The Korea Herald

[Robert J. Fouser] S. Korea and Japan after Camp David

The recent trilateral summit between the leaders of South Korea, the United States and Japan on Aug. 18 was heralded as a turning point in trilateral security cooperation. US President Joe Biden hosted South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for a summit at the Camp David presidential retreat. The leaders agreed to form a quasi-alliance in the face of the growing threat from China. They agreed to cooperate on a range of security-related issues and t

ViewpointsSept. 1, 2023

[Robert J. Fouser] S. Korea and Japan after Camp David

[Editorial] Red alert

Setting a fresh record is usually a positive development. But it’s disheartening when it comes to South Korea’s dismal birth rate, which is breaking one record after another -- in a downward direction. According to population data released by Statistics Korea on Wednesday, only 249,000 babies were born in 2022, down 11,000 from a year earlier. It is the first time the figure fell below 250,000 since the agency began compiling data in 1970. The latest figure comes as a big challenge f

EditorialSept. 1, 2023

[Lee Kyong-hee] Truth behind the 1923 massacre

Tomorrow is the 100th anniversary of one of the worst natural disasters in history, the Great Kanto Earthquake, which leveled swaths of Japan’s main island. The tremor and subsequent fires destroyed 40 percent of Tokyo and left 60 percent of the population homeless. Yokohama, the second-largest city, suffered a similar fate. Nationwide, the estimated death toll was 140,000. Today, the cities’ neighborhoods leave no trace of the ruins or lives lost. They also bear little trace of a

ViewpointsAug. 31, 2023

[Lee Kyong-hee] Truth behind the 1923 massacre

[Editorial] Shift to fiscal soundness

The government budget proposal for 2024 which passed the Cabinet meeting Tuesday shows the Yoon Suk Yeol administration's will to recover its financial soundness through retrenchment. Next year's expenditure budget amounts to 656.9 trillion won ($497 billion), 2.8 percent or 18.2 trillion won more than this year's. The on-year increase rate is the lowest since 2005 -- a big difference from the annual budget growth average of 8.7 percent for five years of the previous Moon Jae-in a

EditorialAug. 31, 2023

[Kim Seong-kon] What led to the fall of Roman Empire?

In his celebrated book, “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” Edward Gibson clarified the reasons why the Roman Empire perished. He wrote that the political and military leaders of Rome “first oppressed the freedom of the republic, and afterwards violated the majesty of the purple.” Then he continued, “The emperors, anxious for their personal safety and the public peace, were reduced to the base expedient of corrupting the discipline which ren

ViewpointsAug. 30, 2023

[Kim Seong-kon] What led to the fall of Roman Empire?

[Editorial] Telemedicine failure

South Korea’s major telemedicine service operators announced they would shutter their operations, an inevitable outcome resulting from a mix of strict government restrictions and strong pressure from the medical sector. Telemedicine was hailed as a promising field, offering innovative remote medical services for patients. When telemedicine was temporarily allowed in 2020 to fight COVID-19, few expected that it would become very popular. During the three-year period, a total of 36.61 millio

EditorialAug. 30, 2023

[Andrew Sheng] Who will drive Asia’s animal spirits?

Throughout history, humanity’s creativity, innovation and daring have come from “animal spirits,” leading it out of adversity. In his 1936 “General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money,” English economist John Maynard Keynes famously saw that psychology played a great role in economic behavior. “Most, probably, of our decisions to do something positive, the full consequences of which will be drawn out over many days to come, can only be taken as a result

ViewpointsAug. 29, 2023

[Andrew Sheng] Who will drive Asia’s animal spirits?

[Editorial] Overflowing grant

The reality of a government grant program for elementary, middle and high school education, exposed as a result of a 10-month inspection by the top audit agency, is extremely deplorable. The Board of Audit and Inspection disclosed the results of its inspection into the program on Thursday. Grants to the nation's 17 offices of education and schools in their districts were so excessive that much of them were wasted, for example, on an array of cash welfare benefits and interest-free loans to

EditorialAug. 29, 2023

[Editorial] Ballooning household debt

South Korea’s growth momentum is weakening. The real income of households is dropping, even as their debt is mounting. The economic debacle of China, which is the country’s biggest trading partner, is deepening. Although both the nation’s internal and external economic situations face more and more obstacles, there is one strangely upbeat sector here: the real estate market, where speculative investors sense property prices are close to hitting their bottom. In a country where

EditorialAug. 28, 2023

[Takatoshi Ito] Is Japan-style deflation coming to China?

Recent economic news from China has triggered the same helpless, sinking feeling that gripped me when Japan’s property bubble collapsed in 1991-92. Will this sense of déjà vu continue, with China apparently heading down the same path of deflation and stagnation on which Japan embarked three decades ago? Earlier this month, Evergrande -- the massive Chinese real-estate developer that defaulted on its debt in 2021 -- filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection in the United Stat

ViewpointsAug. 25, 2023

[Takatoshi Ito] Is Japan-style deflation coming to China?

