In a meeting with a group of executives from foreign-invested firms here last week, President Moon Jae-in asked them to take note of the vast economic opportunities that would stem from a peaceful Korean Peninsula.He said geopolitical risks on the peninsula had dwindled swiftly following three summit talks he held with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un last year.He matched his rosy view of the security environment with a promise of increased support and an emphasis on what he said was the strong f

Should we have known in March 2009 that the United States’ S&P 500 stock index would quadruple in value in the next 10 years, or that Japan’s Nikkei 225 would triple, followed closely by Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index? The conventional wisdom is that it is never possible to “time the market.” But moves as big as these, it might seem, must have been at least partly foreseeable.The problem is that no one can prove why a boom happened, even after the fact, let alone show how it could have been predict

For certain people in prominent roles within the Moon Jae-in administration, probably few words are more apt than “hypocrite.”　On Friday, presidential spokesperson Kim Eui-kyeom offered to resign over allegations that he had made a speculative real estate investment during his time at Cheong Wa Dae. He bought a 2.5 billion won ($2.19 million) building in a lucrative Seoul redevelopment zone and raised about half that amount through loans.Kim argued it was not speculation but an investment. But h

Nancy Pelosi is the highest-ranking elected female politician in the history of the United States. Theresa May is only the second female British prime minister. Amal Clooney is a world-renowned human-rights lawyer. Serena Williams is arguably the greatest female athlete of all time.All four are succeeding in environments where high-achieving women are the exception rather than the rule. Yet parts of the media have portrayed them in a way that suggests their achievements and abilities are seconda

There are many reasons the state prosecution, set to reopen its investigation on a sex bribery scandal involving a former vice justice minister, should leave no stone unturned. As President Moon Jae-in said, it should do everything it can to find out the truth. Overall, the case seems very complicated, with legal and political factors entangled. Depending on how the prosecution’s investigation goes, the issue could batter politics heavily as it already pits the ruling party against the main oppo

Millions of American parents dropped their children off at child care facilities this morning. Chances are many of those facilities don’t meet basic health and safety standards. Though we know the quality of a facility, whether a formal center or a family home care site, is directly linked to a child’s development and well-being, we also know most places are far from optimal.This is yet another way America’s child care system is failing families today.Recent findings have been dire. A series of

In December 2015, the right-wing commentator Stephen Moore, US President Donald Trump’s pick to fill a vacancy on the US Federal Reserve Board of Governors, savagely attacked then-Fed Chair Janet Yellen and her predecessor, Ben Bernanke, for maintaining loose monetary policies in the years following the “Great Recession.”According to Moore, who is not a professional economist, investors had “become hyper-dependent” on the Fed’s “zero-interest-rate policy … just as an addict craves crack cocaine.

Guidelines for next year’s national budget, approved by the Cabinet on Tuesday, are in line with the expansionary fiscal policy pursued by President Moon Jae-in’s administration.The Ministry of Economy and Finance, which worked out the guidelines, has said their purpose is to bolster the economy, improve income inequality and strengthen the social safety net.Each government agency is required to submit its budget request to the ministry by the end of May. The ministry is then obliged to present

Ha Tae-keung, a Bareunmirae Party lawmaker, disclosed a photo of a plainclothes presidential bodyguard exposing a submachine gun as President Moon Jae-in visited a provincial market.Moon went to the Chilseong Market in the southeastern metropolitan city of Daegu on Friday to talk with the people about economic problems that directly affect them.　Ha called the scene in the photo “frightening,” and called on the presidential office to explain the situation. He argued it is a rule for guards to kee