Opponents of globalization constantly point to the uneven impact of open trade. Although trade liberalization can make the overall economic pie bigger, not everyone gets a larger slice, and many may receive a much smaller piece than before because of competition from foreign-made products. Such concerns help to explain why many blue-collar American workers voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 US presidential election, and why French farmers and workers often take part in anti-globalization demonst

Oct. 20, 2019

The Korean National Police Agency hosts the International Police Summit Seoul, 2019 with police chiefs from 30 countries around the world on the margins of the 74th celebration of Police Day. The summit will discuss “Global Partnership for Smart Policing” on the advent of the “fourth industrial revolution.” The event is possible owing to Korean police efforts to contribute to international policing cooperation.The Korean police have been actively pursuing the “K-Cop

Oct. 17, 2019

This year’s economics Nobel prize went to three worthy economists: Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Michael Kremer of Harvard University. The prize, awarded “for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty,” shows several important ways that the economics discipline is changing. A popular conception of economists is that they’re the high priests of the free market, downplaying the role of government and givin

Oct. 16, 2019

Today we live in a violent world. Every day, war and terrorism are exterminating human lives somewhere on this planet. In advanced countries, violence is not tolerated, and is strictly prohibited by law. In many underdeveloped countries, however, violence is so rampant and omnipresent that people have no other choice than to live with it. Violence takes many forms. Some forms of violence are visible and obvious, and others are invisible, subtle, or inconspicuous. Experts say there are four

Oct. 15, 2019

A small $1.5 billion company is attracting the biggest movers in finance in what’s shaping up as the first high-profile foreign hostile takeover in Japan. If successful, it could wake up the sleepy $228 billion market of publicly listed real-estate companies.　The attention is on Unizo Holdings, until recently an obscure developer and hotel operator. The company has a big chunk of its office rental business, which accounts for about 90 percent of operating income, in Tokyo, where the vacanc

Oct. 15, 2019

Not every good policy is going to be popular. Sometimes either the public, activists or the commentariat -- or all three -- just get something wrong. This can happen for ideological reasons, or simply because of a lack of information. I’m more optimistic than most pundits, in that I think the public usually gets at least the outlines broadly right. But there are a few issues where the tide of opinion simply seems to be against me. Here are a few:No. 1. The Trans-Pacific PartnershipThe TPP

Oct. 14, 2019

Is nuclear-arms control unraveling? The 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty has collapsed, the 2015 Iran nuclear deal is teetering, and North Korea has continued to expand its nuclear and ballistic missile arsenal. Worse, it is unclear whether the United States will stick with the New START Treaty when it expires in 2021. That agreement limits (at 3,000) the number of strategic weapons Russia and the US have pointed at each other.Fortunately, history offers some solace. During and afte

Oct. 13, 2019

Once again, Alan Dershowitz, a former Harvard Law School professor, is mounting a defense of US President Donald Trump against the threat of impeachment.In the past, Dershowitz has been willing to get creative in his legal arguments. After Trump said that he would appeal any impeachment attempt to the Supreme Court, Dershowitz claimed that it was “certainly possible” that the court would stop the Senate from holding a trial. Former Justice David Souter had, he explained, once written

Oct. 13, 2019

In April, Japan made a significant policy shift on accepting foreign workers, including those who will perform simple labour.A decrease in the working-age population caused this change.However, it is unclear whether or not Japan will be able to secure enough foreign workers to sustain the Japanese economy in the future.The focus of debate over foreign workers is shifting from “Should Japan accept foreign workers?” to “Can Japan be the country of their choice?” in the glob

Oct. 10, 2019

On a tour of Mokpo and islands off the southwestern port last week, I paid a visit to the Kim Dae-jung Nobel Peace Prize Memorial located in Samhakdo islet. Most impressive there was a picture on the wall showing the former president standing side by side with four of his predecessors during a reception in the Blue House. Roh Tae-woo, Choi Kyu-hah, Kim Dae-jung, Chun Doo-hwan and Kim Young-sam were posing comfortably accompanied by their wives. The photograph was taken right after Kim Dae-jung&r