[Editorial] Affront to nation

Gwangju Metropolitan City is constructing a park at the cost of 4.8 billion won ($3.61 million) to honor Jeong Yul-seong, who composed a song for the People’s Liberation Army of China and a marching song for the North Korean People’s Army. Jeong, a Gwangju native, received a hero’s welcome in both China and North Korea. He entered a Korean independence fighter training academy in Nanjing, China, and later joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1939. After Korea gained independen

EditorialAug. 25, 2023

[Wang Son-taek] From Camp Bonifas to Camp David

In the Republic of Korea, Aug. 18 has long been a day to remember. On that day in 1976, US soldiers were attacked at the Joint Security Area of Panmunjom by North Korean soldiers with axes, and two US officers were brutally killed. The US military unit in charge of Panmunjom at the time was Camp Kitty Hawk, which was changed to Camp Bonifas in remembrance of Capt. Bonifas, who was killed horribly in that incident. Forty-seven years later, in Camp David, Maryland, the leaders of South Korea, the

ViewpointsAug. 24, 2023

[Wang Son-taek] From Camp Bonifas to Camp David

[Editorial] Fukushima water release

As Japan plans to start releasing treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the sea, the South Korean government reassured the public of its safety. However, people remain deeply concerned about the water’s impact amid intensifying political wrangling over the discharge. On Tuesday, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Japan will begin to discharge around 1.34 million metric tons of Fukushima water Thursday. The move came after the Interna

EditorialAug. 24, 2023

[Kim Seong-kon] How can South Korea become a big country?

South Korea is a small country in size, yet it has always aspired to be “big.” From slogans that hope for a “greater Republic of Korea” to obsession over a grandiose national image, South Korea has been striving to become and be considered as a country that is larger than life. In order to achieve this, politicians focused on building fancy facilities or hosting international events that could potentially impress the global audience. Yet it is important to note that what

ViewpointsAug. 23, 2023

[Kim Seong-kon] How can South Korea become a big country?

[Editorial] Time to decide

As the National Pension Fund draws nearer to depletion, reforming the National Pension Scheme has become an urgent matter. However, the government and lawmakers kept putting off reforms out of fear of the backlash it will provoke. It is about time they decided. A government advisory panel on national pension reforms is said to have reached a conclusion that contributions must be raised and the pension age postponed, but the income replacement rate maintained as it is. This means that workers sho

EditorialAug. 23, 2023

[Daniel Davis] Maintain the status quo of Taiwan

Taiwan recently conducted the first-ever “anti-takeover drill” at the island’s main Taoyuan International Airport, reflecting the growing fears that China will soon launch an all-out war to seize Taiwan. Unsurprisingly, China responded by sending 29 ships and planes on missions near Taiwan. Because the risks to the US of getting drawn into such a conflict are high, President Joe Biden’s administration should begin immediately to reassess its regional policies to ensure Am

ViewpointsAug. 22, 2023

[Daniel Davis] Maintain the status quo of Taiwan

[Daniel DePetris] Why negotiating with Iran to free prisoners matters

Negotiating with Iran is never easy or uncontroversial. But it’s often necessary to solve problems -- or in one case last week, to free Americans who were imprisoned unjustly by the Iranian authorities. On Thursday, the Biden administration announced the beginning of a highly synchronized process that, ideally, will end with the release of five Americans to their families after years of detention. In exchange, the US agreed to release five imprisoned Iranians and unfreeze $6 billion of Ira

ViewpointsAug. 22, 2023

[Daniel DePetris] Why negotiating with Iran to free prisoners matters

[Editorial] Strengthen public security

Another brutal crime was committed in broad daylight in Seoul last week, resulting in the death of an innocent victim. With a mix of grief and outrage gripping the nation, people are increasingly concerned about the compromised public safety. According to police, the suspect, only identified by his family name Choi, attacked a woman with brass knuckles before raping her in a remote area at a park in Sillim, Gwanak-gu, Seoul, Thursday. She was taken to a hospital for treatment but died from her i

EditorialAug. 22, 2023

[Editorial] New trilateral partnership

Leaders of South Korea, the United States and Japan opened a new era in their partnership through their landmark summit last week. They will hold trilateral summits and meetings between foreign ministers, defense ministers, national security advisers at least annually and also launch annual meetings of commerce and industry ministers. They formed a quasi-alliance in which they agreed to consult one another and act as one in the fields of diplomacy, security, economy and technology. Diplomacy and

EditorialAug. 21, 2023

[Gordon Brown] British Conservatives’ contempt for human rights

For centuries, Britain has prided itself on being a bastion of liberty and the rule of law. British leaders have talked in glowing terms of the “golden thread” that connects the Magna Carta of 1215 and the Bill of Rights of 1689 to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) of 1950 and the Human Rights Act of 1998. Thus, the United Kingdom’s human-rights record has been central to successive governments’ efforts to exercise soft power globally. No one has boasted more

ViewpointsAug. 21, 2023

[Gordon Brown] British Conservatives’ contempt for human rights