The Korea Herald

[Editorial] Rising nuclear threats

North Korea unleashed a new salvo in an escalating war of words over nuclear threats when its vice foreign minister, Pak Kil-yon, addressed the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Tuesday. He said South Korea was “creating the danger of driving relations back into a destructive stage again.”Claiming that hostile U.S. policy was the cause of tension on the Korean Peninsula, he also accused Washington of abusing its power on the U.N. Security Council against North Korea. He was apparently referri

Editorial Oct. 4, 2013

[Editorial] Chaebol’s greed

One large business enterprise after another is implicated in a scandal involving families controlling them. Quite a few leaders of family-controlled business conglomerates, or chaebol, have recently been sent to prison for their fraudulent practices.In July, Lee Jae-hyun, chairman of CJ Group, was arrested on charges of embezzlement, negligence and tax evasion. He was accused of creating a slush fund after fraudulently taking 100 billion won from the business group and evading 70 billion won in

Editorial Oct. 4, 2013

[Robert B.Reich] Don’t give in to extortionists

As a child I was bullied by bigger boys who threatened to beat me up if I didn’t give them what they wanted. But every time I gave in to their demands, their subsequent demands grew larger. First they wanted the change in my pocket. Next it was the dessert in my lunchbox. Then my new Davy Crockett cap. Then the softball and bat I got for my birthday.Finally I stopped giving in. When the bullies began roughing me up on the playground, some older boys came to my rescue and threatened my tormenters

Viewpoints Oct. 4, 2013

[Robert B.Reich] Don’t give in to extortionists

Congress plays with fire as Asia examines debt

The U.S. doesn’t deserve Asia’s money, not with half of its government in financial jihad mode, damn the global consequences.The biggest economy has long taken its reserve-currency status for granted, but the events of recent days raise Washington’s hubris to entirely new levels. Chinese President Xi Jinping didn’t mention Ted Cruz, John Boehner or the Tea Party this week when he urged major developed economies to adopt responsible policies that avoid negative spillover. He didn’t have to. Their

Viewpoints Oct. 4, 2013

[Yoon Young-kwan] Filling global leadership vacuum

Has the world entered a new era of chaos? America’s vacillating policy toward Syria certainly suggests so. Indeed, the bitter legacy of the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, followed by the 2008 financial crisis, has made the United States not only reluctant to use its military might, even when “red lines” are crossed, but also seemingly unwilling to bear any serious burden to maintain its global leadership position. But, if America is no longer willing to lead, who will take its place?China’s

Viewpoints Oct. 3, 2013

[Yoon Young-kwan] Filling global leadership vacuum

Heroes and soldiers of the supreme court

As the Supreme Court prepares to begin its new term, observers have been discussing the familiar divisions among the justices. Judicial activism is opposed to judicial restraint, liberalism is opposed to conservatism, and those who believe in an evolving or “living” Constitution are opposed to those who believe that the document’s meaning was fixed when its provisions were originally ratified.But there is another division. For more than two centuries, the court’s members have adopted one of four

Viewpoints Oct. 3, 2013

[Kim Myong-sik] Is bringing overseas artifacts home desirable?

Culture Minister Yoo Jin-ryong seems to have barely weathered a storm of public censure with sincere explanations about his alleged remarks hinting the possibility of returning to Japan Buddhist statues that a group of Koreans stole from Tsushima. He faced sudden embarrassment when the Japanese media quoted their Culture Minister Hakubun Shimomura, coming from a meeting with Korean and Chinese culture ministers in Gwangju last week, as saying that Korea would be considering sending the stolen ar

Viewpoints Oct. 2, 2013

[Kim Myong-sik] Is bringing overseas artifacts home desirable?

[Lee Jae-min] Cooperation from Bali to Bali

The problem of multilateral trade negotiations is that, increasingly, negotiators are confined to the mandates and directives of their governments, with little leeway at the negotiating table. That is just natural: What they say will be transcribed into official documents and what they agree to will be put into treaty texts which will remain legally binding until terminated. Under these circumstances, everything said and delivered should be tightly controlled.To the contrary, a forum designed to

Viewpoints Oct. 2, 2013

[Lee Jae-min] Cooperation from Bali to Bali

[Editorial] Pay-as-you-go rules

The government is planning to introduce pay-as-you-go, or PAYGO, budgeting rules to maintain fiscal soundness by preventing political parties from recklessly passing costly welfare bills.The Ministry of Strategy and Finance said it would seek to revise the law on state finances during the ongoing parliamentary session to bring the rules into effect next year.PAYGO is the practice of financing new spending commitments with currently available funds rather than fresh debt. Under the rules, a new l

Editorial Oct. 1, 2013

[Editorial] Flawed pension plan

President Park Geun-hye’s revised pension program for senior citizens is going to be a hard sell, as it faces strong resistance from the main opposition Democratic Party. On the campaign trail last year, Park pledged to introduce a universal basic pension plan that gives all senior citizens aged 65 or older a monthly allowance of 200,000 won, regardless of their income. Yet last week, the government scaled back the plan, citing an unexpected revenue drop due to the slow economic recovery. The re

Editorial Oct. 1, 2013

[J. Bradford DeLong] The taper and its shadow

BERKELEY California ― The central banks of the North Atlantic region have vowed not to raise their short-term nominal interest rates until the economies under their stewardship show substantial recovery. So far, that has not happened. On the contrary, these economies continue to be battered by the fiscal headwinds of austerity; by uncertainty over whether America’s Republican Party will, in fact, undermine the “full faith and credit” of the United States by allowing the federal government to def

Viewpoints Oct. 1, 2013

[J. Bradford DeLong] The taper and its shadow

Are you worried about cancer? Get married

When I mentioned my bout with breast cancer to a new acquaintance, his first question was, “Are you married?”It was an unusual reaction ― a more common query is whether I have kids. Later he told me that his daughter-in-law had been diagnosed with breast cancer while still in graduate school and that she and his son had moved in with him. He understood better than most people that being married makes it easier to cope with cancer.The very next day the Journal of Clinical Oncology released a stud

Viewpoints Oct. 1, 2013

[Kim Seong-kon] Amazing world of psychology and brain sciences

In the past few decades, scientists have successfully unveiled the mystery of the chromosome map and acquired unprecedented genetic engineering skills. Now they are beginning to make advances in brain science, which is closely related to psychology. In order to perceive how the human brain works and how humans behave, scientists are conducting various experiments. And the results are quite intriguing and enlightening. Psychology is now beginning to flourish in Korea. For example, psychology is a

Viewpoints Oct. 1, 2013

[Kim Seong-kon] Amazing world of psychology and brain sciences

Europe’s voters wisely stick with frugal leaders

For the last three years, the Anglo-American and south European news media have presented German Chancellor Angela Merkel as the scourge of the recession. But on Sept. 22, she won an overwhelming victory in Germany’s parliamentary elections. Her Christian Democratic Union obtained 41.5 percent of the votes cast, its best result since 1990, five seats short of a majority in the Bundestag.Her success should give us pause to reconsider what has happened in Europe since the global financial crisis e

Viewpoints Oct. 1, 2013

The widening gulf between Americans and their military

Spending a couple of days at West Point, especially coming from Washington, is uplifting.The majesty of the setting high above the Hudson River ― where George Washington set up his headquarters in 1779 ― inspires. Compelling, too, is the character of the cadets at the U.S. Military Academy.Whether they are asking vigorous questions in social science class or displaying the precision of the Long Gray line on parade, the cadets inhabit a world imbued with the auras of Dwight Eisenhower, Douglas Ma

Viewpoints Oct. 1, 2013

Articles by Yu Kun-ha