The Korea Herald

[Sun Sentinel] A better way to elect our president - By popular vote

The election last year was the fifth in which the candidate with the most votes lost the presidency. It’s a dangerous way to run a democracy that depends upon the people’s trust.Florida could help in a big way to put an end to Electoral College malfunctions, but the necessary legislation doesn’t appear to have a warm welcome in Tallahassee. It should. Republican leaders there need to consider that what has helped their party in the past could easily hurt them in the future.In 2004, President Geo

Jan. 4, 2018

[Leonid Bershidsky] Democracy in Iran? The demographics say yes

In a country as repressive as Iran, it’s difficult to gauge where the current countrywide protests are leading. But a bold theory that predicted the recent transition to democracy in Tunisia may offer some clues.In 2008, US demographer Richard Cincotta predicted that Tunisia — then under a well-established authoritarian regime — would probably democratize before 2020 based on the age structure of its population. When Cincotta aired the forecast at a meeting of Middle East experts sponsored by th

Jan. 4, 2018

[Leonid Bershidsky] Democracy in Iran? The demographics say yes

[Rekha Basu] How did we get here, America?

My cheeky sons created a shocking display under the Christmas tree and waited to see us react. It was a collection of books about politics, parenthood and such pulled off our shelves. None was X-rated but their authors included Mark Halperin, Al Franken, Bill Cosby, Roman Polanski and Bill Clinton.Seeing those men’s names together like that felt sickening at first. Then it drove home how our household has contributed to the fortunes of such high-profile men now accused of sexual abuses. And it m

Jan. 4, 2018

[Adam Minter] Let North Korea into Olympics

This week, South Korea accepted North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s offer of “urgent” talks over his country’s participation in the 2018 Olympic Games in PyeongChang. Although the sudden engagement over what might amount to two figure skaters crossing the border may not seem like a big deal, history suggests that ignoring the entreaty could be a major missed opportunity.To understand the significance of these talks, it’s worth remembering the last time the Olympic Games were held on the Korean Pen

Jan. 4, 2018

[Adam Minter] Let North Korea into Olympics

[Mac Margolis] A new commodities boom and preservation

Demand is surging again for oil, minerals and grains -- the basic goods to which Latin America’s fortunes have long been tethered. After a year of graft scandals and political whiplash, you can just about hear the sighs of collective relief.Or is that just a giant sucking sound?Since the voyages of discovery, raw materials and farm goods have been Latin America’s blessing and its trap, filling official coffers but too often despoiling the environment and condemning economies to boom and bust. Th

Jan. 4, 2018

[Kim Myong-sik] What miracle Winter Olympics can pull off in Korea

The 23rd Winter Olympics in PyeongChang are little more than a month away. We do not know yet what impact the world festival on snow and ice will have on this country, which is undergoing immense domestic and external woes. Financially, a balance sheet in red letters is very likely, but some magic outcome may not be too far-fetched when we recall what happened three decades ago. 　 We happily recall the excitement of watching the TV broadcast on the night of Sept. 30, 1981, when International Oly

Jan. 3, 2018

[Kim Myong-sik] What miracle Winter Olympics can pull off in Korea

[Mac Margolis] Latin America’s #MeToo moment

The revolt against sexual predation in the workplace is in full cry in the United States. But what about in Latin America, where machismo was branded and the border between seduction and assault has been elastic and riddled with legal indulgences?The outrage may be more selective and change agonizingly slow, but even in the most patriarchal societies of the Americas, the pushback is gathering force. From Mexico City to Buenos Aires, a new generation is speaking up, driving policy changes and cal

Jan. 3, 2018

[Adam Minter] Mental health IPO a leap forward for China

The number of Chinese registered as suffering from depression, anxiety, alcohol abuse, dementia and other mental illnesses increased by 25 percent between 2014 and 2016, according to Chinese authorities. By one recent accounting, they number 173 million. Only 20 million receive professional treatment.Long-standing social stigmas and a lack of treatment options account for most of the gap. But those biases and institutional weaknesses are starting to break down. This week, Wenzhou Kangning, a cha

Jan. 3, 2018

[Adam Minter] Mental health IPO a leap forward for China

[Jerry Haar] US immigration reform necessary for national security

Is there merit in President Donald Trump’s call for a merit-based immigration system for the United States?Take two cases.Rosa Gonzalez, a housekeeper from Honduras and a US citizen, seeks to sponsor her aunt Mercedes Silva to immigrate to the US. A resident of Yuscatan (population 2,400), Ms. Silva is 80 years old, blind and severely diabetic. She is cared for by a younger sister and niece.Sergei Schevchenko is a 33-year scientist from Ukraine with double doctorates from American universities i

Jan. 3, 2018

[Scott Martelle] It’s cold. For Trump, that’s evidence against global warming

This could become President Donald Trump’s Sen. Jim Inhofe moment, in which a dramatic flourish to make a political point instead just displays an astounding mix of arrogance and ignorance.So what did Trump do this time (how’s that for an evergreen question)?It’s cold in most of the country. Of course, it’s also winter, and they go hand in hand in most of the US. As does snowfall. Inhofe, an Oklahoma Republican, famously carried a snowball made of fresh-fallen snow on Capitol Hill to the Senate

