,400 of his own people. France, Britain, Turkey, and Canada expressed varying degrees of support for U.S. President Barack President Obama’s call for military action, while Russian President Vladimir Putin called U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry a liar and claimed that the evidence against Assad is inconclusive. Russia and
Crack down on costly, improper farm payments

Sept 10, 2013

Officials at the U.S. Department of Agriculture must be glad summer is winding down. It’s been a rough few months as federal auditors have issued two reports that found problems with administration of the nation’s bloated farm bill.Agencies erroneously awarded millions of dollars, and because of poor documentation, many recipients will never be found. Both the department and Congress have roles to play in reducing future incidents.The first audit came in June. The Government Accountability Offic
Reinvention time for Australia’s Abbott

Sept 10, 2013

If ever an election was lost not won, it was the weekend’s vote in Australia. Exhausted by the Labor Party’s feuding, the country ditched Kevin Rudd’s government and elected the Liberal-National coalition led by Tony Abbott. The new prime minister, once seen as gaffe-prone and unelectable, has said he’ll grow into the role. He’d better, or it won’t be long before Australia regrets its choice.To call the coalition’s platform weak would be generous. Mostly, it was empty ― and its few specific idea
A failure of leadership in handling Assad

Sept 10, 2013

In November 2001, George W. Bush issued a warning to Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and other rogue nations: “If they develop weapons of mass destruction that will be used to terrorize nations, they will be held accountable. And as for Saddam Hussein, he needs to let inspectors back in his country, to show us that he is not developing weapons of mass destruction.”Political folklore holds that Bush rushed the nation into the Iraq war. But this warning came nearly 17 months before the U.S. invasion
[Kim Seong-kon] Is Korea a republic of jealousy?

Sept 10, 2013

“What’s the secret of South Korea’s economic success?” This is the question I am frequently asked whenever I encounter foreign public officials at the Korea International Cooperation Agency or the Central Officials Training Institute. I tell them that the key to our success is our strategy of manufacturing electronics and automobiles, and the creation of an export-oriented economy. Then I always add that behind Korea’s fantastic success are the Korean people’s diligence, dedication and determina