[Natalie Gonella-Platts, Christopher Walsh] Kim Yo-jong a sordid example of female leader

As rumors of Kim Jong-un’s death circulated in April, some speculated that his sister and confidant, Kim Yo-jong, might soon succeed him as North Korea’s Supreme Leader. Perhaps still auditioning for the role, she has recently become North Korea’s chief saber rattler. Earlier this month, she escalated tensions with South Korea by cutting communications with Seoul and threatening military action over defectors’ distribution of anti-Pyongyang leaflets from across the border

June 29, 2020

[Kent Harrington] North Korean leader goes back on same old script　

Like the leading character in a long-running television series, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has kicked off the latest crisis on the Korean Peninsula with familiar theatrics. After cutting off all communications with South Korea earlier this month, the Kim regime bombed the building in which it had previously hosted South Korean diplomats. It has redeployed troops into demilitarized border areas and issued renewed threats of violence against the South. The latest displays of bombast follow

June 29, 2020

[Digital Simplicity] Mask up! This is no time to test your luck

The act of wearing a mask in South Korea takes on a deeply social meaning. Masks are supposed to protect both the wearer and others from the dreadful COVID-19. But the emphasis is clearly placed on preventing the wearer from infecting neighbors, colleagues and even strangers. If I happen to forget wearing a mask in public places (including office elevators and public restrooms), I am bound to witness angry expressions deepening on the upper half of the faces of people nearby. I bet the lower h

June 26, 2020

[Clara Ferreira Marques] Putin puts his post-COVID comeback to a vote

Russia’s president has not had a good pandemic. But Vladimir Putin is staging a comeback, with a touch of foreign-policy grandstanding, a dash of military theater and a plebiscite on constitutional reforms that could allow him to stay in power until 2036. The vote will confirm changes already approved by parliament in March, and it didn’t have to happen now. Even so, the Kremlin pushed ahead and Putin wants citizens to come out in large numbers to back the measures. With Russia stil

June 26, 2020

[Noah Smith] Fear of infection hurt economy more than lockdowns

Until recently, it seemed like the contentious debate over lockdowns was over. By the end of May, many states were defying the warnings of public-health experts, reopening restaurants, retail and public spaces. The huge protests against police brutality and racism reinforced the notion that keeping Americans confined to their homes was a lost cause. Now, even San Francisco, one of the first cities to issue a stay-at-home order, is proceeding with a phased reopening of businesses and public space

June 25, 2020

[Ana Palacio] Organic multilateralism needed in a G-Zero world

This year’s gathering of world leaders for the United Nations General Assembly in New York has been called off. The news of the cancellation -- the first in the UN’s 75-year history -- came a week after a planned G-7 meeting at Camp David was scrapped, and a month after the G-20 abandoned plans for a virtual summit. At a time when the global nature of today’s most pressing challenges is more apparent than ever, the instruments of multilateralism are not just underperforming. Th

June 24, 2020

[Kim Seong-kon] On the 70th anniversary of the Korean War

On June 25, 2020, Korea commemorates the 70th anniversary of the Korea War. It means that the babies who were born in 1950 when the war broke out are now 70 years old. It is sad to think that those who went through the atrocities of the war are now old and fade away, making the Korean War “a forgotten war.” Nevertheless, we should be faithful to the memory of the conflict that devastated the Korean Peninsula for three years. The war destroyed virtually everything in our already des

June 24, 2020

[Ferdinando Giugliano] Europe’s frugal four are right about two things

The European Commission’s plan for a 750 billion-euro ($842 billion) fund to deal with the economic consequences of the pandemic is a quantum leap in Europe’s crisis response. Yet, for all the good intentions, political leaders still have to agree on the details of the scheme. The European Council -- a gathering of prime ministers and presidents -- will meet Friday to discuss the plan, although most observers only expect a breakthrough to happen in July. The EU is still wrestling wi

June 24, 2020

[Ivo Daalder] Trump’s transactional approach is eroding global alliances

The United States has for decades deployed large numbers of its military forces overseas. Today, some 170,000 troops are stationed in more than 150 countries. But the vast majority of them are based in just three nations: Germany, Japan and South Korea. That is no coincidence. During the last century, the United States fought devastating wars in all three countries, and its continued military presence there has ensured an enduring peace ever since. That peace has been the foundation of prosperi

June 23, 2020

[Adam Minter] On COVID and protests, some good news

On Tuesday morning, cars and pedestrians lined up for free COVID-19 tests in south Minneapolis, six blocks from where George Floyd was killed last month. As protests flared after his death, Minnesota’s Department of Health had set up the testing site and encouraged demonstrators to visit in hopes of stemming a potential new outbreak. Long lines at this center and three others in the Twin Cities suggest that, far from being complacent about the risks of taking to the streets in a pandemic,

