The Korea Herald

[Editorial] Cable car at Mt. Seoraksan

The latest proposal for a cable car to be installed at Mount Seoraksan National Park has deeply divided the proponents, who claim the cable car would boost the local economy, and the opponents, who argue the cable car would damage the environment and threaten gorals, an endangered goat-like species living in the area. 　Proposals from Gangwon Province for a cable car taking off from Osaek in Mount Seoraksan National Park have already been twice rejected, in 2012 and 2013, by the National Park com

Editorial Aug. 21, 2015

[Editorial] N. Korea provocations

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are high following North Korea’s firing of rockets across the border and South Korea’s subsequent return fire. 　North Koreans fired several shells toward loudspeakers broadcasting anti-Pyongyang propaganda and the South retaliated by firing dozens of 155-millimeter howitzer rounds Thursday afternoon. Seoul had resumed propaganda broadcasting after an 11-year hiatus as retaliation against North Korea’s land mines placed on the southern side of the DMZ that injured

Editorial Aug. 21, 2015

[Robert B. Reich] Hypocrisy of ‘family-friendly’ workplace

Netflix just announced it’s offering paid leave for new mothers and fathers for the first year after the birth or adoption of a child. Other high-tech firms are close behind.Some big law firms are also getting into the act. Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe is offering 22 paid weeks off for both male and female attorneys.Even Wall Street is taking baby steps in the direction of family-friendly work. Goldman Sachs just doubled paid parental leave to four weeks.All of this should be welcome news. Mil

Viewpoints Aug. 21, 2015

[Robert B. Reich] Hypocrisy of ‘family-friendly’ workplace

[Shashi Tharoor] Hanging sparks debate on death penalty in India

On July 30, Yakub Memon, a chartered accountant and the brother of a notorious gangster now living in self-imposed exile, was hanged for complicity in the planning and execution of serial bomb blasts that killed 257 people in Mumbai in 1993. The hanging, India’s first in three years, has prompted reactions ranging from dismay to scarcely concealed bloodlust. And it has intensified the domestic debate over the death penalty.To be sure, no one suggests that India’s judicial system did not function

Viewpoints Aug. 16, 2015

[Shashi Tharoor] Hanging sparks debate on death penalty in India

[David Ignatius] Big battle behind China’s turmoil

One way to think about the recent financial turmoil in China is as a parenting dispute between “Xi Dada” and “Yang Ma” -- meaning “Big Daddy Xi” (the nickname for President Xi Jinping) and “Big Mama” (a popular moniker for the People’s Bank of China).Dada and Ma are the two centers of power, political and economic, in a China that is coping with a painful new period of slower economic growth. They work in surprising harmony most of the time, but you could see the strain this summer as China stru

Viewpoints Aug. 16, 2015

[David Ignatius] Big battle behind China’s turmoil

[Editorial] Diverse composition

Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae on Thursday recommended Lee Gi-taek, head of the Seoul Western District Court, as the successor to a justice who is to retire in September. A justice is appointed by the president after parliamentary approval.　　Lee was chosen from three final candidates selected by a recommendation committee earlier this week. They were all male senior judges in their 50s, who graduated from the same school -- Seoul National University’s College of Law.　　Their selection has been met w

Editorial Aug. 7, 2015

[Editorial] Frayed ties

Lee Hee-ho, the widow of former President Kim Dae-jung, is on a four-day visit to North Korea, at a time when tension lingers on the divided Korean Peninsula.　The two Koreas have not held high-level talks since February 2014. They remain far apart from agreeing to hold joint events to mark the 70th anniversary of the peninsula’s liberation from Japan’s colonial rule, which falls on Aug. 15.　When the 93-year-old former first lady, accompanied by an 18-member entourage, arrived in Pyongyang on Wed

Editorial Aug. 7, 2015

[Robert B. Reich] Revolt against the ruling class

“He can’t possibly win the nomination” is the phrase heard most often when Washington insiders mention either Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders.　Yet as enthusiasm for the bombastic billionaire and the socialist senior continues to build within each party, the political establishment is mystified.　Political insiders don’t see that the biggest political phenomenon in America today is a revolt against the “ruling class” of insiders who have dominated Washington for more than three decades.　In two very

Viewpoints Aug. 7, 2015

[Robert B. Reich] Revolt against the ruling class

[Robert J. Fouser] Millennial generation and Korea

If years had buzzwords, the one for 2015 in the U.S. would sure be “Millennial.” The news is full of stories about what the Millennial Generation likes and doesn’t like and how they are beginning to make their mark on society as move toward middle age. They are said to prefer urban areas over the suburban areas they grew up in. They are said to prefer sharing and renting over ownership. As the first generation to grow up with the Internet, they are said to prefer online communication over face-t

Viewpoints Aug. 4, 2015

[Robert J. Fouser] Millennial generation and Korea

[Trudy Rubin] Don’t sink Iran nuclear deal, make it better

Here’s the bottom line on the Iran nuclear pact: Whether you like it or hate it, or feel as I do -- that it’s barely passable but U.S. negotiators could have done better -- it’s a done deal.There are many things in this pact that make me queasy (see below). And the administration’s Iran-empowering policy in the Mideast region gives me heartburn. But if this deal goes down to defeat (with Congress overriding a presidential veto), international sanctions will collapse and Iran will be free to ramp

Viewpoints July 29, 2015