The Korea Herald

[Steven Horwitz] Immigrants crucial in hurricane recovery efforts

After Hurricane Katrina, grocery and big box stores all over the Gulf Coast found themselves having to create whole aisles devoted to Latino food. Mexican food trucks were everywhere in New Orleans. What caused this transformation of the food scene? Immigrants coming north to help rebuild after the storm.With the announcement that the Trump administration will end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program, it is all the more important to understand why immigration matters at t

Sept. 15, 2017

[Robert Park] Nation or collateral damage of preventive war?

“They could do damage to South Korea; we may not get all of their missiles but I’ll tell you what, I know how that war ends. That’s the destruction of North Korea, we will obliterate the place.”Sen. Lindsey Graham (2017.4.28) “The fateful division of Korea at the 38th parallel, at root a product of the Yalta Agreements of early 1945 ... set in motion a train of events leading to the present.” Robert Scalapino (1976)I cannot agree more with The Korea Herald’s Sept. 5 editorial, which urges for a

Sept. 14, 2017

[Robert Park] Nation or collateral damage of preventive war?

[David Ignatius] Bring back the ombudsman

How can news organizations avoid the trap that President Trump has laid for them in his attacks on the media as a one-sided “opposition party” that caters to anti-Trump elites and purveys “fake news” to readers and viewers?Part of the answer is simply for journalists to keep doing their jobs, aggressively and fairly. We’re not in the business of making friends, but of holding powerful people and institutions accountable. And ultimately, it’s only this feisty, independent voice that will preserve

Sept. 14, 2017

[David Ignatius] Bring back the ombudsman

[Noah Smith] We need conservatives to fight climate change

The unprecedented hurricanes that have hit Texas and Florida, and the wildfires that have rampaged across California, seem to be pushing some reluctant conservatives from climate change skepticism to acceptance of reality. If so, that’s great, because they’re uniquely positioned to do something about it. Scientists have long predicted that climate change would lead to more extreme hurricanes, and it makes sense that hotter air would exacerbate wildfires as well. Of course, the amount of randomne

Sept. 14, 2017

[Paul McHale] Dems need a younger presidential candidate

The summer of 2017 was a good one. My wife and I packed up our two grandchildren -- waved goodbye to their parents (with earnest promises of frequent Facetime) -- and took off on a monthlong camping tour of the national parks.Along the way I had the chance to teach my grandson and granddaughter how to roast hot dogs and marshmallows over an open campfire, and it reminded me that there is more to life than the maniacal threats of Kim Jong-un. In the years ahead the grandkids won’t often think of

Sept. 14, 2017

[Carolyn B. Maloney] Pulling money for UN fund leaves women at risk

As the world faces multiple humanitarian crises around the world, few political actions have been as cruel and shortsighted as the Trump administration’s decision to cut off funding to the United Nations Population Fund.This UN agency provides lifesaving maternal health care in regions of the world plagued by conflict, famine and disaster and has saved countless lives around the world. With millions of refugees forced from their homes during the reign of terror across the Middle East brought on

Sept. 14, 2017

[Yang Sung-jin] What Korean gamers want

On average, 1 in 10 PC gamers across the world is now playing “Battlegrounds,” with more than 8 million copies sold worldwide as of August. The number of concurrent users -- a key yardstick measuring the popularity of an online game title -- surpassed a whopping 1.1 million on Sunday.What’s truly remarkable is that the multiplayer online game has yet to be formally launched. “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds,” by South Korean developer Bluehole, previously best known for multiplayer game “TERA,” is

Sept. 13, 2017

[Kim Myong-sik] Moon’s turnaround with realistic security vision

The scenes on TV screens were heartbreaking and incomprehensibly absurd. Just a few days after North Korea tested what it called a hydrogen bomb, hundreds of people clashed violently with a large police force as they attempted to obstruct the installation of an anti-missile system delivered here to protect them against missiles from the North -- possibly those mounted with nuclear bombs.　It took eight hours from midnight Sept. 6 to complete the transportation of the components of a US Terminal H

Sept. 13, 2017

[Kim Myong-sik] Moon’s turnaround with realistic security vision

[Michael Schuman] South Korea’s lessons for Trump

Advisers seem to have convinced US President Donald Trump not to trash the country’s free-trade agreement with South Korea -- for now. Trump himself still seems intent on extracting concessions from the Koreans and could yet withdraw from the deal. The irony is that, more than any other, South Korea’s own story shows how foolish that would be.Korea’s postwar rise may be the world’s most striking testament to the power of trade to create jobs and amass wealth. In the 1960s, economists wrestled wi

Sept. 13, 2017

[Daniel Moss] Stanley Fischer and IMF changed Asia for good

As he steps down as vice chair of the Federal Reserve, Stanley Fischer has been saluted for his overall contribution to central banking. His complex legacy after transforming key Asian economies should not be forgotten. As first deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund in the late 1990s, he played an important role in the emergency loans to Thailand, Indonesia and South Korea when their currencies collapsed. All three are American allies, and the last two are pivotal strategic