June 23, 2020

[Andreas Kluth] Nuclear arms race worse than last one

As long as the pandemic rages, the world’s leaders are understandably preoccupied with the threat of disease. But there are other dangers to humanity that demand attention. One of the most frightening is nuclear war. Unfortunately, the risk of that happening keeps rising. The headline numbers are misleading. Yes, the global stockpile of nuclear warheads decreased slightly last year, according to the latest report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. But that’s on

June 22, 2020

[David Fickling] The most troubling China-India conflict is economic

What’s worse than two populous, nuclear-armed countries killing each other’s soldiers? Two populous, nuclear-armed countries letting their longer-term relationship wither. Fighting along the Chinese-Indian border on the Tibetan plateau hasn’t come out of the blue. Ties, never solid, are increasingly becoming a casualty of the way New Delhi is being drawn into the wider rivalry between Beijing and Washington. If trade and investment suffer as a result, the deteriorating relatio

June 22, 2020

[Trudy Rubin] Trump’s support for West Bank seizure disastrous

Under cover of COVID-19 and the US convulsion over racism, the White House is promoting a policy that spells disaster for Israel. Too few are paying attention. As part of President Donald Trump’s “peace plan” for the Palestinians and Israel, the Israeli prime minister is free to annex around 30 percent of the occupied West Bank as of July 1. This is a move that will end any pretense of peace negotiations, endanger Israel’s peace with Jordan and undercut promising advan

June 19, 2020

[Robert J. Fouser] Challenges for cities after pandemic

As the COVID-19 pandemic gripped New York City in March, articles discussing the future of cities came into vogue. Most articles predicted that the pandemic would change cities “forever” and that large, dense cities like New York would enter a period of protracted decline as people escaped to the suburbs. Pandemic-enforced working from home, it was argued, would free people to live in cheaper places and spare them the grind of a daily commute. In the rush of covering the pandemic,

June 19, 2020

[Kim Myong-sik] Balloons expose North’s leadership in jitters

North Korea’s demolition of the South-North Liaison Office building in the border town of Kaesong this week was outrageous, but it also showed Pyongyang’s limitations in its actions against Seoul in the rising tensions between both nations. The shapely four-story glass structure was built as a symbol of a new era of detente in the inter-Korean relations supposedly starting with the signing of an agreement of peaceful cooperation by President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim

June 18, 2020

[Jeffrey Frankel] What’s in a recession?

On June 8, the Business Cycle Dating Committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research declared that economic activity in the United States had peaked in February 2020, formally marking the start of a recession. But we already knew that we were in a recession that had likely begun around that date. So, why does the NBER’s formal declaration matter? It is no secret that measures of employment fell sharply from February to March. Real (inflation-adjusted) personal consumption expenditu

June 18, 2020

[Kim Seong-kon] Suddenly this summer

The above title is a riff and parody on Tennessee Williams’ famous play, “Suddenly Last Summer.” In this Southern Gothic play, Violet’s son, Sebastian, had died in Europe the previous summer under dubious circumstances. Since her niece, Catherine, knows the dark secret that led Sebastian to his death, Violet tries to erase Catherine’s memory by asking a doctor to perform a lobotomy on her to protect her son’s reputation. Recently, I came across an intriguing

June 17, 2020

[Clara Ferreira Marques] Case study for second-wave lockdowns

Mexico, India and Pakistan are among the countries that have hit record numbers of new coronavirus cases in recent days, as drastic regulations that kept streets empty and people apart are lifted. It’s a similar story in states like Texas, Florida and California. In Beijing, a cluster of cases linked to a wholesale market caused alarm over the weekend. Should that mean a return to lockdowns? US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says no. Reality will be less categorical. Take Pakistan. Of

June 17, 2020

[Yoon Seok-jun] Post-pandemic challenges face Korea from health policy standpoint

The ongoing COVID-19 outbreak is causing Koreans to reflect on their way of life. Additionally, foreigners who are interested in the current status of Korea seek to understand how they are overcoming this situation relatively well, while advanced countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom and Italy have been heavily affected by COVID-19. I can infer the fundamental reason behind the relatively good maintenance of Korea’s quarantine system from the nation’s modern histo

June 17, 2020

[Peter Singer] Is age discrimination acceptable?

Should we value all human lives equally? This question arose in an acute form in March, when the novel coronavirus overwhelmed Italy’s health care system. Envisaging a situation in which there would not be enough ventilators for all patients needing one, a working group of the Italian Society of Anesthesia, Analgesia, Resuscitation and Intensive Care reluctantly supported rationing by age, while also taking into account frailty and the severity of any other health problems. The group&rsqu

June 16, 2020