The Korea Herald

[Andrew Malcolm] Trump is handling Iran just right

If you’ve got a minute to pause from our collective obsession with a gossipy book of dubious veracity, here’s an issue of compelling importance that reveals another side of this president and his administration: Iran and how Donald Trump addresses the deadly anti-regime demonstrations now convulsing that historic land that clearly is the linchpin of any future regional stability, or the opposite.　The last time such nationwide protests erupted there -- the Green Revolution of 2009 -- Barack Obama

Jan. 12, 2018

[David Ignatius] White House pushes to combat covert Chinese influence

A little-noticed passage in the Trump administration‘s national security strategy released last month previewed a new push to combat Chinese influence operations that affect American universities, think tanks, movie studios and news organizations.　The investigations by the US Congress and FBI into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential campaign won’t be affected by the added focus on China, officials say. Instead, the aim is to highlight Chinese activities that often get a free pass but can h

Jan. 11, 2018

[David Ignatius] White House pushes to combat covert Chinese influence

[Eli Lake] Europe’s high representative for appeasement

If Federica Mogherini didn’t exist, the world’s autocrats would be trying to invent her.　As the European Union’s high representative for foreign affairs, she is a tireless advocate for engaging rogue states. Few diplomats though have pursued this kind of engagement with such moralizing puffery. In Mogherini’s world, diplomacy with dictators should not aim to transition these countries to open societies, but rather to prevent conflicts at all costs.　Just consider her trip last week to Cuba, a pla

Jan. 11, 2018

[Eli Lake] Europe’s high representative for appeasement

[Eric Zorn] A 14-point plan to be a good old man

This aging thing stops right here, right now.　I’m turning 60.　I know, I know. By my generally dyspeptic attitude and hectoring tone you thought I was much older already.　But nope. Just 60. And by stopping the process I don’t mean cosmetically, sartorially or even, necessarily, physically. The body wears down. That’s nature’s way. I’m not going to become one of those spry seniors who competes in triathlons, takes fistfuls of vitamins, dresses like a 25-year-old and hires plastic surgeons to smoot

Jan. 11, 2018

[Jonathan Bernstein] How Democrats can avoid wiping out in 2018

Things are certainly going the Democrats’ way so far in the 2018 elections. They seem poised to win a majority in the US House and possibly even the Senate, and to win back dozens and dozens of other offices they lost in 2010 and 2014. But there’s still plenty of time for the party to sabotage itself.　The sheer number of people seeking to run creates a two-stage trap for Democrats. If they nominate the wrong candidates, they could lose races they should‘ve won. If they elect the wrong candidates

Jan. 11, 2018

[Patrick T. Hiller] Olympic glimmer on horizon - North and South Korea stepping down escalation ladder

The world is a month away from the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea. My friends in South Korea have already bought tickets for multiple events. What a wonderful opportunity for the parents to expose their two boys to displays of athletic skills and friendly competition between nations in the Olympic spirit.All is good, except for the fear of nuclear war triggered by impulsive leaders in North Korea and the United States. Recent rare talks between North and South Korea give us a gl

Jan. 11, 2018

[Lee Jong-soo] Olympic window for Korean nuclear de-escalation

Kim Jong-un’s New Year’s address has given rise to the potential for improved inter-Korean relations. Though caution is necessary in dealing with Pyongyang’s peace overtures, Washington and Seoul should work together to leverage Kim’s overture in order to create an opening for de-escalation in the nuclear standoff between Pyongyang and Washington.It is entirely understandable why Kim’s speech may be seen as anti-American and a ploy to drive a wedge between Seoul and Washington. Indeed, what was

Jan. 11, 2018

[Park Sang-seek] Is Korea really “Hell Joseon”?

The Dec. 11, 2017 edition of The Korea Herald carried an article titled “Why Koreans want to leave ‘Hell Joseon’.” According to the article, 62.7 percent of people polled in December last year regarded South Korea as “Hell Joseon.” Fifty-six percent were willing to give up their nationality. The desire to leave Korea is more prevalent among the young generation, many of whom struggle to find employment. The main reasons for the Hell Joseon mentality are that Korean society is unfair and corrupt.

Jan. 10, 2018

[Park Sang-seek] Is Korea really “Hell Joseon”?

[Trudy Rubin] Button Man vs. Rocket Man could lead to nuclear war

It’s no accident that the latest blockbuster to portray President Trump as volatile and erratic is called “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.”　The book’s title is a play on President Trump’s threats to unleash “fire and fury” on North Korea and “totally destroy” that country if its leaders don’t stop threatening America. The title links Trump’s tumultuous style with his reckless nuclear tweets against Pyongyang.　In a recent tweet that matched the nuttiness of the North Korean leader, T

Jan. 10, 2018

[Angela Silveira] New Year’s resolution not sticking? Here’s why

Have you vowed that this will be the year you lose weight, eat healthier, make better financial decisions, quit smoking or simply delve into self-improvements? And if you made such a New Year’s resolution, have you stuck to it now that we’re more than a week into 2018?　According to the Statistics Brain Research Institute, about 58 percent of Americans make these resolutions with only 9.2 percent of people saying they were successful in achieving their resolution at the end of the year. Many of u

