The Woongjin Group crisis is roiling financial markets. The second-tier chaebol, which ranked 31st among Korea’s big business groups, sent a shockwave through the business community last week by filing for court protection for two key bankrupt companies ― Woongjin Holdings and Kukdong Engineering & Construction.The group’s aggregate debt was estimated at some 10 trillion won (about $9 billion), including 4.3 trillion won in borrowings from financial companies. A substantial part of it would beco

As election season enters full swing, a familiar scene is being reenacted ― “polifessors” swarming the campaign offices of presidential candidates. Polifessor is a compound of politics and professor. The term was coined here to refer to professors who are keen to sell their knowledge to their political patrons to get parliamentary seats or government posts. According to reports, the campaign offices of the three presidential runners ― Park Geun-hye of the ruling Saenuri Party, Moon Jae-in of the

Maybe Charlie Rangel is right in saying that America should bring back the draft, although we get to the same conclusion for different reasons.Rangel believes that reinstatement of the draft is most equitable toward all. He thinks it’s unfair that privileged kids like mine don’t equally share the burden of military service. Actually, I’m starting to think that making them serve is the best way to keep them safe. It sounds counterintuitive, but think about it.Order in Afghanistan is crumbling. So

Tokyo’s mercurial governor, Shintaro Ishihara, gives new meaning to playing the sympathy card. In his dogged pursuit of staging the Olympics, and in his despair at being passed over for the 2016 games, Ishihara got desperate: He tapped into the outpouring of grief after last year’s record earthquake. His pitch for 2020, dubbed the “Olympics for Japan’s Revival,” became an appeal for pity. That gambit may be in vain given Ishihara’s role in bringing Japan and China to the brink of war. The Olympi

The news that a Harvard professor has obtained evidence that Jesus Christ may have had a wife could be a problem for married guys everywhere. Really, how do we measure up?Being the son of God, he’d be perfect. He’d make Ned Flanders look like a slob. The grass would always be cut, the dirty socks always picked up, the toilet seat always down. He would listen. He would not chafe at talks about relationships.(Note: I am fully aware that there were no lawns, socks or toilet seats 2,000 years ago. W

Those who lost the most Monday night in Seattle weren’t the Green Bay Packers. That was bad enough. The ones who lost the most were the fans who love the game and have made it the premier sport that it is.They lost thanks to the ineptitude of replacement referees who don’t understand the rules of the game and can’t see an interception when it’s right in front of their noses. More important, they lost to NFL owners who spout platitudes about the integrity of the game and then trade integrity for

As major countries of the world competitively ease monetary policies to boost their sagging economies, policymakers in Seoul are required to prepare steps to address their adverse effects on the Korean economy.On Sept. 6, the European Central Bank announced a plan to purchase an unlimited amount of eurozone government bonds to lower eurozone countries’ borrowing costs and bring the region’s dragged-out debt crisis under control. The ECB’s debt purchase scheme is tantamount to financing strugglin

China has recently reasserted a jurisdictional claim to Ieodo, challenging Korea’s control of the submerged rock in waters southwest of Jeju Island. The Seoul government needs to respond sternly to any Chinese attempt to invalidate Korea’s jurisdiction over the underwater outcropping.According to Chinese media reports, China’s State Oceanic Administration has disclosed a plan to strengthen surveillance of uninhibited islands and islets under Beijing’s jurisdiction using unmanned aerial vehicles.

The battle over the psychologically important threshold of 2,000 points considerably intensified as the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index dipped to a three-and-half-year low of 2,005 points on Monday morning. A mild rebound in the afternoon might have temporarily saved domestic investors from panic selling, but it still looks more than likely that the Chinese stock market is yet to find a bottom given the economic weakness both at home and abroad. Chinese policymakers should listen attentively

Records coming to light as a result of litigation against Irving-based Boy Scouts of America demonstrate yet again the fundamental lesson about handling child molestation allegations: The interests of institutions can’t override the obligation to protect the most vulnerable.Time and again, it’s been shown that when adults ignored or covered up or denied or simply failed to follow through, abusers were enabled, children got hurt and justice wasn’t served.The Catholic Church, Penn State University