Most Popular
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Exports to US reach all-time high, widen gap with China
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Trump rekindles criticism: US forces defending 'wealthy' S. Korea 'free of charge'
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Opposition-led Assembly unilaterally passes bill to probe Marine's death
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[Music in drama] Rekindle a love that slipped through your fingers
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Inflation eases in April, continues bumpy ride
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Golden chance to liquidate babies’ gold rings?
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Seoul Metro to seek legal action against malicious complaints
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[New faces of Assembly] Architect behind ‘audacious initiative’ believes in denuclearized North Korea
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Illit, mired in controversy, remains on Billboard charts for 5th week
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On May Day, labor unions blast Yoon's foreign nanny proposal
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[Lee Kyong-hee] Reconciliation to overcome sordid history
The Yoon Suk Yeol administration’s rush to mend fences with Japan stokes both hopes and concerns. The hopes are for a modest achievement -- a certain degree of amity after years of bitter feuds. The concerns constitute a minefield. They defy the administration’s contention that its predecessors were “driven by short-sighted anti-Japanism” and the results will be different this time. Frankly, concerns override hopes. The first hurdle to rapprochement is the long-festering
Feb. 2, 2023
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[Antara Haldar] Davos Man has a people problem
One of the most iconic images of our time shows a polar bear marooned and adrift on an ice floe. Few other images capture the reality of climate change so viscerally. And now, ironically, Davos Man finds himself in a similar metaphorical position. His natural habitat, the hyper-globalized world of the past half-century, is shrinking, and he has gone from skiing in the Swiss Alps to skating on thin ice. Of course, globalization long predates Davos Man. Ever since the dawn of industrialization in
Feb. 2, 2023
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[Kim Seong-kon] South Korea: A country of veterans
In the US and Japan, men are not required to fulfill mandatory military duty. Therefore, both Americans and Japanese find military life irrelevant to them. In the case of America, for example, the Council on Foreign Relations has recently revealed that presently there are 1.3 million US soldiers on active duty, which consist of only 0.5 percent of the American population. In South Korea, where military service is compulsory, things are radically different. Except for teenagers, nearly all Kore
Feb. 1, 2023
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[Francis Wilkinson] The persistence of US police problem
You will not believe the video that was released Friday night showing Memphis police officers beating -- ultimately to death -- a young Black man. I don’t really mean that, of course. If you live in the US, and participate in society, you likely have no difficulty believing that a gang of violent police officers fatally pummeled Tyre Nichols in what the city’s police chief accurately described as a “heinous” attack. Indeed, if you have an internet connection or a televi
Feb. 1, 2023
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Portuguese embassy to hold exhibition on 'Journey of an Architect'
The Portuguese Embassy in Seoul will hold an exhibition on Portuguese modern and contemporary architecture, titled "Journey of an Architect," beginning Thursday at the Seoul Hall of Urbanism and Architecture. Eduardo Souto de Moura, a Portuguese architect and a crucial figure of the Porto School, is celebrated in this exhibition, it added. He was the recipient of the Pritzker Prize in 2011, the Wolf Prize for Architecture in 2013, and the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale in 2018. &qu
Jan. 31, 2023
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Indonesia pledges closer friendship, stronger partnership with Korea
Top diplomats from South Korea and Indonesia pledged to forge a closer friendship and stronger partnership during a talk held online and in Jakarta, Indonesia, Thursday. The year 2023 marks the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Indonesia and Korea. Speaking to attendees gathered at the Indonesian Foreign Ministry, Indonesia's Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, who attended the event online, called for closer friendship and partnership, including in building a greener and more sustain
Jan. 31, 2023
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In face of supply disruptions, Korea, India must work together
India is willing to collaborate with South Korea to resolve supply chain disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and other geopolitical conflicts, said Amit Kumar, Indian ambassador to Korea, on Friday, stressing the 50 years of bilateral ties and deep trust building towards the future. Global geopolitical conflicts have exposed the acute vulnerability of supply chains and the risks of dependency on one country, Kumar told The Korea Herald, noting that "India and Korea must work togethe
Jan. 31, 2023
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Indian Embassy celebrates 74th Republic Day
The Indian Embassy in Seoul on Thursday celebrated its 74th Republic Day with traditional dances and performances. The event commemorates the Jan. 26 anniversary on which the Indian Constitution came into effect in 1950. Delivering Indian President Droupadi Murmu’s message at the event, Indian Ambassador to Korea Amit Kumar outlined India's recent changes, development projects, achievements and future vision to the Indian diaspora in Korea. Kumar also spoke about India–Korea cul
Jan. 31, 2023
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[Joseph E. Stiglitz] How not to fight inflation
Despite favorable indices, it is too soon to tell whether inflation has been tamed. Nonetheless, two clear lessons have emerged from the recent price surge. First, economists’ standard models -- especially the dominant one that assumes the economy always to be in equilibrium -- were effectively useless. And, second, those who confidently asserted that it would take five years of pain to wring inflation out of the system have already been refuted. Inflation has fallen dramatically, with the
Jan. 31, 2023
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[Gernot Wagner] Realism about techno-optimism
Technology will save us! No, it won’t! Whenever the climate-policy debate addresses specific economic sectors, potential carbon-abatement technologies, or energy strategy, the same fundamental question always arises: How much can we rely on “simple,” preferably “cheap,” technofixes? Can climate change be addressed by counting on people to switch to lower-carbon technologies, or will it take more fundamental changes to how we live and organize ourselves as a society?
