In its long-running dispute with the police over how to share investigation powers, the prosecution has adamantly opposed police officers being allowed to investigate crimes on their own. One reason is prosecutors’ concern about police officers’ susceptibility to corruption. An unfolding corruption case has proved that this concern is not unfounded.On Sunday, prosecutors arrested four police officers on charges of having taken 200 million won in bribes from Lee Gyeong-baek, a hostess bar owner o

Editorial April 5, 2012

The Ministry of Strategy and Finance has issued another warning against welfare populism pursued by political parties, saying their welfare-related campaign pledges are simply beyond the reach of state finances.According to the ministry, the recently finalized welfare platforms of the ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition Democratic United Party offer a total of 266 programs, excluding overlapping ones. If these programs are implemented in their entirety, the ministry said, it would cost

Editorial April 5, 2012

Last week, I submitted an affidavit to support an important lawsuit brought by reporter Chris Hedges and others, including Daniel Ellsberg and Noam Chomsky, against U.S. President Barack Obama and his defense secretary, Leon Panetta.The lawsuit seeks to stop implementation of the horrific new National Defense Authorization Act, also known as the “Homeland Battlefield Bill,” which Obama signed into law in December. As a result, the United States government’s “war on terror” has come home: any Ame

Viewpoints April 5, 2012

On a recent visit to Afghanistan and Pakistan, I could not fail to notice the increasingly frequent international calls for an “endgame” in Afghanistan. But an endgame for that country is a dangerous illusion: the game will not end, and neither will history. The only thing that could come to an end is the world’s attention and engagement in Afghanistan, which could well lead to catastrophic consequences.Much international focus is now on the year 2014, the target date for completion of the gradu

Viewpoints April 5, 2012

At a time when the ongoing European debt crisis is fracturing public faith in the continent’s political and economic institutions, one would expect Europe’s leaders to strengthen as many unifying symbols as they can. Instead, they have allowed one of the jewels of post-World War II European integration -- the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) -- to come under threat as well.Unlike the Brussels-based European Union, long beleaguered by its democratic deficit, the Strasbourg-based ECHR is, if

Viewpoints April 5, 2012

In France, an Islamic terrorist has likely hijacked the agenda for the remainder of the French presidential race. That terrorist is 23-year-old Mohammed Merah, a Franco-Algerian from Toulouse who was fatally riddled with bullets by French forces last week after a 30-hour standoff and took the television remotes of an entire nation with him.Because of Merah, an election fought on economic grounds has become dominated almost exclusively by national security. The extreme nationalist National Front

Viewpoints April 5, 2012

In economic circles, no slight stings more than being compared to Herbert Hoover. The 31st U.S. president, who helped make the Depression of the 1930s great, ranks among history’s worst growth killers. Ryutaro Hashimoto, Japan’s prime minister from 1996 to 1998, went to his deathbed in 2006 seething over being tagged as Asia’s Hoover. Among those doing the labeling was former Sony Corp. chairman Norio Ohga. Hashimoto’s crime? The same as Hoover’s ― an ill-timed and ill-advised tax increase that

Viewpoints April 5, 2012

“All is not well in the People’s Republic.” So proclaim China-watching Hamlets around the world. They seem to have ample evidence. Six months before the 18th congress of the Chinese Communist Party, when a major transition of leadership is to take place, a political earthquake is riveting the nation.Bo Xilai, one of China’s most prominent leaders, a member of the Politburo and son of one of the founding fathers of modern China, was removed from his position as party secretary of Chongqing. The a

Viewpoints April 4, 2012

In the year leading up to the general election, the Saenuri Party faced an important decision. Party support was flagging and the issue of the redistribution of wealth solidified as the second most important issue to the nation behind job creation, according to the monthly public opinion polls conducted by the Asan Institute for Policy Studies. Traditionally, the Saenuri Party has hung its hat on the economy and security, and while the Saenuri Party has always been seen as competent on the econo

Viewpoints April 4, 2012

“All is not well in the People‘s Republic.” So proclaim China-watching Hamlets around the world. They seem to have ample evidence. Six months before the 18th congress of the Chinese Communist Party, when a major transition of leadership is to take place, a political earthquake is riveting the nation.Bo Xilai, one of China’s most prominent leaders, a member of the Politburo and son of one of the founding fathers of modern China, was removed from his position as party secretary of Chongqing. The a

Viewpoints April 4, 2012

In the year leading up to the general election, the New Frontier Party (Saenuri Party) faced an important decision. Party support was flagging and the issue of the redistribution of wealth solidified as the second most important issue to the nation behind job creation, according to the monthly public opinion polls conducted by the Asan Institute for Policy Studies. Traditionally, the NFP has hung its hat on the economy and security, and while the NFP has always been seen as competent on the econ

Viewpoints April 4, 2012

Rabbi Shneur Kesselman estimates that he has been the victim of 100 or so anti-Semitic confrontations since he arrived in the southern Swedish city of Malmö in 2004. The latest was just a few days ago, when some young immigrants in a car spotted him on his way home after the evening service at the synagogue. The driver accelerated up onto the sidewalk as if trying to run him over.Kesselman leads the Jewish congregation in Malmo, a town where many Jews are now afraid to wear a yarmulke or a Star

Viewpoints April 4, 2012