The Korea Herald

[Masahiro Matsumura] U.S. action on South China Sea

OSAKA ― Territorial and maritime disputes among China, Taiwan, and several Southeast Asian countries are roiling the South China Sea region, with little prospect of resolution anytime soon. But the current uneasy status quo may be tenable, so long as the parties embrace serious confidence-building measures through multilateral forums while maintaining effective deterrence vis--vis China and a commitment not to use offensive force.Naturally, China is eager to exclude interference by extra-regiona

Viewpoints Oct. 13, 2013

[Masahiro Matsumura] U.S. action on South China Sea

[Joseph E. Stiglitz] Five years in limbo for the financial sector

NEW YORK ― When the U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers collapsed in 2008, triggering the worst global financial crisis since the Great Depression, a broad consensus about what caused the crisis seemed to emerge. A bloated and dysfunctional financial system had misallocated capital and, rather than managing risk, had actually created it. Financial deregulation ― together with easy money ― had contributed to excessive risk-taking. Monetary policy would be relatively ineffective in reviving the e

Viewpoints Oct. 13, 2013

[Joseph E. Stiglitz] Five years in limbo for the financial sector

Germany’s Merkel stands firm with Greece

Angela Merkel, known as “Mrs. Nein,” is back for a third term as German chancellor, which is good news for a Europe that needs a grown-up to keep telling it, “No!” Greece, in particular, needs to hear that message as it tries again to evade more of its debt obligations and wiggle out of restrictions on how much its government spends.Merkel sailed to re-election with an impressive 41.5 percent of the vote last month. She is busy forming a coalition government, skillfully playing the Green party a

Viewpoints Oct. 13, 2013

The hidden opportunity in the federal shutdown

PARIS ― Over a year ago, I sent my fingerprints for a standard foreign background check to the U.S. State Department in Washington, D.C., along with a money order. Both promptly disappeared, never to be seen again. A personal survey of those around me suggested that this was standard operating procedure ― which is why I suspected that America wouldn’t exactly implode if this kind of federal “service” level was formally kneecapped. Still, in shock there also lies opportunity.Sure, a few politicia

Viewpoints Oct. 13, 2013

[Robert B. Reich] Republicans setting cynicism trap

An old friend who has been active in politics for more than 30 years tells me he’s giving up. “I can’t stomach what’s going on in Washington anymore,” he says. “The hell with all of them. I have better things to do with my life.”My friend is falling into exactly the trap that the extreme right wants all of us to fall into ― such disgust and cynicism that we all give up on politics. Then they’re free to take over everything.Republicans blame the shutdown of Washington and possible default on the

Viewpoints Oct. 11, 2013

[Robert B. Reich] Republicans setting cynicism trap

What makes and distinguishes a Nobel laureate?

This year’s Nobel Prizes are being unveiled this week. Are there any predictors that point to who will be selected? Here’s George Beadle’s (medicine, 1958) response: “Study diligently. Respect DNA. Don’t smoke. Don’t drink. Avoid women and politics. That’s my formula.”Is precocity in childhood a predictor? When the 2001 economics laureate, George Akerlof, was in second grade, he was asked what he wanted for Christmas, and he said, “A steel mill.” Asked the same question by his scientist father,

Viewpoints Oct. 11, 2013

[David Ignatius] Turning off Doomsday Machine

WASHINGTON ― In the late 1950s, the famous nuclear strategist Herman Kahn facetiously suggested building what he called a “Doomsday Machine.” A computer would be wired to detonate a vast array of nuclear bombs if the Soviet Union took an action defined as intolerable. Kahn was joking. The point of his black humor was that official U.S. nuclear strategy was as crazy as his Doomsday Machine, in that it posited a war from which there was no rational escape. The alternative, wrote Fred Kaplan in his

