The Korea Herald

[Eli Lake] Don’t be fooled by North Korea’s Olympic ploy

For those vulnerable to displays of pageantry and pacifism, the news from the Koreas this week must have been alluring. At a moment when North Korea’s dictator is threatening the world with hydrogen bombs and long-range missiles, the North and the South agreed to march together in the Olympic ceremonies next month under a common flag.　Well, I have some bad news for the dreamers. Now is not the time to give peace a chance.　The gambit from North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, is transparent to anyon

Jan. 19, 2018

[Eli Lake] Don’t be fooled by North Korea’s Olympic ploy

[Adam Minter] China’s real offshore disaster

Last Sunday’s sinking of an Iranian oil tanker 180 miles off the coast of Shanghai certainly looks like an environmental disaster. Depending on how many of the ship’s 1 million barrels of condensate were released into the ocean and not burned off, the accident could end up being one of the biggest oil spills in half a century. The irony? Even that wouldn’t represent the biggest disaster to befall the area.　The fact is, thanks to massive overfishing in China’s territorial waters, there isn’t much

Jan. 19, 2018

[Leonid Bershidsky] New US tax rules are a good gift to Europe

The effects of the Trump administration corporate tax reform on US multinationals that were, as of the end of last year, holding some $1.4 trillion in cash overseas, are largely beneficial: Now these companies finally know how much of that money the US wants -- and there’s also some long-awaited clarity on how foreign profits will be taxed going forward. What’s less clear is how the changes will affect European plans to tax US companies’ profits where they’re made. So far, it looks as though the

Jan. 18, 2018

[Leonid Bershidsky] New US tax rules are a good gift to Europe

[David Ignatius] Russia investigation is far from a ‘witch hunt’

“Does this concern you at all?” asks a tart email message from a Trump supporter who wonders why the mainstream media doesn’t take a closer look at allegations that the Justice Department’s investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election has been tainted by bias.　It’s a fair question. President Trump has made very serious charges, tweeting in December that the FBI’s “reputation is in Tatters -- worst in History!” And Republicans in Congress have claimed that the bureau was manipulated by

Jan. 18, 2018

[Michael Schuman] The wrong way to pressure China

Is the US finally taking a tougher stand on China? Last week, AT&T Inc. walked away from a partnership with Huawei Technologies, possibly due to Washington’s worries about espionage. A week earlier, Ant Financial dropped its long-delayed acquisition of MoneyGram International Inc. after failing to win approval from a crucial US government committee.　Such a stand was probably inevitable, whoever occupied the White House. By showing almost no willingness to open its markets more widely or to scale

Jan. 18, 2018

[Michael Schuman] The wrong way to pressure China

[Helmut K. Anheier] While Germany slept

Few people outside Germany are familiar with the caricature of themselves that many Germans hold in their minds. Far from the aggressive bully of 20th-century war propaganda, the perfectionist engineer of Madison Avenue car advertisements, or the rule-following know-it-all of the silver screen, the German many picture today is a sleepy-headed character clad in nightgown and cap. Sometimes clutching a candle, this German cuts a naive, forlorn figure, bewildered by the surrounding world.This figur

Jan. 18, 2018

[Los Angeles Times] Too many plastic straws are used and discarded

Every day Americans use -- and almost immediately discard -- up to half a billion plastic beverage straws. At least, that’s the figure widely used by environmental activists to explain why people should embrace going straw-less.　It’s not clear where that number came from, but it seems credible considering how many takeout sodas, frappuccinos, smoothies, cold-press juices, boba teas and other beverages Americans buy every day, most of which are accompanied by a complimentary plastic straw. Lately

Jan. 18, 2018

[Kim Myong-sik] Ghost of Roh Moo-hyun lurks in 2018 Korea

Political revenge or establishment of justice? If the ongoing investigation of those people in power a decade ago is to be determined an act of political revenge, the natural question is what they had done to call for it.　Former President Roh Moo-hyun was under investigation in connection with bribery charges involving family members in 2009 when he took his own life. He was questioned for 10 hours on April 30 in the Seoul Prosecutors’ Office, traveling 1,000 kilometers from his country home. He

Jan. 17, 2018

[Kim Myong-sik] Ghost of Roh Moo-hyun lurks in 2018 Korea

[Justin Fendos] Stop buying bitcoin, please

Do yourself a favor: stop buying bitcoin. Yes, I can read charts too. I can see how the graph has gone up from $800 per coin in January 2017 to a little over $15,000 this January. But seriously, do yourself a favor and stop buying. This is the most obvious bubble ever.As the first century BC Latin author famously wrote, “Everything is worth what its purchaser will pay for it.” No other quote seems to more perfectly encapsulate the irrational absurdity of bitcoin’s surging value, especially when

Jan. 17, 2018

[Robert J. Fouser] Improving early English education

The Ministry of Education’s recent proposal to ban the teaching of English in kindergartens and nursery schools brought English education back in the news after a long quiet. Bowing to public pressure, the Ministry withdrew the proposal earlier this week. The ministry pushed the proposal in the hope of reducing the financial burden of private education on families and to increase educational equality.Opponents of the plan argued that early English education helps children become familiar with En

