In April 2011, Donald Trump, then considering a run for the presidency the following year, said he had sent investigators to Hawaii to check out rumors that President Barack Obama wasn’t born there, but in Kenya, which would disqualify him for the presidency. His investigators, Trump declared, “cannot believe what they’re finding.” I can find no record of Trump being challenged on this outlandish claim at the time. In the fall of 2016, Trump, as the Republican presidenti

How much more stimulus can the Chinese economy take? It’s a question of crucial importance after Beijing unveiled its 2020 economic policy plans Friday. China’s 4 trillion yuan ($562 billion) stimulus package in the wake of the global financial crisis paved the way for its transformation over the past decade. In the 2000s, the country was a low-cost assembly room for the world’s supply chains. Now it’s an increasingly confident middle-income power, with a burgeoning c

Months into the COVID-19 pandemic, life seems to have settled into a humdrum rhythm. Days pass like the swing of a pendulum -- back and forth, back and forth, from home to work, work to home. Yet, such regularity as I have not experienced in years does little to offer peace of mind or comfort. Beneath the surface calm is the constant whirring of the brain. Actions have consequences and in these perilous times, we are required to constantly make decisions that could potentially impact not only

South Korea continues its steady march back to normal life as the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic recedes. The nation continues to earn international praise for its effective response to the pandemic. As most nations begin to emerge from emergency measures, attention has turned to rebuilding economies reeling from lockdowns. Though Korea managed to escape lockdowns, deteriorating economic conditions are creating new challenges. In the first quarter of 2020, gross domestic product declined by a

The coronavirus pandemic and the resulting economic depression are going to require huge amounts of government spending. The US government is devoting resources to halting the outbreak. It’s sustaining businesses during shutdowns so that they don’t have to be rebuilt from scratch. It’s paying the bills for workers who’ve lost their jobs. It’s bailing out state and local governments whose tax revenues are disappearing and can’t finance budget deficits. And it&r

South Korea, 12th in the world in terms of GDP ranking, has a defense budget of 50.15 trillion won for 2020, equal to or $42 billion. The nation’s defense spending has grown steadily these years to a level comparable to major states in Europe -- 84 percent of Russia’s, 84 percent of Germany’s and 72 percent of France’s in 2018. If the average increase rate of 6 percent over the past five years continues, South Korea will surpass Japan in defense expenditure by 2026. Supp

The world’s biggest economies have rolled out a plethora of monetary support measures over the past two months. If there’s one central bank that knows how hard bottling them back up will be, it’s Japan, where special operations have become a permanent fixture. Tokyo’s example suggests that policymakers will have an expansive role for years to come, particularly given the depth of the slump from the coronavirus outbreak. Japan headed into its lockdown hobbled by poor choi

The global pandemic called COVID-19 is now ruthlessly invading the world, devastating all the infected nations and still causing untold numbers of deaths. Humans cannot but shudder at this never-before-seen deadly virus that attacks and kills them callously. Meanwhile, the lethal coronavirus has radically changed our society in many ways. For example, we are now living in an inhumane society where people are suspicious of one another and shun the warmth of human touch because we cannot be sure

The world’s tourism hot spots are gradually reopening after the great lockdown, but they don’t look very alluring. Going to the beach will require spacing out parasols and forgetting about the drinks service, while a city break in Europe might mean keeping a mask on while shopping. Not to mention the quarantines being imposed to limit imported infections, hardly a great way to start a vacation. Public health has become a huge factor in tourism: “COVID-free” is the new fiv

It’s about time. After more than three years of relative self-restraint while President Donald Trump lambasted his character and eviscerated his policies, former President Barack Obama has waded back into politics just in time for the presidential campaign. In a videoconference with some 3,000 former aides last week, Obama slammed Trump’s response to the coronavirus crisis as an unbridled catastrophe, criticism he knew would leak. Obama acknowledged that the pandemic “would

The COVID-19 pandemic had initially shaken South Korea. In the beginning, as we struggled to contain the virus, the number of infections rose quickly, just as other countries later experienced. However, we were able to quickly cope with this seemingly uncontrollable situation. The two main elements of Korea’s success in overcoming this pandemic are a human-centered philosophy (ideology) and a state-of-the-art disease control system. A human-centered philosophy, where human life and human

As a partisan debate rages over whether and how to reopen the country, America is drifting, with no coherent strategy from the White House. States are opening up helter-skelter. President Donald Trump contradicts his experts and rages at perceived enemies, leaving ordinary citizens confused and angry. In a sane world, the Trump team would be assessing models adopted by nations that have handled COVID-19 better than we have. It would be devising an American model to transition to a safe new norm

An effective COVID-19 vaccine, if it ever arrives, should be treated as a public good for the whole of society. Every continent has been struck by the virus, bar Antarctica. But the combination of national self-interest and pressure for the pharmaceutical industry to turn a profit is already triggering a geopolitical bust up over who actually gets access to the vaccine first. It’s a reminder that the spoils of drug research aren’t equally divided. The system is ripe for a rethink.

I had nearly perfect vision. I had no problem reading fine print. I was able to read paperbacks whose font size was deemed too small for average readers. I often read books on the bus or in rooms with poor lighting, which would surely make eye doctors frown. But I was fairly confident about my excellent vision, and I enjoyed the privilege. I bet you have already noticed that in the previous paragraph I used a past tense about my eyesight. As with many other middle-aged people, my eyesight bega