Who do they think they are, these upstart economies, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa? That might sum up the feeling in the U.S., Europe and Japan as the BRICS nations consider a new development bank that might challenge the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. The move brings to mind Alice Amsden, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist who died last year, and her 2001 book, “The Rise of ‘the Rest.’” The richest nations can stew about this turn of events, as thos

Viewpoints April 1, 2013

Ernest Hemingway pieced together the quintessence of the Spanish Civil War in his captivating novel “For whom the bell tolls?” The novel’s protagonist, a young American, gets embroiled in the war while serving in the International Brigade, chronicling senseless inhumanity of man to man as society’s fabric is shredded.One of the most memorable passages of the novel is “For what are we born if not to aid one another?” The novel has many themes, and one is the dependency of society’s individuals on

Viewpoints April 1, 2013

The substantive case against gay marriage collapsed in the Supreme Court last week. Legally, Supreme Court watchers say, advocates won’t win the sweeping victory they once anticipated as they made arguments last week. The court is likely to overturn a California law that precludes same-sex marriage, on technical grounds. The 17-year-old federal Defense of Marriage Act defining marriage as between a man and woman, and thus denying federal spousal benefits to gays and lesbians, almost certainly wi

Viewpoints April 1, 2013

Today is the 22nd anniversary of the Korea International Cooperation Agency, the implementing organization of Korea’s official development assistance. KOICA has earned a good reputation by transferring Korea’s development experience to developing countries around the world. It has also dispatched more than 10,000 volunteer workers abroad. ODA is classified into two types ― grants and loans. Grants are provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and KOICA while loans are offered by the Ministry o

Viewpoints March 31, 2013

PARIS ― The Internet went crazy last week over what was described in hyperventilating tweets as NATO’s plan to kill hackers. “NATO-Commissioned Report Says Killing Hackers Is Basically OK,” blared one tech blog headline, nicely reinforcing the paranoia. That makes it sound as if the governments of NATO countries are looking for any excuse to vaporize anyone with a computer, doesn’t it? The more irrationally jumpy among us might imagine that these governments are just waiting for the guy beside u

Viewpoints March 28, 2013

The fifth summit of the BRICS countries, which concluded in Durban, South Africa on Wednesday, has sent positive signals of solidarity, partnership and win-win cooperation. With their pledge to enhance cooperation and coordination in such fields as international politics, economy, finance, trade and development, the group is poised to play a bigger role on the world stage, which should be interpreted as a good trend. Among the many initiatives that were approved by leaders of the BRICS countries

Viewpoints March 28, 2013

Taiwan’s Ministry of Education moved last week to amend existing regulations that would block an application by renowned baker Wu Pao-chun for the country’s Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) program.The MOE’s uncharacteristically rapid response came after President Ma Ying-jeou publicly instructed the government to keep Wu in Taiwan by all means necessary. Wu was contemplating further education to boost his business skills but was reportedly put off by Taiwanese regulations, whi

Viewpoints March 28, 2013

President Obama’s makeup visit to Israel was a great success, by most measures, but don’t expect peace between Israelis and Palestinians anytime soon ― despite Obama’s ringing call for it.Relations between Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have been prickly, at best, since Obama first took office in 2009. During last year’s presidential election Netanyahu tacitly campaigned for Mitt Romney, certainly angering Obama.But now that Obama has begun his second term, he realized that

Viewpoints March 27, 2013

The resignation on Monday of Han Man-soo, President Park Geun-hye’s nominee to head the Fair Trade Commission, triggered an outpouring of criticism of the president’s appointment style and calls for punishment of her secretaries responsible for making background checks on her nominees.Even leaders of the ruling Saenuri Party now say enough is enough. They have joined the main opposition Democratic United Party in blasting Park’s unique style of making personnel appointments. The DUP went further

Editorial March 27, 2013

This year promises to be a tough year for Kim Duk-joong, the new head of the National Tax Service, as he is charged with collecting more taxes than before at a time when the economic slowdown is making a dent in government revenue.Kim also faces the task of rooting out corruption among tax officials. The need for house cleaning is all the greater as he is set to step up crackdowns on tax cheats to attain the tax revenue target. During a parliamentary hearing on Monday, Kim raised the alarm by di

Editorial March 27, 2013

Peng Liyuan, celebrity folksinger and wife of President Xi Jinping has a chic, elegant and decidedly local look. Since March 22, when she appeared at a Moscow airport, arm in arm with her smiling husband on the opening leg of his first international trip as China’s new head of state, talk of her has spread across newspapers, blogs and microblogs. “Peng Liyuan’s debut trip is remarkable. For a very long time, party leaders, and especially their wives, left dowdy impressions,” tweeted a retired ac

Viewpoints March 27, 2013