Oct. 9, 2019

“This is all wrong!” These words begin the most powerful four-minute speech I have ever heard. They were spoken by Greta Thunberg, the Swedish teenage climate activist, at the United Nations Climate Action Summit last month, and followed a week of climate strikes and marches attended by an estimated 6 million people.The marchers were predominantly the young people who will have to cope with more of the costs of climate change than the world leaders Thunberg was addressing. Her tone o

Oct. 9, 2019

In his epoch-making short story, “Seoul: Winter 1964,” novelist Kim Seung-ok brilliantly renders the bleak landscape of Seoul in the mid-Sixties when Koreans had to suffer the ruthless military dictatorship and dehumanization caused by rapid industrialization. At that time, people had to struggle with a suffocating reality every day, embedded with tyranny and poverty. So people liked to drop by a street liquor stall, warming up their bodies with alcohol, and tried to forget their mis

Oct. 8, 2019

The Korean expression “what was bound to come has arrived” best describes the current political situation in the US. It was only a matter of time before the Democratic controlled House of Representatives moved to impeach President Donald Trump.Evidence that Trump appeared to be pressuring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter caused the dam in favor of impeachment to burst. Biden has long been considered the strongest

Oct. 8, 2019

US President Donald Trump’s presidency is in peril. He’s likely to be impeached -- the equivalent of an indictment -- by the House of Representatives, and it cannot be ruled out entirely that the Senate will vote to convict him and therefore remove him from office. Impeachment alone would leave an asterisk by Trump’s name in history. And even if he isn’t convicted, which requires a two-thirds vote, any Senate Republican votes against him will undermine his argument that t

Oct. 7, 2019

The media has given us blanket coverage of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s announcement of an official House impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump’s apparent attempt to use congressionally appropriated funds to Ukraine to trade a desperate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for an investigation of Trump’s political rival at home. But few commentators have explored how we have arrived at this juncture. And I don’t mean an investigation of Trump and Rudy Giulian

Oct. 6, 2019

 In the 19th century, the world was Europeanized. In the 20th century, it was Americanized. Now, it is being Asianized -- and much faster than you may think.Asia’s rise has been swift. Home to more than half of the world’s population, the region has climbed from low- to middle-income status within a single generation. By 2040, it is likely to generate more than 50 percent of world GDP, and could account for nearly 40 percent of global consumption.New McKinsey Global Institute re

Oct. 6, 2019

These are fraught times for Asia-Pacific nations caught in the crossfire of the US-China rivalry. I recently wrote about how one longtime US ally, the Philippines, is repositioning itself between Washington and Beijing. But Manila is hardly alone in trying to protect itself as the geopolitical giants clash. Singapore confronts a similar challenge, which was thrown into relief by an interview its Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong gave last week. Lee’s remarks highlight the dilemmas faced by we

Oct. 3, 2019

South Korea’s economy is in a tough spot. Too bad the monetary policy response has been so tame.The country is flirting with outright deflation, figures Tuesday showed, as consumer prices declined for the first time on record. Exports, which account for about 40 percent of gross domestic product, had slipped for 10 straight months. The Bank of Korea says the country will struggle to meet even lowered growth forecasts.BOK policymakers need to articulate a broad strategy to get inflation bac

Oct. 3, 2019

Pyrrho of Ellis, the first Greek skeptic philosopher, argued that wise men should be skeptical and thus remain calm under all circumstances. According to the Greek thinker, we should raise questions before believing something too hastily. Yet on the contrary, we are liable to become convinced of something so easily that we seldom doubt its validity. Indeed, we often do not consider the possibility that we might be manipulated by a hidden mastermind pulling the strings from behind. For this reaso

Oct. 1, 2019