The Korea Herald

[Lee Jae-min] FTAs and trade remedy measures

Aug 23, 2011

Import restrictions are detested by trade agreements. The purpose of such agreements, most notably FTAs, is to dismantle trade restrictions between the signatories. There is one important exception to this general rule: raising an import barrier against unfairly traded goods is permitted. Unfai
[Margaret Carlson] Obama vacation easy to criticize, hard to read

Aug 23, 2011

A lot of perks come with being U.S. president. You’re whisked here and there so that your feet barely touch ground. Heads of state pay their respects. There’s no such thing as a dropped call. You have parties and someone else cleans up. But there’s one perk that almost everyone else gets that you do
[Kim Seong-kon] Of human touch and the computer

Aug 23, 2011

We now live in a world where our lives are unwittingly controlled by computers. In fact, computers are so ubiquitous that we cannot imagine a world without them. Wherever you go, you will encounter a computer ― at schools, workplaces, stores, and airports, just to name a few. Our wellbeing prac
[Myung Oak Kim] Focus on quality of meals

Aug 23, 2011

The special poll in Seoul on Wednesday is the culmination of a bitter and bizarre political fight that has little to do with what is best for children and lots to do with the future direction of Korea’s elections. Opposition Democratic Party members, who control the Seoul Metropolitan Council and th
[Dick Polman] Mr. President, try the Truman approach

Aug 23, 2011

An unsolicited memo to Barack Obama:Mr. President, can you speak Truman? If you want to stay in office beyond 2012, you need to channel his language.Enough, already, with all your overtures to the Republicans. Why bother trying to extend your hand to people whose primal impulse is to devour it? You
[Aristides N. Hatzis] From Athens to Seoul

Aug 23, 2011

This was my first visit to South Korea and the instant reaction was pure astonishment. From Seoul, the imposing and enchanting metropolis, to Jeju Island, the magnificent tropical paradise, everything seemed so different from Western Europe and North America. The differences with my country, Greece,
[Robert Reich] Health care law and Medicare

Aug 22, 2011

Two appellate judges in Atlanta ― one appointed by Bill Clinton and one by George H.W. Bush ― have just decided the Constitution doesn’t allow the federal government to require individuals to buy health insurance.The decision is a major defeat for the White House. The so-called “individual mandate”
[Michal Levertov] Can protests bring Jews, Arabs together in Israel?

Aug 22, 2011

HURFEISH, Israel ― The Druze village of Hurfeish seems as pastoral as the rural north of Israel can be. Sitting on the northwestern slope of the Meron Mountains amid a national park, the centuries-old settlement of about 6,000 residents looks like an image taken from a tourist postcard: green, beaut
[Nathan Myhrvold] Society: Descended from apes, acting as slime molds

Aug 22, 2011

As we lurch from one high-stakes political drama to another, it is natural to wonder why societies aren’t better at avoiding self-inflicted crises. Here in the U.S. earlier this month, the government barely dodged default, even though economists reached consensus months ago on when the debt limit wo
[Laurence Kotlikoff] U.S. government merits a junk credit rating

Aug 22, 2011

Politicians and investors say Standard & Poor’s made a mistake when it cut the U.S.’s credit rating from “AAA” to “AA+.” I agree. I wonder why S&P didn’t take it all the way down to “CCC.” The country’s political leaders, from President Barack Obama on down, are alternately decrying S&P’s hubris and
[Stephen L. Carter] Baseball, Tim Pawlenty and celebrity politics

Aug 22, 2011

You might have missed the news that several courthouse guards are being investigated for accepting autographed baseballs from Roger Clemens, one of the greatest pitchers of the modern era, after his mistrial on charges of lying under oath about steroid use. This might seem like a minor offense, but
[Rachel Marsden] Could London riots happen in U.S.?

Aug 21, 2011

The riots that have ravaged urban England take root in phenomena that aren’t exclusive to that country but are increasingly on the rise everywhere. Could the same thing happen in America? Of course it could. And here’s why.The acute social breakdown sparked by a single police killing of a perp who h
[Editorial] Health care case a good moment for judicial restraint

Aug 21, 2011

For about the first third of the 20th century, the U.S. Supreme Court was under the sway of a doctrine called “substantive due process.” The court routinely invoked this (and the related concept of “freedom of contract”) to overturn laws attempting to regulate business on matters such as working con
[Rakesh Mani] All man’s land without women

Aug 21, 2011

NEW DELHI ― Ernest Hemingway’s collection of stories, Men without Women, examines tense gender relationships. In a particularly poignant story, a young man convinces his partner to have an abortion, viewing their unborn child as a hindrance to the status quo. Frustrated, the woman gives in.That stor
[Stephen Baker] That is Mr. Exxon Mobil to you

Aug 21, 2011

“Corporations are people, my friend.” Mitt Romney, Aug. 11, campaigning in IowaI’ve been thinking about people I know. Apple comes to mind. It’s terrific at electronics and has a great eye for design. It’s far richer than everyone in my neighborhood. Another person I’ve known for years is General Mo