The Korea Herald

[Herald Interview] Fine lines and finer art 　

To call Kim Kyeong-ho a master calligrapher seems like an understatement. His transcriptions of the sutras, the Buddha’s teachings, lead viewers to wonder about the limits of human ability. Ultrathin lines no thicker than a fraction of 1 millimeter form intricate designs and paintings that decorate the scripts. One such example depicts Buddha figures, almost invisible if not scrutinized with a magnifying glass, hidden inside minuscule pagodas. “I did this many years ago. I

Culture Aug. 30, 2019

[Herald Interview] Fine lines and finer art

[Photo News] Bridging Korea and Japan

Kim Soung-soo (fourth from left, second row), chairman of Youth For Understanding Korea, a nonprofit student exchange organization, poses with Korean and Japanese participants in the 2018-2019 exchange program sponsored by Toyota Korea. Also present in the ceremony held in Seoul last week were In Sung-yeon (second from left, second row), YFU Korea assistant national director; Nobuyuki Takemura (third from left), head of Toyota Korea; and Keiko Enatsu (fifth from left), national director of YFU J

Social Affairs March 10, 2019

The time has come for Koreans to invest in Ukraine

This article was contributed by the Embassy of Ukraine. – Ed.What do Koreans know about Ukraine? Perhaps, some still remember a breathtaking triumph of a Ukrainian athlete Sehii Bubka at 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. Those into football probably know Andrii Shevchenko, a “Golden Ball” winner and legendary striker for Milan and Chelsea. Some Koreans probably think of Ukraine as a mysterious country in Europe, with the most beautiful women in the world. Of course, there is a lot more to Ukraine w

Diplomatic Circuit Dec. 18, 2017

Trump again cites ‘military’ option on N. Korea

US President Donald Trump and his French counterpart pledged Saturday to work to denuclearize North Korea, but Trump again invoked the grim possibility of “military measures” if other steps should fail.Trump’s latest warning came amid a flurry of international calls -- from China, the North’s key ally, as well as Russia, Germany, Britain and the United Nations -- for the president to show greater rhetorical restraint. (Yonhap)A White House statement said Trump and French President Emmanuel Macro

World News Aug. 13, 2017

Trump again cites ‘military’ option on N. Korea

[Kori Schake] These empty rocks matter

A little-known court in the Netherlands rattled Asia this week. The Permanent Court of Arbitration concluded that China has no legal basis for its expansive claims in the South China Sea, where China has been attempting to intimidate its neighbors into conceding their rights.　While the overlapping claims are devilishly complicated, the main point is that China, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam all have competing claims in the South China Sea. The U.N. Convention on the Law o

Viewpoints July 15, 2016

[Jeffrey Frankel ] Brexit, Trump and globalization

Two political events that are attracting global attention these days -- the vote in the United Kingdom to leave the European Union and Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in the United States -- have much in common. Just over half of U.K. voters chose Brexit, a result that has cast a long shadow over their country’s political system and economic prospects. Perhaps understanding the parallels between the two campaigns will help U.S. voters avoid taking a similar path in November.　One parallel is

Viewpoints July 15, 2016

[Leonid Bershidsky] German chancellor is Britain’s best hope

The leaders of the remaining 27 European Union members have spoken on Brexit, and it would appear that they spoke with one voice. Could it be, however, that France and Germany, the EU-27’s two leaders, really have different approaches to handling the U.K.’s departure?　　The statement from their Brussels gathering this week was calm and firm: The U.K. should start the formal withdrawal process “as soon as possible,” but hopefully it will remain a close partner. It can, however, only be part of th

Viewpoints July 1, 2016

[David Ignatius] Saudi Arabia‘s agent of change

For a kingdom that has survived by hedging its bets and resisting change, Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman proposes a series of sweeping reforms: 　Saudi Aramco and other big, state-owned enterprises would be privatized; cinemas, museums and a “media city” would be created for a young population starving for entertainment; the power of the religious police would be curtailed; and, at some point, women would be allowed to drive.　MBS, as the 30-year-old prince is known, propos

