South Korea is not a haven from earthquakes. Though it is not located along the Pacific’s “Ring of Fire,” which covers Alaska, California, Mexico, Peru, Chile Japan and Indonesia, the nation is adjacent to the seismic belt.The earthquake damage in Kumamoto prefecture, Japan and the central coast of Ecuador over the past week point to the urgent need for taking what preemptive measures society can to minimize the number of victims in natural disasters. Kumamoto prefecture was reportedly able to r

Six million children in Ethiopia are hungry and without clean water. It is in all of our interests to help Ethiopia overcome the worst drought in 50 years. 　 When 4-year-old Malou first arrived at the Save the Children stabilization center in the small community of Fedeto, she was severely underweight and limp, her feet swollen. But having been treated for the effects of malnutrition, and it seemed starting on the road to recovery, she now has a second battle on her hands -- to overcome pneumoni

Spring is coming, but people living in Northeast Asia are encountering blooming respiratory illnesses as well as the cherry blossoms. Trade winds carry the fine yellow dust of the Mongolian deserts eastward to China, the Korean Peninsula, Japan and, in much smaller amounts, the West Coast of the United States. It is an event that is particularly severe in the March-April months, accompanied by images of Asians wearing surgical masks, scarves and even respirators while going about their daily act

Paying doctors a fee for each service they provide gives them incentive to offer the maximum number of treatments, as well as pay less attention to how well patients recover. This is why the Barack Obama administration -- and just about everyone else -- wants to change the way doctors get paid.But as the administration’s latest step away from the fee-for-service model illustrates, it’s doing too little, too slowly to accomplish the change that’s needed.On Monday, the Centers for Medicare and Med

The April 13 general election has thrown the ruling Saenuri Party into a panic. The election defeat was so unexpected and devastating that the party appears to have lost its sense of direction.The first thing the party should do now is thoroughly analyze the factors that contributed to its humiliating rout. Then it needs to start reinventing itself based on the analysis to regain the public’s confidence in it. Yet the party is neither willing nor able to embark on such a project now. Its leaders

In the three-party system that emerged from the April 13 general election, no single party controls a majority of seats in the National Assembly. This means it takes two parties to pass a bill through the parliament. The message that Korean voters sought to convey through the election was unmistakably clear: Political parties should collaborate in handling state affairs. The message appears to have been successfully delivered. All parties now talk about the need to discard politics as usual and

Social media continues to teach its users that in this increasingly diverse, multicultural, multiethnic nation, people should deliberate long and hard -- and even get a second and third opinion -- before they say or post anything.For corporations, the senseless use of social media in the rush to one-up competitors could result in the loss of customers and a lot of too-real dollars and cents.Sprint Corp. CEO Marcelo Claure has made himself an object lesson for others after he posted a clip on Twi

I wrote at the beginning of January that economic conditions this year were set to be as weak as in 2015, which was the worst year since the global financial crisis erupted in 2008. And, as has happened repeatedly over the last decade, a few months into the year, others’ more optimistic forecasts are being revised downward.The underlying problem — which has plagued the global economy since the crisis, but has worsened slightly — is lack of global aggregate demand. Now, in response, the European

The assumption that a college education should take four years is baked into American culture. Colleges in the colonial days were founded on the premise of a four-year degree, a concept imported from Europe. Harvard University experimented with a three-year degree when it was founded in 1636, but the test was short-lived, and the four-year degree has been the standard ever since. We expect students to enter college at 18 and leave when they turn 22, and we worry about those who take a more circu

A recent report from the International Energy Agency showed Korea’s carbon dioxide emissions have grown at the fastest pace among Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development members over the past two decades. 　Korea saw its per capita carbon dioxide emissions soar 111 percent from 5.4 tons in 1990 to 11.4 tons in 2013, in stark contrast with the 7.2 percent drop in the OECD average over the corresponding period.The increase in Korea’s carbon emissions is attributable to the steady rise

The April 13 general election has transformed Korea’s political landscape, depriving the ruling Saenuri Party of its majority, while giving the minor opposition People’s Party the balance of power in a revived three-party system.The biggest surprise of all was the ruling party’s humiliating defeat, especially in the crucial capital area that encompasses Seoul and Gyeonggi Province.The Saenuri Party relegated itself to a minority party by garnering a mere 122 of the 300-seat National Assembly, on