[Kim Seong-kon] True meanings of progressivism and conservatism

People say that today’s South Korea has become a battlefield between progressive and the conservative. The press, too, divides the people into these two categories. When there is an anti-government demonstration, newspapers and TV news programs report, “Conservatives gathered at Gwanghwamun Square to protest.” The headline implies that those who support the current South Korean government are progressives and those who do not are conservatives. However, such a bipolar dichotomy

Jan. 14, 2020

[David Fickling] What ‘Parasite’ misses about inequality in Korea

To judge by “Parasite” -- Bong Joon-ho’s Golden Globe-winning portrait of three Seoul families thrown into queasy proximity by the country’s wealth divide — South Korea is an Asian version of Brazil or South Africa.The poor in Bong’s black comedy are unable to escape the bottom of the heap -- living in overcrowded basement apartments, or even (in a horrifying twist) further below ground. The wealthy enjoy a life of careless riches and open skies on Seoul&rsquo

Jan. 13, 2020

[J. Bradford DeLong] Isn’t a wealth tax common sense?

I was not surprised when leading Democratic primary contenders began endorsing a “wealth tax” along the lines of what has been proposed by my University of California, Berkeley colleagues Gabriel Zucman and Emmanuel Saez. What has surprised me is the level of pushback these candidates have received, particularly from those who should be in favor of anything that moves the United States toward a more progressive tax system. When I first began studying public finance, I was taught that

Jan. 13, 2020

[Trudy Rubin] Phase 2 of US-Iran conflict will take place in Iraq

This is a moment -- in the wake of the Soleimani killing and the mild Iranian response -- when everyone needs to take a deep breath.Iranian officials are clearly shocked and debating their options. They will have to factor in the fallout if, as evidence indicates, Iran mistakenly downed a Ukrainian airliner.Whether or not it was necessary or wise to kill Gen. Qassem Soleimani, his death won’t produce World War III. The Iranian response, as I’ve written, will be asymmetric and occur o

Jan. 12, 2020

[Serendipity] Judge a book by its cover, you stand to lose

This sounds rather silly. For a couple of years, I had seen copies of “A Gentleman in Moscow” by Amor Towles on prominent display at the Kyobo Book Center. On the cover was a black-and-white photo of an elderly man in a suit and a hat leaning ever so slightly over a balcony, appearing to be peering down into the city streets, his back to the viewer.Convinced that it was a spy thriller -- anything with the word “Moscow” seems suspect -- I did not bother to lift up the book

Jan. 10, 2020

[David Fickling] Iran’s freaking out the oil market. It shouldn’t

It’s often said that the best time to buy is when there’s blood on the streets. The best time to sell oil, by contrast, is when the world’s gas tanks look empty. That’s reason to temper the fear and excitement driving the oil market -- even in the face of Wednesday’s Iranian rocket strike on two joint US bases in Iraq, which sparked the biggest intraday rally for Brent crude since a September attack on a Saudi production facility.There are first- and second-order ef

Jan. 9, 2020

[Leonid Bershidsky] Putin now needs to rethink Mideast plan

Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, killed last week by a US drone in Baghdad, has been credited with persuading Russian President Vladimir Putin to intervene militarily in Syria in 2015, a claim the Kremlin denies. Regardless of the truth of that particular story, though, the inevitable escalation following Soleimani’s death has the potential to change Putin’s calculus in the region.Commenting on Soleimani’s demise, the Russian Defense Ministry praised his “indisputable contr

Jan. 9, 2020

[Doyle Mcmanus] Trump’s Orwellian doublespeak on Iran

The US missile strike that killed Iranian Quds Force leader Qassem Soleimani was a stunning escalation of the conflict between the United States and Iran -- an act of open war in a struggle that has been carried out in the shadows for decades.Yet President Donald Trump and his aides oddly called the airstrike a “de-escalation,” as if it were a step toward peace.“We took action last night to stop a war. We did not take action to start a war,” the president told supporters

Jan. 8, 2020

[Kim Seong-kon] Zombies and factional scuffles in “Kingdom”

Netflix’s original series “Kingdom” is a zombie drama set in the Joseon era right after the Japanese invasions of Korea between 1592 and 1598. Adapted from the webcomic “The Kingdom of the Gods,” the series depicts Joseon society presumably in the late 16th or early 17th century when factional brawls were undermining the kingdom. The story unravels an intricate web of power struggles between Prime Minister Cho Hak-ju, the father of Queen Cho, and other Cabinet minis

Jan. 7, 2020

[Kay C. James] Pivotal issues America faces in 2020

As we head into the new year and the kickoff to the Roaring ‘20s 2.0 (and they will roar), policymakers will be faced with some incredibly important decisions. Several issues will take center stage, ones with the potential to significantly shape our future, from immigration reform to college loan debt.Certainly one of the biggest will be the Senate impeachment trial of US President Trump. Although the outcome is nearly certain -- there aren’t enough votes to remove the president from

