Twenty years ago, I was working at the International Monetary Fund in Washington that would scramble -- like almost everyone else -- to understand and respond to cascading financial disruptions that would throw Asia into a deep recession. Important lessons were to emerge from an Asian miracle that was taking an unexpected turn for the worse, with frightening systemic implications.Asia painfully learned, and adapted well, and what it taught us remains valid today for other countries, and not just

Whispers of treason have become bold accusations as the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election turns from simmer to boil. The meaning of treason, though, has always been hard to pin down, in part, because it is found in two distinct realms: law, on the one hand, and the rhetorical life of our democratic republic, on the other.The legal meaning of treason usually comes to mind first. There is only one criminal law in the US Constitution — the Treason Clause. A mere

President Moon Jae-in is to unveil a one hundred-point plan for the next five years, touting jobs, the fight against corruption and reform as his top policy priorities. The complete policy agenda for the Moon administration, prepared by the president’s de facto transition team, was reported to the president last Thursday. Cheong Wa Dae, which is currently giving it the final touch, is to announce the full list Wednesday.  President Moon Jae-in (Yonhap)Among the raft of policy items is the creati

A handwritten memo found inside Cheong Wa Dae, along with some 300 documents purportedly from the previous Park Geun-hye administration, appears to have been written in August 2014, three months after Samsung Group chairman fell ill, an official at the presidential office said Sunday. “There are circumstances to assume that the memo was written in August of 2014,” the official said. “This, along with the memo itself, has been handed over to the special counsel (that investigated the scandal of f

More than a half of unemployed people in South Korea were college graduates in the second quarter, according to Statistics Korea.The number of jobless people with a bachelor‘s degree and above reached 546,000 in the April-June period, up 11.8 percent from a year earlier and the portion of unemployed college graduates accounted for 50.5 percent of the total number of unemployed, the data showed. It marked the largest quarterly figure since 1999 when the agency changed its calculation standard for

Uncertainty mounted over South Korea’s SK hynix’s bid in the ongoing Toshiba sale on Sunday with unverifiable claims swirling around that the Korean memory chipmaker has already given up on acquiring a stake in the Japanese firm’s flash memory unit.Since a global consortium of US private equity firm Bain Capital, two state-backed Japanese financial institutions and SK hynix, the preferred bidder, failed to ink a $18 billion deal on purchasing the NAND flash memory unit of Toshiba on June 28, sus

LG Electronics said Sunday its organic light-emitting diode television won the top spot both in US and UK surveys.  LG Electronics USA CEO Tim Alessi (middle) pose at the CE Week in New York on Thursday. (LG Electronics)The South Korean tech company said its OLED TV products snatched three crowns in a survey conducted by display experts at CE Week, a consumer electronics exhibition, held last Thursday in New York. LG won the top spots in terms of the TV’s performances in dark studios and bright

If one walks into A Cote du Parc at 10 in the morning, one is greeted with the intoxicating scent of freshly baked brioche, a warm, toasty, buttery scent that is hard to resist. The spread of pastries, bread and cakes on display makes it even more tempting to walk away with an armful of carbs from this new bakery, which opened in Seoul’s Seongsu-dong this April. The second offshoot of Maison M’O, a dessert shop that opened over two years ago, A Cote du Parc differentiates itself from its well-kn

Will it be R.I.P. for China’s VPNs? On Monday, Bloomberg News reported that the Chinese government had ordered telecommunications providers to block access to individual virtual private networks by Feb. 1. VPNs are popular and widely utilized services that allow internet users to bypass web restrictions. In effect, the new rules would block the most popular means for Chinese netizens to see beyond the so-called Great Firewall.The Chinese government has been moving in this direction for a long ti

Cultural Night Walk in Jeonju“Cultural Night Walk in Jeonju,” a program selected by the Cultural Heritage Administration in a competition, offers visitors the chance to walk through hundreds of traditional Korean houses in Jeonju Hanok Village under the moonlight.Its highlights include a moonlight photography competition, a traditional music night, Jeonju traditional opera, a shadow orchestra and night views of Jeonju.The event is being held until Sept.13. For more information, visit www.jeonju-