The Korea Herald

[Desk Column] Text bombs are part of bigger trend

Lawmakers grilling President Moon Jae-in’s Cabinet nominees during parliamentary confirmation hearings are complaining about receiving an avalanche of text messages -- most of them containing scathing criticism of the recipients on their performance during the televised and livestreamed sessions. Rep. Lee Un-ju of the People’s Party revealed late last month that she had to change her phone number after getting nearly 10,000 such messages in the space of just two days. She had been particularly h

June 7, 2017

[Desk Column] Text bombs are part of bigger trend

[Kim Myong-sik] Moon’s tightrope walk in THAAD politics

From my new home in Gimpo, I can see a lot of Republic of Korea Marines at checkpoints and coastal strips, in open trucks moving to and from exercise sites and even in “makguksu” noodle restaurants where they spend time with their families on weekend visits. Marines are a proud bunch of people. Their octagonal service caps, red-and-yellow name tags and beige suede boots look good and so do their sprightly movements with which they seem to distinguish themselves from other service members. I hear

June 7, 2017

[Kim Myong-sik] Moon’s tightrope walk in THAAD politics

[Tim Luckhurst] A socialist resurgence in the United Kingdom

When Britain’s Conservative Party prime minister, Theresa May, called a snap general election on April 18, surprise was complete. This was precisely what she had promised she would not do. But shock soon dissipated. On all available evidence, the prime minister’s volte-face made sense.Her party was massively ahead in the polls. Opposition Labour Party politicians despised their leader, the 68-year-old socialist hard-liner Jeremy Corbyn, at least as much as they disliked May. The stage appeared s

June 7, 2017

[Steven Conn] Isolationism is another word for ignoring inconvenient truths

It has been almost a century since the United States walked away from an international accord as significant as the Paris agreement on climate. In 1920, the Senate refused to ratify the Treaty of Versailles despite the desperate attempts by President Woodrow Wilson to rally support for it. Those attempts likely contributed to a massive stroke that left Wilson incapacitated for the rest of his term.The Versailles treaty brought an end to World War I, and historians agree that in many ways it wasn

June 7, 2017

[Robin M. Mills] Qatar still has many friends in energy markets

Oil markets seem impervious to geopolitical risk. As four Arab neighbors imposed an unprecedented embargo on Qatar on Monday, oil prices briefly jumped 1.6 percent before falling back. The fuel to watch, though, is not oil, but gas. If this dispute is not resolved quickly, it may mean a hot summer in the Gulf.The problem has been simmering for a long time, with three of Qatar’s Gulf Cooperation Council colleagues blaming it for backing Islamist groups including the Muslim Brotherhood, and being

June 7, 2017

[Robert Fouser] Making neighborhoods in Seoul more walkable

The much anticipated walkway over Seoul Station has opened. Called “Seoullo 7017,” the walkway fills the old overpass with greenery and offers sweeping views of the city. The name comes from the year, 1970, that the overpass was built, and the year, 2017, that the “sky garden” opened. Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon decided to turn the aging overpass into a park-like walkway to connect areas of the city around Seoul Station. The city sponsored an international competition and awarded the contract to t

June 6, 2017

[Robert Fouser] Making neighborhoods in Seoul more walkable

[Kim Seong-kon] You should seek advice from a professional

When they put up English signboards or use English expressions, Koreans seldom consult with native speakers of English. As a result, awkward English expressions are rampant throughout Korea. Do they think their English is good enough not to need any proofreading or do they not care about using awkward expressions? “Korea passing” is a good example. Korean reporters and politicians have used this dubious expression when they wanted to point out that Korea was passed over when the United States di

June 6, 2017

[Kim Seong-kon] You should seek advice from a professional

[Joseph E. Stiglitz] Trump’s rogue America

Donald Trump has thrown a hand grenade into the global economic architecture that was so painstakingly constructed in the years after World War II’s end. The attempted destruction of this rules-based system of global governance -- now manifested in Trump’s withdrawal of the United States from the 2015 Paris climate agreement -- is just the latest aspect of the US president’s assault on our basic system of values and institutions.The world is only slowly coming fully to terms with the malevolence

June 6, 2017

[Adam Minter] On climate, China should think small

It‘s a common sight in rural China: rows and rows of low-rise apartment buildings, often topped by solar water heaters the size of kitchen tables. By one estimate, 30 million Chinese households rely upon the devices for hot water. They’re served by 3,000 companies that sell around 1 million of the devices annually. Neither subsidies nor environmental guilt account for the sales, or for China’s place as the renewable hot-water capital of the world. Folks in rural areas have been buying them for t

June 6, 2017

[Other view] ‘America first’? Not by alienating allies

President Trump was elected on a pledge to put “America first.” But that doesn’t mean alliances should be secondary. Strong bonds are in the country’s best interests, and straining these ties is counterproductive in an increasingly turbulent world.But that’s what Trump did with his profoundly bad decision to take America out of the Paris climate accord, a move as diplomatically dire as it is environmentally unsound.Allies had urged the president to remain in the pact. His rejection of it, and th

June 6, 2017

[Carl P. Leubsdorf] Russia probe looms over Trump’s international and domestic agenda

