The Korea Herald

[Robert Reich] The U.S. crisis in public morality

Mar 23, 2012

Republicans have morality upside down. They’re condemning gay marriage, abortion, access to contraception, and the wall separating church and state.But the moral crisis in America isn’t a breakdown in private morality. It’s a breakdown in public morality. What Americans do in their bedrooms is their own business. What corporate executives and Wall Street financiers do in boardrooms and executive suites affects all of us.We’re living through a new Gilded Age of financial fraud and conflicts of in
International buyers come calling for Brunei’s gas

Mar 23, 2012

Witn a well-stocked energy sector, international buyers are lining up to access Brunei Darussalam’s liquefied natural gas. It will be up to officials to ensure that a balance is struck between fueling overseas demand and supplying the local economy, and in particular, the country’s growing petrochemicals industry, the Oxford Business Group said in its latest report.Estimates put Brunei Darussalam’s natural gas reserves at around 390 billion cu meters, though this is likely to be extended due to
Japan needs to change electric power policy

Mar 23, 2012

The catastrophe at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant has demonstrated that the long-standing assertion by the power industry and the government that nuclear power is safe and cheap is sheer propaganda and a gigantic myth.It proves that utilization of nuclear power involves great risks and that an electricity supply system based on large-scale power plants concentrated in certain areas is vulnerable to disasters. Regrettably, the administration of Prime Minister Yoshi
Vicious circle of low pay, business slump must end

Mar 23, 2012

The outcome of this year’s spring labor offensive, known as “shunto,” has been bleak, with major companies in such key industrial sectors as automobiles and electronics not offering any pay increases. Offers regarding biannual bonuses have also been harsh, falling below last year’s levels at most companies.Because of the historic appreciation of the yen and the deterioration of economic conditions overseas, the business performance of the nation’s companies has been stagnant.Under the circumstan
[Andrew Sheng] The future of Asian banking models

Mar 23, 2012

Last week I made my first visit to Bangkok since the floods in December. The city seemed to have recovered and the economy was on the mend. After an estimated 0.1 percent growth in real GDP in 2011, the International Institute of Finance is forecasting a robust 7 percent growth recovery in 2012, helped by a multi-year fiscal stimulus that would bring the fiscal deficit to an estimated 5.5 percent of GDP for the fiscal year 2011-2012. The package of fiscal stimulus included a 40 percent hike in m
Wealth taxes make great politics, poor economics

Mar 22, 2012

In this age of austerity, many governments are looking for ways to fill gaps in their budgets by taxing the rich more. These proposals make for great politics, but terrible economics. This week, the U.K.’s coalition government will produce its budget for the next year. Among proposals being discussed between the coalition partners is a so-called mansion tax ― an annual 1 percent levy on homes worth more than 2 million pounds ($3.2 million). In Russia, meanwhile, President-elect Vladimir Putin ha
[Robert Shiller] The euro’s imagined community

Mar 22, 2012

NEW HAVEN ― Great significance ― probably too much ― has been attached to a possible breakup of the eurozone. Many believe that such a breakup ― if, say, Greece abandoned the euro and reintroduced the drachma ― would constitute a political failure that would ultimately threaten Europe’s stability. Speaking before the Bundestag last October, German Chancellor Angela Merkel put the matter starkly:“Nobody should believe that another half-century of peace and prosperity in Europe is guaranteed. It i
Who’s watching Obama’s life-or-death decisions?

Mar 22, 2012

Bear with me while I quote from “The Godfather” ― hey, doesn’t everyone? ― because this is really about how Barack Obama has been playing fast and loose with the Constitution.Michael Corleone tells Kay that his dad, Vito, is really no different than “a senator or a president.” Kay tells Michael that he’s being naive, because “senators and presidents don’t have men killed.”To which Michael says, “Oh. Who’s being naive, Kay?”You tell her, Michael! Because, as the U.S. attorney general made clear t
Renewables can meet all future energy needs

Mar 22, 2012

BRUSSELS ― It has been evident for years that Europe needs an energy system that can cut dependence on fossil fuels, bring down future energy costs, and fight climate change. But the Fukushima accident in Japan one year ago underscored the need for an energy source that will fill the gap left by declining nuclear power. Many ask: is renewable energy up to the task?In the aftermath of the Fukushima meltdown, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said that now is the time for the renew
[Jeffrey Robertson] Time to start debate on Korea’s role as middle-power

Mar 22, 2012

During March 26-27, Seoul will host global leaders for the Nuclear Security Summit, just two years after it hosted the G20 Leaders Summit. It is today obvious that South Korea is a middle-power. Yet, it is rare to hear South Korean politicians talk about being a middle-power. Why?The first condition of being a middle-power is to be positioned between great powers and smaller powers in the measurement of political, economic and military power. South Korea comfortably satisfies this condition. Ind
Ghost of Kim Jong-il haunts the region

Mar 21, 2012

North Korea’s declaration on Friday that it would conduct a satellite test next month proves one thing: Kim Jong-il might be dead, but his ghost still haunts the Korean peninsula.The announcement was a shock, coming just three weeks after a deal was reached between the United States and North Korea, where Washington agreed to provide 240,000 tons of food aid in return for Pyongyang’s suspension of nuclear and missile testing.The deal had led to cautious hopes that new leader Kim Jong-un might ad
[David Ignatius] Bin Laden papers show his mindset

Mar 21, 2012

WASHINGTON ― What’s riveting about the documents taken from Osama bin Laden’s compound, beyond the headline items about plots to kill American leaders, is the way they allow the reader to get inside the terrorist mastermind’s head. I’ve only seen a small sample of the thousands of items that were carried away the night of May 2, 2011. But even those few documents shown to me by a senior Obama administration official give a sense of how bin Laden looked at the world in the years before his death.
Korea makes its presence felt in the Middle East

Mar 21, 2012

When talking about a “going-abroad” policy, China immediately and justifiably comes to mind. From a Middle Eastern perspective, however, a smaller country has been taking an increasingly confident posture and deserves attention. In 2009, it took nearly everyone by surprise when a consortium of its leading companies won a $20.4 billion contract to construct four nuclear power plants in the United Arab Emirates, beating traditional nuclear suppliers from France and the United States. This developm
[Meghan Daum] The line Limbaugh crossed

Mar 21, 2012

Last week, in a column about Rush Limbaugh’s verbal attacks on Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke, I mentioned that there were those on the left who are also guilty of using crude language against women. For example, I wrote, Bill Maher has said things about Sarah Palin that are “wholly unacceptable.” A number of readers, some Limbaugh fans and some not, found that assessment wholly unacceptable too.They were right. I didn’t say enough. So even as the Fluke flap gets absorbed into la
[Lee Byong-chul] South Korea, Israel share fear of nuclear catastrophe

Mar 21, 2012

SEOUL ― The United States is now wrestling with the nuclear fears of two of its close allies, Israel and South Korea. Israel’s alarm at the prospect of Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon is existential in nature. The same is true of South Korea, whose capital sits only 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the border with the North.On Feb. 29, the U.S. and North Korea reached an agreement in which the North promised to halt its nuclear weapons development in exchange for food aid. But South Koreans know th