Jan. 3, 2018

[Kim Seong-kon] Rise and shine in the Year of the Dog

According to the Chinese zodiac, 2018 is the year of the dog. It is believed that those who are born in the year of the dog are independent, faithful, and loyal. Dogs are man’s best friend who can understand the human mind better than any other animal. Indeed, there are many stories of a loyal dog saving his master’s life at the cost of his own. No other domestic animal would or could do it. Perhaps that is why Koreans, who value loyalty, prefer dogs to cats. This sign has its downsides too. The

Jan. 2, 2018

[Kim Seong-kon] Rise and shine in the Year of the Dog

[Robert J. Fouser] Building on Moon Jae-in’s good first year

South Korea did well in 2017. The year began with insecurity over the impeachment of then-president Park Geun-hye. Her removal from office in March caused a short, but intense, election campaign that resulted in an overwhelming victory for Moon Jae-in in May. The spring saw rapidly rising tensions between the US and North Korea over the North’s nuclear weapons program. In the past, a political vacuum and war worries would have had a strong impact on the South Korean economy, but economic growth

Jan. 2, 2018

[Robert J. Fouser] Building on Moon Jae-in’s good first year

[Elizabeth Drew] A Trump New Year

As US President Donald Trump decamped to his mansion-cum-private club in Palm Beach, Florida, for the holidays, he left Washington, DC, on edge. It’s obvious that Trump and his strong allies in Congress are determined to torpedo what’s supposed to be an independent legal inquiry into whether Trump and his campaign colluded with Russia in its efforts to defeat Hillary Clinton in 2016.The Trump camp’s behavior toward Special Counsel Robert Mueller and the FBI makes Richard Nixon and his aides’ beh

Jan. 2, 2018

[Daniel Moss] The great trade war that didn’t happen in 2017

The trade war didn’t happen. Prepare for a few skirmishes.It was high on many observers’ lists of things that could go badly wrong in 2017. Buying and selling of goods and services across borders not only increased last year, but also grew more than anticipated. This year may test whether that’s a durable trend or just an accident that flew in the face of politics. Part of the thanks goes to a more vigorous global economic expansion. The resilience of the international system should also get its

Jan. 2, 2018

[Noah Smith] Monopolies may be worse for workers than for consumers

Monopoly power is a hot topic of economic debate. Economists are starting to ask whether increasing industrial concentration is choking off productivity growth, reducing capital investment, throttling or deterring would-be entrepreneurs, raising consumer prices, and reducing the share of national income flowing to workers.This is a good and important effort. But it’s also possible that with all the attention being paid to concentration at the industry level, there hasn’t been enough focus on the

Jan. 2, 2018

[David Ignatius] Trump’s divisiveness puts America at risk

Looking for perspective on the past year and the new one, I turned to several of the nation’s most experienced former military commanders. One of them put it bluntly: America is so divided politically at home that we are becoming vulnerable to our adversaries abroad.America, these retired military leaders fear, is so divided right now that it might be difficult to mobilize the country for war, if that were necessary. The nation survives amid division and dysfunction now, when we’re at peace, mor

Jan. 1, 2018

[David Ignatius] Trump’s divisiveness puts America at risk

[Noah Feldman] Tillerson won’t admit: The US has no leverage

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson may think his year-end summary of US foreign policy is a tale of success. But the remarkable op-ed article in the New York Times in fact illustrates the opposite: It shows in chapter and verse how the US lacks leverage over many of the critical challenges it faces globally. From North Korea to China to Russia and the Middle East, American objectives are clear -- and the Donald Trump administration has no credible road map to achieve them.Start with North Korea. T

Jan. 1, 2018

[Noah Feldman] Tillerson won’t admit: The US has no leverage

[Andres Oppenheimer] Latin America poised to make big news in 2018

An old joke among foreign correspondents in Latin America says that Americans will do almost everything for Latin America -- except read or watch news about it. But that may not hold true in 2018: It’s going to be a year in which the region will make big headlines worldwide.Here are six major reasons why:First, in 2018 there will be presidential elections in Mexico and Brazil, the two biggest countries in the region, as well as in Colombia, Venezuela, Paraguay and Costa Rica. That means that nea

Jan. 1, 2018

[Nathaniel Bullard & Adam Minter] The upside to America’s gadget infatuation

Americans have never been more addicted to devices. Thanks to the mobile revolution initiated by the iPhone, the US alone is home to 238 million mobile phones and 140 million tablets that are rarely shut down. And their numbers are growing, thanks to a perpetual upgrade cycle and demand for new features. For environmentalists, it’s a looming electronic nightmare in which America’s gadget obsession consumes increasingly higher volumes of the world’s limited resources.Thankfully, the data shows th

Jan. 1, 2018

[Leona Allen] Women, speak up when you deserve more money

So, you’re a woman rocking along in a job you love. Your bosses seem more than pleased with your hard work. You feel appreciated for the most part.That is, until the moment you discover that your male colleague sitting right next to you in a similar position with similar years of experience is paid far more than you are.Talk about a slap in the face.That’s what reportedly happened last week to “E!News” host Catt Sadler, who after 12 years at the network said she learned that co-host Jason Kenned

Jan. 1, 2018