The Korea Herald

[Lee Jae-min] Start small, think big on cooperation with NK

Maybe it was just an honest mistake. A typical “rules of origin” confusion or infraction. Origin faking or laundering is not new to customs officials at the border, so importers may have believed that the coal shipments really originated from Russia. The low price and unusual loading port (Kholmsk, Sakhalin) may not have been sufficient to raise a red flag for the importers and the government.Coal arrived at Korean ports and was put into the stream of commerce. This took place last October.What

Aug. 7, 2018

[Lee Jae-min] Start small, think big on cooperation with NK

[David Ignatius] Path from Pyongyang to Washington leads through Seoul

Koreans have a saying that helps explain the recent upbeat exchanges between Washington, Seoul and Pyongyang: “Say pretty things to hear pretty things.” Beyond the Trump White House, there remains much skepticism that North Korea will ever give up its nuclear weapons. Recent leaks about North Korea’s continuing efforts to build its nuclear and missile arsenal underline this concern that President Trump made a sucker play in Singapore. But the public rhetoric from Washington and Pyongyang is warm

Aug. 6, 2018

[David Ignatius] Path from Pyongyang to Washington leads through Seoul

[Anjani Trivedi] Japan Inc. needs to pay for performance

Almost three decades ago, the Texan oilman T. Boone Pickens attempted to charge into a Japanese boardroom. He had accumulated around one-third of the company -- worth almost $1 billion at the time -- yet a seat at the table eluded him. There was nothing to force the directors to accept him.　Japan Inc. has come a long way since Pickens took on Koito Manufacturing, a supplier of parts to Toyota Motor. Backed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s economic revival plan and corporate governance reforms, act

Aug. 6, 2018

[Park Sang-seek] Why does globalization strengthen nationalism?

When globalization began to accelerate in the 1990s, globalists rejoiced and predicted that globalism would eventually weaken nationalism, and international organizations, particularly the UN, would become more powerful. However, such optimism has turned out to be a naive dream. Nation-states have become more vital and powerful, while within nation-states ethnic or religious minority groups have become more assertive of their identity and have often sought to establish a separate state. In the c

Aug. 5, 2018

[Park Sang-seek] Why does globalization strengthen nationalism?

[Lionel Laurent] Keeping tabs on all the (French) president‘s men

As political scandals go, the “Benalla” affair that has gripped France since Le Monde broke the story on July 18 is certainly no Watergate. But it does point to a combination of unbridled executive power and secrecy in French politics that might make even Capitol Hill blush. Considering Emmanuel Macron’s waning popularity and relatively low public trust in government, an overhaul of the rules is overdue.　The outrage over footage of presidential aide Alexandre Benalla, donning a police helmet (he

Aug. 5, 2018

[Kim Kyung-ho] Substantial, not conceptual, growth

In a meeting with his senior policy advisers last week, President Moon Jae-in said economic policies pursued by his administration fitted into the concept of inclusive growth.If efforts are exerted with confidence, he said, inclusive growth, through which a people-oriented economy takes root and the benefits of growth are shared evenly, would be made possible.His remarks, which came with pledges to pay more heed to speeding up deregulation and structural reforms, invited criticism from oppositio

Aug. 2, 2018

[Kim Kyung-ho] Substantial, not conceptual, growth

[David Fickling] Trump’s madman theory of trade negotiations won’t win

Let’s make a deal: I’ll sell you a can of soda for a dollar.Actually, scratch that, $2. Or maybe I’ll give it to you for free.　On second thoughts, you can have a chocolate bar for $2. But you have to give me a liter of soda in return.　It’s not hard to see from the real world why we don’t like to deal with unpredictable negotiators. When a counterparty’s objectives are unclear and her gambits contradictory, we tend to give up on her.So what’s going on with the US government’s attempts to improve

Aug. 2, 2018

[Kim Myong-sik] Looking for just, comfortable civil-military relations

A US Marine honor guard, holding a case wrapped in the UN flag in both arms, steps out of a military cargo plane and walks to a US Army sergeant major in full dress. The noncommissioned officer stoops forward, receives the case and then approaches one of several vans lined up nearby. US Army, Navy and Air Force honor guards follow one after the other to deliver the small coffins to the vehicles on the ground. Hundreds of service persons salute to the silent procession only accompanied by taps pl

Aug. 1, 2018

[Kim Myong-sik] Looking for just, comfortable civil-military relations

[Tim Culpan] Trump’s tech tariffs are awesome, for Southeast Asia

Donald Trump may well be the best thing that’s happened to Southeast Asia’s humble electronics industry in quite a while.Relatively small, and frankly not as sexy as their North Asian cousins, makers of components and devices with factories dotted around the region may get some time in the spotlight thanks to the US administration’s decision last month to levy an additional 25 percent import tax on 818 separate items from China.　The assembly of name-brand gadgets like Apple’s iPhones tends to gr

Aug. 1, 2018

[Robert J. Fouser] Future direction of social media

This summer, I decided to cut back on my use of social media. I limit my use to a few 10-minute checks a day. That gives me time to wish people happy birthday and interact with posts about important life events. It leaves little time for my own posts and photos. The break has helped me focus on people in the real world and it has given me a chance to think about the meaning of social media at the end of the second decade of the 21st century.Since the rise of mass consumption in the mid-20th cent

