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Articles by 최남현

[Trudy Rubin] Making a stronger case for a slow Afghan exit

ViewpointsJun 28, 2011

Many Americans probably wonder why President Obama didn’t call for a bigger troop pullout from Afghanistan.Having recently returned from Afghanistan and Pakistan, I think he could have made a stronger case for his decision to bring home only 10,000 troops by the end of this year. (The rest of the 33,000 “surge” troops he has deployed will return no later than September 2012, with a full transition
[Kim Seong-kon] The irresistible charm of Seoul

ViewpointsJun 28, 2011

Recently, CNNgo.com featured an article titled “12 Rules for Expat Life in Korea.” Under the phrase, “Avoid culture shock with our quick guide to acclimatizing Seoul,” the writer provides 12 survival tips with a fine sense of humor. “In Seoul, drinking on the job is in the contract,” he writes rather humorously. “Your work contract might say 9-5 but you forgot to read the fine print. Birthday part
[Editorial] The enemy within

EditorialJun 27, 2011

June, the “Month of National Protection,” is passing with public and private events to evoke the people’s determination to fight whatever enemy threatens national independence. Media special features around Memorial Day on the 6th and the Korean War anniversary on the 25th reminded Koreans of who they are indebted to for what the Republic of Korea is today and how they should prepare themselves to
[Editorial] Four rivers under rains

EditorialJun 27, 2011

Officials of the Ministry of Homeland and Maritime Affairs in charge of the Four Rivers Development Project, the local authorities along the rivers and millions of residents are anxiously watching the water levels rising in this rainy spell. They all fear possible damage to the embankments, dikes and bridges built over the past couple years under President Lee Myung-bak’s signature project.The yea
U.S. high school’s slow and steady turnaround

ViewpointsJun 27, 2011

Three years ago, the last graduating class of the “old” Locke High School listened to a commencement speaker whose main thrust was that only a small number of students had made it to that point. Odd words at most graduation ceremonies, but appropriate at Locke. Under the management of the Los Angeles Unified School District, the number of graduates at this public school in Watts was regularly a fr
[Dominique Moisi] Women as ‘agents of change?’

ViewpointsJun 27, 2011

PARIS ― Are women in Europe on the verge of becoming an engine for political change? In economic-development circles, experience and common sense suggest that progress, accountability and hard work start with and depend on women. Micro-credits, for example, are much more efficient when women receive and repay them. Perhaps because they bear children and must find the means to feed them, women are
[Meghan Daum] Bachmann a right-wing mom to take seriously

ViewpointsJun 27, 2011

If I had a dollar for every time a Sarah Palin supporter accused me of not taking her seriously because I’m jealous of attractive women who’ve combined powerful careers with large families, I’d be in another tax bracket, one that might encourage me to vote for Ron Paul.Now Michele Bachmann just might shut that crowd up.She’s another attractive conservative mom, and guess what? A whole lot of peopl
[Rachel Marsden] Who’ll volunteer to save socialists?

ViewpointsJun 27, 2011

As a free-market, limited-government conservative, I find the total implosion of the Greek economy to be the most stunning example of everything I’ve ever tried to warn about in regard to socialism. Despite the rest of Europe and the International Monetary Fund promising last year to give Greece 110 billion euros over three years, the country remains in a death spiral, with its budget deficit at a
[Editorial] Lee-Sohn talks

EditorialJun 26, 2011

President Lee Myung-bak is meeting Rep. Sohn Hak-kyu, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, on Monday morning. They are set to discuss six agenda items at the breakfast talks, which their aides expect to last for about two hours.The agenda items are: a cut in university tuition fees, a corruption scandal involving savings banks, an early ratification of the Korean-U.S. free trade agreeme
[David Ignatius] Rethinking America’s ‘long war’

ViewpointsJun 26, 2011

WASHINGTON ― Gen. John Abizaid used the phrase “the long war” to describe America’s battle with Islamic extremism after Sept. 11, 2001. When I first heard him say it in the dark days of 2004, as Iraq was spiraling downward, I had the feeling that it would last for most of our lifetimes. Behind this decades-long battle, Abizaid said, was the political modernization of the Islamic world ― the explos
[Max Boot] United States should stay the course in Afghanistan

ViewpointsJun 26, 2011

President Obama announced Wednesday night the size of the withdrawal from Afghanistan after a bruising internal debate within the administration. Proponents of a fast, immediate drawdown have been making essentially two arguments, neither especially compelling.There is the fiscal argument: We can’t afford the cost of the war effort. It’s true that we are facing a budget crunch, but the savings fro
[Glenn Garvin] Doesn’t this president remind you of someone?

ViewpointsJun 26, 2011

Back in 1987, the hot novelty item at the Young Republicans’ national convention was a T-shirt bearing the slogan: “He’s Tan, Rested and Ready. Nixon in ‘88.” The kids were just a little bit ahead of their time; it would take us an additional 20 years before we elected a tan version of Richard Nixon.Barack Obama’s inner Nixon was all over the place as Congress and the national news media finally a
[Park Sang-seek] Debate on politics in Korea: Who is afraid of populism?

ViewpointsJun 26, 2011

Recently, conservative political leaders, opinion makers and mass media have been passionately debating “welfare populism” and warning of its political demagoguery and devastating effect on the national economy. The nationwide debate focuses on free meals for primary and secondary school students, a 50 percent reduction in college tuition fees and free medical services. They cite the political and
[Joel Brinkley] Belarus holds lessons for Syria

ViewpointsJun 24, 2011

If Syrian President Bashar al-Assad wants a glimpse of his nation’s future, should he continue savagely suppressing his people’s democratic aspirations, he need only look north to Belarus, another venal dictatorship whose security forces brutalized thousands of citizens protesting a fraudulent election in December.With blood in the streets, hundreds in jail, scores more in hospitals with cracked h
[Takeshi Nakagawa] The concept of keeping harmony

ViewpointsJun 24, 2011

About 30 years ago, I drove northward from Sotobo in Chiba along the coastline in Fukushima and Miyagi as far as accessible by road, passing through inland areas in Iwate to Miyako again, and went up north to the Shimokita Peninsula. The purpose was to see various cultural building properties around those regions. At that time, I did not have tsunamis in mind particularly.Now I am reminded, howeve