Armed with expertise and a multiethnic culture, KDI School is ready to step up its contributions to sharing Korea’s know-how on economic development through an online database, policy advisory projects, and lectures and seminars, its chief said. The Seoul-based school in 2012 launched an online archive called K-Developedia, providing free access to resources accrued over the last six decades on the country’s economic ascent. As of Dec. 10, it boasts more than 28,700 theses, academic journals, re

Foreign Affairs Dec. 10, 2014

In his keynote address at the recently held ST Global Outlook Forum last month, Kishore Mahbubani, dean of the Lee Kuwan Yew School of Public Policy, confidently stated that Asia will experience “a new golden era of peace and prosperity over the next 10 years.” With an exploding middle class population and China fast on the heels of the United States in purchasing power parity, few can argue otherwise. The media has also been extensively covering Asia’s burgeoning growth and phrases like “pivot

Foreign Affairs Dec. 10, 2014

North Korea on Tuesday claimed the nine young defectors who were repatriated from Laos while fleeing their repressive homeland last year are not only alive but leading a “happy life,” in attempts to quell speculation that some of them had been executed. Uriminzokkiri TV, a North Korea propaganda broadcaster, aired a video depicting the lives of the youngsters who the communist regime argues were once “enticed and kidnapped” by South Korean authorities. In the clip, four students are seen taking

North Korea Dec. 9, 2014

Marking their 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations, Korea and ASEAN are poised to formulate a vision for their future partnership at a summit in Busan next week. President Park Geun-hye will host the leaders of the 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ― Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam ― during the meeting scheduled for Dec. 11-12. President Park Geun-hyeThe 11 heads of state are expected to review

Foreign Affairs Dec. 5, 2014

With ASEAN gearing up for political, economic and social integration, the envisioned community will provide crucial lessons to Northeast Asia, which is struggling to build trust in the face of historical and territorial animosities, according to the chief of the ASEAN-Korea Center. Chung Hae-moon also forecast that next week’s summit in Busan would help relations between Korea and ASEAN evolve into a more substantive and robust partnership at the regional and global levels. “After 25 years of mu

Foreign Affairs Dec. 5, 2014

In 1948, high-flying metallurgy professor Choe Ke-soon decided to start a new chapter in his life by going to the U.S. Moving there without any relatives or friends, he started as a visiting scholar at Princeton and Columbia universities in New York, before being recruited by The Boeing Co. in 1967 and passing away in 2003 as a top engineer, self-taught calligrapher and watercolor painter, and a Korean-American leader in Seattle. Just like her father, Martha Choe has been leading a tireless yet

Foreign Affairs Nov. 30, 2014

Despite persistent territorial and historical tension, Northeast Asia needs to formulate a joint scheme to promote nuclear safety which will help preclude future disasters and boost practical cooperation, chief of the OECD’s atomic energy agency said Tuesday. William Magwood, director-general of the Nuclear Energy Agency of the OECD, stressed the growing need to jointly address safety issues in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima debacle in Japan, such as by cultivating a safety culture.  William Mag

Foreign Affairs Nov. 25, 2014

Albeit powerless and hapless far away from his homeland Bhutan, the young boy could not give up his dream of becoming an actor like Jung Woo-sung since watching his 2004 film “A Moment to Remember.”As the boy re-enacted a perilous cross-border journey on a makeshift stage alongside his peers at the Beldangi refugee camp in Nepal, the 41-year-old South Korean actor Jung was shaken by the young refugees’ purity and unity even while lacking basic needs. The encounter took place during Jung’s first

Foreign Affairs Nov. 23, 2014

North Korea continued scathing verbal attacks Thursday against the adoption of a landmark U.N. resolution on its grave human rights record, again threatening a fresh round of nuclear testing.A U.N. committee on Tuesday approved the text condemning the “longstanding and ongoing systematic, widespread and gross” rights breaches in line with a Commission of Inquiry study released in February.The panel has been endorsing a resolution to address the situation each year since 2005. But the latest one

North Korea Nov. 20, 2014

Former Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Thursday called on the international community to devise creative and innovative solutions in financing, technology transfer and development cooperation to step up the fight against climate change. The new chair of the Council of the Global Green Growth Institute stressed the need for more action to achieve sustainable growth in the face of mounting “man-made” challenges such as resource scarcity, population growth, loss of biodiversity and

Foreign Affairs Nov. 19, 2014

As arbitration remains a key solution to investment disputes, new U.N. rules on transparency in investor-state settlements will reinforce the benefits of existing treaties, public visibility to proceedings and efficiency of domestic legislation, UNCITRAL’s chief said. The convention on transparency in treaty-based investor-state arbitration would provide access to settlement procedures, documents and hearings that were kept secret in the past. The upgraded rules took effect in April and awaits a

Foreign Affairs Nov. 18, 2014