Jan. 31, 2023
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[Elizabeth Shackelford] Why Wagner Group’s influence in West Africa is growing
France has waged a counterterrorism campaign in the small West African country of Burkina Faso since 2018. But on Jan. 20, hundreds of protesters in the capital city of Ouagadougou waved Russian flags and demanded the French army’s ouster. Days later, the country’s military government told the French to leave within a month. Burkina Faso is just the latest African country where the Wagner Group, a Kremlin-linked mercenary organization, has become the face of Russia’s foreign po
Jan. 30, 2023
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[Taniguchi Tomohiko] Japan's security vision is Abe's legacy
The gusto with which Japan has embraced rearmament has surprised its allies and international partners. Last month, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida unveiled detailed plans to double defense spending over the next five years, leaving no doubt about the country’s determination to expand its military capabilities to deter China’s expansionist ambitions. Japan’s new strategic vision represents the culmination of a long-term shift that began under Kishida’s predecessor,
Jan. 30, 2023
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[Robert J. Fouser] Universities need deep reform
On a recent afternoon walk, I ran into a neighbor teaching at a nearby state university. We got to talking about work and she said that “big cuts are coming” because of “demographic crisis.” I had heard that universities in the US had suffered a drop in enrollment during the COVID-19 pandemic but had assumed they would recover to pre-pandemic levels soon. What my neighbor referred to as “demographic crisis” is more than just demographics. Compared to other adv
Jan. 27, 2023
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[Daniel DePetris] US can afford defense budget cut
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy had to beg, plead and deal to get his current job. One of the agreements struck on the House floor with the most conservative faction of the Republican caucus was a promise to keep the next spending bill at levels that were agreed to in fiscal 2022. If McCarthy keeps his word, $130 billion in federal discretionary spending would be cut from the recently passed budget package. And if defense spending were to be included, $76 billion in military expenditures would be
Jan. 26, 2023
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[Wang Son-taek] The ‘Iran enemy’ remarks and iron rules of diplomacy
President Yoon Suk Yeol’s recent visit to the United Arab Emirates achieved a huge result. It was one of the best results from a state visit, with Korea gaining $30 billion in investment commitments from the UAE. However, there is little discussion about this achievement in Korea. Instead, there is a backlash over diplomatic conflicts with Iran over President Yoon’s “Iran enemy” remarks. They came during a visit to South Korean military units dispatched to the UAE on Jan.
Jan. 26, 2023
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[Kim Seong-kon] Does USA resemble ancient Greece or Rome?
People sometimes ask, “Does the USA more closely resemble ancient Greece or the Roman Empire?” The answer is “Both,” because America has characteristics of both Greece and Rome. Like ancient Greece, for example, America is devoted to noble ideas such as democracy and human rights. At the same time, however, like the Roman Empire, America embraces commercialism and pragmatism. As had ancient Greece, so too does America have internationally famed scholars, scientists and un
Jan. 25, 2023
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[Doyle McManus] Frozen conflict looming in Ukraine
According to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s grand plan, this was to be the hard winter that would break Ukraine and divide its allies in the West. That hasn’t happened. Putin unleashed missile attacks on Ukraine’s cities and its electrical grid, but the Ukrainians repaired their transformers and fought on. Putin unleashed a mercenary force, the Wagner Group, which used convicts to try to take the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. They’re still trying. Putin cut natur
Jan. 20, 2023
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[Sławomir Sierakowski] Russian aggression is undermining populism
Russia’s war in Ukraine has affected political life in countries around the world, and this influence has been greater in the countries that are politically closest not to Ukraine but to Russia. Because Ukraine is a democracy and Russia is an authoritarian kleptocracy, the war has highlighted a fundamental clash between alternative political systems. This dynamic raises the stakes considerably, because a military defeat for the democracy could be an invitation to dictators elsewhere to p
Jan. 19, 2023
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[Lee Kyong-hee] One family’s way to forgive and reconcile
Amid the fractious relationship between Seoul and Tokyo, a heartwarming event illuminated a path forward, paying homage to courageous individuals past and present. The occasion: presentation of an award memorializing a legendary Korean independence fighter. The recipient: former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, who has advocated his country’s “infinite responsibility” as a former colonizer. For years, Hatoyama has been the most vocal -- and solitary -- mainstream Japanes
Jan. 19, 2023
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[Elizabeth Shackelford] Let’s avoid another nuclear arms race
In an annual exercise since 1947, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists sets its Doomsday Clock to provide an educated guess of how close humanity is to the apocalypse. The organization will announce its 2023 clock this month, and I expect the outlook is bleaker. If the United States responds to rising nuclear danger with more arms control instead of more weapons, it could help push the clock’s hands back again. Last year was a reminder that the nuclear threat most of us spend little time
Jan. 18, 2023