The Korea Herald

[Lee Jae-min] Despite 20-year deregulation drive, businesses still concerned over red tape

After a roller coaster year on the trade front, we are now well-versed in other countries’ trade barriers restraining Korean products and businesses. We, however, tend to forget how we are viewed in the eyes of other nations. The latest observation came from the Nov. 30 joint statement by five chambers of commerce operating in Seoul: the American, European, British, French and German Chambers of Commerce. The joint statement was the first of its kind.What was mentioned in the statement is their

Dec. 11, 2018

[Lee Jae-min] Despite 20-year deregulation drive, businesses still concerned over red tape

[Leonid Bershidsky] Exit Merkel. Enter hope for centrism in Europe.

Chancellor Angela Merkel has been accused of killing German politics with her boa constrictor-like dominance and her contempt for electioneering fireworks. But on Friday, as she handed over the leadership of the Christian Democratic Union, it was clear that exciting political competition is alive even within the CDU, and that Germany’s next chancellor and Europe’s next de facto leader will be a star politician.　That star is Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, a Merkel disciple and chosen successor.　The

Dec. 11, 2018

[Kim Seong-kon] The rainbow coalition of Christian and Islamic culture

History tells us that ever since the Crusades, Christianity and Islam have been archenemies. The clash between these two civilizations and religions seems to be reaching its breaking point today, as Muslim extremists frequently attack Christian countries and the US government seeks to prevent people from certain countries associated with radical Islamic beliefs from entering US soil. Under the circumstances, many people wonder if peaceful coexistence will ever be possible at all. But perhaps suc

Dec. 11, 2018

[Kim Seong-kon] The rainbow coalition of Christian and Islamic culture

[Ferdinando Giugliano] Greece drags itself back toward normality

As the cradle of democracy, Greece knows better than most countries what politics is all about. Yet, for the last eight years, any discussions between lawmakers from the left and right there have been overshadowed by the country’s economic collapse, and the string of rescue programs put together by the European Union and International Monetary Fund.Athens has been locked in permanent confrontation with its European partners, which culminated in the showdown of 2015 when Greece very nearly exited

Dec. 11, 2018

[David Ignatius] Information war led to murder

When Jamal Khashoggi entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, he didn’t know he was walking into a killing zone. He had become the prime target in a 21st century information war -- one that involved hacking, kidnapping and ultimately murder -- waged by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and his courtiers against dissenters.How did a battle of ideas, triggered by Khashoggi’s outspoken journalism for the Washington Post, become so deadly? That’s the riddle at the center of the column

Dec. 10, 2018

[David Ignatius] Information war led to murder

[Dimitri Bruyas] Resolving Taiwan’s policy toward China long overdue

No one likes dealing with a difficult situation. But now is the time to get things done for Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party, which will hold a by-election on Jan. 6 to replace its chairperson, President Tsai Ing-wen, following the party’s crushing defeat in the Nov. 24 local government elections. The date was decided on Wednesday at a meeting of the party’s Central Executive Committee, but the question of whether Taiwan should maintain its policy toward China before the next presidential e

Dec. 10, 2018

[Dimitri Bruyas] Resolving Taiwan’s policy toward China long overdue

[Pankaj Mishra] Macron fans flames of illiberalism

In 2017, the election of Emmanuel Macron, a former investment banker, as France’s president was almost unanimously seen in the business press as a sign that the tide of “populism” could be reversed.　It is true that this silver-tongued graduate of Sciences Po and Ecole Nationale d’Administration -- the nurseries of the French ruling elite -- had prevented a far-right demagogue from occupying the Elysee Palace. However, there was much in Macron’s pseudo-regal demeanor and fancy rhetoric -- which i

Dec. 10, 2018

[Anjani Trivedi] Huawei effect threatens China’s spy-tech champion

There goes the future of Chinese surveillance giant Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology.For months, the risk of sanctions or other penalties has been hanging over Hikvision, one of the world’s largest makers of security cameras and other spying equipment. In August, President Donald Trump signed a law that forbade US government agencies from buying surveillance products from Chinese firms including Hikvision, ZTE and Huawei Technologies. In September, the New York Times reported that the US wa

Dec. 10, 2018

[Alex Webb] If Europe can tax Google, so can everybody else

France and Germany have now reached a consensus on how to tax some of the Silicon Valley giants. America, the ball’s in your court. The two countries released a statement on Dec. 4 declaring their support for a 3 percent tax on digital ads, providing a breakthrough in European Union wrangling on how to deal with big tech. It’s essentially a levy on Facebook and Google parent Alphabet. The accord represents a softening of the French position, which had initially sought a broader tax on data. That

Dec. 10, 2018

[James Gibney] Pompeo leading foreign-policy farce

If a diplomat truly is, as the old saying goes, “an honest man sent abroad to lie for his country,” then Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has earned his pay. His speech in Brussels on “Restoring the Role of the Nation-State in the Liberal International Order” deserves a State Department Distinguished Honor Award for Intellectual Dishonesty.“Multilateralism has too often become viewed as an end unto itself,” said Pompeo. “The more treaties we sign, the safer we supposedly are. The more bureaucrats

