A call to carry on as normal in a time of crisis can be taken as an invocation of hope and strength. Or it can be interpreted as insensitivity to others’ plight. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg learned the latter on Friday when a public outcry forced him to cancel this year’s New York City Marathon in the city still recovering from Hurricane Sandy. Just hours earlier, Bloomberg had pledged the world’s biggest marathon would go ahead as planned.The billionaire mayor had argued that holding

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has been the focus of international scrutiny since the New York Times last week reported that his family had squirreled away a fortune in business deals. The revelations could make next month’s sweeping power transition in Beijing, and the inevitable jockeying for position among the country’s elite, more fraught.Few would be shocked by the revelations, but that they were openly reported in such detail has apparently damaged Wen’s image as a grandfatherly figure with a

Nami Island, the small half-moon-shaped island in Chuncheon, is rising as one of the must-visit tourist destinations in Korea, attracting more than 500,000 foreign tourists so far this year. The island officials expect the number will reach over 600,000 by the end of the year. The number of foreign and Korean visitors is expected to be 2.5 million. “It’s the number of foreign visitors who come on group tours, and does not include the visitors who come individually,” said Minn Kyung-hyuk, executi

Kim Kwang-jin, 30, stepped into the limelight when the activist from the remote southern city of Suncheon became the 19th National Assembly’s youngest member in April. The baby-faced rookie legislator was also a boon to the main opposition Democratic United Party badly in need of an image makeover. Within less than a week, the party’s best asset turned into its biggest nuisance for retweeting curses against President Lee Myung-bak and hints at kinky sexual preferences. The controversy forced par

Lee Sang-eun, President Lee Myung-bak’s eldest brother, will be summoned by special investigators on Wednesday in a widening investigation into a property scandal surrounding the first family. On Wednesday morning, the 79-year-old chairman of automotive seat maker DAS will become the second member of Lee’s family to be questioned by the independent counsel over alleged irregularities in connection with the president’s now-scrapped retirement home project. Lee’s son Si-hyung was grilled on Thursd

After giving up prime ministerial ambitions Wednesday, former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi responded to his conviction for tax fraud Friday with typical defiance, vowing to stay in politics. The court sentenced him to four years in jail, reduced to one year under a law ― introduced, ironically by his political opponents ― to reduce prison overcrowding.He may never serve a day. Berlusconi is entitled to two appeals before the sentence can take effect, a process that could last beyond

President Lee Myung-bak’s only son will face questioning by a team of independent investigators Thursday as part of an escalating probe into his father’s now-scrapped retirement home plan.Lee Shi-hyung, 34, will be greeted by an army of TV cameramen, photographers and journalists anxious to catch the moment the president’s son faces the music. Confronted by the special investigative team, which his father reluctantly agreed to, he now must fight to clear his and his father’s name in a corruption

Marissa Mayer wants to revive the flagging fortunes of Yahoo Inc. by returning to its roots. The recently appointed CEO, a former Google executive who joined Yahoo in July, has been signaling a new technology-focused strategy for the company through her hires and acquisitions. Moving away from her predecessors’ focus on media content, Mayer has pledged to revamp the company’s email and search engine services, and tailor more services to mobile devices. Yahoo’s plan for revival pits it squarely a

After years reeling from a lack of foreign investment and a moribund property market, Songdo is brimming with fresh vigor and a new vision as it was picked to house the secretariat of the Green Climate Fund. Long known for its seaside amusement park, the reclaimed island is the centerpiece of the Incheon Free Economic Zone, launched in 2003 with an aim of developing a leading business, logistics and tourism center in Northeast Asia.The ambition, however, was dented by doubts of its advantages ag

It was perhaps what the ruling Saenuri Party’s presidential candidate Rep. Park Geun-hye has been dreading the most. Following her successful presidential nomination in August, her aides have been bracing for the opponent’s anticipated attack against her purported ties to the Jeongsu Scholarship Foundation, one of the prominent remnants of her father’s, former President Park Chung-hee, authoritarian rule.Jeongsu Foundation was initially the Buil Scholarship Foundation, which was set up by Busan-

Choi Phil-lip, the 84-year-old chairman of the board for the Jeongsu Scholarship Foundation, has become seen as a public enemy.Son of a slain independence activist and former aide to late President Park Chung-hee, Choi has endured his opponents’ ceaseless calls for resignation as the foundation’s chief in succession to Park Geun-hye, the Saenuri Party’s presidential candidate, since 2005.His headstrong position that the foundation, considered a remnant of Park Chung-hee’s authoritarian rule, is

Masayoshi Son, the founder and CEO of Japanese Internet and telecoms venture SoftBank Corp., is no stranger to playing the odds. The Japanese ethnic Korean has the distinction of losing more money than any other individual in history, having seen some $70 billion of his personal wealth evaporate during the dotcom crash of 2000. For Son, though, risk continues to bring great reward: Son remains Japan’s second-richest person, worth over $7 billion. In keeping with his reputation, Son, who recently

Progressive law professor Cho Kuk is emerging as an unlikely kingmaker mediating a tricky process to generate a united opposition candidacy. Cho is one of the country’s best known liberal academics and fiercest critics of party politics. He made headlines in September when he was mentioned as a potential member of Democratic United Party Moon Jae-in’s campaign. However, the academic has so far remained away from the election campaigns saying that he will play a role in the unification process. 

The “boss” is back. Former lawmaker Kim Moo-sung, 61, is the choice of Saenuri Party presidential candidate Rep. Park Geun-hye as she strives to defuse one of the biggest crises in her campaign.Dogged by rising internal protest against her controversial appointments, Park finally listened to her associates’ recommendation that she bring back Kim, a Busan native with tenacity to match his formidable physique.People, and not just the Saenuri Party members but also journalists, call him “Moodae,” s

Everything Yoon Seok-keum touched seemed to turn to gold. He was a man who in just three decades, built a 6 trillion won ($5.3 billion) empire from the ground up, armed with nothing but a few good men and a natural gift for sales.But whether this success story will have a happy ending has become uncertain; Yoon’s company, Woongjin Group, recently filed for court receivership in a desperate bid to prevent a spreading bankruptcy after the group’s construction arm, Kukdong Construction, went down t