Articles by Jo He-rim
Jo He-rim
herim@heraldcorp.com-
[Mike Gonzalez] The real reason the IS successfully recruits fighters
Which country has the highest percentage of its Muslim population fighting for the Islamic State group as foreign recruits? Algeria? Afghanistan? Indonesia? Nope.Try Finland. No. 2 is Ireland, followed by Belgium, Sweden and Austria.What do these countries have in common, besides being European? They’re wealthy, democratic and have high levels of education, health and income. They also have very low levels of economic inequality.These findings appear in an eyebrow-raising report by the National
Viewpoints May 13, 2016
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[David Ignatius] Can Assad keep crossing the ‘red line’?
The Obama administration has another chance to enforce its botched “red line” against the use of chemical weapons in Syria, given new reports that President Bashar Assad’s regime has used nerve gas against extremist fighters and may be planning more such attacks. Obama’s decision not to retaliate against Assad’s use of chemical weapons in 2013 has become an emblem for his larger foreign policy, which critics argue hasn’t been forceful enough in Syria and other places. Obama justified his restrai
Viewpoints May 13, 2016
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[Robert B. Reich] The third way: Share-the-gains capitalism
Marissa Mayer tells us a lot about why Americans are so angry, and why antiestablishment fury has become the biggest single force in American politics today.Mayer is CEO of Yahoo. Yahoo’s stock lost about a third of its value last year, as the company went from making $7.5 billion in 2014 to losing $4.4 billion in 2015. Yet Mayer raked in $36 million in compensation.Even if Yahoo’s board fires her, her contract stipulates she gets $54.9 million in severance. The severance package was disclosed i
Viewpoints May 9, 2016
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[Christopher Balding] Why China is prone to property bubbles
Chinese markets have rarely looked more like Vegas casinos. In recent weeks, investors have driven up trading volumes in China to astronomical levels, betting on everything from rebar to eggs. China traded enough steel in one day last month to build 178,082 Eiffel Towers and enough cotton to make at least one pair of jeans for every person on the planet.These commodity markets aren’t gyrating purely because Chinese are inveterate gamblers. Government policies have made China especially prone to
Viewpoints May 9, 2016
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[Ram Garikipati] Government role in corporate debt restructuring
The hot topic in Korean corporate circles today is undoubtedly the moves by the government and state-run policy banks to bail out the ailing shipbuilding and shipping companies.Given the importance of these sectors in Korea and their prolonged financial distress, it is understandable that the government has pushed the panic button. The process of bailing them out has been set in motion with some sort of consensus reached between the Finance Ministry and Bank of Korea.BOK Gov. Lee Ju-yeol has cau
Viewpoints May 9, 2016
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[Albert R. Hunt] Get ready for U.S. politics to reach new lows
Americans may need to bring in the kids; the presidential election promises to get ugly, a race to the bottom.Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump both arouse strong passions, many of them negative. Both play tough.She is a policy wonk, but Trump has little interest in a wide-ranging debate on issues. In the Republican primaries, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz all tried at times to challenge him on substance; he brushed them aside with pointed personal rejoinders. It worked remarkably well.But a
Viewpoints May 9, 2016
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[Robert Litwak and Robert Daly] How to freeze North Korea’s nukes
Pyongyang’s version of YouTube recently featured a computer-animated clip of a nuclear strike on Washington delivered via a North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile. The North, which a decade ago tested its first nuclear weapon, will soon cross another threshold that could make its video propaganda a genuine threat: It will be able to attack the U.S. homeland with nuclear-tipped long-range ballistic missiles.North Korea’s potential nuclear breakout is both quantitative and qualitative. Un
Viewpoints May 9, 2016
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[Noah Smith] Want economic growth? Empty the suburbs
Here’s a big economic and political thesis: The U.S. has run out of frontiers, both literal and figurative. At first, growth was fueled by expansion into the West, use of natural resources and the build-out of national infrastructure. In the early- and mid-20th century, an unprecedented explosion of new technologies -- electricity, automobiles, airplanes and others -- opened up the suburbs, which acted like a new frontier. More recently, the Internet and globalization, especially China, were fr
Viewpoints May 8, 2016
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[Adam Minter] Why quacks are thriving in China
There are more than 10,000 private hospitals in China, and their numbers -- and revenues -- are growing every year. Yet they’re also among the least trusted institutions in China, widely assumed to be dens of quackery, malpractice and shameless profiteering.So why do patients flock to them? One reason is that China’s top search engine, Baidu, accepts their advertising.That’s how Wei Zexi, a 21-year-old cancer patient, ended up spending more than $30,000 on what was advertised as an experimental
Viewpoints May 8, 2016
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[William J. Burns and Michael Mullen] Why combating corruption matters to everyone
Pope Francis has called corruption “the gangrene of a people.” U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has labeled it a “radicalizer,” because it “destroys faith in legitimate authority.” And British Prime Minister David Cameron has described it as “one of the greatest enemies of progress in our time.”Corruption, put simply, is the abuse of public office for personal gain. As leaders increasingly recognize, it is a menace to development, human dignity, and global security. At the anticorruption summi
Viewpoints May 8, 2016
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[Jean-Michel Paul] Seoul does stimulus with a twist
For those feeling sympathy for the European Central Bank, which has pretty much been on its own in trying to stimulate demand in the absence of government fiscal policy and investment, a ray of hope has emerged -- in Korea. South Korea is not doing badly, mind you. The country is a member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a grouping of advanced economies, with a per capita gross domestic product similar to that of the European Union average. Last year, it enjoyed grow
Viewpoints May 8, 2016
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[David Ignatius] Clinton’s case to make on engagement
By questioning the fundamentals of America’s global role, Donald Trump has given Hillary Clinton a chance to lift her game -- by explaining why continued international engagement is in America’s interest and the world’s.If Clinton can’t counter Trump’s “America first” rhetoric, and make the case that U.S. leadership is still crucial for our security, she won’t be a strong president. And she won’t have public support for the policies needed to rebuild American credibility.Trump’s critics sometime
Viewpoints May 8, 2016
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[Editorial] More stimulus
The government has designated May 6 as a temporary holiday, allowing people to take a four-day break from May 5, which is Children’s Day in Korea.The designation is intended to boost the economy by stimulating sluggish domestic consumption. The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry proposed the idea, as the designation of Aug. 14 as an extra holiday last year had a positive impact on the economy.Last year, the government allowed people to take Aug. 14 off because Independence Day on Aug. 15, wh
Editorial April 29, 2016
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[Editorial] Jobs for youth
The government has come up with another set of measures to tackle the worsening youth unemployment problem. The package, the sixth of its kind put forward by the incumbent government, however, is unlikely to put a big dent in youth joblessness.The measures came after the unemployment rate for young adults hit an all-time high of 12.5 percent in February. The rate edged down to 11.8 percent in March, but it was still the highest on record for the month.Officials of the Employment Ministry say the
Editorial April 29, 2016
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[Robert B. Reich] Endgame of antiestablishment politics
Will Bernie Sanders’ supporters rally behind Hillary Clinton if she gets the nomination? Likewise, if Donald Trump is denied the Republican nomination, will his supporters back whoever gets the Republican nod?If 2008 is any guide, the answer is unambiguously yes to both. About 90 percent of the people who backed Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries that year ended up supporting Barack Obama in the general election. About the same percent of Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney backers came aroun
Viewpoints April 29, 2016
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