On the eve of the second anniversary of his enthronement, North Korea’s young leader Kim Jong-un faces the biggest test of whether he will be able to consolidate his one-man rule. On Friday, the North executed Jang Song-thaek, Kim’s uncle who has long been regarded as the No. 2 man, for committing treason, mismanaging the economy, engaging in factionalism and indulging in corruption. Jang’s execution came just four days after he was removed from all his positions and expelled from the Workers’ P

Editorial Dec. 15, 2013

The government is under fire from two sides in response to its latest investment revitalization package, which includes a plan to allow hospitals to establish subsidiaries to engage in incidental businesses. Hospitals can already engage in some businesses incidental to medical services. For instance, they can operate funeral parlors, parking lots or facilities for medical care and welfare for the elderly.The government’s plan, to be implemented in the first half of next year, is to allow a hospi

Editorial Dec. 15, 2013

What’s so wrong with palm oil, from the palm trees that bear fruit, not coconuts?Well, if you listen to environmentalists and animal-rights advocates along with nutrition and health experts, they’ll tell you it’s something close to poison.Once the United States and other Western countries began condemning and banning trans-fat oils a few years ago, palm oil became a popular substitute. You can find it in shampoo, lipstick, soap and a host of snack and other foods, including some ketchups, margar

Viewpoints Dec. 15, 2013

There are times when those who can’t control themselves are held in high esteem and become our leaders. Here are two recent instances of this in the U.S. and Korea. The mayor of San Diego was arrested on the morning of Dec. 10 and now has to wear an electric ankle bracelet for the rest of his life. He was brought in on charges of sexually harassing 19 women in the city government. Of course, he resigned from office and appeared on TV to apologize to the women he wronged as well as to the citizen

Viewpoints Dec. 15, 2013

From 2009 to 2012, the U.S. experienced a significant economic recovery, in which average real income growth jumped by 6 percent. That’s the good news. The bad news is that almost all of that increase ― 95 percent ― was enjoyed by those in the top 1 percent of the income distribution.To appreciate this remarkable finding, set out in an important paper by University of California economist Emmanuel Saez, we need to add some context. From 2007 to 2009, the recession produced a 17.4 percent decline

Viewpoints Dec. 15, 2013

PARIS ― When U.S. President Barack Obama was elected in 2008, it marked the first time that a local “community organizer” had risen to the highest office on the planet. I wasn’t entirely optimistic. Granted, the geopolitical competition (Russia) is also led by a community organizer of sorts, Vladimir Putin, except that the community he was organizing was the Russian domestic intelligence service.At the time, it was hard to see how Obama’s community-organizing background could bode well for Ameri

Viewpoints Dec. 13, 2013

Many Southeast Asians and others around the world owe their thanks to the Coca-Cola Company.No, I’m not expressing gratitude for the sugary drinks that can help make people fat. But to make those drinks, Coke is one of the world’s largest sugar consumers. The company buys sugar from distributors all over the world.Well, it happens that some of the largest growers and distributors are in Thailand and Cambodia. And as a recent lawsuit made clear, much of the Cambodian sugar is grown on large plant

Viewpoints Dec. 12, 2013

The rail workers’ strike enters its fourth day today, showing no signs of coming to an early end. The walkout is likely to continue as the more than 4,000 workers of Korea Railroad Corp. vow to fight indefinitely until their demands are met.The workers went on strike to prevent the state rail operator from creating a subsidiary for the management of a new Seoul-Busan KTX high-speed train service that departs from Suseo Station in southern Seoul, separate from the existing one that departs from S

Editorial Dec. 11, 2013

North Korea’s young leader Kim Jong-un marks the second anniversary of his enthronement on Dec. 17. As if to demonstrate that he has secured a firm grip on power, he recently purged Jang Song-thaek, his uncle, and the man who was once regarded as the power behind the throne.Jang, vice chairman of the paramount National Defense Commission, was sacked in an unprecedented way. He was not only accused of “anti-party, counter-revolutionary sectarianism” but was charged with mismanaging the economy an

Editorial Dec. 11, 2013

The standardized tests known as the Program for International Student Assessment are considered so important that when the latest results were released last week, the U.S. Department of Education participated in a so-called PISA Day.The leaders of the nation’s teachers unions immediately fired off news releases asserting that the mediocre PISA scores of American students showed that more than a decade of testing-based reform had failed our schools. Prominent reform leaders, by contrast, conclude

Viewpoints Dec. 11, 2013