The Korea Herald

[Eli Park Sorensen] Exploring boundary between man and machine

Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel “Never Let Me Go” (2005) presents a new interpretation of an old theme in popular culture ― technophobia. From Mary Shelley’s novel “Frankenstein” (1818) and H.G. Wells’ “The Island of Doctor Moreau” (1896) to contemporary movies like “The Matrix” (1999) and “The Island” (2005) ― technophobia, or, the fear of technology, has been a recurrent theme in the cultural imagination throughout the ages of the modern world.In Ishiguro’s dystopian sci-fi novel, we follow three young

Aug. 19, 2012

[Eli Park Sorensen] Exploring boundary between man and machine

In the long run, Arab Spring might help Israel

A few months ago, as I was speaking to a non-profit group about how developments in the Arab world would affect Israel, I noticed the faces in the crowd looking back at me with deep skepticism. I understood the reason.I was arguing that there is a possibility ― not a certainty ― that Israel will eventually emerge safer than before as a result of the Arab revolutions, also known as the Arab Spring. I have not changed my mind.Let me be clear: I know there are no guarantees and great risk. A period

Aug. 17, 2012

[David Ignatius] What the election is all about

WASHINGTON ― The politics of “sequestration” illustrate the talent of congressional Republicans, led by Rep. Paul Ryan for being on both sides of the budget issue: They play a game of “chicken” with federal outlays, demanding a balanced budget without tax increases, and then insist that it’s the Democrats’ fault if there’s a crackup. This fiscal impasse will be a dramatic backdrop for the fall presidential campaign: As Election Day approaches, the clock will be ticking on across-the-board cuts o

Aug. 17, 2012

[David Ignatius] What the election is all about

Japan will have to hold on to pacifist principle

Japan marked the 67th anniversary of its surrender to Allied Powers in World War II on Wednesday. This year’s anniversary was different from past anniversaries. It came amid moves by several political parties to change the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution.In this situation it is all the more important for every citizen to ponder Japan’s modern war in the 1930s and 1940s. The security situation surrounding Japan these days is not easy. But this should not be used as justification for

Aug. 16, 2012

[Itamar Rabinovich] Sinai powder keg and Israel

TEL AVIV ― The crisis in the Sinai Peninsula seems to have been dwarfed by Sunday’s drama in Cairo. But Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi’s civilian coup, in which he dismissed General Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the leader of the army’s supreme command, has not diminished the importance of the trouble there.Earlier this month, jihadi terrorists ambushed an Egyptian military base in Sinai, killing 16 Egyptian soldiers. They then hijacked two armored personnel carriers and sped toward the frontier wi

Aug. 16, 2012

[Itamar Rabinovich] Sinai powder keg and Israel

‘Material Girl’ shows she has substance, too

Not everybody likes Madonna. But one reason the controversial Queen of Pop continues to be popular around the world is her compelling embrace of individual freedom.In Moscow on Tuesday, Madonna urged authorities to free the three women in the punk-rock band Pussy Riot, who were arrested for staging a protest in an Orthodox church against Russian President Vladimir Putin.Maria Alyokhina, 24, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 29, could face up to three years in prison for sto

Aug. 16, 2012

An elected president sidelines the generals

Egypt has undergone a revolution of sorts. No, not the one last year, when weeks of mass protests forced the resignation of longtime dictator Hosni Mubarak.That revolution had been substantially frustrated by the Egyptian military, which had been allied with Mubarak and which refused to relinquish power ― even as Egyptians were in the midst of exerting their unprecedented right to choose their new leader in June.But over the weekend, the country’s newly elected president, Mohammed Morsi, cashier

Aug. 16, 2012

Carbon taxes cut debt and cool the planet

Absent some profound shift in our penchant for burning coal, oil and gas, the Earth is expected to warm as much as 11.5 degrees Fahrenheit over the next 100 years, causing more weather-related destruction. It’s only responsible to force a shift away from fossil fuels by enacting a carbon tax. The U.S., which accounts for about 19 percent of global emissions today, should take the lead in doing so as part of broader tax reform. The benefits of such a tax are clear: It would raise immediate revenu

Aug. 16, 2012

[Shashi Tharoor] U.S. presidential election and India’s American ties

NEW DELHI ― With America’s presidential election looming, perhaps its most striking aspect from an Indian point of view is that no one in New Delhi is unduly concerned about the outcome. There is now a broad consensus in Indian policymaking circles that, whoever wins, India-United States relations are more or less on the right track.Democrats and Republicans alike have both been responsible for this development. President Barack Obama’s successful visit to India in 2010, and his historic speech

Aug. 16, 2012

[Shashi Tharoor] U.S. presidential election and India’s American ties

[Zaki Ladi] Economy and Olympic medals

PARIS ― Is there a link between economic power and Olympic medals? Is a form of multipolarity in sports emerging as political multipolarity sets in?In 1992, immediately after the Cold War’s end, the United States and the former Soviet Union’s “Unified Team” won a quarter of the medals in Barcelona. Global bipolarity had not yet vanished. By the 2008 Beijing games, the world had changed significantly. The Soviet-American duopoly had given way to a Sino-American duopoly, which won a combined 20 pe

