Most Popular
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Exports to US reach all-time high, widen gap with China
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Trump rekindles criticism: US forces defending 'wealthy' S. Korea 'free of charge'
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[Music in drama] Rekindle a love that slipped through your fingers
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Opposition-led Assembly unilaterally passes bill to probe Marine's death
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Inflation eases in April, continues bumpy ride
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Seoul Metro to seek legal action against malicious complaints
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Golden chance to liquidate babies’ gold rings?
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[New faces of Assembly] Architect behind ‘audacious initiative’ believes in denuclearized North Korea
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Illit, mired in controversy, remains on Billboard charts for 5th week
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On May Day, labor unions blast Yoon's foreign nanny proposal
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[Jeffrey Frankel] China's Great Leap Backward
Ten years ago this November, the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) held its Third Plenum, outlining a series of far-reaching reforms designed to sustain China’s rapid economic growth. Around that time, a naive extrapolation based on the difference in growth rates between China and the United States suggested that China’s GDP would overtake America’s by 2021. Some speculated that this could happen as early as 2019. These predictions have been far off t
ViewpointsOct. 23, 2023
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[Editorial] Deepening uncertainties
The South Korean economy is expected to face an extended period of turbulence in its markets following a spike in the benchmark US Treasury yield. The likely mix of elevated interest rates and an economic slump is now feared to hit Korean companies, individuals and the government. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury briefly surpassed 5 percent for the first time in 16 years on Thursday, sparking concerns that its ripple effect could be considerable across various sectors, including not o
EditorialOct. 23, 2023
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[Robert J. Fouser] Yes, deterrence is the best defense
In October 2020, the world was still reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic. The more contagious delta strain was spreading, and fear was ever-present. Positive news from vaccine trials offered some hope that illness and death would be reduced and that the world would soon return to normal. By 2022, the pandemic had subsided, but normal did not return as Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, igniting the bloodiest war in Europe since the end of World War II in 1945. A series of surprise
ViewpointsOct. 20, 2023
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[Editorial] Unconvincing strike
Two of the three unions of Seoul Metro, which operates the subway service in Seoul, announced a plan to strike during a press conference Wednesday. After labor dispute mediation by Seoul National Labor Relations Commission ended without results on Tuesday, two Seoul Metro unions -- one affiliated with the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and the other with the Federation of Korean Trade Unions -- jointly declared that they have decided to go on a strike on Nov. 9 for all eight Seoul subway l
EditorialOct. 20, 2023
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[Nadav Ziv] Hamas’ barbarity broke my heart
Since Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, I’ve stumbled between nausea, anger, grief and numbness. The barbarity inches closer. My sister’s classmate from high school lost a family member. My cousin’s best friend lost her brother. A student who graduated from my high school last year is missing. My Facebook feed alternates between pleas for information and funeral announcements. Picture after picture. Grandchildren and grandparents. Youthful smiles and serene wisdom. Hav
ViewpointsOct. 19, 2023
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[Wang Son-taek] Civilized state differs from terrorist group
On Oct. 7, the Middle East became a sea of blood and tears again. The Palestinian militant Hamas group launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing more than 1,400 Israeli soldiers and civilians. Israel has retaliated, killing more than 3,000 Palestinians, including Hamas members. Almost a million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip became refugees as Israel announced evacuation warnings before a full-scale ground operation. Many would agree that Hamas' surprise attack is a criminal act again
ViewpointsOct. 19, 2023
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[Editorial] Prevent illegal short selling
Two global investment banks based in Hong Kong face the biggest-ever fines and possibly criminal charges in South Korea for their alleged illegal short selling activities, which sparked calls from retail investors for tougher rules and heavier penalties against such practices. The Financial Supervisory Service said it was seeking to impose its largest-ever fine on the two IBs for what is called “naked short selling,” FSS Gov. Lee Bok-hyun said in a parliamentary inspection that crimi
EditorialOct. 19, 2023
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[Kim Seong-kon] What does it mean to be a 'strong man?'
