The Korea Herald

[Kim Seong-kon] We should be like the ‘Snows of Kilimanjaro‘

Sept 9, 2020

Recently I came across “Snows of Kilimanjaro,” a collection of English poems by a Korean-American poet, Yearn Hong Choi. The title intrigued me because I very much admire Ernest Hemingway’s short story, “The Snows of Kilimanjaro.” In the epitaph of the celebrated story, Hemingway wrote, “Kilimanjaro is a snow-covered mountain 19,710 feet high, and is said to be the highest mountain in Africa. Its western summit is called the Masai “Ngàje Ngà
[Letter to Editor] Korea’s increasing fiscal deficit financeable

Sept 9, 2020

The opinion expressed in the Sept. 4 editorial of The Korea Herald seems to consider the 2021 Korean budget as an extravagance that is unaffordable. I would beg to differ. Although it is always useful to keep some fiscal space for economic slowdowns, not to mention Black Swan events such as the pandemic, Korea‘s increasing fiscal deficit estimated to reach 5.4 percent of GDP next year (compared with 3.5 percent this year) is totally financeable and unlikely to cause the downgrades that are
[Michael R. Strain] Exploding US debt is a problem, not an emergency

Sept 8, 2020

The US Government programs to blunt the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic will make the federal budget deficit much wider in 2020 than at any point in the last 75 years. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office’s new forecasts, released this week, predict that the deficit will be over $3.3 trillion this year, or 16 percent of annual economic output. Measured as a share of GDP, the annual US budget deficit hasn’t hit double digits since 1945. The CBO forecasts that the 20
[Jan-Werner Mueller] The parties must go on

Sept 8, 2020

The recent Republican National Convention in the US was scandalous for many reasons -- from the misuse of the White House as a campaign prop (in violation of the Hatch Act and long-standing norms) and the brazen mendacity of its speakers to the parade of Trump family members. Amid the tawdry spectacle of the GOP being transformed into a subsidiary of the Trump Organization, one shocking aspect stood out: The party offered no platform. The Republicans’ only purpose, apparently, is “to
[Mihir Sharma] Rest of Asia will miss Abe more than Japan will

Sept 7, 2020

A month before he ended his first stint as Japan’s prime minister in 2007, Shinzo Abe addressed the Indian Parliament in New Delhi. Quoting the Mughal scholar-prince Dara Shikoh, Abe spoke of the “confluence of the two seas” -- the Indian and Pacific Oceans -- that were undergoing a “dynamic coupling as seas of freedom and of prosperity.” India and Japan, said Abe, shared an interest in and responsibility for securing these seas “by joining forces with like-mi
[Kay C. James] We must educate future generations on myths and realities of socialism

Sept 7, 2020

A frightening 70 percent of millennials say they would back a socialist candidate for office. And today, we are seeing many socialist ideas gaining traction, such as “free” college tuition for all, government-run health care and a guaranteed income even for able-bodied people who don’t work. While we can blame some of the attraction to socialism on its false promises of fixing every social ill, the nearly inescapable indoctrination present in our schools and universities, and
[Serendipity] In these unusual times, adversity may be unforeseen opportunity

Sept 4, 2020

The young men have done it yet again. The trailblazing K-pop boy band’s latest single, “Dynamite,” hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, the first South Korean music ever to do so. The announcement, which followed on the heels of the seven-member group’s impressive win of four awards -- best pop, best group, best choreography and best K-pop for “On,” released in February as the lead song for “Map of the Soul 7” -- at the MTV Awards held only a few
[Tyler Cowen] No, America will not be canceled

Sept 4, 2020

One of the most hotly debated questions among my friends and acquaintances lately is this: Is America headed for a future in which just about everyone has been canceled? Fortunately, while “cancel culture” and political correctness have become stronger and more influential over the last few years, these movements have built-in limitations. They will prove to be a durable element of American culture, but by no means a dominant one. How do I know? I don’t, of course, but consid
[Ana Palacio] A Democratic Doomsday?

Sept 3, 2020

In 1947, two years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki were decimated by nuclear bombs, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists launched the Doomsday Clock to convey the world proximity to annihilation -- and to spur action to “turn back time.” Today, it is worth considering the need to create a clock to show how close our democracies are to collapse. On such a Democracy Doomsday Clock, we would be rapidly approaching midnight. Liberal democracy is founded on the idea that individuals acting
[Lee Kyong-hee] An artist’s life -- checkered and forgotten

Sept 3, 2020

The nation is at war. The war is raging on two major fronts. One is against the invisible coronavirus. The other, much older and deep-seated, divides the country, so accustomed to politicizing and ideologizing along unclear lines of right and left, or conservatives and progressives. In a situation like this, it must seem insensitive, or even like a luxury, to discuss art or an artist’s life. However, I was attracted to one particular art exhibition devoted to Pai Un-soung. Pai occupies a
[Tim Culpan] China just called Trump’s bluff on TikTok

Sept 2, 2020

Imagine a bidder wanting to buy KFC, but being told the deal might not include the Colonel’s 11 secret herbs and spices. That’s effectively what Beijing has told the list of US companies keen to purchase short-video app TikTok: The key ingredients may be out of reach. At first it looked like the Trump administration had it all figured out. ByteDance, it decided, was a risk to national security and the Chinese company’s main product for international markets had to be sold.
[Kim Seong-kon] Things that make us sad these days

Sept 2, 2020

When German poet Anton Schnack wrote the celebrated essay “Things That Make Us Sad” last century, he referred to sentimental, melancholic objects such as a small dead bird found in the garden, drizzling autumn rain and indecipherable graffiti in a desolate castle. He also mentioned old letters from a deceased father that read, “My son, you gave me so many sleepless nights.” In 2020, a plethora of things make us sad in Korea, too. Unfortunately, however, we do not have th
[Anjani Trivedi] The big China disaster you’re missing

Sept 1, 2020

The world’s largest dam is under pressure in the massive flooding that’s wiping away billions of dollars of value in China. The predicament symbolizes a looming crisis for Beijing. Climate change is bringing more frequent and intense deluges that threaten the economic heartland, and infrastructure defenses installed with the disasters of previous eras in mind can’t keep up. There’s very little time to prepare for what’s coming. The problem isn’t that Chi
[Jean Pisani-Ferry] Trump’s international economic legacy

Aug 31, 2020

It would be foolish to start celebrating the end of US President Donald Trump’s administration, but it is not too soon to ponder the impact he will have left on the international economic system if his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, wins November’s election. In some areas, a one-term Trump presidency would most likely leave an insignificant mark, which Biden could easily erase. But in several others, the last four years may well come to be seen as a watershed. Moreover, the long s
[Noah Smith] Abe leaves behind a better Japan

Aug 31, 2020

Shinzo Abe, Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, is resigning due to ulcerative colitis. He leaves behind a Japan that is both economically stronger and more socially liberal than the one he inherited. When Shinzo Abe took over Japan’s leadership in late 2012, I was extremely skeptical. After a short and unimpressive tenure in office in the mid-2000s, Abe seemed unlikely to rise to the challenge of Japan’s faltering economy and unequal society. And the fact he emerged from