Viewpoints July 1, 2016

[David Ignatius] Saudi Arabia‘s agent of change

[David Ignatius] Obama‘s year of resilience

A year ago this month, President Obama was delivering a eulogy in Charleston, South Carolina, after the mass shooting in a church there. As he neared the end, he took a long pause and then began singing “Amazing Grace.”　It was an unforgettable, transcendent moment. Michelle Obama had reportedly cautioned him against singing, but Obama told her on the trip to Charleston that he might do it anyway. Until he began, even he probably wasn’t sure.　Peter Manseau wrote in The Atlantic magazine about the

Viewpoints June 17, 2016

[David Ignatius] Obama‘s year of resilience

[Clive Crook] How Europe pushed Britain toward door

So Britain might actually do it. With a week to go before the referendum on June 23, recent polls say the campaign to quit the European Union is ahead. The government and its allies in the Remain campaign are alarmed.　Why is this happening?　The excellence of the Leave campaign certainly isn’t the reason. Advocates of Brexit made a weak case, unable to say what leaving the EU would mean for the country’s future trade arrangements or which parts of EU law would be re-adopted and which discarded. I

Viewpoints June 17, 2016

[Michael Schuman] China is forgetting the keys to success

China is arguably the valedictorian of Asia’s MBA program. When Deng Xiaoping ditched the radical economics of Mao and steered China into the global economy beginning in the early 1980s, he borrowed liberally from programs and policies that had earlier ignited rapid growth in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. The student quickly outshone the teachers, riding an export-led, investment-heavy strategy to years of double-digit growth.　Now, however, China’s President Xi Jinping app

Viewpoints June 3, 2016

[David Ignatius] The IS feeds off Islamophobia

　 The West is suffering from what one leading strategist calls an “autoimmune disease” in trying to fight the Islamic State group. The self-defense mechanisms championed by Donald Trump and his European neo-populist counterparts have gone into toxic overdrive -- weakening the West’s body politic and making the jihadist fever far worse.　David Kenning, a British counter-radicalization expert, made this provocative argument in a telephone interview this week, and in recent research for various West

Viewpoints June 3, 2016

[David Ignatius] The IS feeds off Islamophobia

[David Horsey] Trump supporters look like the O.J. Simpson jury

Donald Trump’s loyal voters share something with the jurors in the O.J. Simpson trial: a predisposition to ignore disturbing, hard facts while buying into a narrative that absolves their celebrity hero, acknowledges their own grievances and reinforces their perception of how the world works.　With lifetimes of negative experiences that made them suspicious of the Los Angeles Police Department, the African-American jurors who formed the majority on the Simpson trial jury were inclined from the sta

Viewpoints May 20, 2016

[Robert J. Shiller] Fighting next global financial crisis

What do people mean when they criticize generals for “fighting the last war”? It’s not that generals ever think they will face the same weapon systems and the same battlefields. They certainly know better. 　The error, to the extent that the generals make it, must operate at a more subtle level. Generals are sometimes slow to get around to developing plans and ordnance for those new weapon systems and battlefields. 　And just as important, they sometimes assume that the public psychology, and the

Viewpoints May 20, 2016

[Robert J. Shiller] Fighting next global financial crisis

[Jeffrey Frankel] Reckoning with economic inequality in the U.S.

When it comes to the rise in economic inequality since the 1970s in the United States and some other advanced economies, it doesn’t really matter which measure of income distribution we choose: They all show the increase. And, while many competing explanations have been proposed, we do not need to agree about causes to concur on sensible policies to address the problem.There are many ways to measure inequality. Each can tell us something different. Many Asian countries’ recent economic success h

Viewpoints March 27, 2016

[Jeffrey Frankel] Reckoning with economic inequality in the U.S.

Articles by Lee Yoon-joo