[Lee Jae-min] National Assembly failed to break old habits

Due process, mutual respect and civil debates. When do we get to see them in our parliament? Or, rather, will we ever see them? That question has echoed through the nation for the past five days. The long-forgotten “physical” politics has roared back to life in Yeouido – live, kicking and ever more hostile. In what has been five days of pushing, shoving and shouting, to put it mildly, the National Assembly has shown how far it is removed from the aspirations of its constituents

April 30, 2019

[Akira Iriye] Japan’s global emperor exits the stage

Japan’s Emperor Akihito will abdicate on Tuesday, having sat on the Chrysanthemum Throne since 1989. At the age of 85, Akihito seemingly wishes to live in quiet retirement with Empress Michiko, his wife of 60 years. His elder son, Crown Prince Naruhito, will succeed him as emperor.Akihito’s reign began upon the death of his father, Hirohito, whose life had spanned decades of domestic and international turmoil. Although Akihito himself came of age during the tumultuous era of World War II and the

April 29, 2019

[Andrew Sheng] Existential crisis of Pax Americana

Last year, American historian Walter Russell Mead identified the following traits of the current American and global discomfort: “ineffective politicians, frequent scandals, racial backsliding, polarized and irresponsible news media, populists spouting quack economic remedies, growing suspicion of elites and experts, frightening outbreaks of violence, major job losses, high-profile terrorist attacks, anti-immigrant agitation, declining social mobility, giant corporations dominating the economy,

April 29, 2019

[Jeffrey Frankel] Moore problems for the Federal Reserve?

One of US President Donald Trump’s two intended nominees to fill vacancies on the US Federal Reserve Board of Governors -- Herman Cain -- has now withdrawn. Trump’s other potential pick, Stephen Moore, is also under an ethical cloud, and often gets his economic facts wrong. By contrast, Trump’s earlier appointments to the Fed have been sound choices, in particular Jerome Powell, the current chair.Although Moore lacks a doctorate in economics, that is not a reason to oppose him. Fed appointees ha

April 28, 2019

[David Ignatius] Biden is the best candidate to beat Trump

Joe Biden’s limitations as a presidential candidate are so obvious that they’re almost a litany: He’s too old, too white, too male, too touchy-feely, too loquacious. But he has one huge plus: He may be the person who could move Donald Trump out of the White House. Biden rightly put the obligation of replacing Trump at the center of his announcement Thursday that he’s running. “The core values of this nation -- our standing in the world, our very democracy, everything that has made America, Ameri

April 28, 2019

[David Ignatius] US must overcome ‘terrorism fatigue’

One disturbing aspect of the Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka was that the slaughter of 321 victims came at a time when America is suffering what might be described as “terrorism fatigue.”The wars against al-Qaida and the Islamic State extremist group are part of a painful past that policymakers and the public want to escape. Those Middle East conflicts were costly and distracting. They didn’t produce many tangible gains, other than killing terrorists. Sept. 11, 2001, feels like it happened a

April 25, 2019

[Noah Smith] Industrialization the only hope for Africa

African industrialization has to be among the most important things happening in the world right now. The vast continent, with more than 1.2 billion people, is home to an increasing fraction of the human beings who are still mired in extreme poverty.By 2030, the World Bank projects that almost all the people in extreme poverty will live in sub-Saharan Africa. The reason is twofold. First, Africa’s population is growing rapidly.Second, Africa has lagged in the industrialization necessary to gener

April 25, 2019

[Kim Myong-sik] Noisy but fruitless rows over official appointments

After nearly two years in power, people holding high posts in the Moon Jae-in administration must have by now realized that one of the hardest parts of the job is to prove they are ethically stronger than those they replaced. Kim Eui-gyum, presidential spokesman until last month, had famously said, “There is no civilian surveillance in the DNA of the Moon government.” He was trying to distinguish the current liberal administration from the previous conservative rules of Lee Myung-bak and Park Ge

April 24, 2019

[Eli Lake] When will the UN’s chief speak up for the Uighurs?

There are a lot of people in the world who can plausibly claim ignorance of China’s foul campaign against its Muslim minority, but UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is not among them. Six months ago, the UN’s own committee on the elimination of racial discrimination released a devastating report on how China arbitrarily and systematically detains Uighurs in the western part of the country. Just last month, the UN high commissioner for human rights pressed the Chinese for access to the Uighur

April 24, 2019

[Kim Seong-kon] ‘I am legend’ and have to fade away

Throughout human history, there has always been a generation gap between the young and old. In the eyes of the old, young people are frolicsome and reckless, and do not want to learn from the past. In the eyes of the young, older people are hopelessly stubborn and conservative; constantly nagging about war, past poverty, and those turbulent days when they were young. “Which war?” Young people want to yell back, “Don’t you know those things are no longer our concern?” That was why Robert A. Heinl

April 23, 2019

[Mihir Sharma] Sri Lanka’s pain is going to spread

In Sri Lanka, memories of war and terrorism are very much alive. The decadeslong civil war between the Sinhala-dominated government in Colombo and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam was brutal by any standards, and it ended a decade ago with a climactic battle near the Indian Ocean that took thousands of civilian lives. But Sri Lanka, beautiful and multicultural, has never had just the one fault line. On Easter morning, when hundreds of Christians and hotel guests were killed by suicide bomber

April 23, 2019

[David Fickling] We should let China spy on us

Even as the US and China seem headed toward a truce on trade, their rivalry is heating up in other areas.The threat of espionage taking place under the cover of routine activities appears to be a particular concern. As many as 30 Chinese academics and policy experts have had their US visas canceled or reviewed in the past year, the New York Times reported recently. The relatively open approach adopted toward Chinese businesspeople and academics may now be ending.That’s a mistake -- not because C

April 22, 2019

[Ram Garikipati] Korean Air, Asiana face turbulent tailwinds

South Korea’s main flagship air carriers appear to be facing strong headwinds at the same time and it is worrisome.Korean Air and Asiana Airlines are embroiled in their own difficulties, and it is all connected to the typical family-owned conglomerate management system that is so prevalent here.While there have been calls for chaebol reform over the past years I have been here -- starting with Roh Moo-hyun administration -- there have been no drastic changes so far.I have always admired Roh, and

April 22, 2019