The Korea Herald

ASEM forum is a chance to foster cooperation

Nov 8, 2012

Asian and European leaders meeting in Vientiane this week have an opportunity for frank discussion on inter-regional issues of concernThe Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) this week in Laos will mark a good opportunity for leaders to discuss political and economic cooperation and a future direction so that the two regions can work constructively together.The meeting this year is held against the backdrop of many incidents that will shape the future of inter-regional cooperation, including the ongoing c
Japanese offices lack awareness of critical fiscal condition

Nov 8, 2012

Central government offices, it appears, are unaware that state finances are in a critical situation.This is the only deduction that can be made from an annual Board of Audit report on government accounts for fiscal 2011, which lists inappropriate government spending. A total of 529.6 billion yen in state funds were misused, the second-highest on record.The report found 89 sewage treatment plants across the country were being poorly operated after being built with subsidies from the Land, Infrast
[William Choong] Korea needs more than Gangnam Style to go global

Nov 8, 2012

There is something special about inviting a group of foreign journalists to your country, and showing them the key challenges of the national agenda.Last month, Arirang TV ― the BBC-like global news network of South Korea ― invited 18 foreign journalists to the country to explore wide-ranging issues such as Korean unification, the threat of North Korea and South Korea’s economic development.If Arirang TV had hoped that the journalists from countries such as Peru, Russia and Singapore would provi
[Changyong Rhee] Asia’s stifled service sector

Nov 7, 2012

MANILA ― The eurozone crisis has dominated discussion among policymakers over the last few years, but the economic slowdown in Asia’s two giants ― the People’s Republic of China and India ― has become a source of growing public concern as well. How worried should we be about an additional drag on the global economy?After years of double-digit GDP growth, the PRC’s economy is decelerating. At the Asian Development Bank, we predict that its growth will slow to 7.7 percent this year, from 9.3 perce
China’s future uncertain under its nervous regime

Nov 7, 2012

If you’re in Beijing this week, there are some things that you may not find. Balloons or ping-pong balls, CNN on the TV in your hotel workout room, taxi windows that roll down and dissidents.These are not random shortages. They are targets of a government crackdown aimed at preventing the slightest disruption of its 18th Communist Party Congress, which has the task of approving new leaders for the world’s biggest nation.The party is fearful of balloons and ping-pong balls because they could carr
China’s ‘$2.7 billion problem’ says everything

Nov 7, 2012

Savvy investors eyeing the next big thing in China should consider cigarettes, nicotine gum and cancer-treatment providers. That is the upshot of a new Brookings Institution report that raises burning questions about the family of Li Keqiang. He is expected to be named China’s next premier at a Communist Party congress that began on Thursday. Li’s brother, Li Keming, is deputy director at China’s State Tobacco Monopoly Administration, which dominates an industry that some health officials estima
Bombing in Beirut shows winds of change

Nov 7, 2012

The people of Beirut imagined the worst when they heard a sudden loud, ground-shaking blast shatter the daily hum of the charming Ashrafieh neighborhood a couple of weeks ago.When they found out that a powerful car bomb had killed Gen. Wissam al-Hassan, the country’s top intelligence official ― despised by Iran, Syria, and their Lebanese allies, Hezbollah ― they had a pretty good idea who had carried out the assassination. Syria and its allies have a long track record of killing their Lebanese e
[Mohamed A. El-Erian] The other financial crisis less in the spotlight

Nov 7, 2012

NEWPORT BEACH ― Two variants of financial crisis continue to wreak havoc on Western economies, fueling joblessness and poverty: the one that we read about regularly in newspapers, involving governments around the world; and a less visible one at the level of small and medium-size businesses and households. Until both are addressed properly, the West will remain burdened by sluggish growth, persistently high unemployment, and excessive income and wealth inequality.The sovereign-debt crisis is wel
[Daniel Fiedler] Free speech and pornography

Nov 6, 2012

One of the fundamental bases of a democracy is the right to free expression or free speech. This right allows the people to engage in open and uncensored discussions on the conduct of the government, on the conduct of politicians, on economic and social issues, on political issues and often on issues that may be offensive to many of their fellow citizens. The importance of this right is reflected by its enshrinement in both the United States and the South Korean constitutions. However, while bot
Outrageous decision generates chaos in Japan

Nov 6, 2012

It was a baffling decision. What we feared might happen has come to pass.Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Minister Makiko Tanaka has rejected the applications for government approval to establish three new universities. Tanaka has overturned, on her own judgment, a report by the council for university chartering and school juridical persons ― an advisory body to the minister ― that favored endorsing the establishment of the three schools. This is apparently the first time in 30
Indonesia’s people-centered economic model

Nov 6, 2012

Indonesia’s most-promising politician, Joko Widodo, who was elected governor of Jakarta province last month, looks like Barack Obama: lean and coolly self-possessed in a way that seems as much Bogartian as Javanese. Emerging out of nowhere, and serenely vaulting over the heads of establishment politicians, he embodies the possibility of change. But here the resemblance to the U.S. president ends. Obama is fighting to win reelection. Jokowi, as Widodo is popularly known, enjoyed hugely successful
[Meghan Daum] After Sandy, a bit of weather envy in L.A.

Nov 6, 2012

When it comes to the relationship between Southern Californians and massive storms like Sandy, the conventional wisdom is that such weather (“such” meaning the kind not commonly found in Southern California) can give rise to just a tiny bit of gloating.Think of it as stormenfreude. Were it a real word, “stormenfreude” might be defined as this: “Pleasure taken by those in temperate climates at the suffering of those in less temperate climates, especially in the wake of a storm that causes said te
[Kim Seong-kon] Pleasure and power of forgiveness and generosity

Nov 6, 2012

I have often thought that South Korea would be a truly advanced nation if the Korean people could have a certain degree of tolerance and generosity. Historically, all the advanced nations on earth had shared one thing in common; they had the capacity to tolerate and embrace those who are contradictorily different from them, whether they are of foreign-born or strangers.The Roman Empire, for example, embraced her diverse colonies and offered Roman citizenships even to the colonized, that is, if t
It’s time to reset U.S.-China trade relations

Nov 5, 2012

Mitt Romney got the crowd’s attention during a recent campaign stop in Defiance, Ohio, when he announced that Chrysler, a major local employer, would move its Jeep auto production to China. Boos rang out.Romney must have figured he’s on to something. He has flooded Ohio with TV and radio spots that say Chrysler and GM, which both received government assistance to survive, are now moving jobs to China. “Obama took GM and Chrysler into bankruptcy and sold Chrysler to Italians who are going to buil
[Robert B. Reich] The biggest issue in U.S. election

Nov 5, 2012

As we go into the final days of a dismal presidential campaign where too many issues have been fudged or eluded ― and the media only want to talk about who’s up and who’s down ― the biggest issue on which the candidates have given us the clearest choice is whether the rich should pay more in taxes.President Obama says emphatically yes. He proposes ending the Bush tax cut for people earning more than $250,000 a year, and requiring the rich to pay at least 30 percent of their incomes over $1 milli