Recently two incidents caught my eye. One is the publication of “The Story of Hong Gildong” by Penguin, adding a Korean title to the celebrated Penguin Classics. The other is the Go match between a human and a machine, which turned out to be a victory of artificial intelligence over the human mind at first, and then human victory over the computer. 　The two memorable events incidentally made me brood over the question: “What is justice?” 　Hong Gildong resembles Robin Hood in the sense that as th

Five years after the nuclear plant meltdown at Fukushima, Japan has begun the controversial process of restarting its other reactors. The challenge for government and industry remains no less critical, however, to continually improve safety, lest they further undermine public support for what should be a reliable, climate-friendly fuel source.Before Fukushima led the government to close all the country’s reactors, Japan got almost 30 percent of its electricity from nuclear. Now it’s importing ab

One hundred and fifty — that’s how many lives were lost when Germanwings 9525 crashed into the French Alps a year ago this month. In the immediate aftermath, concerns were raised about safety in the budget-travel industry, concerns that some analysts were quick to dismiss. “When you pay less at a budget airline, you do get what you pay for; it’s just less in terms of frills and customer service, not less in terms of safety,” opined one expert. Statistics seemingly agree, showing no difference in

The debate on trade in the U.S. presidential election should concern Korea because trade has come under fire from the left and right. 　On the left, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders blames the North American Free Trade Agreement and other bad trade policies for the loss of manufacturing jobs and stagnant wages that have weakened the middle class. Sanders has emerged as a strong challenger to frontrunner Hillary Clinton. On the right, businessman Donald Trump has attacked the same agreement and policie

Since last November’s brutal terrorist attacks in Paris, a furious debate has been raging in France over whether to revoke the citizenship of those convicted of terrorist offenses. While that move would have significant symbolic value, it would have a limited practical impact. Yet vehement disagreements over the issue continue to drown out discussion of far more consequential topics, like anemic economic growth and high unemployment — and will likely continue to do so.The citizenship issue was i

The case of Bangladesh’s Daily Star editor Mahfuz Anam becomes more and more curious. What began as theatre of the absurd is starting to look increasingly sinister. Anam, publisher and editor of the country’s leading daily, in a moment of introspection during a TV talk show last month, confessed to professional impropriety in printing leaks from military intelligence in 2007 under the army-backed caretaker government. The leaks contained unverified information alleging corruption by current Prim

The word “trump,” according to the dictionary, is an alteration of the word triumph. And because Donald Trump, the U.S. presidential candidate, appears likely to become the nominee of the Grand Old Party of Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan, we owe it to ourselves to ask in what sense and for whom he represents a triumph.One thinks of a segment of the American population angered by the eight years of Barack Obama’s presidency, a group that is now feeling vengeful. And one also thinks of the whit

Is it odd that a feminist like me, from back in the bra-burning ’60s, champions racy protests featuring women wearing little more than body-paint markings that mimic a butcher’s diagram? Some might raise an eyebrow, but this March, National Women’s History Month, let me explain why I believe that supporting women’s rights and stripping for a cause go together like Gloria Steinem and miniskirts.With feminism, as with all social movements, each generation has its own battles to fight, and while re

The head of the Syrian opposition says he’s going to Geneva for the next round of U.S.-Russian-sponsored peace talks Monday, even though the opposition rejects any future role for President Bashar al-Assad, whose regime will be the other party in the talks.The Syria diplomacy might be described as “the art of the impossible,” borrowing the title of a collection of speeches by former Czech president Vaclav Havel, who helped negotiate the transition from communism to democracy in Eastern Europe. S

If there’s one country that needs creative economic policy solutions, it’s Japan. With many observers saying Abenomics has stalled after a year of weak economic performance, plenty of people are asking what’s next -- or has Japan run out of ideas?The backdrop doesn’t look great. The country is experiencing an unprecedented decline in population. The national debt is mounting. Wages are falling, consumption is depressed and productivity is still stagnating. China, Japan’s biggest trading partners

