The Korea Herald

A vision for Korean financial industry

Feb 27, 2012

Korean firms in electronics and shipbuilding industries are the first class in the world, while Korean financial service firms can only dream about becoming JPMorgans and Goldman Sachses someday. What does the future hold for Korean financial services industry? Conventional wisdom says either Hong Kong or Shanghai will become the regional financial capital in the Asia-Pacific century. As unlikely as it was for Samsung back in the 1980s to dominate Sony someday, one may envision an unlikely dark
[Brahma Chellaney] South Asia’s false democratic spring

Feb 27, 2012

NEW DELHI ― From the armed coup that recently ousted the Maldives’ first democratically elected president, Mohamed Nasheed, to the Pakistani Supreme Court’s current effort to undermine a toothless but elected government by indicting Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on contempt charges, South Asia’s democratic advances appear to be shifting into reverse. Nasheed’s forced resignation at gunpoint has made the Maldives the third country in the region, after Nepal and Sri Lanka, where a democratic t
The worse the economy gets, the longer people live

Feb 27, 2012

A weak labor market, like the one we’ve experienced since the financial crisis in 2008, imposes enormous stress on people. Given the added anxiety created by a weak economy, you might think life expectancy would decline. Oddly, though, during recessions, exactly the opposite tends to happen: Life expectancy rises. It’s happening again now. The age-adjusted death rate in the U.S. declined by 2 percent from 2007 to 2010, according to preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Preven
Greek deal leaves Europe on the road to disaster

Feb 27, 2012

If Europe’s new plan for Greece succeeds, nobody will be more surprised than the politicians who designed it. At best, the arrangement is a holding action, one that fails yet again to deal with the much larger confidence crisis facing the euro area. The deal announced on Tuesday starts with private lenders. Their representatives agreed to accept even bigger losses on Greek government bonds than previously discussed. The bonds’ face value will be cut by 53.5 percent, and they’ll pay a low interes
Maximize fracking potential by solving safety problems

Feb 26, 2012

Anything as big and as promising as shale gas is bound to be complicated. This energy source has much to recommend it. To begin with, the U.S. has a lot of it, enough to meet current natural gas consumption for 35 years. The increase in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, the technique used to tap natural gas from shale, brought down the fuel’s price by 32 percent last year, to less than $3 per million Btu. Expanding the practice ― to New York State, for example, which now has a moratorium on it
[David Ignatius] The way to bring down Assad

Feb 26, 2012

WASHINGTON ― At the end of a week when more brave reporters died chronicling President Bashar al-Assad’s slaughter of more than 6,000 of his countrymen, you hear more calls for sending weapons to the embattled opposition militia known as the “Free Syrian Army.” More weapons undoubtedly will flow to the opposition, one way or another, but they’re not going to bring about a democratic Syria. The moral case for arming the rebels may be strong, but it doesn’t overcome the practical problem: The batt
In finance, grit is good

Feb 26, 2012

PARIS ― The United States is widely recognized as possessing the deepest, most liquid, and most efficient capital markets in the world. America’s financial system supports efficient capital allocation, economic development, and job creation.These and similar phrases have been common currency among American legislators, regulators, and financial firms for decades. Even in the wake of the financial crisis that erupted in 2008, they trip off the word processors of a hundred submissions challenging
‘Occupy Populism’ in Korea

Feb 26, 2012

Recently, a prudent group of scholars made a compelling case for starting a movement named “Occupy Populism in Korea,” which aims to investigate the fundamental causes and impacts of populism deeply rooted in Korean political circles. At present, Korea is apparently overrun by populism: welfare populism, free populism, half-tuition-fee populism, good or bad populism, right-wing or left-wing populism, anticorporation populism, etc. Literally, populism is well defined by M. Canovan as “an appeal t
Time for India to seize initiative on peace in Kashmir?

Feb 26, 2012

LAHORE/NEW DELHI ― A subtle shift may be occurring in one of the world’s longest-standing and most intractable conflicts ― the dispute between India and Pakistan over Kashmir. Increasingly, it seems, Pakistanis are questioning what the Kashmir dispute has done to their own state and society.When Pakistan was carved out of India by the departing British in the 1947 Partition, the 562 “princely states” (regions nominally ruled by assorted potentates, but owing allegiance to the British Raj) were r
[Robert Reich] The myth about manufacturing

Feb 26, 2012

Suddenly, manufacturing is back ― at least on the campaign trail. But don’t be fooled. The real issue isn’t how to get manufacturing back. It’s how to get good jobs and good wages back. They aren’t at all the same thing.Republicans have become born-again champions of American manufacturing, especially given crucial primaries occurring next week in Michigan and the following week in Ohio.Mitt Romney says he’ll “work to bring manufacturing back” to America by being tough on China. Rick Santorum sa
Twitter mentality poses a threat to America

Feb 24, 2012

In less than two weeks, Russians go to the polls for a presidential election exercise. The overwhelmingly likely outcome: Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will dust off the old stationery from his first two terms as president.In the final run-up, Putin is publishing a series of position papers, the latest one focusing on reloading and reforming the Russian military. The most striking remark: “We need a response system for more than just current threats. We should learn to look ‘past the horizon,’ a
[David Ignatius] Pressuring Iran to back down

Feb 24, 2012

WASHINGTON ― “We are of the opinion that the Iranian regime is a rational actor,” said Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, last Sunday on CNN. That sounds right to me, but his comment raises a tricky question: How much pressure will it take to get this “rational” country to curb its nuclear program? The answer here isn’t comforting: Recent history shows that the Iranian regime will change behavior only if confronted with overwhelming force and the prospect of an unwinnabl
Second bailout for Greece not an end to debt crisis

Feb 24, 2012

A second bailout plan by the European Union and other concerned parties to deal with Greece’s debts has finally been sealed by eurozone finance ministers.Greece, which is suffering from an ever-worsening debt crisis, is scheduled to redeem a large amount of government bonds on March 20. Without further debt relief measures, it would have been difficult for the country to collect funds, resulting in a default that surely would have an adverse effect that will rock global markets.We welcome this d
War crimes undeniable

Feb 24, 2012

Recent history is no small matter in the relations between China and Japan. Attempts to rewrite it and deny the facts will undermine the foundation for the lasting friendship both countries now desire. Given the unbearable suffering of the Chinese people during the Japanese invasion, it is only natural that they should feel hurt by the remarks made by Takashi Kawamura, the mayor of Nagoya, during his meeting with a delegation from the Chinese city of Nanjing. He said that he doubted invading Jap
Don’t take China’s ‘peaceful rise’ for granted

Feb 24, 2012

Chinese soon-to-be President Xi Jinping’s visit to the U.S. gives the world the chance to reflect on the role that China is going to assume in international politics and economics. With more than $3 trillion in reserves, China has been looked to as the saviour of Europe. For its part, the U.S. is eager to address its $300 billion a year trade deficit with China, and under pressure from domestic constituencies, Obama has surely raised the question of intellectual property rights and industrial su