Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that South Korea is one of Russia’s outstanding partners in the Asia-Pacific region. He acknowledged the direction of comprehensive economic cooperation between the two countries right after his summit with President Park Geun-hye on Saturday.The statement on future economic partnership comes after Seoul and Moscow reiterated their concerted efforts against North Korea’s nuclear development program.Though the two leaders have not clarified whether the tw

Earlier this year, global investment banks predicted that the US Federal Reserve would raise its base rate two to three times out of the eight scheduled meetings of the Fed’s Federal Open Market Committee in 2016.Their projections were based on the hawkish monetary stance of the Fed with the possibility of hikes significantly affecting the global capital market -- particularly emerging economies involving South Korea.But the US central bank has yet to conduct a hike after it raised the rate in D

In the age of colonialism, there were mainly two kinds of countries: empires that controlled their economic destinies and colonies, which were denied the chance to industrialize. After World War II and the end of colonialism, a different divide emerged -- many countries were trapped behind the Iron Curtain, held back by inefficient communist systems. Meanwhile, the capitalist countries -- some ex-colonizers like Europe and Japan and some ex-colonies like South Korea and Taiwan -- zoomed ahead, w

Since Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte took office in late June and declared a “war on drugs,” more than 1,900 people have been killed -- 756 by police officers and another 1,160 by “vigilantes,” according to police reports as of Aug. 24. Duterte is celebrating the killings and has vowed to continue his anti-drug program so long as he remains president.The Philippine law enforcement agencies prosecuting the drug war have thrown out the rulebook and ignored fundamental requirements such as co

No one yet knows when the United Kingdom will present an agenda for negotiating its withdrawal from the European Union. But it is already clear that Brexit will reshape the map of Europe. And, especially given Britain’s stunning unpreparedness for the consequences of its own decision -- its strategy, priorities and even its time table remain uncertain -- that means the EU must start figuring out how to make the best of it. Here’s how.Let’s start with the only certainties: The Brexit negotiations

Susan Rice is the latest national security adviser to inherit the framework of Sino-American relations that was created in 1972 by Henry Kissinger: The Chinese ever since have wanted to deal directly and discreetly with the White House as they pursue a relationship that’s somewhere between cooperation and confrontation.Rice will be channeling Kissinger when she travels with President Barack Obama this weekend for the G-20 summit in Hangzhou. And as she makes her last major trip to China for this

The United States doesn‘t have a lot of standing to criticize Europeans for cracking down on Apple’s tax shenanigans in Ireland.If anything, the European Commission’s finding that Apple owes more than $14 billion in taxes should push the US to fix its own tax policies, under which its biggest companies stash most of their cash overseas to avoid domestic taxes.As highlighted by the presidential election, globalization and its negative effects on the US are a concern across party lines. Lack of fu

According to Statistics Korea, three major engines for economic growth posted simultaneous slumps in July, raising uncertainty over the third-quarter gross domestic product.The three sectors -- industrial output, private consumption and corporate investment in facilities -- were in decline. Even though seasonal vacancies during the summer should be taken into consideration, the sharp drop in corporate facilities investment is especially worrying.Local businesses’ investment in facilities plunged

Calls are growing among ruling party lawmakers for the construction of nuclear-powered submarines as the threat of North Korea’s submarine-launched ballistic missiles looms large.North Korea successfully test-fired a SLBM last week. Launched near Sinpo on the North’s eastern coast, the missile flew some 500 kilometers and fell into waters 80 kilometers inside Japan’s air defense identification zone.Defense officials in Seoul said it would take the North one to three years to deploy SLBMs. North

The sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development was held in Nairobi, with the leaders of Japan and about 50 African nations attending, among others. They adopted the Nairobi Declaration, calling for economic structural reforms and reinforcing measures against communicable diseases as its main pillars.In a keynote speech, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged a total of $30 billion in investments from the public and private sectors over a period of three years through 2018, and to dev

