The Korea Herald

Taiwan must put a stop to brain-drain cycle

Two sets of figures published this week concerning Taiwan’s employment indeed show some of the country’s problems. The lesson, though, is less about the labor market itself and more about its educational, social and economic development.The government’s monthly report on employment showed that the December jobless rate dropped to 4.18 percent, improving by 0.09 percentage points compared to November. Despite the improvement, unemployment among the young and educated is on the rise.Meanwhile, a p

Viewpoints Jan. 28, 2013

[Editorial] Unwarranted pardon

Defying public outcry, President Lee Myung-bak is expected to announce a special pardon soon, possibly Tuesday. The Ministry of Justice has already submitted a presidential clemency proposal to Lee.The planned pardon has triggered public outcry as it reportedly includes some of Lee’s friends and aides who have been convicted of corruption. For this reason, President-elect Park Geun-hye’s transition team has voiced opposition to the amnesty plan. Yoon Chang-jung, spokesman of the team, said on Sa

Editorial Jan. 28, 2013

[Editorial] Digging own grave

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un appears to have decided to conduct another nuclear test. The North’s state media reported on Sunday that Kim had expressed his firm intention to take “substantial and high-profile state measures” in response to the Jan. 23 U.N. Security Council sanctions.The dispatch from the North’s Korean Central News Agency did not elaborate on the “measures,” but they were believed to be referring to an atomic bomb test in light of Pyongyang’s escalating threats to detonate a

Editorial Jan. 28, 2013

[Alfred Gusenbauer] The American comeback kid

VIENNA ― As is customary at the start of a new year, imposing statistics and trend forecasts are being trumpeted worldwide. For example, in 2016, China is expected to replace the United States as the world’s largest economy. And, by 2040, India’s population will have reached 1.6 billion, surpassing China’s, which will have stagnated a decade earlier. Perhaps the most startling projection is that the U.S. will become an energy exporter by 2020, and will become energy self-sufficient 15 years late

Viewpoints Jan. 28, 2013

[Alfred Gusenbauer] The American comeback kid

[Peter Sutherland] Cameron heralds a new era of turbulence for U.K.

LONDON ― Unlike some in Britain’s Conservative Party, Prime Minister David Cameron has not previously given the impression of being obsessed with Europe. He demonstrated no enthusiasm for the European Union, but he appeared clearly less exercised by its supposed iniquities than many Tories are.This view of Cameron’s position is now difficult to sustain. His long-gestating speech on Europe, although containing elements that many might share, also sows the seeds for a prolonged and acrimonious deb

Viewpoints Jan. 28, 2013

[Peter Sutherland] Cameron heralds a new era of turbulence for U.K.

[David Ignatius] Barack Obama ― politician

WASHINGTON ― In his essay “Politics as a Vocation,” the German sociologist Max Weber famously wrote that “politics is a strong and slow boring of hard boards.” In this sense, it seems possible that Barack Obama has finally come to embrace the vocation of politics as he begins his second term as president. I’m saddened by some of what Obama has learned on the way to becoming the politician who can drill those hard boards. I like his voice better when he tries to speak to all Americans, including

Viewpoints Jan. 27, 2013

[David Ignatius] Barack Obama ― politician

[Mohamed A. El-Erian] Beggar thy currency or beggar thy self?

NEWPORT BEACH ― Not many countries nowadays seek a strong exchange rate; a few, including systemically important ones, are already actively weakening their currencies. Yet, because an exchange rate is a relative price, all currencies cannot weaken simultaneously. How the world resolves this basic inconsistency over the next few years will have a major impact on prospects for growth, employment, income distribution, and the functioning of the global economy.Japan is the latest country to say enou

Viewpoints Jan. 27, 2013

[Mohamed A. El-Erian] Beggar thy currency or beggar thy self?

