The Korea Herald

[Dominique Moisi] Resilience of democratic system

Jan 19, 2012

PARIS ― Is democratic time too slow to respond to crises, and too short to plan for the long term?At a time of deepening economic and social crisis in many of the world’s rich democracies, that question is highly relevant. In Italy, for example, Prime Minister Mario Monti has the necessary and legitimate ambition to carry out comprehensive reform. He is both competent and honest, but faces a quasi-structural impediment: whereas leaders once had three years to convince voters of their policies’ b
U.S. carries King’s spirit with global push

Jan 18, 2012

Even Martin Luther King Jr., the man the U.S. honors today (Jan. 16), had his blind spots. The circle of human rights he gave his life to expand didn’t include everyone. Left out, for instance, were gay men and lesbians. One of King’s most laudable attributes, however, was his ability to evolve and grow, and so we imagine that were he alive today he would endorse the efforts of the Obama administration to help bring basic freedoms and protections to gay people the world over. According to a rece
[Nouriel Roubini] Growth to slow despite signs of life

Jan 18, 2012

NEW YORK ― Macroeconomic indicators for the United States have been better than expected for the last few months. Job creation has picked up. Indicators for manufacturing and services have improved moderately. Even the housing industry has shown some signs of life. And consumption growth has been relatively resilient.But, despite the favorable data, U.S. economic growth will remain weak and below trend throughout 2012. Why is all the recent economic good news not to be believed?First, US consume
Mideast talks: Flicker of light amid the gloom

Jan 18, 2012

Sometimes, important news events manage to sneak through under the radar. That has happened many times in the Arab-Israeli conflict, which usually receives far too much media attention, often with damaging consequences.Ambitious efforts to forge peace have often cracked under the red-hot spotlight, where negotiators and politicians make vows and promises they later find difficult to retract. But quieter, behind the scenes activities have a history of producing happy surprises.Of course, quiet ef
Courting Episcopalians

Jan 18, 2012

In a provocative act with religious and cultural implications, Pope Benedict XVI has created an ordinariate ― similar to a diocese ― for disaffected Episcopalians who are converting to Roman Catholicism. It will be headed by a married former Episcopal bishop, and it will allow congregations that make the switch to retain aspects of the Anglican liturgy, including the majestic Book of Common Prayer. The defection of Episcopalians en masse might seem of interest only to students of religion, but i
[Robert Reich] Public goods fall as share of GDP

Jan 18, 2012

Meryl Streep’s eerie reincarnation of Margaret Thatcher in “The Iron Lady” brings to mind Thatcher’s most famous quip, “There is no such thing as ‘society.’” None of the dwindling herd of Republican candidates has quoted her yet, but they might as well considering their unremitting bashing of everything public.A society is embodied most visibly in public institutions ― public schools, public libraries, public transportation, public hospitals, public parks, public museums, public recreation, publ
Look at jobs before you leap on older retirement

Jan 18, 2012

Has the ailing economy forced older workers to delay their retirement? The conventional wisdom certainly suggests so. A recent front-page story in the Washington Post was headlined: “Ranks of older workers swelling: Data show employment surged among those 55 and over since recession.” The reality, though, is more complicated. The financial crisis caused more workers to want to delay retirement, but the labor market limited their ability to do it. The net effect of these opposing supply and deman
U.S. can nurture Arab Spring’s economic roots

Jan 17, 2012

Saturday (Jan. 13) marked one year since uprisings in the Arab world for the first time extirpated an autocrat: Tunisia’s Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. Tunisians marked the anniversary by commemorating Mohamed Bouazizi, the young fruit vendor who sparked the Arab Spring when he set himself afire in front of a government office after police confiscated his cart. Today, it’s worth remembering that as much as the region’s rebellions are about the yearning for political freedom, they are also about the d
[Daniel Fiedler] Crime and punishment in Korea

Jan 17, 2012

A few months back a young U.S. soldier was sentenced to 10 years in jail for the brutal rape of an 18-year-old Korean woman. Despite the court’s statement that Korea, as America, was harsh in its punishment of such offenders, the punishment struck most Americans as too lenient considering the nature of the assault. The local papers, perhaps in an effort to quell any suspicion of lenient or unequal treatment, quickly pointed out that the soldier’s sentence was comparable in length to that of a Ko
Wall Street’s justice is a kangaroo court

Jan 17, 2012

There has been a fair amount written recently about various institutional cartels that are thriving in the U.S. despite antitrust laws designed to prevent their existence. My previous column compared Wall Street’s few remaining investment banks to a cartel, with explicit pricing power over its hundreds of thousands of customers, an advantage that will only grow greater as the economy improves and the number of thriving banks continues to diminish. Likewise, Joe Nocera, a columnist for the New Yo
Margaret Thatcher and the plague of fake female empowerment

Jan 17, 2012

Two items have recently burst onto the media scene: a movie called “The Iron Lady” about one of the greatest women in history ― former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher ― and a growing European recall of breast implants in danger of exploding. I wonder what the former would say about the latter. Did it ever cross Thatcher’s mind that women’s lives could be meaningfully enhanced by surgically strapping gel packs to their chests? How did women get from Thatcher to this?Any such unfortunate
[Kim Seong-kon] Physical appearances and speaking foreign languages

Jan 17, 2012

Does one’s physical appearance have something to do with the language(s) he is expected to speak? Perhaps it does. A few weeks ago, I gave a talk on Korean culture at the State University of New York at Buffalo. I talked mainly about the positive elements of South Korean culture, such as the enormous popularity of hallyu, the remarkable success of Samsung, LG and Hyundai in the American market, and the bright prospect of globalizing Korea. Borrowing from CNN.go.com, I even introduced, “50 Reason
You can’t fake youth ― don’t even try

Jan 16, 2012

If you’re around my age, which can be defined as “too old for work-study but too young for cremation,” you might already know what I’ve only recently learned: you can pretend to be older but you cannot pretend to be younger.And yet entire industries, magazine empires, advertising conglomerates and the global conspiracy of Spanx manufacturers are trying to convince women otherwise.At one point, I loved looking older than my years. Didn’t we all once love not getting carded at bars when our friend
[Mohammed Ayoob] Turkey walks fine diplomatic line

Jan 16, 2012

EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN ― Turkey has over the past few weeks become the spearhead of a joint Western-Arab-Turkish policy aimed at forcing President Bashar al-Assad to cede power in Syria. This is quite a turnaround in Turkish policy, because over the past two years the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had gone out of its way to cultivate good relations with neighboring Syria, with whom it shares a long land border. This change of course on Syria has also cost Turkey a great deal
‘Mayonnaise’ Romney needs to spice up his pitch

Jan 16, 2012

Mitt Romney, who gets an 85.5 percent probability to win the Republican presidential nomination by the online betting service Intrade.com, is a formidable candidate ― on paper. He is handsome, articulate, has impeccable integrity and a charming, down-to-earth wife. He’s ideologically close to the American center and can boast of success in diverse endeavors. It’s in person where his problems begin. He’s decent and likeable enough, both critics and some supporters agree. They also agree he doesn’