Would you believe it has only been two months into the Duterte presidency? From the fast, furious, loud and graphic news and exchanges that have captured our attention, you would think the Duterte government had been in place for a few years. This tells us of the ripeness of the moment for change, not the usual kind that we take for granted, but change that needs to erupt from almost nowhere. This also speaks of the character of a man handpicked by destiny more than by personal ambition.Destined

Journalistic ethics used to be simple. Though not necessarily easy to observe, the lines were clear. You couldn’t take gifts of any kind from current or potential sponsors. You mustn’t own their stocks or play golf with their executives. You needed corporate money, in other words advertising, but you balanced that out with monetized public trust, in other words subscriptions. This way, you didn’t need to rely that much on the former, which you knew could lead to all kinds of problems.When people

Whatever the motive and whoever was behind the attack on a Medan church on Sunday, Indonesia could be facing a new security threat in the form of people, particularly youth, who sympathize with the terrorist Islamic State group and are willing to manifest its creed of violence in this country.Failure to anticipate similar attacks may stretch religious harmony and the state’s commitment to protect religious minorities in this diverse nation to the limit, despite the fact that terrorism knows no r

Almost immediately after a new administration takes office, it must decide on its approach to releasing information. In early 2017, incoming officials should mount an unprecedentedly aggressive transparency initiative -- above all, to disclose online, promptly and even automatically, the final products of their own fact-finding and policy-making processes.If you are skeptical about Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, you will think that such an initiative is unlikely. But hear me out. It could wel

WASHINGTON -- The US military campaign to seize the Islamic State group’s capital of Raqqa may be delayed because of a nasty fight between Turkey and the Syrian Kurdish militia known as the YPG. Sadly, it is a classic Middle East moment, when regional players’ mistrust for each other overwhelms their common interest in fighting the terrorist Islamic State group. And, equally sadly, it is a moment that illustrates the frailty of the US’ Syrian policy, which has built its military plans on the tre

Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho has stressed that policymakers will put job creation on the front burner in managing the 2017 budget, which features a 10.7 percent growth in allocation for the job creation segment.The budget for boosting employment is 17.5 trillion won ($15.6 billion), aimed at creating 240,000 jobs for young people next year, compared with 210,000 this year. The rise is noteworthy when the budget growth is compared by sector -- 6.9 percent increase for tourism, 6.1 percent for educa

Creditors have decided not to bail out the debt-saddled Hanjin Shipping, a main unit of Hanjin Group. In the wake of the banking sector’s rejection of the rescue fund, the nation’s largest container shipping firm will be pressured by the financial regulator to dispose of its viable assets to the second-largest Hyundai Merchant Marine.Market insiders allege that Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Yang-ho had a lack of resolve to normalize the shipping firm, compared to a similar solution by Hyundai Group,

Google is preparing to expand a San Francisco carpooling program in a move that could that could set up a showdown with its one-time ally, the popular ride-hailing service Uber.The plans will build upon a test service that Google's navigation app Waze launched three months ago in the San Francisco Bay Area. The program allows anyone using the Waze app to offer a ride to a limited pool of people trying to get to work or home.Now, only people working at six companies, including Google, Wal-Mart St

Germany’s vice chancellor, Sigmar Gabriel, says talks about a major trade deal between the European Union and the US have failed, though “nobody is really admitting it.” That statement should be taken with a grain of salt, but the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership appears to be doomed, at least until after elections in the US and major European countries.　Gabriel’s Economy Ministry is not involved in the TTIP negotiations. He also is the leader of Germany’s Social Democratic Party,

The hottest summer in everyone’s living memory has finally receded. Electricity consumption soared for cooling, but, thankfully, the nation avoided a feared “blackout” situation as most power stations, including nuclear plants, were in normal operation and people minimized the use of air conditioners in fear of bloated energy bills.　So, in the area of power demand and supply, we achieved balance between individual needs and national capacity. It primarily was the steeply progressive utility rate