Jan. 10, 2018

[Kim Ji-hyun] Rethinking the power of speech

When President Trump recently tweeted that he has a big “nuclear button” that he can and will use, it was one of the most ridiculous things I had heard from a president. Well, one of the most, since ex-President Park Geun-hye said she “didn’t know” that she was getting in trouble when she let her friend Choi Soon-sil run the country. In addition to who spoke the words -- the president of the world’s most powerful country with corresponding responsibilities -- the choice of vocabulary had a great

Jan. 10, 2018

[Kim Ji-hyun] Rethinking the power of speech

[Heidi Stevens] Oprah for US president? Here’s a better idea

Two things kept me from completely losing my mind during my first maternity leave: crossword puzzles and Oprah.　Sometimes it took me an entire week to complete one puzzle -- a Monday one at that. But if I could fill those squares, I figured, my brain wouldn’t be oatmeal by the time I was ready to re-enter the world of humans who showered and returned emails in a timely fashion.　Oprah? Well, I couldn’t explain at the time what she was providing me, but I knew I needed it to survive. Connection, I

Jan. 10, 2018

[Los Angeles Times] Trump bungles his quest for the ‘ultimate deal’ in the Middle East

It’s not an indictment of President Donald Trump that he failed in his first year in office to broker what he once called “the ultimate deal” -- an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. After all, the effort to end that bitter conflict, which has been underway in one form or another for well over 100 years, also eluded his recent predecessors, despite intense effort and creative diplomacy.　Trump can be faulted, however, for his arrogance, his ignorance and his shortsightedness, which ul

Jan. 9, 2018

[Danielle DiMartino Booth] US households may rue the binge of 2017

Will 2018 be the year of the household hangover? The latest data on the saving rate, which broke under 3 percent to 2.9 percent in November, the lowest since 2007, suggests that an encore to the ebullient buying over the holidays will not happen in the new year.Without a doubt, households are as buoyant as they’ve been in years. In the most recent consumer confidence report, only 15.2 percent of those surveyed reported jobs were “hard to get,” a 16-year low. The few economists who have forecast

Jan. 9, 2018

[Albert R. Hunt] Congress will be different in 2018. Trump won’t.

Last year, congressional Republicans had the leverage to ram through a huge tax cut, repeal the requirement to buy health-insurance coverage, and put a conservative jurist on the Supreme Court. 　This year the tables have turned. Democrats, though still in the minority, have more leverage on spending and responses to the opioid epidemic, and maybe also on immigration and infrastructure and revisions to the Affordable Care Act.　Democrats have political tailwinds after winning big election victorie

Jan. 9, 2018

[Lee Jae-min] Liberal parking not condoned practice

Visit an apartment complex in Seoul at night. Cars are not just parked; they are packed in every corner of the compound. You could see any conceivable way of using space to leave a car for the night. The remainder are lined up on nearby streets until the next morning. Inside the complex, a small lane is left where one car can just barely pass. Passages for fire trucks have been narrowed and hydrants have been blocked. People push cars backward and forward the next morning to “dig out” their cars

Jan. 9, 2018

[Lee Jae-min] Liberal parking not condoned practice

[Kim Seong-kon] Is Korea reliable and trustworthy if loyalty is swayed?

When I studied at the State University of New York at Buffalo 40 years ago, I learned English poetry from the famous poet Robert Creeley. At the time, a host of celebrated American and Canadian poets visited the university for poetry readings. Whenever Bob Creeley introduced me to them, he almost always added after the formal introduction, “Mr. Kim is a reliable person.” It made me happy because I knew it was one of the best compliments an American can give. Indeed, if you are labeled as an unre

Jan. 9, 2018

[Nicolas Loris] Energy dominance can bolster US national security

In one of the latest presidential tweets to make headlines, President Trump responded to North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un’s nuclear button threat by saying he had an even bigger and more powerful one.Whether you love or loathe the president’s tweets, one must look beyond the 280-character count to assess the administration’s foreign policies. A good place to start is the latest national security assessment. The report outlines the threats of North Korea, Russia and terrorist networks, but it al

Jan. 8, 2018

[Nicolas Loris] Energy dominance can bolster US national security

[Hal Brands] China hasn’t won the Pacific (unless you think it has)

Is China destined to dominate the Asia-Pacific? Among US allies and partners in the region, there seems to be a growing doubt that America can win the ongoing competition for influence with China, and that they must begin preparing for a regional order headed by Beijing. The challenge for America, then, is to ensure that this feeling of strategic fatalism doesn’t become a self-fulfilling prophecy.It is an undeniable fact that China has been making a concerted and accelerating push for regional s

Jan. 8, 2018

[Hal Brands] China hasn’t won the Pacific (unless you think it has)

[Ferdinando Giugliano] Europe shouldn’t let a good recovery go to waste

Europe could not have asked for a better end to 2017. This week, data from the Markit Purchasing Managers’ Index showed that economic activity was the strongest in nearly seven years. The unemployment claims rate in Germany is at its lowest level since the early 1990s. Even Greece’s factories are enjoying the best run in nearly a decade.Indeed, the euro-zone economy must surely rank near to the top of any list of positive surprises of 2017. The European Commission believes the currency union exp

Jan. 8, 2018