When people meet for the first time in English speaking countries, they usually ask, “What do you do for a living?” In South Korea, by comparison, people habitually ask, “Where is your hometown?” because Koreans are strongly attached to their hometowns. If one party shares a hometown with the other party, the two may immediately become good friends. As for me, I do not have any particular attachment to my hometown because I have lived in so many places all throughout my l
ViewpointsOct. 18, 2023
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[Doyle McManus] Israel’s goal in Gaza is regime change
Ever since Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, Israel has waged an intermittent but limited military campaign to keep a lid on the violent Palestinian faction. Hamas fired missiles at Israeli cities, Israel bombed Gaza from the air or attacked on the ground, then negotiated a cease-fire. The goal was never to remove Hamas; that appeared too costly. It was merely to keep it under control. Israeli military officers gave their recurring Gaza offensives a sad, cynical name: "mowing
ViewpointsOct. 18, 2023
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[Editorial] Grave security threat
As the circumstances in which North Korea provided weapons to Russia have come to light, the possibility of Russia providing North Korea with cutting-edge defense materials or military technologies in return is looming. If Russia transfers technologies necessary to perfect North Korea's ballistic missiles, it will seriously violate United Nations sanctions against the North and greatly undermine stability on the Korean Peninsula. White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said on
EditorialOct. 18, 2023
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[Hal Brands] Four myths exposed by Hamas attack
The horror unleashed by Hamas is only beginning. A terrorist group that killed at least 1,200 people in Israel last weekend is now endangering countless Palestinian lives, through its cynical practice of putting military capabilities in hospitals, schools and dense urban areas. But if shocks like the one Israel suffered have any upside, it’s that they expose the sloppy thinking that allowed them to happen in the first place. This attack highlights four intellectual failures in the recent a
ViewpointsOct. 17, 2023
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[Robin Abcarian] Claudia Goldin's answers to gender wage gap
An American woman has won the Nobel Prize in economics for her work studying the economic lives of American women. How poetic is that? No less poetic: Harvard professor Claudia Goldin, 77, is the only woman ever to have received the award by herself, with no (male) collaborators. In her work, Goldin has tried to explain why the wage gap between men and women has persisted, and why women so often are discouraged when it comes to pursuing more advanced job opportunities. "Women are now more
ViewpointsOct. 17, 2023
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[Editorial] Quota for medical schools
The South Korean government is set to unveil a plan to increase the annual enrollment quota for medical schools in a bid to tackle the shortage of doctors in key fields and the increasing demand for medical services in connection with the rapid aging of Korean society. Senior officials from the ruling People Power Party, the government and the presidential office held a meeting Sunday to explore options over the increase of the number of medical students. President Yoon Suk Yeol is scheduled to
EditorialOct. 17, 2023
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[Andreas Kluth] US must stand with Israel, Ukraine
Almost without exception, lawmakers from both parties in Congress are eager to give Israel whatever it asks, from missiles to dollars. And that is as it should be, for Israel just became the victim of unspeakable barbarity and now needs stalwart support. But in the very next breath, some of those same US legislators, mainly Republican extremists in the House who are beholden to former President Donald Trump, want to deny Ukraine what that beleaguered country needs to survive as a nation. These M
ViewpointsOct. 16, 2023
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[Editorial] Review quiet diplomacy
China is said to have forcibly repatriated hundreds of North Korean defectors locked up in its detention facilities. The Ministry of Unification said such claims by civil organizations working to improve North Korean human rights seem to be true and that South Korea expressed regret to China over the issue. Beijing, however, is silent. According to the organizations, Chinese public security authorities forcibly sent back about 600 North Korean defectors imprisoned near the border with North Kore
EditorialOct. 16, 2023
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[Peter Singer] The spiral of violence that led to Hamas
Hamas’s brazen and vicious attacks within Israel have rightly drawn condemnation from around the world. If this is a war, as both sides agree it is, then Hamas’s deliberate targeting of civilians counts as a major war crime. But the brutality demonstrated by Hamas did not emerge in a vacuum. The lesson of what is currently happening in Israel and Gaza is that violence breeds more violence. The last real chance of avoiding the tragic conflict being waged between Israel and Hamas was d
ViewpointsOct. 13, 2023
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[Editorial] Support chip sector
South Korean chipmakers have secured an indefinite waiver for US chip equipment exports to China. The eased US controls are clearly a positive turn of events. But the Korean government, keen to shore up its vital chip sector, is in no position to feel relieved. On Monday, the presidential office said Samsung Electronics and SK hynix will be allowed to keep providing US chip equipment to their Chinese factories indefinitely without a separate approval process. The US government designated Samsung
EditorialOct. 13, 2023
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[Joseph E. Stiglitz] What pandemic preparedness would look like
Humanity was caught off guard by the COVID-19 pandemic, even though we had effectively been warned by smaller-scale outbreaks -- of SARS, Ebola, MERS and bird flu -- for decades. US President Barack Obama, recognizing the true nature of the threat infectious diseases might pose, even created a Global Health Security and Biodefense unit within the National Security Council. But Donald Trump, in his infinite wisdom, shut it down. Given the strong odds that we will face another pandemic sooner or l
ViewpointsOct. 12, 2023
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[Editorial] NEC's lax attitude
The overall election management system of the National Election Commission has been found to be effectively defenseless to hacking attacks. A joint security check by the National Intelligence Service and Korea Internet & Security Agency detected a number of vulnerabilities in the voting and ballot counting systems and the internal operational system of the commission. The intelligence agency discovered there had been eight hacking attacks on the commission in the past two years, including se
EditorialOct. 12, 2023
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[Elizabeth Shackelford] Politics harming US national security
America’s national security depends heavily on the strength and effectiveness of our foreign policy and defense. Both are suffering self-inflicted wounds caused by our dysfunctional politics. As our political representatives can barely accomplish the most basic governing obligations, our adversaries delight, and our allies wonder if we can be counted on as reliable partners. The most blatant mess has been our government’s budget debacle. We have the world’s largest economy and
ViewpointsOct. 11, 2023