The Korea Herald

[David Ignatius] Moscow shouldn’t misjudge the Mueller moment

Mar 31, 2019

Russian claims this week that the country has been exonerated by Robert Mueller’s final report make my skin crawl. But they highlight the critical question of how the US and Russia can begin to move back toward a saner relationship. Frankly speaking (as Russians like to say), the first step is for Russia to stop pretending that it didn’t meddle in the 2016 US presidential election. The Kremlin got caught red-handed, one could say, and if its representatives keep claiming otherwise, they obstruct
[Robert J. Shiller] Was the stock market boom predictable?

Mar 31, 2019

Should we have known in March 2009 that the United States’ S&P 500 stock index would quadruple in value in the next 10 years, or that Japan’s Nikkei 225 would triple, followed closely by Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index? The conventional wisdom is that it is never possible to “time the market.” But moves as big as these, it might seem, must have been at least partly foreseeable.The problem is that no one can prove why a boom happened, even after the fact, let alone show how it could have been predict
[Hannah Storm] Bad news for women

Mar 28, 2019

Nancy Pelosi is the highest-ranking elected female politician in the history of the United States. Theresa May is only the second female British prime minister. Amal Clooney is a world-renowned human-rights lawyer. Serena Williams is arguably the greatest female athlete of all time.All four are succeeding in environments where high-achieving women are the exception rather than the rule. Yet parts of the media have portrayed them in a way that suggests their achievements and abilities are seconda
[Anjani Trivedi] China bad debt is $300 billion value trap

Mar 28, 2019

There’s plenty of bad debt to go around for investors in distressed assets in China. The question is how to extract value from them.For years, Chinese banks shoveled nonperforming loans to asset managers set up by the government, which sought to get back what they could while warehousing what was irrecoverable. Now, as commercial lenders try to shift record amounts of soured loans off their books, these assets are finding a home outside the state-sanctioned bad debt managers.China’s big banks ha
Blaming foreign press stems from lack of self-confidence

Mar 27, 2019

It happened during the tough times of President Park Chung-hee’s “Yushin” rule of the 1970s. I open the door of Reuters Seoul bureau office at Ulchiro 1-ga one morning to find a piece of paper on the floor, apparently inserted through the crack by a secret messenger. The hand-written note informs us where and when an anti-government rally will be held that day. I go to Jangchungdan Park, or the Catholic Myeongdong Cathedral, at the given time and watch a leader read a statement and his colleague
[Leonid Bershidsky] How the Reimanns can atone for their Nazi past

Mar 27, 2019

There is no adequate remedy for the crimes the Reimanns, Germany’s second-wealthiest family, committed in the Nazi era. But it’s still worth trying to figure out what kind of redress is possible now that the events are receding so far into the past that few victims are alive.Through their JAB Holdings company, the family own brands from Pret A Manger sandwich shops to Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. The Reimanns also once owned part of what became consumer goods giant Reckitt Benckiser.Bild am Sonntag,
[Linda K. Smith, Sarah Tracey] Child care is infrastructure. We should treat it that way

Mar 27, 2019

Millions of American parents dropped their children off at child care facilities this morning. Chances are many of those facilities don’t meet basic health and safety standards. Though we know the quality of a facility, whether a formal center or a family home care site, is directly linked to a child’s development and well-being, we also know most places are far from optimal.This is yet another way America’s child care system is failing families today.Recent findings have been dire. A series of
[J. Bradford DeLong] The Fed board unmoored

Mar 27, 2019

In December 2015, the right-wing commentator Stephen Moore, US President Donald Trump’s pick to fill a vacancy on the US Federal Reserve Board of Governors, savagely attacked then-Fed Chair Janet Yellen and her predecessor, Ben Bernanke, for maintaining loose monetary policies in the years following the “Great Recession.”According to Moore, who is not a professional economist, investors had “become hyper-dependent” on the Fed’s “zero-interest-rate policy … just as an addict craves crack cocaine.
[Kim Seong-kon] Reminiscences of 1980s Korea

Mar 26, 2019

When I returned from the States to begin teaching at Seoul National University in the early 1980s, Korea’s socio-political turmoil reached its pinnacle. It was the time when Gen. Chun Doo-hwan seized power after a military coup and ruthlessly crushed students’ anti-government demonstrations on university campuses. The clashes between riot police shooting tear gas and teargassed students were rampant and became a daily ritual on Seoul National University campus, too. At the time, students were di
[Robert J. Fouser] Looking at mayors for future leaders

Mar 26, 2019

The race for Democratic nomination for president in 2020 is almost full. Only the front runner, former Vice President Joe Biden, has yet to declare his candidacy. The race has more women and African-Americans than any in history. The candidates range from age 37 to 77, and they are diverse in ethnic and religious background. The race is the first time since 2004 that the Democrats do not have a dominant front-runner or an incumbent president running.For all its diversity, the race has plentiful
[Jeffrey Frankel] Xi and Trump miss their chance

Mar 25, 2019

President Donald Trump has postponed until at least April the supposed deadline for concluding the United States’ current trade negotiations with China. A good outcome for both sides would be reached if China agreed to protect property rights better and reduce the state’s role in its economy; the US agreed to strengthen national saving and public investment; and both sides agreed to reverse their recent tariff increases. Unfortunately, this is not the deal that is likely to materialize.For start
[Noah Feldman] Trump’s collusion nightmare is over

Mar 25, 2019

The summary of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report submitted to the US Congress on Sunday by Attorney General William Barr can only be described as a significant win for President Donald Trump. Mueller did not find that the Trump campaign coordinated with or colluded with Russian efforts to subvert the 2016 election. And Mueller did not reach a conclusion on whether Trump himself committed obstruction of justice.On top of that, Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein determined separ
[Adam Minter] China’s hydrogen economy is coming

Mar 24, 2019

There was little excitement in the air when China’s State Council convened a press conference on March 15 to announce and explain 83 revisions to the annual Government Work Report. A few equity investors paid attention anyway. Among the revisions was a proposal to promote the development and construction of fueling stations for hydrogen fuel-cell cars. It was a Friday, and too late to trade on the news. On Monday, Chinese punters were ready: In the first few minutes of trading, fuel cell-related
[Trudy Rubin] America now inspires world for wrong reasons

Mar 24, 2019

The mass murderer of 51 worshippers in New Zealand mosques last week issued a manifesto in which he asked himself this question: “Were/are you a supporter of Donald Trump?”His answer: “As a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose? Sure. As a policy maker and leader? Dear god no.”In other words, there was no linear connection between Trump and the New Zealand massacre, nor can he be directly blamed for the carnage. Yet Trump has become an important symbol for white nationalists and bi
[Adam Minter] China’s electric cars hit potholes

Mar 21, 2019

For several days last week, the often distressingly poor quality of China’s electric cars was a leading topic across Chinese media. According to one survey ricocheting across the web, nearly 70 percent of respondents said they regretted buying a new-energy vehicle. Many expected the industry to be targeted in China’s wildly popular “Consumer Rights Day” gala television special, which shames corporate giants for service and quality lapses. While privacy-invading tech companies were harangued inst