Chinas self-created problems LOS ANGELES China allegedly has at least 1.3 billion people residing within its current ample borders. (But has anyone actually ever counted?!!)
Electoral politics and Korea-Japan relations Recently, the controversy of the failure in signing an agreement with Japan on sharing intelligence information largely dominated the South Korean political discussion. The whole diplomatic fiasco ended with a sudden calling off by the Blue House a..
Can Korea solve household debt woes? Korea remains one of the best-performing advanced industrial economies this year despite the eurozone debt crisis and economic slowdowns in the U.S. and China. Its weak currency is preventing exports from falling further than they probably should h..
Europes winners and losers BERLIN Rarely is a high-flying country brought back down to earth in a single night, but that is precisely what happened to Germany recently. In both football (soccer) and politics, the country had come to embody an unseemly mixture of arrogance..
McCarthyism The Communist Party of the Soviet Union seized power through the 1917 revolution in Russia with the slogan of creating a perfectly equal society without classes. It meant the abolition of private ownership of property and, unlike socialism, not onl..
Weddings Im not a huge fan of weddings. Whenever someone discovers this, they react in disbelief. Some will condescend, Youre just pretending, all women love weddings, and others will wax poetic about the celebration of love and affirming the union i..
Moscow supports Kim Jong-un Russia claims it is willing to link divided Korea with energy pipelines and electricity grids. But its economic relations with North Korea indicate a return to the Cold War politics of the past.
Falkland Islands Road Show comes to UN UNITED NATIONS The Falkland Island Road Show has come to the United Nations, with all the political trappings of drama, hyper-nationalism, and self-righteous moralizing. The focus remains on the future of this windswept British territory in the..
Korean lessons for eurozone Looking at Europes stumbling efforts to deal with the eurozones sovereign debt crisis, I cant help but make comparisons with how Korea dealt with its severe economic woes during the 1997 Asian financial crisis. And I think Koreas response th..
Translating the untranslatable Im working on quite a few translation projects right now. Usually my process is to bang out a rough draft then revisit the work to smooth out the prose and find the correct word to express a certain feeling or idea. Simultaneously, I research to ..
What did Kim Jong-il want? Speculations about the Last Will and Testament of the late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, who died on Dec. 17 last year, are mounting and raise many questions about the future of inter-Korean relations. Separate parts of the alleged document have..
The intervention dilemma CAMBRIDGE When should states intervene militarily to stop atrocities in other countries? The question is an old and well-traveled one. Indeed, it is now visiting Syria.
Going green pays off! The world needs a green transition. That is crucial to our children's and grandchildren's welfare and well being. In 2030, the world will have 3 billion more middle class consumers than today, which will put massive pressure on the Earth's resource..
Britains Royal Jubilee UNITED NATIONS The world needs a good party and reason to forget, even fleetingly, the conflicts, crises and economic doldrums which have befallen us. Thus Britains Diamond Jubilee for Queen Elizabeth II brings us that wistful respite but more..
Asia entering 'golden age of gas' Next year, Singapore, the world's busiest port, will open its first liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal, slated to become one of the largest in Asia by 2020. Its creation is based on the belief that Asia is on the cusp of entering a golden age o..
Threat of German amnesia BERLIN Europes situation is serious very serious. Who would have thought that British Prime Minister David Cameron would call on eurozone governments to muster the courage to create a fiscal union (with a common budget and tax policy and joi..
'The Big Issue' Last week I bought a magazine on the street. I bought it more out of sympathy for the man who sold it.
