Stalin, in the first decade of Soviet power, backed the idea of “socialism in one country,” meaning that, until conditions ripened, socialism was for the USSR alone. When Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban declared, in July 2014, his intention to build an “illiberal democracy,” it was widely assumed that he was creating “illiberalism in one country.” Now, Orban and Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the leader of Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party and puppet master of the country’s government (thou

The refugee crisis in Europe was already pushing the European Union toward disintegration when, on June 23, it helped drive the British to vote for Brexit. The refugee crisis and Brexit calamity that it spawned have reinforced xenophobic, nationalist movements that will seek to win a series of upcoming votes -- including national elections in France, the Netherlands and Germany in 2017, a referendum in Hungary on the EU refugee policy on Oct. 2, and a rerun of the Austrian presidential election

It’s hard to learn your ABCs when all you can see on the page are blurry squiggles. That’s the problem that hundreds of thousands of American children face as they start school with undiagnosed vision problems. Fortunately, helping them needn‘t be expensive or complicated. It’s just a matter of getting parents, schools and vision professionals to work better together.Most kids’ vision checkups are the kind that involve reading pyramids of letters and numbers from 6 meters away. But these often f

As the Mediterranean migrant crisis has escalated over the past year, the spotlight has been on national governments’ policies, some of which have been generous, others callous. But non-state actors -- individuals, nongovernmental organizations and private companies -- have been just as important in responding to the crisis, often literally coming to the rescue of refugees and migrants.International cooperation among governments is necessary to help displaced people, but it is not always suffici

“There’s going to be a global shaming campaign.” -- Professor Andrei Lankov of Kookmin University in Seoul, South Korea, on an international plan to rein in North Korea’s nuclear arsenal, Sept. 11, 2016, the Washington Post.　Earlier this month, North Korea celebrated the 68th anniversary of its regime with an underground nuclear blast, its fifth since 2006. A few days before that, the North launched a round of medium-range ballistic missile tests toward Japan.　The responses have been predictably

The strongest earthquake yet that hit the country Monday night is a reminder that this land is not safe from the curse of a major earthquake or other major natural disasters. It is fortunate that there have been no reports of casualties or major property damage, but what the nation experienced overnight was sufficient to urge the government and the public to raise their awareness of the danger of earthquakes. The 5.8-magnitude tremor, which was centered in the southeastern city of Kyeongju, was

On many counts, North Korea’s fifth nuclear test last week means that the world now faces the worst-case scenario: North Korea has -- or is very close to having -- the capability to launch a nuclear strike. The latest blast, which Pyongyang claimed was a “warhead,” was the most powerful yet -- experts estimate it at a force of at least 10 kilotons of TNT -- and it came only eight months after the previous detonation. Moreover, the test came as the North is in what seems to be the final stage of

Once again, professionalism is at stake in Korea. True professionalism means pride, honor and a sense of obligation in one’s job or position, not arrogance. True professionalism entails noblesse oblige -- the privileged caring for the less well-off -- as well. Therefore, if you were a prosecutor who has true professionalism and noblesse oblige, you would not take bribes from suspects.Likewise, if you are a college professor with true professionalism and decency, you would never seduce or harass

Before the Global Financial Crisis of 2007, the market was God and the master who made the belief possible, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, walked on water.  Since the crisis shook belief in financial markets, the new high priests are the European Central Bank President Mario Draghi and Bank of Japan Gov. Kuroda.  They are trying to convince markets that central banks can lift economies from deflation, if not with negative interest rates, but also helicopter money.   But for thos

A key demand of Brexit voters was to take back control of the UK’s immigration policy. Prime Minister Theresa May has promised she will -- but hasn’t said what she’ll do with this control once she has it.Many Brexit supporters are hoping for a severely restrictive system. This would be a mistake and May ought to say so. Liberal rules on immigration, exercised at Britain’s discretion, would best serve Britain’s interests.As things stand, the ruling Conservative Party has pledged to bring net migr

It has been 15 years since 9/11, and yes, the shock has gone, along with flag-waving national unity. But no one who was around then can forget that day, and no one who is around now should forget that we are still faced with insanely barbaric terrorists who want as many more such days as they can contrive.The danger has been played down some lately. Secretary of State John Kerry suggested in a speech that news outlets should maybe tone down their reporting of catastrophic killings around the wor

Last July, the South Korean government announced that it would promote Korean as a second language under the King Sejong Institute brand. Currently three branches of the Korean government -- the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism -- operate different Korean language programs, each with a different name and curriculum. The policy aims to combine the Ministry of Education’s programs for overseas Koreans with those of the King Se

Kia Motors has built a new production facility in Mexico, securing a base for its advance into North and South American markets.　The $3 billion plant is Kia’s fourth overseas production facility, with the three others located in China, Slovenia and the United States. It is capable of producing 400,000 cars per year.　With the new factory in Mexico, Kia‘s overall production capacity came to 3.56 million vehicles per year. Notably, the Mexican plant boosts the company’s overseas production capacity

The Ministry of Education has launched an inspection of all high schools in Korea to see how they manage students’ records.　The inspection was prompted by a police announcement Wednesday of a recent investigation into a girls’ high school in Gwangju.　Police said they referred the principal and two teachers of the school to prosecutors for fabricating the records of 25 students in the National Education Information System, an online system that records the grades and extracurricular activities of

The cordiality of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Vientiaine hasn’t quite airbrushed the continuing discord between China and the Southeast Asian nations, notably Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan over the South China Sea. Despite the ruling given by the International Court of Justice at The Hague, the tension over the mastery of the choppy waters might fester for some time yet, going by two developments. China has sent what they call a “coded warning” to

In conducting yet another nuclear test Friday, North Korea has escalated its confrontation with the rest of the world. The regime celebrated, saying it had made progress in miniaturizing nukes and attaching warheads to missiles. South Korea’s president rightly called it an act of “maniacal recklessness.”It’s clear, if it wasn’t already, that North Korea is no longer just looking for bribes: Its goal is to build a full-fledged nuclear capability. The only prudent response is to harden sanctions i

This is the 11th article in a series of columns on global affairs written by top editors from members of the Asia News Network and published in newspapers across the region. -- Ed.Climate change has gained recognition as an imminent danger, but the threat to existing fresh water resources requires more immediate attention The United States and China won much world acclaim when they formally ratified the Paris agreement to curb climate-warming emissions Saturday. Contributions by these powers, wh

Fifteen years later, nothing epitomizes the darkest impulses of America’s political reactions to the disaster of 9/11 than Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. That day spawned many legacies, many currents; some were communitarian and noble, some were predatory and fearful. Trump’s campaign embodies the worst of it all.　After the initial shocks of 9/11 waned, a collective wisdom seemed to emerge that a dark civic response — xenophobia, fear mongering, Big Brotherism and vigilantism — would only

Donald Trump is shifting to “responsible candidate” mode now, so his remarks on foreign policy Wednesday night sounded relatively restrained -- until you begin parsing the details.    Let’s start with Trump‘s comment in the NBC forum that after invading Iraq, his policy would have been to “take the oil.” That’s what many Arabs, in their most extreme conspiracy theories, believe US intervention was all about. His argument that seizing the oil would‘ve stopped the Islamic State is probably backwar

Fresh sanctions on North Korea will likely be tabled at a United Nations Security Council meeting in the wake of its fifth nuclear test. South Korea and the US are poised to ask the UN to fill loopholes in previous sanction resolutions.The sanctions may include an extended list of goods or items prohibited from being shipped to and from the North, according to officials in Seoul.Seoul and Washington are carrying out their search for any traces, involving radionuclides, which could come from the