Sept. 13, 2017

[J.M. Opal] General Andrew Jackson plagues US today

One Southern monument that has not come under fire of late stands in front of the North Carolina Capitol. It is a bronze equestrian pose of Gen. Andrew Jackson, the president from 1829 to 1837, with a plaque that reads: “He Revitalized American Democracy.”That’s the usual view of the man. Somehow, we just know that Old Hickory made America a more egalitarian place than what the stuffy, bewigged Founders had designed in 1787.I don’t think the North Carolina statue should be removed. But I do thin

Sept. 13, 2017

[Robert J. Fouser] Korea and the world in 2100

The internet and social media make it hard to escape the news. News junkies are addicted to breaking stories and jump at the chance to post and tweet. Others scroll through the drone of the news in search of more interesting things. The only way to escape, it seems, is to turn off and hide.Fall is a busy season in Korea. The opening of the school term is followed by Chuseok, which soon leads to fall and the end of the year. This year will soon give way to 2018. Most of the children born in Korea

Sept. 12, 2017

[Robert J. Fouser] Korea and the world in 2100

[Kim Seong-kon] We need good professionals and wise men

Koreans are known to be extremely proud of themselves. Perhaps they are too proud to know their place in the world or even in East Asia. Many are so proud of themselves that they have delusions of grandeur, thinking they are one of the smartest peoples in the world. Embarrassingly, however, foreign experts on Korea would not agree with them because of poor decisions the Korean people have made at critical moments in their history. Indeed, we and our political leaders have made astonishingly poor

Sept. 12, 2017

[Kim Seong-kon] We need good professionals and wise men

[Noah Feldman] Trump’s right: Immigration is Congress’ mess

Amid the laudable moral support for the DACA recipients after President Donald Trump’s revocation of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, liberals should keep in mind an important constitutional principle: Immigration is supposed to be the province of Congress, not the executive. The belief that the president has ultimate immigration power can lead to terrible results -- like Trump’s travel ban against six majority-Muslim countries, also powered by the mistaken idea that immigrati

Sept. 12, 2017

[Doyle McManus] 'What Happened' in 2016? Hillary Clinton still doesn’t know

Was this book necessary? Hillary Clinton’s anguished, angry memoir of her presidential campaign, “What Happened,” will be unveiled this week, complete with television appearances and a 15-city lecture tour.Other Democrats have been dreading this moment for months.“I love Hillary,” Al Franken, the senator from Minnesota, said a few weeks ago. “I think she has a right to analyze what happened. But we do have to move on.”A backward-looking slog through the disappointments of last year’s campaign is

Sept. 12, 2017

[Lee Sung-yoon] Tighten North Korea sanctions; it’s the only way

North Korea isn’t stopping. Whether the powerful nuclear device it detonated earlier this month really is compatible with an intercontinental ballistic missile matters far less than the fact that the Kim Jong-un regime now stands on the verge of nuclear breakout. Simply put, Kim is closer to being able to kill millions of people outside North Korea, not least Americans.That is precisely the message behind Pyongyang’s repeated missile tests and Kim’s bluster barrage over the past several months.K

Sept. 12, 2017

[David Ignatius] While Trump takes the shots, Tillerson runs the offense

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has often been the silent man in Trump’s foreign policy team. But out of the spotlight, he appears to be crafting a broad strategy aimed at working with China to resolve the North Korea crisis and with Russia to stabilize Syria and Ukraine.The Tillerson approach focuses on personal diplomacy, in direct contacts with Chinese and Russian leaders, and through private channels to North Korea. His core strategic assumption is that if the US can subtly manage its relat

Sept. 11, 2017

[David Ignatius] While Trump takes the shots, Tillerson runs the offense

[Leonid Bershidsky] Negotiate with North Korea? A Russian tried

Negotiating with North Korea about the future of its nuclear program is often mentioned as an alternative to a military intervention. Neither is a viable option, says Vitaly Mansky, one of the few people who know first-hand what it’s like to negotiate with North Koreans and achieve a measure of success.In May 2013, Mansky’s documentary production company signed a deal with the Korea Film Export & Import Corporation, a North Korean government agency, to jointly make a movie called “Under the Sun.

Sept. 11, 2017

[Leonid Bershidsky] Negotiate with North Korea? A Russian tried

[Eli Lake] Art of renegotiating Iran nuclear deal

Since Donald Trump assumed the presidency, European allies have worried he will fulfill his campaign promise and pull the US out of the Iran nuclear deal.Trump’s national security cabinet has a different idea. US officials tell me that a new strategy on the agreement is ready for the president’s approval. Instead of blowing it apart, the plan is to make it stronger.The idea can be summed up as “waive, decertify and fix.” On Sept. 14, Trump is expected to waive the crippling sanctions on Iran’s b

Sept. 11, 2017

[Carl P. Leubsdorf] Trump and the Texas Republicans declare war on Hispanics

For more than three decades, Republicans have regarded the growing number of family-centered, socially conservative Hispanics as natural targets in their quest to become a majority party.But not anymore.In deed and word, President Donald Trump and Texas Republican officials have essentially declared war on Hispanics, targeting their growing presence and burgeoning influence at a time the Republican Party is receiving dwindling national support from them.The long-term political impact could be de

Sept. 11, 2017