Who would choose to be a banker these days? Your colleagues are disappearing at an alarming rate as your business shrinks. The regulators don’t want you doing anything exciting. The public despises you.And that’s only the beginning of your problems. The central banks are killing even your most plain vanilla activities with their interest-rate policies. Every quarter, your industry hands over another couple of billion dollars in fines for previous indiscretions and market rigging. Something calle

Put away your worries about how all the major presidential contenders have abandoned a bipartisan consensus on trade, or whether any serious financial instrument will ever again earn serious interest. In Seoul, a genuine tragedy for the human race is taking place.AlphaGo is winning. The computer, developed by artificial intelligence researchers at Google, has won the first two games in its five-game match with Lee Se-dol, one of the world’s best players of the game Go. The chances of a comeback

As China’s economy slows and growth in the developed world remains anemic, governments across Asia are working to keep their economies on an upward trajectory. In Sri Lanka, where I am prime minister, the challenge is to find a way to accelerate our already steady economic growth.One thing is clear: We cannot expect the rest of the world to welcome our economic ambitions the way it once opened its arms to China’s rapid rise as an economic power or -- in earlier decades -- cheered on the growth o

Good countries can sometimes go bad. Donald Trump’s supporters implicitly make this argument when they proclaim “Make America Great Again.” And so do those who loathe Trump and see in him a dangerous populist response to the anger of frustrated middle-class voters.The rise of Trump, love him or hate him, conveys an inescapable message: America’s political institutions are in decay, and voters are angry at a government that they perceive (correctly) to be broken. The danger is that Trump’s respon

General elections used to produce stars, like the youngest successful candidate, underdogs who defeated big-name politicians or figures who won on enemy turf. We will have to wait until April 13 to find out who will become the stars of the 20th National Assembly. But in terms of public and media attention, there are already two star players: Kim Jong-in, the stopgap leader of The Minjoo Party of Korea, and Lee Hahn-koo, the nomination chief of the Saenuri Party. Since taking over at their respec

The sudden death of Justice Antonin Scalia has given Chief Justice John Roberts a unique opportunity to affirm the Supreme Court’s rightful place in American politics: keeping the law above politics. He should seize it, even though -- and especially because -- the high court has a tenuous hold on that place.Within hours of Scalia’s death, Republican leaders in the Senate announced that they would not consider confirming his replacement until after the 2016 election. Never before has the Senate a

Thailand’s navy wants to buy a submarine -- and China‘s offer looks tempting. It is not only cheaper than the rest, but reportedly includes technology transfer and training. That, in a nutshell, describes the kind of friendship that China extends to the Thai military government now -- a relationship smoothed by appealing deals unattached to the political doctrines championed by much of the Western world.Work on the Sino-Thai railway project that will give the trans-Asian rail network a sea outle

Since the beginning of their prolonged war, corruption has been telling democracy that the latter is far from perfect, and that only by forging a pact together can both thrive. Democracy has been alternating between half-hearted resistance and full rebellion against the suggestion. But then along comes Donald Trump, in the freest land on Earth (or so it seems).Corruption: How will you explain the fact that someone branded a jerk, con-artist, IS recruiter, phony, plain idiot, big liar, phenomenal

China-watchers are divided. Many believe that the Middle Kingdom will collapse in the new future, some don’t. It is a fact that writing about China’s fall can make you rich and famous; the West loves this hypothesis. But is it not wishful thinking?A few months ago, David Shambaugh, a respected Chinese expert who is director of the China Policy Program at George Washington University, did this exercise in the Saturday Essay in the Wall Street Journal. “Coming Chinese Crackup” circulated widely on

If a strategy is announced and nobody is around to listen, does it make a sound? The European Union will find out the answer this June, when Federica Mogherini, its high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, presents a long overdue foreign and security strategy for Europe -- just when all eyes will be on the United Kingdom’s referendum on EU membership.The EU is adrift and desperately in need of a catalyst to renew its sense of purpose and dynamism. The global strategy could se