The Korea Herald

[Shashi Tharoor] Opening Burma’s doors to world

Dec 14, 2011

NEW DELHI ― U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s recent visit to Myanmar (Burma), noted largely for a memorable photo opportunity with a wan but smiling Aung San Suu Kyi, signaled a significant change in the geopolitics surrounding a land that has faced decades of isolation, sanctions, and widespread condemnation for its human-rights violations.Twenty-one years ago, after Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) swept a general election, the results were annulled, the party’s leaders a
North Korea finds new course in ties with Beijing

Dec 13, 2011

The legacy of the late North Korean leader Kim Il-sung’s decision in the early 1990s to pursue a strategic partnership with the United States has run its course. In its place, the focus of Pyongyang’s policies has decisively shifted to Beijing. However wary the North Koreans may be of their neighbor, the fact is that from Pyongyang’s viewpoint, the Chinese have delivered and the United States did not.Any shards remaining from the North’s previous, decades-long effort to normalize ties with the U
[Lee Jae-min] After $1tr in trade still much to do

Dec 13, 2011

The nationwide gold ring collection in Korea in November 1997 was an interesting phenomenon in the eyes of Westerners. Seeing the country undergoing unprecedented economic turmoil in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis, ordinary people chipped in to rescue the country by donating gold rings that they kept at home.Of course, piles of gold rings themselves may have hardly made a dent in the total borrowing of Korea from the International Monetary Fund, but it was the spirit of collective e
Smartphones, dumb drivers

Dec 13, 2011

Can you safely talk on a cellphone ― or for that matter, check your email or scroll through Google Maps ― while driving? Well, of course you can. But those other folks with their hands off the wheel and their eyes off the road are a public menace.Unfortunately, that sums up the attitude of many American motorists, who widely acknowledge using their phones while behind the wheel but insist they’re safe drivers. Meanwhile, the number of people worried about the other guy is soaring. When the state
The causes behind SlutWalk protest marches

Dec 13, 2011

Imagine walking down the street and on the other side of the road stands young women in provocative clothing holding up signs saying “I’m a slut.” What do you think would be the first thing that comes to your mind? This kind of movement is spreading all over the world, starting in Toronto. It first took place on April 3 when one police officer suggested that, in order not to be victimized, women “should avoid dressing like sluts.” Then what does this have to do with young women on the roads shou
Trade-pact plans may split Latin America into Pacific and Atlantic blocs

Dec 13, 2011

President Barack Obama’s recent announcement that he will seek to create what may be the world’s largest trading bloc along the Pacific rim raises an interesting question in this part of the world: whether we will see a de facto split of Latin America into a Pacific bloc and an Atlantic bloc.It may be already happening. Obama’s recent proclamation that “the United States is a Pacific country” and his announcement that Washington will seek to dramatically expand the nine-member Trans-Pacific Part
[Kim Seong-kon] The ‘Angry Generation’ in Korea

Dec 13, 2011

When they say there are two Koreas, it naturally means North and South Korea. These days, however, it also means the division of South Korea into two antagonizing groups like east and west, conservatives and progressives and left and right. It is lamentable that today’s South Korea is radically divided into two hostile extremes, tearing the already half-reduced country into two again.Perhaps the only comfort is that Korea is not alone in experiencing such a phenomenon; people say that there are
[David Ignatius] Receding U.S. global influence

Dec 12, 2011

WASHINGTON ― Is American power in decline, relative to the rest of the world? That question is at the center of a provocative study by the U.S. intelligence community exploring what the world might look like in 2030. The answer, judging by comments from a panel convened to discuss the topic, is that America faces serious trouble: The U.S. economy is slowing, relative to its Asian competitors, which will make it harder for the country to assert its traditional leadership role in decades ahead. Th
Carbon tax is best way to fight climate change

Dec 12, 2011

The Durban climate-change talks ended in what negotiators agreed to call a success. Governments, including China and India for the first time, said they would devise a new global system for curbing emissions of greenhouse gases and make it operational by 2020. This promise, however, has uncertain legal force, the form of any new regime is unclear, and the meeting failed to set any new binding targets. Don’t be too disappointed. The ambition to replace the Kyoto Protocol with a similar but truly
Palestinians’ next ‘invention’ will be a state

Dec 12, 2011

In November 1947, shortly after the United Nations voted for partition of the Holy Land into separate Arab and Jewish states, Chaim Weizmann was cited by the New York Times as saying that “the most important work now was to build Palestine.” What? To build Palestine? Yes, in 1947 the word “Palestinian” ― if it meant anything at all ― referred to Jews living in Palestine. The Palestine Post (now the Jerusalem Post) was the Jewish English-language newspaper. The Palestine Orchestra (now the Israel
[Jeffrey Frankel] Escaping natural-resource curse

Dec 12, 2011

CAMBRIDGE ― Libyans have a new lease on life, a feeling that, at long last, they are the masters of their own fate. Perhaps Iraqis, after a decade of warfare, feel the same way. Both countries are oil producers, and there is widespread expectation among their citizens that that wealth will be a big advantage in rebuilding their societies. Meanwhile, in Africa, Ghana has begun pumping oil for the first time, and Uganda is about to do so as well. Indeed, from West Africa to Mongolia, countries are
The pitfalls of cutting college tuition in half

Dec 12, 2011

Having already succeeded in giving free school lunches to all the needy (and unneedy) elementary students in Seoul, it seems newly minted Mayor Park Won-soon has now gone in on the next big populist policy, one even more unnecessary and potentially negative than school food, half-price tuition.Park has approved a budget which includes cutting tuition at the city-administered University of Seoul, likely the top public university in the Korean system dominated by private schools in rankings, from
[David Ignatius] Obama, Erdogan ― odd couple

Dec 9, 2011

WASHINGTON ― They are unlikely partners: a cool and unflappable American president, and a proud, sometimes hot-tempered Turkish prime minister. But they have developed a working relationship that is one of the most important but least discussed developments shaping this season of change in the Arab world. If you’re looking for factors that can keep the Arab Awakening from turning into a nightmare, this American-Turkish partnership is mildly reassuring. President Barack Obama and Prime Minister R
Class war: What’s so awful about the 1 percent?

Dec 9, 2011

The class war is on. It’s the 99 percent of “us” versus the 1 percent of “them.”In the rhetoric of this war, we are fighting the 1 percent because they possess most of the nation’s wealth, bankroll their handpicked political candidates, control the banks and get million-dollar paychecks and billion-dollar bailouts; yet they don’t pay enough taxes or invest their wealth in creating American jobs. They’re the “millionaires and billionaires” President Obama has called out as needing to pony up more
Secretary Clinton’s visit a milestone for Myanmar

Dec 9, 2011

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has just concluded a historic trip to Myanmar. Her visit heralds a breakthrough in relations between the two countries, and a shift in political dynamics in Southeast Asia could be anticipated. While optimism is warranted, it should be tempered by caution; Myanmar has a long way to go before relations between it and the United States ― and indeed the world ― can be normalized.Myanmar’s military rulers have long displayed indifference to the accepted norms