When he faced a high wave of public protests over the U.S. beef import issue in 2008, the just-inaugurated President Lee Myung-bak vowed to enhance “public communication.” The president had a painful recognition that the arrogance from having earned the highest supporting rate in recent elections had quickly turned the people away from the new administration. About the harm of mad cow disease, the

Editorial Jan. 31, 2011

The Federation of Korean Industries, the lobbying body for larger businesses, has been virtually headless for the past seven months since its chairman, Cho Suk-rae, 75, of the Hyosung Group, expressed his intent to resign for health reasons. None of the heads of leading corporations is willing to take over. It is ironic that the honorable position that traditionally represented the business world

Editorial Jan. 31, 2011

China’s State Council document released on Thursday to further check housing prices reflects the central government’s determination to deflate the property market bubble and stabilize or even lower real estate prices that have been rising for the past few years. Despite the series of measures the government took last year to rein in housing prices, statistics show that the number of houses sold an

Viewpoints Jan. 31, 2011

The suspension of all bullet train service Jan. 17 on JR East’s five shinkansen lines ― Tohoku, Akita, Yamagata, Joetsu and Nagano shinkansen lines ― reminds railways and any organization, for that matter, of the importance of sharing important information among personnel concerned and designing a computer system that can flexibly cope with changing situations. At 8:23 a.m. on that day, a screen o

Viewpoints Jan. 31, 2011

For years, many Middle Easterners have operated on the premise that things could continue as in the past. Arab autocrats assumed they could rule forever, and many Israelis thought they could occupy forever.President George W. Bush tried to explode the status quo by imposing democracy on Iraq from above, but we’ve seen where that led.As of this month, we are entering a new era ― for Arabs and Israe

Viewpoints Jan. 31, 2011

During the 2008 financial crisis, the federal government reacted in a frantic, ad-hoc fashion, tapping taxpayers for bailouts galore, running roughshod over the rights of bondholders and catching the American people unaware and unprepared. In contrast, we still have time to prepare for the looming crisis threatening to engulf California, Illinois, New York and other state governments.The new Congr

Viewpoints Jan. 31, 2011

There’s a move afoot to give the states the authority to repeal measures enacted by Congress and signed by the president. It’s a bad idea. It’s also dishonorable.The measure, led by Republican Rep. Rob Bishop of Utah and taking the form of a proposed amendment to the Constitution, would allow the dis-enactment of “any provision of law or regulation” upon the vote of two-thirds of the state legisla

Viewpoints Jan. 30, 2011

LUXEMBOURG ― Much dedication and energy are currently being devoted to institutionalizing a crisis-management mechanism for the euro area. This is a good and important goal. But a far more significant challenge ― largely covered in the accompanying debate ― is the need for crisis prevention.At the European Union’s pre-Christmas summit, European heads of state and government agreed in principle to

Viewpoints Jan. 30, 2011

North Korea’s chronic food shortage is no secret. Still, few would have imagined that underfed soldiers go AWOL, take farm animals away from nearby houses for food or rob civilians of their personal possessions. That is what Radio Free Asia of the United States has recently reported, quoting North Korean residents. It also reported the North Korean military has virtually canceled an annual wintert

Editorial Jan. 28, 2011

The foot-and-mouth disease does not show any sign of subsiding. It has already spread to almost all regions in the nation. Shielded so far from the scourge of the animal disease are only two regions ― the two Jeolla provinces and Jeju Island.More than 2.7 million head of cows and pigs have been culled since the first case of the disease was reported in North Gyeongsang Province in late November. T

Editorial Jan. 28, 2011