Aug. 15, 2012

Don’t blame discrimination for gender wage gap

It’s a staple of feminist rhetoric: Women make less money than men because of discrimination. “We’d all like to think, in 2012, that pay discrimination is a thing of the past,” the progressive activist Joy Lawson wrote in the Huffington Post recently. “But the pay gap still exists, and it’s big: women earn an average of 77 cents on a man’s dollar.” April 17 has been designated Equal Pay Day: Supposedly that’s how long women have to work to catch up to men’s pay from the previous year. U.S. Presi

Aug. 15, 2012

The end of welfare-to-work? No evidence it will be gutted

Republicans complain that the Obama administration is moving to gut the highly popular 1996 federal law that put strict time limits on welfare payments and required recipients to find work. Mitt Romney, on the stump and in a new TV ad, says this is more evidence that the White House is promoting a “culture of dependency.”“That is wrong,” Romney said in Elk Grove Village, Ill., this week. “If I am president, I will put work back in welfare.”What launched all this talk was a July 12 directive from

Aug. 15, 2012

The tragedy of commons is wealth polarization

The tragedy of the commons is how Francis Fukuyama describes the infeasibility of Utopia in his new book, “The Origins of Political Order.” When Garrett Hardin used the phrase as a title for his article in 1968, he actually talked about the dilemma: When everybody owns something, nobody owns it.We Chinese have a similar saying to describe almost the same thing: A monk fetches water in buckets hanging from a bamboo pole on his shoulder; when he is joined by another monk, he shares the burden with

Aug. 15, 2012

An $8.5 billion IPO looks like the next Facebook

Japan Airlines Co. owes me something as it plans an $8.5 billion initial public offering: a thank you. Not because I’m a frequent flier, but a Japan taxpayer. In the euphoria over the carrier emerging from bankruptcy, aren’t we forgetting the jumbo-jet-sized role of the state? A $4.5 billion government-orchestrated bailout and even bigger subsidies that let it avoid billions of dollars in future tax payments. So next month, when JAL attempts the most ambitious IPO since Facebook Inc., it should

Aug. 15, 2012

[Kim Seong-kon] Are they warriors or knights?

During the London Olympic Games, Koreans everywhere could be seen heartily cheering on their athletes who were striving for medals only awarded to the best of the best. Thanks to the strenuous efforts of our outstanding athletes throughout the past and presently in London as well, South Korea earned her 100th total medal, and was amazingly ranked fifth in the London Olympics. Our athletes as usual swept the gold medals in archery, as well as winning many medals in fencing. Even better, the South

Aug. 15, 2012

[Kim Seong-kon] Are they warriors or knights?

A policy for peace in the South China Sea

What do you call an ocean that sits atop more than 10 billion barrels of recoverable oil and 100 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, provides transit for $5.3 trillion worth of shipborne trade every year, and is bordered by a half-dozen nations with competing maritime and territorial claims? If you’re a geographer, the South China Sea. If you’re a geostrategist, however, it’s a powder keg ― and one that has been heating up dangerously over the past year. Defusing it peacefully will be a test not

Aug. 14, 2012

[Daniel Fiedler] Pardons for dangerous drivers

Today is Liberation Day in South Korea. This is the anniversary of the day that Japan surrendered to the United States at the end of World War II and South Korea once again became a free and independent country. This is also a day on which the president of South Korea often issues pardons to many of those who have run afoul of the law. These pardons have often been controversial because some recipients have been close confidants of the president or powerful members of South Korean society or bot

Aug. 14, 2012

[Daniel Fiedler] Pardons for dangerous drivers

[Albert R. Hunt] Ryan splits from his mentor

Mitt Romney’s running mate, Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, is a self-styled disciple of the late Jack Kemp, the buoyant conservative Republican who played a major role in shaping the political agenda in the last quarter of the 20th century. The relationship was real. Ryan worked for Kemp as a speechwriter and at his research group; Kemp’s granddaughter was an intern in his protg’s congressional office. Like his mentor, Ryan is passionate, exuberant, intellectually stimulating and devoid

Aug. 13, 2012

[Albert R. Hunt] Ryan splits from his mentor

Did we just find someone to take on the banks?

To see how the federal government has pursued money-laundering cases against big banks over their dealings with Iran and other countries under U.S. trade sanctions, consider what happened when Barclays Plc and the Justice Department were required to file reports describing the U.K. bank’s cooperation under a settlement in 2010. The deadline came and went. Barclays and the Justice Department failed to comply, infuriating U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan of Washington, who had ordered that the r

Aug. 13, 2012

Romney-Ryan could stimulate contest of ideas

By choosing U.S. Representative Paul Ryan as his running mate, Mitt Romney has added some verve to what had been a tedious presidential contest. Romney deserves credit for his audacity, to borrow a word from his opponent. The question is whether the Republican campaign’s newfound energy will be used more to obfuscate or illuminate. If the latter, voters might find that the two presidential candidates agree more than they would have you believe. The debates over such phony issues as whether Romne

Aug. 13, 2012