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Sun, September 23, 2018 | 17:13

Opinion > Columnists > John Burton >

Park the peacemaker

It was 99 years ago when Europe, at the height of its prosperity and global influence, suddenly plunged into a calamitous conflict. There were many reasons for the outbreak of World War I, although the main cause was that the rise of Germany posed a challenge to the traditional European powers of Great Britain, France and Russia. Nonetheless, the war was avoidable if cooler heads had prevailed following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary, an event whose only importance laid in the fact that it provided a pretext for the declaration of hostilities that caught man...

John Burton | 2013-01-30 17:15

Korea's Japanese problem

Just a few days before Park Geun-hye was elected as the new Korean president, Shinzo Abe and his Liberal Democratic Party won a landslide victory in Japan. That event could have a major impact on Park’s administration over the next five years. The state of Korean-Japanese relations might even overshadow those between Seoul and Pyongyang in terms of importance during her term.

John Burton | 2013-01-16 17:57

New president's economic challenges

It is regrettable that the main candidates in the just-concluded presidential election did not spend more time talking about the structural challenges facing the Korean economy, such as low productivity rates, the high level of household debt or the impact the aging population will have on future government spending. But with a new team now set to enter the Blue House, here is a checklist of the difficult economic issues the incoming administration must deal with over the next five years:

John Burton | 2012-12-19 16:53

Korea's 'soft power' quest

The recent success of Psy and K-pop groups has boosted talk that Korea has gained the benefits of “soft power” in raising its international stature. But is hallyu, or the Korean wave, the best way to achieve this goal and does Korea want to be identified overseas mainly by its pop culture?

John Burton | 2012-12-05 17:04

Korea’s weak currency strategy

The value of the Korean won continues to fall and is soon likely to breach the threshold of 1,200 to the U.S. dollar. Hail to the almighty weak won.

John Burton | 2012-06-06 16:37

Tackling problems in property market

While the property markets in Hong Kong and Singapore are reaching eye-watering heights, Seoul has the opposite problem: housing prices have stagnated over the last two years, according to Kookmin Bank’s Seoul Price Index.

John Burton | 2012-05-23 17:06

In 2007, Paul McCulley, then a managing director at PIMCO, a large U.S. investment firm, coined the term “shadow banking” in a speech at the famed annual U.S. Federal Reserve summer symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyo. He defined shadow banking as the “whole alphabet soup of levered-up non-bank investment conduits, vehicles and structures.” In other words, financial institutions and products that fell mainly outside normal regulatory supervision by central bankers and other government authorities.

John Burton | 2012-05-09 16:47

North Korea‘s choice

There seems to be a general consensus that North Korea’s new “First Secretary” Kim Jong-un utterly botched his first big test of leadership by going ahead with the launch of a new rocket despite international condemnation, only to see the missile disintegrate less than two minutes into its flight.

John Burton | 2012-04-25 16:57

Smooth path for Korean economy

A veteran Hong Kong-based regional economist I know recently made his annual research trip to Korea and declared that he now found the country to be “boring.” He wasn’t referring to the cultural scene or the nightlife, which he continues to enjoy. Rather it is the economic sphere that lacks excitement.

John Burton | 2012-04-02 16:53

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Inter-Korean Summit in Pyongyang