Dec. 9, 2018

[James Gibney] Pompeo leading foreign-policy farce

[Shang-Jin Wei] Reciprocal solution to trade dispute

For many allies of the United States, the flaws in President Donald Trump’s trade war with China -- which is on hold for 90 days following the Xi-Trump meeting in Argentina -- lay in the approach, not the motivation. Indeed, Europe and Japan share many of Trump’s grievances. What they fail to acknowledge is that there is also plenty they can do to make the global trading system -- and their relationships with China -- fairer and more efficient.To be sure, China needs to take steps to reform its

Dec. 9, 2018

[Shang-Jin Wei] Reciprocal solution to trade dispute

[Tim Culpan] US nabbing Huawei is dog that caught the car 　

The US is looking like the dog that caught the car. It needs to decide what to do next.Except that Wanzhou Meng is a person. She’s the chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies as well as deputy chairwoman and the daughter of its founder. She’s in Canadian custody awaiting extradition to the US, and China is outraged.　With Huawei finally being fingered for alleged sanctions-busting, a charge already leveled at compatriot ZTE, the US Department of Justice and the Trump administration have an

Dec. 9, 2018

[Bernard-Henri Levy] Will Yellow Vests reject Brown Shirts?

From the moment the French government canceled its planned fuel tax hike in the face of massive protests, it was obvious the move would be perceived as inadequate, insignificant and above all incapable of having any calming effect. Honor to whom honor is due: the Yellow Vests claim to be an expression of the sovereign people. But they now bear a heavy responsibility.For starters, they must announce a moratorium on demonstrations and blockades for a period long enough to accommodate the dialogue

Dec. 9, 2018

[Signe Poulsen] Inter-Korean talks best way to commemorate 70th anniversary of UDHR

The high-level talks that have dominated the news headlines in 2018 represent a real opportunity for decreasing tensions and improving relations between states on the Korean Peninsula and in the wider region. The successful removal of some of the most destructive weapons known to humankind would be a tangible sign that the region is emerging from an era of inter-state relations characterized by enmity, mistrust and aggression. What is currently missing from these high-level talks, involving some

Dec. 9, 2018

[Joseph E. Stiglitz] Beyond GDP

Just under 10 years ago, the International Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress issued its report, “Mismeasuring Our Lives: Why GDP Doesn’t Add Up.” The title summed it up: GDP is not a good measure of well-being. What we measure affects what we do, and if we measure the wrong thing, we will do the wrong thing. If we focus only on material well-being -- on, say, the production of goods, rather than on health, education, and the environment -- we become distor

Dec. 6, 2018

[James Stavridis] 5 steps for America to retake global leadership

As we approach the end of a long and complex year, and a turbulent election that saw a change of power in the House, it seems an appropriate time to hit pause and contemplate an approach toward a long-term global strategy for our country. We live in a highly tactical age, one that often seems categorized by the old saying, “the carnival moves on.” We seemingly have lost the collective ability to stop and consider where America needs to set its course.Strategy is actually simple: it is the ration

Dec. 6, 2018

[James Stavridis] 5 steps for America to retake global leadership

[Leonid Bershidsky] How to annoy Europe: Cancel Brexit

The top European court now is highly likely to rule that the UK can cancel Brexit unilaterally. For all the domestic political hurdles such a move would face, it’s intriguing to ponder how Europe would take it if the UK did cancel Brexit.Last year, a group of Scottish lawmakers asked a court in Scotland whether, having initiated an EU exit procedure under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, a country can revoke the decision without other member states’ consent. The court referred the question to th

Dec. 6, 2018

[Leonid Bershidsky] How to annoy Europe: Cancel Brexit

[Eli Lake] Lindsey Graham’s plan for regime change -- in Saudi Arabia

Give Lindsey Graham credit. When it comes to regime change, at least he is consistent. The Republican senator from South Carolina has supported the removal of dictators from US adversaries such as Iraq and Libya, and now he wants new leadership for a crucial US ally: Saudi Arabia. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman “is a wrecking ball,” Graham said at a press conference Tuesday after he and a small group of senators had received a CIA briefing on the October murder of Washington Post journalist Ja

Dec. 6, 2018

[Bloomberg] Japan needs to change attitude to foreigners

Even as politicians in the US and Europe rage about foreigners supposedly swamping their shores, one of the world’s most insular countries -- Japan -- is on the verge of passing what might be its most sweeping immigration reform to date. Welcome as this would be, the plan isn’t sweeping enough.A bill approved by the lower house of the Diet would open Japan’s doors to two types of foreign workers. Lower-skilled laborers in 14 sectors would for the first time be able to apply for five-year visas a

Dec. 6, 2018

[Andrew Browne] Xi’s not for turning? Don’t be so sure

As president-for-life, Xi Jinping is neither bound by rules nor limited by rivals. He has upended a careful political balance by concentrating power in his own hands, and overturned a cautious approach to foreign policy, while throwing in jail anyone he views as a threat. China’s most dominant leader since Mao Zedong now has 90 days to head off an all-out trade war with the US provoked, in part, by his own mercantilist policies. Can anybody convince him to make a U-turn?Strong-willed politicians

Dec. 5, 2018