[Noah Smith] Industrialization the only hope for Africa

African industrialization has to be among the most important things happening in the world right now. The vast continent, with more than 1.2 billion people, is home to an increasing fraction of the human beings who are still mired in extreme poverty.By 2030, the World Bank projects that almost all the people in extreme poverty will live in sub-Saharan Africa. The reason is twofold. First, Africa’s population is growing rapidly.Second, Africa has lagged in the industrialization necessary to gener

April 25, 2019

[Kim Myong-sik] Noisy but fruitless rows over official appointments

After nearly two years in power, people holding high posts in the Moon Jae-in administration must have by now realized that one of the hardest parts of the job is to prove they are ethically stronger than those they replaced. Kim Eui-gyum, presidential spokesman until last month, had famously said, “There is no civilian surveillance in the DNA of the Moon government.” He was trying to distinguish the current liberal administration from the previous conservative rules of Lee Myung-bak and Park Ge

April 24, 2019

[Eli Lake] When will the UN’s chief speak up for the Uighurs?

There are a lot of people in the world who can plausibly claim ignorance of China’s foul campaign against its Muslim minority, but UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is not among them. Six months ago, the UN’s own committee on the elimination of racial discrimination released a devastating report on how China arbitrarily and systematically detains Uighurs in the western part of the country. Just last month, the UN high commissioner for human rights pressed the Chinese for access to the Uighur

April 24, 2019

[Kim Seong-kon] ‘I am legend’ and have to fade away

Throughout human history, there has always been a generation gap between the young and old. In the eyes of the old, young people are frolicsome and reckless, and do not want to learn from the past. In the eyes of the young, older people are hopelessly stubborn and conservative; constantly nagging about war, past poverty, and those turbulent days when they were young. “Which war?” Young people want to yell back, “Don’t you know those things are no longer our concern?” That was why Robert A. Heinl

April 23, 2019

[Mihir Sharma] Sri Lanka’s pain is going to spread

In Sri Lanka, memories of war and terrorism are very much alive. The decadeslong civil war between the Sinhala-dominated government in Colombo and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam was brutal by any standards, and it ended a decade ago with a climactic battle near the Indian Ocean that took thousands of civilian lives. But Sri Lanka, beautiful and multicultural, has never had just the one fault line. On Easter morning, when hundreds of Christians and hotel guests were killed by suicide bomber

April 23, 2019

[David Fickling] We should let China spy on us

Even as the US and China seem headed toward a truce on trade, their rivalry is heating up in other areas.The threat of espionage taking place under the cover of routine activities appears to be a particular concern. As many as 30 Chinese academics and policy experts have had their US visas canceled or reviewed in the past year, the New York Times reported recently. The relatively open approach adopted toward Chinese businesspeople and academics may now be ending.That’s a mistake -- not because C

April 22, 2019

[Ram Garikipati] Korean Air, Asiana face turbulent tailwinds

South Korea’s main flagship air carriers appear to be facing strong headwinds at the same time and it is worrisome.Korean Air and Asiana Airlines are embroiled in their own difficulties, and it is all connected to the typical family-owned conglomerate management system that is so prevalent here.While there have been calls for chaebol reform over the past years I have been here -- starting with Roh Moo-hyun administration -- there have been no drastic changes so far.I have always admired Roh, and

April 22, 2019

[Robert Cheek] Robonomic question: economics of scarcity and economics of abundance

A few months back, I witnessed a massive strike by Korea’s taxi drivers’ union. They were protesting the planned rollout of a ride-hailing application by a technology company. Admirable as their cause was, their fight was an exercise in futility that eventually came to a head when the chief of the taxi drivers’ union immolated himself. In response, the government placed a moratorium on the rollout of the service, another exercise in futility. In my experience, Koreans are often quick to respond

April 21, 2019

[Cass R. Sunstein] Mueller left a strong hint on obstruction

In coming to terms with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report, we should adopt a principle of neutrality and put entirely to one side our enthusiasm, or our lack of it, for President Donald Trump. It is also essential to emphasize that the report, running to two volumes and some 448 pages, will take some time to absorb.Even so, the most puzzling thing about it is unquestionably a single sentence, repeated several times: “while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime,

April 21, 2019

[David Ignatius] How Xi overplayed his hand with America

In the rebalancing of Sino-American relations that’s underway, the usual roles are reversed: China’s normally deft President Xi Jinping appears to have badly overreached in seeking advantage. And President Trump, who often seems tone-deaf on foreign policy, is riding a bipartisan consensus that it’s time to push back against Beijing. The two nations will probably make a trade deal soon, patching together a working relationship that has been frayed by a year of tariffs and economic brinksmanship.

April 18, 2019

[Jeffrey D. Sachs] Our zero-emission future

The solution to human-induced climate change is finally in clear view. Thanks to rapid advances in zero-carbon energy technologies, and in sustainable food systems, the world can realistically end greenhouse-gas emissions by mid-century at little or no incremental cost, and with decisive benefits for safety and health. The main obstacle is inertia: politicians continue to favor the fossil-fuel industry and traditional agriculture mainly because they don’t know better or are on the take.Most glob

April 17, 2019

[Yang Sung-jin] Mysterious global impact of BTS

Disclaimer: I’m not a member of the BTS fandom named Army. However, because of my job as a newspaper editor, I have been keeping track of the now world-famous K-pop boy band on a regular basis. I’ve read plenty of news articles about the group and listened to their music. Strangely enough, the more I get to know about BTS, more mysteries pop up in my mind. One mystery is BTS’ explosive power that keeps growing in a way that catches even the relatively well-prepared music industry off guard. On F

April 17, 2019

[Kim Seong-kon] Pleasure of reading Mendoza and Molina

Recently, I read “The Truth About the Savolta Case” by celebrated Spanish writer Eduardo Mendoza. In his intriguing novel, Mendoza depicts the turbulent social milieu of early 20th century Barcelona, where there were daily clashes between workers demanding a raise and company owners exploiting workers. It was a critical time when Spain witnessed a massive influx of foreign ideologies such as Bolshevism and anarchism that instigated workers, and capitalism that captivated company owners. The nove

April 16, 2019

[Lee Jae-min] Clawing our way out of plastic mountains

This time we are serious, as things have changed since last summer. We sense increasing social awareness on chronic overuse of plastics, and this is a welcome step in the right direction. New regulations with teeth have arrived at shops. Starting from April 1, single-use plastic bags have been banned at supermarkets and malls. This follows an earlier ban (August 2018) of single-use plastic cups in coffee shops and cafes. Further anti-plastic measures are waiting in queue. Civic engagement is als

April 16, 2019

[Pankaj Mishra] The secret to Modi’s success

On the face of things, Narendra Modi has failed variously and spectacularly as India’s prime minister. After pledging to create millions of jobs, he has -- according to a leaked government report -- presided over a dramatic rise in unemployment among young Indians. Vowing to vanquish terrorism, he took most currency notes out of circulation and cracked down hard in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Kashmir has since witnessed a sharp spike in militancy and its biggest terrorist attack in years.Swe

April 15, 2019

[Sam Rainsy] Rising cost of strongman rule in Cambodia

On April 4, a group of international buyers’ associations from the garment, footwear, sporting and travel goods industries sent a letter to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen to express concerns over abusive labor practices and human rights violations.Already, Cambodia’s tax-free access to the vast European Union market, granted under the EU’s “Everything But Arms” scheme, is in danger of being suspended over such violations. If the country is excluded permanently from EBA and other preferential t

April 15, 2019