Most Popular
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Heavy snow alerts issued in greater Seoul area, Gangwon Province; over 20 cm of snow seen in Seoul
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Seoul blanketed by heaviest Nov. snow, with more expected
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Seoul snowfall now third heaviest on record
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Samsung shakes up management, commits to reviving chip business
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NewJeans to terminate contract with Ador
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Heavy snow of up to 40 cm blankets Seoul for 2nd day
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How $70 funeral wreaths became symbol of protest in S. Korea
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Why cynical, 'memeified' makeovers of kids' characters are so appealing
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Hybe consolidates chairman Bang Si-hyuk’s regime with leadership changes
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BOK makes surprise 2nd rate cut to boost growth
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[David Ignatius] How to revamp space defense
President Trump has hurled so many thunderbolts recently that people may have missed the one that could have the greatest long-term impact on America’s national security -- his directive to the Pentagon last week to start creating a new military service that he dubbed the “space force.” It’s certainly a Trumpian idea: big and bold, with a Hollywood glitz factor; highly disruptive of the status quo; and lacking in any detailed planning about implementation. But many experts say the idea of revamp
June 29, 2018
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[Christophe Deloire] World Cup of press freedom
President Vladimir Putin worked hard to bring the 2018 FIFA World Cup to Russia, but now that the spectacle is underway, his influence has waned. He cannot control the referees or the performance of Russia’s national team, the Sbornaya, which is ranked 70th in the world -- the lowest-seeded team in the tournament. But he has far more control over how the tournament is covered, at least by Russian media.In the World Press Freedom Index, compiled each year by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Russi
June 29, 2018
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[Molly McKew] Trump is doing lasting damage, and Americans aren’t speaking up against it
Recently, as President Donald Trump completed his world mini-tour, my Ukrainian researcher emailed me. She witnessed some of the violence of Ukraine’s latest revolution and tends to be clear-eyed about the state of the things. Watching Trump’s behavior at the G-7, and then with Kim Jong-un, she couldn’t shake that something profound had occurred. “Every time I hear fireworks at night,” she wrote from Odessa, “my first thought is that it is not fireworks, so I wait to make sure. Low, loud planes
June 28, 2018
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[Mark Malloch-Brown] The end of global Britain
Nowadays, Britain’s words and actions on the world stage are so at odds with its values that one must wonder what has happened to the country. Since the June 2016 Brexit referendum, British foreign policy seems to have all but collapsed -- and even to have disowned its past and its governing ideas. Worse, this has coincided with the emergence of US President Donald Trump’s erratic administration, which is pursuing goals that are completely detached from those of Britain -- and of Europe generall
June 28, 2018
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[Ferdinando Giugliano] Italy’s Donald Trump is running the show
If an alien landed in Rome today, he would think Matteo Salvini was running Italy. The leader of the right-wing League has seized the center stage of Italian politics, even though he is merely deputy prime minister, interior minister and head of the junior party in its governing coalition. Five Star, the League’s senior partner in the new populist administration, is entirely to blame for this. The movement has been outmaneuvered comprehensively since Italy’s government was formed three weeks ago
June 28, 2018
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[Brooke Sutherland] Harley hitting the road is just the start
As one Trump administration trade policy backfires, another looks set to. On Monday, Harley-Davidson said it would shift some production out of the US in order to mitigate the impact of European Union tariffs targeting its motorcycles. Those penalties -- which Harley-Davidson estimates may cost it as much as $100 million annually -- were in response to US levies on steel and aluminum imported from the EU. Meanwhile, the Treasury Department is reportedly planning to aim a bazooka at a Chinese tak
June 28, 2018
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[Nobuko Kobayashi] Women and foreigners won’t save Japan Inc.