July 31, 2018

[Kim Seong-kon] From the Ocean to the Continent

I recently met an internationally well-regarded cultural critic and scholar of world civilizations who informed me of an interesting theory. As a small peninsula attached to the eastern end of the Asian continent, Korea, along with China and Russia, once belonged to the Continental Civilization. However, since the liberation and the Korean War, the continued influence of the United States means that Korea has separated itself from the continent and now belongs to the Oceanic Civilization, along

July 31, 2018

[Kim Seong-kon] From the Ocean to the Continent

[David Ignatius] This is not your grandfather’s KGB

Looking at Russia’s competing spy services, their overlapping operations against the US and their sometimes careless tradecraft, some CIA veterans are wondering if the Russian spooks actually want to get caught. The truth is, President Vladimir Putin probably doesn’t mind that his intelligence activities are so blatant that they’re a subject of daily public debate. His goal isn’t to steal secrets but to destabilize America’s political system. The more people obsess about the swarms of Russian sp

July 30, 2018

[David Ignatius] This is not your grandfather’s KGB

[Anjani Trivedi] Fathers, your time off is past its due date

It’s 2018 and much of the world is still trying to justify why fathers matter.　The US doesn’t federally mandate parental leave of any sort, bracketing it with countries such as Suriname and Papua New Guinea. Large swaths of Asia including India and China have policies only for maternity leave. New Zealand is the sole country with a primary caregiver policy that applies to mothers and fathers.　Ironically, even when time-off policies for fathers are in place, they may mean little in practice. Japa

July 30, 2018

[Thomas Byrne] Why Korean War armistice still matters

The Korean Armistice Agreement was signed 65 years ago, July 27, 1953, wrapping up negotiations that spanned 158 meetings over two years and 17 days -- the longest negotiated armistice in modern history. Those protracted talks proved quite costly in human terms: During the negotiation period, United Nations forces suffered 140,000 casualties and the US lost 8,000 soldiers.　Yet the resulting agreement has kept relative peace on the Korean Peninsula for six decades, underpinned one of America’s mo

July 29, 2018

[Thomas Byrne] Why Korean War armistice still matters

[Leonid Bershidsky] Twitter and Facebook need bigger cleanup

The plunge of Facebook and Twitter shares in the last two days shows that both companies are hostages to investors’ unrealistic perceptions of how quickly they should grow even as they purge bots and trolls. Moving to eliminate all fake and malicious accounts, as well as making new ones very hard to register, would be scary given these inflated expectations.　Facebook fell 19 percent Thursday after its quarterly earnings announcement, in part because it missed revenue expectations, but also becau

July 29, 2018

[David Ignatius] Trump thinks he’s his own best foreign-policy adviser

For the last 18 months, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and other top national-security officials have mostly kept their heads down in public as they tried to quietly counsel President Trump. But this low-key consultation process seems to be weakening, as a headstrong president becomes increasingly insistent about his judgment. The Helsinki summit showed that Trump thinks he’s his own best foreign-policy adviser. The formal interagency process that traditionally surrounds such big events all but di

July 26, 2018

[David Ignatius] Trump thinks he’s his own best foreign-policy adviser

[Leonid Bershidsky] Steve Bannon wants to divide and conquer in Europe too

As European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker heads to Washington to try to prevent a full-scale trade war, Europeans should expect him to be treated like a US adversary. In President Donald Trump’s worldview, a strong European Union is not in US interests. His former chief strategist Steve Bannon’s recent activity aimed at weakening the EU is further proof of that.　Juncker will caution Trump against slapping a punitive tariff on European cars, but he’s not bringing a specific offer to Wa

July 26, 2018

[Leonid Bershidsky] Steve Bannon wants to divide and conquer in Europe too

[Conor Sen] The future of the US looks a lot like Chicago

Of all America’s major cities, Chicago may be unique. The rest of the nation -- particularly newer, faster-growing cities -- should pay close attention to its evolution, because the future of America looks a lot like Chicago.　While Chicago has a vibrant core, it’s not as dauntingly expensive as New York or San Francisco. Chicago lacks the population growth that Sun Belt metros like Houston and Atlanta have, but it is no symbol of Rust Belt decline like Detroit has been. How did it achieve this r

July 26, 2018

[Noah Smith] Lesser-known universities do more with research money

Productivity growth in developed countries has been slowing down, threatening to cause a long-term stagnation in living standards. One contributing factor could be that it’s getting more expensive to find new scientific and technological ideas. Economists Nicholas Bloom, Charles I. Jones, John Van Reenen and Michael Webb recently tried to measure innovation in various fields, and found that more and more researchers were needed to produce the same pace of discovery.　That’s an ominous trend. Gove

July 26, 2018

[Timothy L. O’Brien] The Trump brand is hurting. Just ask Ivanka.

The “aize slingback kitten heels” ($125) and the “starburst dress” ($128) wont be available much longer. The “ketty sandals” ($99), the “lapis stud earrings” ($25) and the discounted ($109) “classic blazer” will also go to the fashion graveyard. That’s because Ivanka Trump has decided to shutter her namesake apparel and accessories business, about 18 months after her father’s inauguration made her an influential White House figure and globetrotting quasi-diplomat.　The New York Post and the Wall

July 26, 2018