The Korea Herald

Kim Kyung-ho

안녕하세요 Kim Kyung-ho 기자입니다.

Articles by Kim Kyung-ho

[Editorial] Renewing commitment

EditorialOct 7, 2021

Youn Mee-hyang, a civic activist-turned-lawmaker, stirred up public outrage here last year when she fell under suspicion of embezzling money donated to help South Korean women forced into wartime sexual enslavement for imperial Japanese troops. She was indicted in September 2020 on charges of embezzlement, fraud and other misconduct. Youn denied all of the accusations against her during her first trial held at a Seoul court in August. The Justice Ministry had not made public details of Youn&rs
[Kim Myong-sik] Yoon Seok-youl looms large in 2021 Korean politics

ViewpointsDec 31, 2020

We are sadly sending off “Twenty-Twenty” and entering 2021 with very little hope for a better year. In the New Year, people will continue to live with the inconvenience of wearing face masks and in fear of inhaling the often lethal coronavirus, until community immunity has been established with universal vaccination, which still looks remote. Enviously watching TV footage of vaccines being given in the United States, Europe and some countries in Asia, 50 million South Koreans, once
[Kim Seong-kon] 'Joined in isolation’ in these troubled times

EditorialDec 16, 2020

Recently, I came across two insightful sijo poems written by Americans who won prizes at the sijo contest sponsored by the Sejong Cultural Society in Chicago. One was “Social Distancing” and the other was “In Middle School.” Although written in English, the two sijo poems successfully exhibit the unique sensitivity and atmosphere of the traditional Korean poetic form. “Social Distancing,” written by Julie Shute, is an excellent sijo poem that painfully capt
[Andreas Kluth] Letter from US expats to Yellen

ViewpointsDec 14, 2020

Dear Dr. Yellen: Congratulations! You’re probably the next treasury secretary of the US. That’ll throw you into daunting policy cauldrons -- from financing America’s massive deficits to managing China and taming the tax code. With so much in your inbox, we urge you not to forget about one large group of Americans: us. We’re US expats, and there are 9 million of us. If we were a state, we’d be the 11th largest. And we’re suffering from a problem that you can f
[France Wilkinson] Biden era neither normal nor boring

ViewpointsDec 2, 2020

Having spent the past four years with the political equivalent of heavy metal music blasting outside their psychic windows late into the night, millions of Americans are hoping that the Biden administration will usher in a new era of calm. They are likely to be disappointed. To a limited extent, such wishes will be granted. Under President Joe Biden, the White House will no longer generate a cacophony of incompetence. Tweet tantrums will yield to process and predictability. Outright falsehood w
[Editorial] Overdue reform

EditorialApr 29, 2020

The National Pension Service announced last week that the number of its beneficiaries exceeded 5 million in April, 33 years after the pension system was introduced. It seemed to be striking a celebratory tone in making the announcement. But concerns are mounting over the long-term sustainability of the state pension fund. The gap between the numbers of beneficiaries and subscribers paying insurance premiums is expected to widen at an accelerating pace in the coming decades. According to data
[Editorial] Dialogue momentum

EditorialDec 26, 2019

The range of pending issues between South Korea and Japan are so complex and deep-rooted that they cannot be expected to be solved by a meeting between their leaders.Still, Tuesday’s summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe produced critical momentum for the dialogue needed to resolve the long-standing disputes between the two countries.The first Moon-Abe summit in 15 months had been scheduled for half an hour, but instead lasted 45 minutes.
[Elizabeth Drew] To impeach or not to impeach

ViewpointsJun 5, 2019

As the US Congress returns from a 10-day break, the question of whether the House of Representatives (controlled by the Democrats) should formally commence the process of impeaching President Donald Trump for misdeeds committed during his tenure -- and perhaps before -- has split the party. Theoretically, impeachment by the House would be followed by a trial in the Senate. But the Senate, controlled by the Republicans, is considered highly unlikely to convict their party’s standard-bearer,
[Kim Kyung-ho] A way out of the historical trap

ViewpointsMay 29, 2019

President Moon Jae-in may feel that he has adhered to a principled approach to historical issues with Japan. Nevertheless, he may also be realizing that it has come round to undermine his position on the diplomatic stage of Northeast Asia.If he has an ulterior motive -- if, as critics charge, he intends to use the inflammatory issues to his domestic political advantage -- he stands to pay substantial costs in practical terms.Since he took office two years ago, the bilateral relationship between
[Jean Pisani-Ferry] The case for green realism

ViewpointsMar 3, 2019

The Green New Deal promoted by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a fast-rising star in the US Congress, and others among her fellow Democrats, may trigger a welcome reset of the discussion on climate-change mitigation in the United States and beyond. Though not really new -- European Greens have been pushing for such a “new deal” for a decade -- her plan is ambitious and wide-ranging.It may be too ambitious and wide-ranging. But, unlike economists’ favorite approach to climate change -- set the right pr
[Trudy Rubin] Limits to US president’s personal diplomacy

ViewpointsMar 3, 2019

Here is the most glaring takeaway from the collapse of the North Korea summit in Hanoi: You can’t negotiate with a wily dictator as if he were a real-estate mogul in New York.President Donald Trump has famously touted his personal relationships with autocrats as the prelude to great deals. “We fell in love,” he said of the half-dozen or so “beautiful letters” he received from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.Clearly, love was insufficient.The president and his team appeared blindsided by the gap
[Kim Seong-kon] Drivers of a bus named Korea

ViewpointsFeb 26, 2019

Koreans often enjoy mocking their ex-presidents by parodying their governing styles and characteristics. Recently on the internet, I came across a funny poster featuring photos of our ex-presidents with brief descriptions that metaphorically compared their leadership to driving. The metaphor seems appropriate because the leader of a nation is like the driver of a bus or the captain of a ship, both of which could be a microcosm of a country. On the poster, our first President Syngman Rhee was ide
[Robert J. Fouser] Focusing on what works with North Korea

ViewpointsFeb 26, 2019

The race for the Democratic nomination for US president in 2020 grows by the week, and more potential candidates are waiting in the wings. Each week also brings a new round of grand proposals: universal health care, free public college, the Green New Deal, universal child care, infrastructure, and reparations for slavery. The energetic left and its friends in the media are enjoying the proposals in the hope of “reshaping” American society. Candidates promise much, but offer few specifics other t
[Kim Kyung-ho] Time to ditch dysfunctional policy

ViewpointsFeb 6, 2019

President Moon Jae-in was quick in accepting the resignation of his economic adviser Kim Hyun-chul last week, after Kim came under fire for his controversial remarks in a lecture to a group of local business executives.Kim tendered his resignation as soon as he came to work the next day after his remarks sparked public ire, particularly among young and middle-aged job seekers, and Moon accepted it immediately, according to a presidential spokesman.During the lecture, he urged unemployed people i
[Kim Myong-sik] Why not scrap faulty campaign pledges?

ViewpointsJan 16, 2019

During the 2017 presidential election following the exit of Park Geun-hye, candidate Moon Jae-in promised the relocation of the presidential office to the central Seoul location of Gwanghwamun from its secluded present position. A year and seven months after he won the election, President Moon scrapped the plan.His campaigners said Cheong Wa Dae was too big and its area too wide to serve as an effective workplace for the chief executive of the state. Compared to the White House in Washington, El