As presidential aides H.R. McMaster and Gary Cohn briefed reporters on President Donald Trump’s meetings with fellow global leaders, a television screen behind them displayed the latest Washington Post scoop tying Jared Kushner to the probe of possible campaign collusion with Russia.That scene last weekend in Sicily provides an apt portrait of the president’s predicament after a weeklong venture designed to show him as a major player on the international scene. His Middle East initiatives may or

June 6, 2017

[Jonathan Bernstein] Trump’s Paris exit: Big now, not in 2020　

Donald Trump’s re-election chances are not about to tick this way or that because of his decision to exit the Paris climate accord. Yes, environmentalism of all kinds polls very well among the population at large, while mainstream conservative Republicans are strongly opposed to this particular treaty. But it seems unlikely that this issue has the power to shift votes from one side to another. Few issues do. As political scientist Phil Klinkner tweets, most voters will evaluate Trump’s decision

June 5, 2017

[Jonathan Bernstein] Trump’s Paris exit: Big now, not in 2020

[David Ignatius] Putin’s combativeness comes at a cost

When Russian President Vladimir Putin invited NBC’s Megyn Kelly to question him onstage at a glitzy forum here, maybe he thought he’d have an easier time than Donald Trump did in his confrontation with Kelly during the 2016 campaign. It didn’t work out that way.Putin’s appearance at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum was meant to showcase Russia’s role in the global economy. And in Putin’s prepared remarks, he was a smooth, genial salesman for his country. But then came a session wi

June 5, 2017

[Francis Wilkinson] Democracy faces the enemy within

We’re past the point of shifting blame. We know who gave us the presidency of Donald Trump, and it wasn’t Hillary Clinton or Jill Stein or James Comey.The culprit was democracy.Even if you defend democracy on the grounds that Trump lost the popular vote, it’s still a lame argument. After all, what kind of sensible political system generates 63 million votes for a thuggish incompetent to become its supreme leader?Democracy was rarely an exercise in smooth sailing. Now, this.“The choice of Mr. Tru

June 5, 2017

[Trudy Rubin] Hail the wannabe leader of the unfree world

Remember when US presidents were called the “leader of the free world”?That phrase became something of a Cold War relic after the Soviet Union collapsed. But it has new relevance now that Russia is trying to undermine Western democracies and institutions.Today, the term free world refers to the community of nations committed to democratic values of pluralism and tolerance, in contrast to the authoritarian model being promoted by Moscow and Beijing as a better political option.Yet President Trump

June 5, 2017

[Trudy Rubin] Hail the wannabe leader of the unfree world

[Lee Jong-koo] Budget cannot solve all problems

There is a myriad of policy challenges to be tackled by the new Moon Jae-in administration: revitalizing the slowing Korean economy; narrowing the growing income gap; and addressing other chronic issues, such as the nation’s low birthrate. The previous administration was not sitting on its hands, but it failed to achieve much, since it stuck to the same old policies and failed to catch up with changing economic environment.　 A prime example is the industrial policy. More than a decade ago, exper

June 5, 2017

[Lee Jong-koo] Budget cannot solve all problems

[Other view] How Donald Trump is ushering in the Chinese century

In February 1941, Henry R. Luce, editor and publisher of Time and Life magazines, wrote a striking editorial in Life magazine. It began by lamenting what he saw as Americans’ pessimism, “As we look out at the rest of the world we are confused; we don’t know what to do,” Luce wrote. “As we look toward the future 00 our own future and the future of other nations -- we are filled with foreboding.”Luce went on to exhort President Franklin D. Roosevelt and all Americans to get past this pessimism, to

June 5, 2017

[David Ignatius] As Trump disrupts, Moscow celebrates

When Russian officials and analysts here talk about the US investigation of their alleged hacking of the 2016 campaign, two themes predominate: They’re flattered that their country is seen as such a powerful threat and also amazed that America is so preoccupied with the scandal.This is the official line, to be sure, but it was also expressed by several critics of the regime I interviewed this week. People can’t quite believe the sudden reversal of fortunes: Russia is back as a global force, afte

June 4, 2017

[David Ignatius] As Trump disrupts, Moscow celebrates

[Laurence Tubiana] Donald Trump’s historic mistake

US President Donald Trump has announced that the United States will no longer participate in the 2015 Paris climate agreement, the landmark United Nations treaty that many of us worked so hard to achieve. Trump is making a mistake that will have grave repercussions for his own country, and for the world.Trump claims that he will try to renegotiate the deal reached in Paris, or craft a new one. But leaders from around the world have already hailed the agreement as a breakthrough for the fight aga

June 4, 2017

[Laurence Tubiana] Donald Trump’s historic mistake

[The Nation ] In the Marawi conflict, a warning for Thailand

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte last week declared martial law in the restive region of Mindanao to quell violence by a militant group linked to the Islamic State group in the city of Marawi. The Maute militants -- named after a local clan that has become increasingly powerful over the years by taking other extremist groups under its wing -- burned down buildings, took hostages and displaced tens of thousands of residents. The government military is struggling to regain control of the city

June 4, 2017