Viewpoints Oct. 10, 2013

[David Ignatius] Turning off Doomsday Machine

Janet Yellen’s to-do list as the new Fed chief

President Barack Obama has nominated an exceptionally well-qualified economist as the next chairman of the Federal Reserve. By the way, once confirmed ― as few doubt she will be ― Janet Yellen will be the first woman to lead the central bank in its 100-year history.The new chairman will have her work cut out. Five years after the financial crisis, the U.S. economy is frail, and its largest banks are still oversized and undercapitalized. Congress and the White House are so much at odds over fisca

Viewpoints Oct. 10, 2013

[Jeffrey Goldberg] Iran’s true nuclear ambitions

Here is something to remember as nuclear negotiations between the West and Iran appear set to recommence: The Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, the putative moderate on whose shoulders great American hopes have been placed, is proud of the work he did to advance his country’s nuclear program ― and also of his efforts to stymie Western attempts to stop that work.Rouhani didn’t talk about this during his recent visit to the United Nations. He came bearing a different message: Iran seeks a peacefu

Viewpoints Oct. 9, 2013

[Jeffrey Goldberg] Iran’s true nuclear ambitions

Five reasons to fear the debt ceiling in the U.S.

The global economy is facing a bizarre man-made threat: Radical legislators in the U.S., issuer of the world’s most trusted currency, think forcing the government to renege on its obligations would be a good way to shock it into recognizing the error of its fiscally imprudent ways.Lest anyone take this notion seriously, here’s what would happen if that threat were carried out.To keep spending, the government needs Congress to pass a spending law. Republicans have already blocked this, resulting

Viewpoints Oct. 9, 2013

[George Soros] Angela Merkel’s Pyrrhic victory on the euro

BUDAPEST ― As far as Germany is concerned, the drama of the euro crisis is over. The subject was barely discussed in the country’s recent election campaign. Chancellor Angela Merkel did what was necessary to ensure the euro’s survival, and she did so at the least possible cost to Germany ― a feat that earned her the support of pro-European Germans as well as those who trust her to protect German interests. Not surprisingly, she won re-election resoundingly.But it was a Pyrrhic victory. The euroz

Viewpoints Oct. 9, 2013

[George Soros] Angela Merkel’s Pyrrhic victory on the euro

Turkey’s ill-advised pivot toward the east

In January, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that because his country’s talks to join the European Union had stalled, he might seek instead to join China and Russia in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.Few took the threat seriously; Turkey has been a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization since the 1950s. Yet the government’s decision late last month to award a $3 billion air and missile defense system contract to a state-run company from China suggests that Erdogan

Viewpoints Oct. 9, 2013

Canceling the shutdown, playing by the rules

By all accounts, there are enough House Republicans prepared to join with Democrats to fund the government and raise the debt ceiling without demanding provisions attacking Obamacare. The only thing stopping them is the House leadership, which is refusing to allow appropriations bills onto the floor.But House rules give the majority a way to take this decision out of Speaker John Boehner’s hands. By signing a “discharge petition,” 218 members can force a bill onto the floor for a decisive vote.

Viewpoints Oct. 9, 2013

[William Pesek ] Asia’s crisis of leadership

The day Asian leaders have long dreaded is here: The era of rapid growth is over.It has taken five years, but the fallout from what Asians call the “Lehman shock” is finally hitting gross domestic product and living standards. These risks are the talk of Bali, where Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation nations are mulling what to do about a world where “risks remain tilted to the downside.” There, Michael Taylor, chief credit officer for Asia at Moody’s Investors Service, said chaotic markets and a

Viewpoints Oct. 8, 2013

[William Pesek ] Asia’s crisis of leadership

How Obama can apologize for snubbing Asia

President Barack Obama’s decision to cancel his already truncated trip to Asia has elicited shrugs in Washington and politely clenched jaws from Bali to Tokyo. What else could he do, say those focused on the high-stakes U.S. budget stalemate. What else is new, say those hoping that the administration will deliver on its promise of a “pivot” or a “rebalancing” toward Asia.Much of the criticism of the cancellation comes from those worried about China’s growing economic and strategic heft. The Chin

Viewpoints Oct. 8, 2013

Articles by Yu Kun-ha