The Korea Herald

[Thomas Klassen] Learning from the labor dispute at SC First Bank

Aug 8, 2011

The bitter seven week strike at SC First Bank, the longest in the Korean banking industry, reveals deep divisions between workers and management. More importantly, it exposes critical choices that workers, employers and government must make in the next few years.The planned introduction of a perform
[Michael Boskin] The Euro-American debt dilemma

Aug 7, 2011

PALO ALTO ― Wealthy Europe and America, crown jewels of mixed capitalist democracies, are drowning in deficits and debt, owing to bloated welfare states that are now in place (Europe) or in the making (the United States). As Europe struggles to prevent financial contagion and America struggles to re
[Peter Goldmark] Can we even govern ourselves?

Aug 7, 2011

You’ve read about cults that lose touch with reality and gather on some hilltop to greet the end of the world.We have a large cult-like group in the House of Representatives who have lost touch with economic reality and whose delusions may cause the country they say they love incalculable harm.Even
[Editorial] Lackluster investigation

Aug 7, 2011

The parliamentary investigation into the savings bank scandal has virtually ended without uncovering anything about the massive irregularities at the suspended banks. The outcome is disappointing, to say the least, and all the more so given the prosecution’s failure to answer a host of questions reg
[Shlomo Ben Ami] Middle East’s new game about democracy

Aug 7, 2011

MADRID ― Whether or not the Arab Spring will usher in credible democracies across the Arab world remains uncertain. But, while the dust has not yet settled after months of turmoil in Tunis, Cairo and elsewhere, the Arab revolts have already had a massive impact on the strategic structure of the Midd
[Laurence Kotlikoff] Generational balance, not budget balance

Aug 7, 2011

Debt crises make great drama. The big shots attend meetings, look terribly worried, then stomp out, accusing each other of bad faith. Finally, at the witching hour, they reach agreement and tell us all is fine, for now. The tough thing is sorting out what’s really going on. In the U.S. case, the ans
[William Pesek] Let’s get Homer Simpson’s hands off the controls

Aug 7, 2011

Japanese executives aren’t known for bucking the establishment. Hiroshi Mikitani is a rare exception at a time when rebellion is most needed. The president of Rakuten Inc., Japan’s biggest online retailer, turned 46 on March 11. That was the day when a record earthquake and tsunami set off the worst
[Robert Reich] The U.S. social security reform

Aug 5, 2011

House Republicans want to put Social Security on the chopping block in order to help reduce the long-term budget deficit, and the president seems willing to agree.That we’ve reached this point reveals both the cravenness of the GOP’s demands and the callowness of the opposition to those demands.In a
[Editorial] Japan’s economic white paper calls for resilience

Aug 5, 2011

The fiscal 2011 government white paper on the economy and state finances, issued July 22, analyzes economic conditions in the wake of the March 11 disasters. It calls for the creation of an economy resilient to crises and makes some policy proposals; however, the proposals are too general in the con
[Editorial] Fast rail as a metaphor for authoritarian China

Aug 5, 2011

What began as a transport accident in the busy rail corridor of Zhejiang province is turning into a test of China’s authoritarian methods of preserving stability. Should the old template of information control prevail? Is it even possible? Mastery of online media by citizens is weakening notions of
[Yuriko Koike] China trains unsafe at any speed?

Aug 5, 2011

TOKYO ― At least 38 people were killed and more than 200 injured by the recent crash of two high-speed trains near Zhenzhou in Zhejiang, a province in China. The wrecked body of the ruined train was buried immediately afterward, with no investigation.The intellectual-property dispute between Japan a
[Editorial] Small sigh of relief over raised U.S. debt ceiling

Aug 5, 2011

Over the past few months, the world has watched with uneasiness and frustration the political drama unfolding in Washington, capital of the world’s largest economy. The fierce partisan debate over raising the debt ceiling was so ugly that it threatened to hold hostage not only the United States’ own
[Editorial] Thorny road ahead for Afghan self-determination

Aug 5, 2011

Nation-building efforts in Afghanistan face a major turning point.The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama has started withdrawing troops stationed in Afghanistan. European and other countries helping to maintain security in Afghanistan will follow suit in reducing their military presence.T
[Editorial] America cannot afford to let Pakistan go rogue

Aug 5, 2011

To a developing country drifting towards catastrophe as it tries to hold together under assaults from domestic threats and terrorism, $800 million is a lot of money.And so when the Obama administration decided to punish Pakistan by suspending $800 million of its annual $2 billion security aid, one w
[David Ignatius] Hollywood’s vanishing act

Aug 4, 2011

WASHINGTON ― We are living in what New York Times called “a golden age of foreign films.” But American audiences wouldn’t know it unless they are lucky enough to live near an art-house cinema, or can tolerate subtitles on rented DVDs. The rising quality of foreign films over the past several ye