Imagine someone whose name changes every five years. Confusion would reign for a while, to say the least. In Korea, changing a person’s name even requires an approval from the court. Situations in other countries are not that different.Check this out: It was 1993 when the Ministry of Trade and Industry, and the Ministry of Energy and Resources were merged to become the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (known as “MOTIE”). In 1998, the ministry’s name was changed as the Ministry of Commerce,

As I grow older, I begin to look back upon my past with remorse and regret. During my lifetime, I must have done quite a few good things and did others favors numerous times. Sadly, however, I am oblivious of all the good things I have done and can only think of all the mistakes I have made, whether unwittingly or intentionally. Full of regrets, I often whisper to myself silently, “I shouldn’t have done that. How could I have been such an imbecile?” Perhaps the peculiar psychological phenomenon

WASHINGTON ― On foreign policy, President Obama effectively posted a sign on the White House lawn last summer that said: Come back after Election Day. Now, the moment has arrived and the world’s problems are lining up for Obama’s attention. To manage the global problems coming at him, Obama will have to make decisions of the sort he sometimes deferred during his first term. The time is over for the cautious (if often sensible) approach that was dubbed “leading from behind.” Here’s a look at some

As if it weren’t enough that Lena Dunham, the 26-year-old writing/directing/acting phenom who started a revolution this year with her HBO series “Girls,” scored a $3.5-million book deal and has been granted the unofficial but unimpeachable title of “voice of her generation,” she also appears to have won the presidential election ― or at least to have been one of the driving forces behind the guy who did.In a much-talked-about campaign video for the president, Dunham used her signature combinatio

PRINCETON ― No doubt many people around the world, if not most, breathed a sigh of relief over the reelection of U.S. President Barack Obama. A BBC World service poll of 21 countries found a strong preference for Obama everywhere except Pakistan. Joy over the election’s outcome, however, should not blind us to its failure to meet a series of ethical benchmarks for democratic choice.According to the U.S.-based Center for Responsive Politics, spending on the election ― for President and Congress,

NEW YORK ― There is a kind of war underway in the United States nowadays between fact and fantasy. President Barack Obama’s reelection marked a victory, limited but unmistakable, for the cause of fact.Events in the days leading up to America’s presidential election provided a stark illustration of the struggle. Among senior aides to Republican challenger Mitt Romney, a belief developed that he was on the cusp of victory. Their conviction had no basis in poll results. Nevertheless, the feeling gr

“Does one grow wiser with age,” Edward Said ponders in the book “On Late Style” (2006); “and are there unique qualities of perception and form,” he continues, “that artists acquire as a result of age in the late phase of their career?” Usually, Said argues, we think of late artistic works as the crowning achievements of a career; works that exude resolution, serenity, harmony. Old age is accompanied by an acute awareness that the late artistic work is at the same time the artist’s final word; a

The vitriol is worse than I ever recall. Worse than the Palin-induced smarm of 2008. Worse than the swift-boat lies of 2004. Worse, even, than the anything-goes craziness of 2000 and its ensuing bitterness.It’s almost a civil war. I know families in which close relatives are no longer speaking. A dating service says Democrats won’t even consider going out with Republicans, and vice versa. My email and Twitter feeds contain messages from strangers I wouldn’t share with my granddaughter.What’s goi