As Japanese investors flock to annual general meetings this week -- more than 400 of them on June 28 alone -- they’ll have new yardsticks by which to measure performance. The Tokyo Stock Exchange and the Financial Services Agency added two new recommendations to the corporate governance code this month: to re-evaluate complex cross-shareholdings and to push for greater diversity on boards, most notably by adding more women and non-Japanese directors. While the code doesn’t specify numerical targ
June 28, 2018
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[Ana Palacio] Confronting migrant threat to EU
The European Union loves giving itself ultimatums, whether it is the two-year deadline for Brexit negotiations or European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker’s declaration, upon taking office, that his was a “last-chance commission.” Unfortunately, European leaders rarely follow through on their best-laid plans. When it comes to migration, however, they may not have a choice.The issue has become a sword of Damocles hanging over the EU. It straddles every fault line: between country and com
June 27, 2018
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[Noah Smith] America’s working women need help
Japan, many people believe, is a country of rigid, traditional gender norms, where men work and women are homemakers. But this stereotype is passe. Despite the continued prevalence of traditional gender roles in television shows, Japanese culture has undergone a sea change -- most women now have jobs. Japan isn’t alone. In recent years, female labor force participation has been rising across almost all industrialized countries. There’s at least one big exception, though -- the US. The decline of
June 27, 2018
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[Christopher Balding] Why China can’t fix its housing bubble
Real estate is the driver of the Chinese economy. By some estimates, it accounts (directly and indirectly) for as much as 30 percent of gross domestic product. Keeping housing prices buoyant and development robust is thus an overriding imperative for China -- one that is distorting policymaking and worsening its other economic imbalances. Despite reforms in recent years, there’s little question that Chinese real estate is in bubble territory. From June 2015 through the end of last year, the 100
June 27, 2018
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[Leonid Bershidsky] Turkey’s Erdogan fought hard, won unfairly
The existence of a vibrant political culture and strong opposition to the political monopoly of the country’s long-term ruler were what separated Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Turkey from Vladimir Putin’s Russia. After Erdogan’s victory in Sunday’s hotly contested presidential and parliamentary elections, however, these differences are likely to be eroded as Turkey sinks into an Islamic version of Putinism. It wasn’t a particularly impressive victory: Erdogan won the presidential election with about 52
June 27, 2018
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[Adam Minter] How to solve plastic crisis
Since Jan. 1, when China stopped accepting the rich world’s recyclable plastic waste, it’s gotten a ton of criticism for worsening the already deep crisis of ocean plastic pollution. But China isn’t the only culprit here. This is a crisis made -- and growing worse -- throughout developing Asia.Just eight countries in the region are responsible for about 63 percent of total plastic waste flowing into the oceans. Little of that junk has been exported by rich economies. Instead, it’s almost solely
June 27, 2018
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[Kim Seong-kon] “Freedom is not free.” Neither is peace or prosperity
In June every year, we commemorate the anniversary of the Korean War. During the war that devastated the peninsula, South Korea received priceless assistance from foreign countries, both military and financial. Today’s South Korea would not have existed had it not been for the valiant UN soldiers who came to rescue us in difficult times. The Korean War Veterans memorial in Washington displays the touching inscription, “Our nation honors her sons and daughters who answered the call to defend a co
June 26, 2018
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[Mac Margolis] Social change comes to conservative Chile
When Chilean screen actress Daniela Vega flew to Los Angeles for the Academy Awards ceremony last March, Hollywood glory wasn’t the only thing on her mind. In a matter of days, Vega would become an international celebrity for her role in the Oscar-winning “A Fantastic Woman” (best foreign picture), a fraught love story about a transgender singer and the social barriers and obscurantism she confronts. But first she had to face a little obscurantism herself. “I have a passport with a name that has
June 26, 2018
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[Jay Ambrose] Another issue of separating children from parents
The deservedly big news splashing us all in the face lately has been about the children being ripped away from their illegal-immigrant parents at the US-Mexico border. Many Americans are horrified, which is far from what seems the mostly lackadaisical, yawning reaction to a similar, far more terrifying issue, one in which tens of millions of children live without their father. There are horrible consequences, one of which is too often suicide. Killing ourselves has been another big news story la
June 26, 2018
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[Lee Jae-min] How many hours do you work?
What is work and what is leisure? This longstanding philosophical question has suddenly become a legal question as a new labor law (Labor Standards Act) is entering into force on July 1 to cap the maximum weekly working hours at 52, together with a penalty provision for non-complying employers. Having realized the unclear dividing line between work and non-work and the fear of imminent confusion on the field, the Ministry of Employment and Labor announced at the last minute a six-month grace per
June 26, 2018
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[Justin Fendos] NK’s denuclearization public relations
Let’s play a game by pretending we are North Koreans. Let’s pretend that we are really serious about complete denuclearization. I know no one believes the idea but let’s give it a run anyway. Who knows? We might learn something from the exercise.Let’s say our ultimate goal as North Koreans is to be relieved of crippling sanctions that prevent us from developing our country economically. The bulk of these sanctions are, of course, imposed or led by the United States. Former President Barack Obama
June 26, 2018
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[Christopher Balding] Tax cuts feed China’s consuming passion
It’s tempting to view China’s changes to the personal and corporate tax code in the context of US trade tensions. The reforms are really aimed more at Beijing’s concerns about competitiveness and economic rebalancing, and ultimately the creation of a “moderately prosperous society.” China has many problems with tax policy. Start with the labyrinth of (mostly very high) fees and levies on individuals and corporations. According to the World Bank, China has the 12th-highest official total corporat
June 25, 2018
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[Trudy Rubin] US withdrawal from UN Human Rights Council reflects Trump hypocrisy
How ironic that the White House chose to withdraw from the United Nations Human Rights Council on June 19 just as President Trump was manipulating the suffering of migrant children for his own political ends. The Trump team quit the council on account of that body’s fixation with Israel and inclusion of member states with wretched human rights records. Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, called the council a “hypocritical and self-serving organization that makes a mockery of human rights.”
June 25, 2018
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[Pankaj Mishra] Don’t fantasize about world before Trump
President Donald Trump, it is clear, presides over a regime of untruth and personally inhabits a realm of fantasy. But some of his critics have fallen prey to illusions of their own about the US and the world before Trump. Take, for instance, Trump’s cruel disregard for the suffering of children caught up in his crackdown on immigration. It provoked many to charge him with violating “American values.” Such condemnation obscures the fact that the US was, from the late 19th century onwards, the in
June 25, 2018