[Editorial] Old-age pension reform

Debate continues on President-elect Park Geun-hye’s plan to reform the current basic old-age pension. During her election campaign, Park put forward three interrelated proposals concerning the senior pension. First of all, she promised to double the monthly pension benefit from the present 97,100 won to 200,000 won.Then she proposed to make the increased benefit available to all senior citizens aged 65 or older, regardless of their income. Currently, the benefit is paid to people in the bottom 7

Editorial Jan. 25, 2013

[Editorial] Upholding rule of law

President-elect Park Geun-hye has surprised many by nominating Kim Yong-joon, chief of her transition team, to be the first prime minister of her government. But the nomination has clearly shown what values she cherishes most.One such value is the rule of law. She has repeatedly pledged to handle state affairs in compliance with the law. By nominating Kim, Park probably wanted to show that her pledges were not hollow rhetoric. Explaining why she picked Kim, 74, who served as a Constitutional Cou

Editorial Jan. 25, 2013

Pakistan: A nation coming apart at the seams

Distracted by the deadly violence in Mali and Algeria, no one seems to be paying adequate attention to the tragicomedy under way in Pakistan.This matters because events of the last week demonstrate without equivocation that Pakistan is an utterly failed state ― but one that possesses nuclear weapons. The country is tumbling down the abyss. Where else could a fundamentalist Muslim cleric who lives in Canada draw tens of thousands of fans to a rally calling for dissolution of the government ― spea

Viewpoints Jan. 25, 2013

[Jeffrey Frankel] Fixing Europe’s fiscal problems

CAMBRIDGE ― At the start of 2013, the eurozone’s “fiscal compact” entered into force, owing to its ratification on Dec. 21 by a 12th country, Finland, a year after German Chancellor Angela Merkel prodded eurozone leaders into agreement. The compact ― technically called the Treaty on Stability, Coordination, and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union ― requires member countries to introduce laws limiting their structural government budget deficits to less than 0.5 percent of GDP (or less t

Viewpoints Jan. 25, 2013

[Jeffrey Frankel] Fixing Europe’s fiscal problems

Spy secrets portrayed in ‘Zero Dark Thirty’

PARIS ― The realities highlighted by the Oscar-nominated film “Zero Dark Thirty,” which detailed the operation that ended with the killing of Osama bin Laden, don’t begin and end with the debate over what some call “torture” as a means of obtaining intelligence. That’s just the only issue from the film that politicians and the media have glommed onto. More than anything else, “Zero Dark Thirty” is one of the rare films that accurately portrays the realities and frustrations of working in espiona

Viewpoints Jan. 24, 2013

[Robert Reich] Obama’s debt-ceiling strategy

A week before his inauguration, President Obama said he wouldn’t negotiate with Republicans over raising the federal debt limit.At an unexpected news conference Jan. 14, the president asserted that he won’t trade cuts in government spending in exchange for raising the borrowing limit.“If the goal is to make sure that we are being responsible about our debt and our deficit, if that’s the conversation we’re having, I’m happy to have that conversation,” Obama said. “What I will not do is to have th

Viewpoints Jan. 24, 2013

[Robert Reich] Obama’s debt-ceiling strategy

Half of worldwide food production never eaten

An alarming new report estimates that between 30 and 50 percent of all the food produced in the world is lost and wasted. This is a shocking finding given the scale of malnourishment and hunger on our planet.While it is tempting to blame governments for this appalling state of affairs, the truth is that almost all of us contribute to this problem. While governments must do the lion’s share of the work, individual citizens can also help to reduce loss, waste and hunger.The new report is by the In

Viewpoints Jan. 24, 2013

Bad news from oil sector

The oil industry, still reeling from the abrupt disbanding of the upstream oil regulatory body BPMigas last November, has been hit by another piece of bad news that threatens not only Indonesia’s energy security but also its balance of payments and fiscal consolidation, with an adverse impact on inflation and the rupiah exchange rate.The upstream oil regulatory task force that replaced BPMigas revealed last week that several big oil production-sharing contractors (PSCs), including giants such as

Viewpoints Jan. 24, 2013

Articles by Yu Kun-ha