Jan. 17, 2018

[Robert J. Fouser] Improving early English education

[Eli Lake] Trump’s policy should focus on Iran’s people, not its centrifuges

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel is worried once again that President Donald Trump will blow up the Iran nuclear deal.　It’s not just that the Europeans assert that Iran is complying with the terms of the 2015 accord. It’s also that Gabriel believes exiting the agreement would send the wrong message to North Korea. “It’s absolutely necessary to have the signal that it’s possible by diplomatic approaches to prevent the development of nuclear weapons in a time when other parts of the world ar

Jan. 17, 2018

[Ferdinando Giugliano] After Trump and Brexit, Italy falls for nostalgia

Italy’s politicians often stand accused of lacking the courage needed to shake up the country’s ailing economy. What if, however, the issue was Italian voters, who don’t want a reformist government? 　This question springs to mind watching the depressing campaign ahead of Italy’s general elections, which will be held on March 4. Italians look increasingly set on going back to the future, supporting the 81-year old media tycoon and convicted felon Silvio Berlusconi, a four-time former Italian prim

Jan. 17, 2018

[Leonid Bershidsky] A soccer precedent for a Brexit revote

Nigel Farage, that most notorious of Brexit agitators, hasn’t made any friends by suggesting that the UK should “maybe, just maybe” have a second referendum on EU membership. Fellow nationalists, the Conservative government, the opposition Labour Party -- no one seems to want a replay of the 2016 vote. But even if Farage is just fishing for attention, he’s essentially right. Here’s a sports analogy the Brits might want to consider.In 1999, Arsenal was the second-strongest team in England’s Premi

Jan. 16, 2018

[Matthew Winkler] Dubai’s the very model of a modern Mideast economy

For more than 100 years, the Middle East has been defined by oil exploration, production and its boundaries. Now the region is getting repurposed by its aspiration to grow beyond fossil fuel. The shake-up in Saudi Arabia’s royal family was as much about becoming a 21st-century economy as it was about rooting out corruption.　None of the region’s petrostates has moved further from its oilfield roots than Dubai, which has been diversifying its economy since the 1970s. The result is a thriving gatew

Jan. 16, 2018

[Kim Seong-kon] Calling for an end to factional retributions

Foreigners often wonder why political revenge and personal vendettas are rampant in Korean society. Indeed, whenever a new president is elected in Korea, retribution immediately begins. There is a compelling reason for this regrettable phenomenon. For 500 years during the Joseon era, regime change often came about as a direct result of Confucian factional feuds, which meant that as soon as the throne was occupied by a new king the purging of political opponents ensued. In order to root out the r

Jan. 16, 2018

[Kim Seong-kon] Calling for an end to factional retributions

[Trudy Rubin] Is Israel heading toward one binational state?

As I saw firsthand on a recent trip to Jerusalem and the West Bank, Israel is heading pell-mell toward an unprecedented danger: A “one-state solution” in which the Jewish state will control an unwilling population of Palestinian Arabs that soon outnumbers Jews.　Emboldened by President Donald Trump, the Israeli right is rushing to foreclose any prospect of a two-state solution to the conflict. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party now formally demands the annexation of Jewish settlement

Jan. 16, 2018

[Dan K. Thomasson] Walls don’t work

Building walls to keep your neighbor out or you in is not a viable solution to anything in the modern world. If the Berlin Wall taught us anything, that was it. It is just a plain and simple stupid idea and an enormously expensive one.　How costly?　Donald Trump now says it is an $18 billion project. But not long ago his estimate was $4 billion. And it is probably safe to say that will become substantially more if the barrier gets approved and goes forward. By the way, we’re not talking about an e

Jan. 16, 2018

[Megan McArdle] The real reason Walmart raised its minimum wage

“Walmart workers” used to be a handy synonym for “low-paid.” But over the past few years, the company has steadily raised the wage it offers its lowest-paid employees, and it has now announced that base pay will go up again, to $11 an hour.　Actually, there are a lot of reasons to care about this. The first is that this tells us interesting things about what’s going on in the labor market. While CEO Doug McMillon credited the new Republican tax bill with freeing up cash the company could use to p

Jan. 15, 2018

[Megan McArdle] The real reason Walmart raised its minimum wage

[Jeremy Levitt] We need immigrants -- especially from developing nations

President Donald Trump’s atomic comments Thursday during a White House meeting with congressional lawmakers about immigration trampled the red line of racism, bigotry and prejudice -- from which there is no return. Until now, I have been reluctant to label Trump a racist, noting the important differences between racism, bigotry and prejudice.　Isn’t it ironic that on the eve of two monumental anniversaries -- the mega earthquake that devastated Haiti and killed at least 300,000 on Jan. 12, 2010,

Jan. 15, 2018

[Jeremy Levitt] We need immigrants -- especially from developing nations

[Leonid Bershidsky] Why Russians are choosing Malta over Putin

Despite growing hostility between Russia and the West, President Vladimir Putin clearly hasn’t succeeded in convincing the Russian business community that it should be more patriotic. The list of new citizens of Malta, published by the island nation’s government, has enough well-known Russian names to drive home an uncomfortable truth for the Kremlin: The Russian elite doesn’t feel attached to Putin’s besieged fortress project.Malta’s so-called Individual Investor Program allows a nonresident fo

Jan. 15, 2018