Jan. 6, 2020

[Hussein Ibish] War with Iran not inevitable

Now that the US has taken out Qassem Soleimani, arguably the most important military figure in the 40-year history of the Islamic Republic, conventional wisdom holds that Tehran must respond with extreme prejudice. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has promised “severe retaliation,” and his regime is putting out videos of thousands of Iranian mourners demanding vengeance.What might that mean? Many commentators -- and not only in Iran or the US -- are suggesting that a new war in the Middle

Jan. 6, 2020

[A. Gary Shilling] Simple economics to contain health care costs

Spending on US health care is out of control, expanding steadily from 5 percent of gross domestic product in 1960 to 18 percent in 2018. There are, however, ways to curb the explosion in costs from both the demand and the supply side.Health care costs per capita in the US are almost double those of other developed countries, but life expectancy is lower than many, even South Korea, according to the CIA and Eurostat. Without restraint, costs will accelerate as more and more postwar babies age. Th

Jan. 5, 2020

[Hal Brands] Trump’s Iran policy spirals toward control

The US airstrike that killed Qassem Soleimani, head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Quds Force, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a leader of Iranian-backed militias in Iraq, was not simply a sharp departure in the Trump administration’s policy toward Tehran. It also marks a larger shift in America’s response to Iranian influence and provocations in the Middle East. President Donald Trump has gambled that an extraordinary escalation will allow it to reassert control of an intensifying U

Jan. 5, 2020

[Michael R. Strain] Wages are based more on productivity, less on exploitation

“Workers are delivering more, and they’re getting a lot less,” argued former Vice President Joe Biden in a speech at the Brookings Institution this summer. “There’s no correlation now between productivity and wages.” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democratic presidential rival, agrees. Her campaign website states that “wages have largely stagnated,” even though “worker productivity has risen steadily.” The claim that productivity no longer dr

Jan. 2, 2020

[Tyler Cowen] What Trump and Thunberg have in common

In all the “Best of the Decade” lists I’ve been seeing, one topic has been neglected: orators. I’d like to remedy that, noting that I am not necessarily endorsing anything anyone says. “Best” in this context means the most powerful and influential public speaker, not having the most salutary effect on the world.My choice for second place is Greta Thunberg. In little more than a year, Thunberg has moved from being an unheard-of 16-year-old Swedish girl to Time&

Jan. 2, 2020

[Kim Myong-sik] Koreans greet New Year with more fears than hopes

South Korea is a safe place to live. Walking home alone through a back alley at night, one does not have to be too scared, although there’s the chance of confronting a drunkard -- who usually is harmless, however. In daytime, the incidence of pickpocketing or taxi robbery has been remarkably reduced compared with a few decades ago. The ubiquitous CCTV in all parts of the country may have discouraged petty criminals from grabbing money directly but pushed them toward more sophisticated mean

Jan. 1, 2020

[Noah Smith] The middle class risks consuming itself

Americans are increasingly anxious about the costs of services such as health care and education. But these are the very same industries that increasingly sustain the middle class. Resolving this paradox is the key to creating the economy of the future.It’s not much of a surprise to note that prices for most physical goods have dropped, but the costs of big-ticket services have become much higher.As health care absorbs an ever-larger share of national income, many want the government to ta

Jan. 1, 2020

[Robert J. Fouser] The 2020s, a look ahead

In my last column I looked back on the 2010s in South Korea; this time I look forward and offer some predictions for the 2020s. The predictions highlight the challenges that South Korea will face in the new decade.Domestically, the aging of the population and generational change will have a profound influence over South Korean society. By the end of the decade, most of the large post Korean-War baby boom generation will be in its seventies and well into retirement. Meanwhile, most of the politic

Dec. 31, 2019

[Kim Seong-kon] Belling the cat in the Year of the Mouse

In the Chinese horoscope, 2020 is the Year of the Mouse. According to the fable behind the horoscope, when the Emperor of Heaven invited 12 animals to his party, the Mouse cunningly tricked the Ox into giving him a lift, and then jumped down at the end to cross the finish line first. Since the Mouse begins the zodiac ahead of the other animals, they say that the Year of the Mouse marks a year of new beginnings. We hope that 2020 will be a year of new beginnings for Korea too.In the horoscope, th

Dec. 31, 2019

Striving for clarity in 2020

The first day of the new year is perhaps one of the most optimistic days of any year, bringing with it a host of new possibilities. “Out with the old, in with the new,” we intone.In this age of befuddlement marked by growing confusion and mounting uncertainties, clarity has become a much-sought-after commodity. The year 2020 rings hopeful -- the very sound of “twenty-twenty” conjures up an image of acuity, sharpness, focus. Hindsight is 20/20, it is said. But what if, in

Dec. 31, 2019