All of a sudden, last Friday felt different. Not because it was Friday. Something was obviously different: the air became finally breathable after a miserable week. The level of fine dust (or ultrafine dust) had been the talk of the town throughout the week at meetings and gatherings.A 2017 report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development put South Korea’s fine dust level near the bottom of the countries surveyed, which in fact prompted President Moon to include this issue i

Recent weeks have seen significant developments in the awkward three-way relationship between Taiwan, China and the US. First, President Donald Trump signed the Taiwan Travel Act, which made it American policy to encourage greater high-level contacts — including defense and national security ones — with Taiwan, despite the displeasure those contacts will surely incur from China. Second, Taiwan’s spy chief warned that a more empowered and assertive Chinese government, under the leadership of Pres

As the People’s Republic of China continues its rise, Asia and the world are scrambling to keep their balance. Among China’s neighbors and rivals, few countries seem willing or ready to counter the challenge it poses. Japan is struggling with decades of diffidence internationally and the strictures of its postwar constitution. The countries of Southeast Asia are divided among themselves about the virtues of growing closer to China, while Australia is split internally over the same question. Euro

The Winter Olympics are often considered the Olympics of weather forecasting. This is because weather conditions have a huge impact on the Winter Olympics as compared to the Summer Games since most of the competitions are held outdoors. Moreover, changes in weather conditions greatly affect performances, and bad weather can prevent competitions from being held. Therefore, weather forecasting is one of the most critical factors in determining the success of the Winter Olympics. 　With the recognit

Donald Trump made the case in “The Art of the Deal” for “winging it” on big negotiations. “I never get too attached to one deal or one approach,” he wrote. “I keep a lot of balls in the air, because most deals fall out, no matter how promising they seem at first.”Trump is now about to wing it on an epic, global stage in his planned face-to-face meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Nobody in Washington or abroad seems to know just what Trump wants to accomplish in the meeting -- an ambig

I was on the phone this week with my Russian friend Val, trying to plan a trip to Moscow, but all she wanted to talk about was Sunday’s tragedy in Kemerovo -- and how disgraceful it was that CNN International ignored this disaster because of nonstop coverage of Stormy Daniels.　Kemerovo is a Siberian city where at least 64 people, two-thirds of them kids, died from a fire in a mall cinema because the doors had been locked and the fire alarm shut off. The children were frantically text-messaging t

French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced last week his government’s plan to “fight racism” to much fanfare. The cause is a worthy one (who can be against fighting racism?), but sadly the plan is a disaster.　The government wants to make it much easier to ban any online content deemed to be racist or to be “promoting hatred.” One might ask why the urgency when, according to the official figures, hate crimes are down 16 percent from last year. French President Emmanuel Macron clearly feels

John Bolton is a bit like the barking dog that finally catches the car: What does he do now? Bolton surely has never once imagined himself as an “honest broker,” the quality that usually defines a successful national security adviser, the post he’s about to assume. Instead, Bolton has cultivated the image of a provocateur, bureaucratic infighter and permanent enfant terrible. He has seen his role as challenging policy, rather than sustaining it. Bolton will take control of a foreign-policy proce