As Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon announces tomorrow the schedule for the Seoul residents’ referendum on free school meals which is likely to be held on Aug. 24, he will be most anxious about how the so-called “Gangnam leftists” would react to his policy of limiting the benefits to only children from low-income families. Gangnam leftists, according to Korea Herald columnist Kim Seong-kon, refer to leftist

Editorial July 26, 2011

Special Affairs Minister Lee Jae-oh and Grand National Party chair Hong Joon-pyo need to calm down from their irritation about Japanese lawmakers’ plan to visit Ulleung-do, an island in the East sea, next week. They rightly understand that the Japanese politicians’ ulterior motive is to raise controversy about the nearby Dokdo, but we should just treat them as some of the numerous Japanese tourist

Editorial July 26, 2011

A British parliamentary committee hearing into the transgressions of media baron Rupert Murdoch offered a surprising Benny-Hill pie-in-the-face moment on Tuesday. But the day’s Academy Award for legislative farce still went to the U.S. House of Representatives.By a margin of 234 to 190, House Republicans rammed through a bill labeled “Cut, Cap and Balance,” the purpose of which is to Starve, Gut a

Viewpoints July 25, 2011

A madman calling himself a Christian fundamentalist or an anti-Islam crusader can be as dangerous to global peace as al-Qaida. The horrible fact is that the man who killed 93 in a few hours on Friday hailed from Norway, reputedly the last place to spawn terrorism on earth.As investigation into Anders Breivik’s bombing of a government building in Oslo and his shooting at hundreds of youths on a pol

Editorial July 25, 2011

The FBI opened an inquiry late last week into Rupert Murdoch’s media empire amid allegations that British reporters tried to access cellphone messages and records of Sept. 11 victims. Rep. Peter T. King, R-N.Y., among the members of Congress who sought the investigation, wrote to FBI Director Robert Mueller, citing news reports that reporters attempted to obtain phone records of victims through br

Viewpoints July 25, 2011

President Barack Obama says that if Congress doesn’t raise the debt ceiling by Aug. 2, the consequences will be dire. A long list of economists and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce agree. Even the Republican leader in the U.S. Senate agrees.But there’s also another view.Many House Republicans ― even those who believe the debt ceiling must be raised ― aren’t buying the doomsday scenario. And they’re no

Viewpoints July 25, 2011

Few would dispute that high school education is enough for the lowest two administrative positions on the one-to-nine scale. Nor would anyone deny that it does not take much formal education to sweep streets. But this common sense does not prevail in Korea, as shown by examples below.Last year, the Seoul metropolitan government selected 415 recruits to fill the vacant positions of grades eight and

Editorial July 24, 2011

Michele Bachmann, meet Ben Haney.In other circumstances, Ben could have been a real asset to your campaign. He’s a 28-year-old Republican with experience as a traveling advance man for John McCain and Sarah Palin in 2008. Ben was born and raised in the critically important suburbs of Philadelphia. Having taught government at a high school, Ben now runs his own real estate investment company and co

Viewpoints July 24, 2011

Suddenly, all the major pro-Israel organizations are anguishing about “delegitimization.” Those who criticize Israeli policies are accused of trying to delegitimize Israel, which supposedly means denying Israel’s right to exist.The concept of delegitimization has been used as a weapon against Israel’s critics at least as far back as 1975, when then-U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Daniel Patr

Viewpoints July 24, 2011