Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard. Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro. Sen. Kamala Harris. Every day, it seems, another candidate enters the Democratic race. Every week, there’s a new poll, most showing former Vice President Joe Biden as the party’s early presidential leader.The highly respected Cook Political Report even put out its first estimate of the 2020 Electoral College map, showing the Democrats with 232, the Republicans with 220 and the remaining 86 as

Whoever explained to then-President-elect Donald Trump what it meant to be president -- if anyone did -- neglected to tell him that on occasion a president loses a policy fight. That person also forgot to explain to the US president-in-waiting that making a big promise he might be unable to keep required him to figure out how to prevent his most ardent followers from turning against him when he failed to fulfill it.Sloppy job preparation, together with Trump’s distorted personality, led to the n

The announcement that certain projects have been exempted from preliminary feasibility studies raises suspicions of pork barrel politics and concerns on tax wastage. The government has approved the waiver of preliminary feasibility studies for 23 regional projects worth 24.1 trillion won ($21.5 billion), mainly those to construct high-speed railways, expressways and an airport.The projects are necessary for balanced development and the revival of regional economies, says the government. However,

The death this week of two South Korean victims of Japan’s military sex slavery, including Kim Bok-dong, a prominent activist who led the Korean victims’ campaign against the Tokyo government, is rekindling the public’s attention to the historical issue here. President Moon Jae-in was one of the first to visit the funeral house and express condolences for Kim. Lines of mourners coming from all walks of life and all over the country represent Koreans’ frustration and anger over Japan’s failure to

Is there a war on men and maleness in America?Last week, a new Gillette razor company ad inspired by the #MeToo campaign was quickly denounced for supposedly slandering men as boorish and abusive.And earlier this month, the American Psychological Association was attacked for its new guidelines on male mental health, which critics said were biased against masculinity.Both controversies, which are still raging, have pitted “woke” progressives against defenders of traditional manhood. But each side

No Western liberal would disagree that US President Donald Trump’s election was a disaster for American society, while that of President Emmanuel Macron was a triumph for French society. In fact, the opposite may well be true, as heretical as that sounds.The first question to ask is why people are engaged in violent street protests in Paris, but not in Washington. I have personally experienced these Paris protests, and the smell of tear gas on the Champs-Elysees reminded me of the ethnic riots I

On Nov. 19, Carlos Ghosn, the board chair and former CEO of Nissan, was arrested at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on suspicion of underreporting income and misusing corporate funds for personal purposes; he remains in custody. Less than two weeks later, Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Huawei and daughter of its founder, was arrested in transit at Vancouver’s airport on charges by the United States that Huawei had violated US sanctions against Iran; out on bail, she now awaits an extraditio

Lawmakers from the main opposition Liberty Korea Party have taken turns staging sit-in protests over President Moon Jae-in’s decision last week to appoint a controversial figure to a key post at the state election watchdog. The appointee, Cho Hai-ju, allegedly helped Moon campaign for the 2017 presidential election.Moon pushed ahead with the appointment, although opposition parties refused to hold a confirmation hearing for Cho out of concern that he might not be capable of maintaining political

Several news sources used the accurate but uncharitable term “cave” to describe US President Donald Trump’s capitulation Friday to the Democrats’ position on the wall and the government shutdown.It was a clear victory for the Democrats, but House speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer were prudently restrained in their celebration. The victory is only a three-week reprieve. There’s no reason to believe that Trump has learned this episode’s most important lesson: A governme