I’ll save you the guesswork. On July 21, Donald Trump will become the Republican nominee for president of the United States. On July 28, Hillary Clinton will become the Democratic nominee.Trump’s pending coronation won’t please elected Republicans who put the nation’s welfare above party loyalty. Nor will it please demonstrators who in all likelihood will storm around parts of downtown Cleveland to protest the nomination of someone who has gone out of his way to denigrate Latinos, blacks, Muslim

The National Assembly’s Special Committee on Budget and Accounts has recently pointed out in a report the need to reduce the proportion of wage earners exempted from income tax. The committee has expressed concern that the ever-expanding share of workers who do not pay any income tax could have negative effects on the government’s tax revenue in the long term as it would deter the expansion of the taxation base.Last year, of the 16.7 million Korean workers, 8.02 million, or 48.1 percent, did not

In Korea, research on creating stem cell lines using cloned human embryos has been virtually suspended following the cloning scandal of Hwang Woo-suk, which erupted in 2005 causing a stir around the world.Hwang, then a professor at Seoul National University, claimed that he had successfully established stem cell lines from cloned embryos. But his work was discredited as he was found to have fabricated a series of experiments.The scandal prompted the government to enact the Bioethics and Safety A

At the beginning of this year, Al Jazeera sued the Egyptian government for $150 million. The Qatar-based news channel presented its case before the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes in Washington. But much more is at stake than a simple commercial disagreement in which Al Jazeera is attempting to enforce Egypt’s obligations under a bilateral investment treaty with Qatar.In its suit, Al Jazeera alleges that its offices were closed, its transmissions and broad

One of the U.S.’s biggest economic challenges is the slump in productivity. After climbing steadily for many decades, productivity has slowed dramatically since 2011.　　Productivity is the key to long-term prosperity. It represents a hard ceiling on the amount of valuable things that a society is able to produce. If productivity flatlines, it means that the pie isn’t growing, and there will be less to divide up among us. So finding the cause of the slowdown is a big, important task.　Some pessimis

To no one’s surprise, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague has upheld all the key arguments of the Philippines in its case against China on the application of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in the South China Sea. In its ruling, which employed even tougher language than most expected, the tribunal cut the legal heart out of China’s claim that the sea is, in effect, a Chinese lake.The PCA ruled that China’s “nine-dash line,” a 1940s-era delineation that implies own

The ruling against China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague will be met with relief in the region’s capitals. But it is unlikely to reverse one of Asia’s most worrying trends: an alarming regional arms build-up.According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Asia now accounts for almost half of the world’s arms expenditure, which is more than twice the total expenditure of countries in the Middle East and four times g

China was widely expected to reject a ruling against its maritime claims in the South China Sea, and it didn’t disappoint. Declaring Tuesday’s 479-page decision “null and void,” China said it “neither accepts nor recognizes it.”　More important than what China says, however -- and Tuesday’s statement is more measured than last week’s, when Chinese leaders denounced the opinion in advance as “a piece of waste paper” -- is what China does. Its neighbors and the U.S. should make clear how dangerous

As expected, the decision to deploy a U.S. missile defense system in South Korea has many ramifications that pose hard challenges to the country -- specifically to President Park Geun-hye. First of all, Park -- as the commander-in-chief -- needs to make sure the South Korean military prevents or deals properly with any provocations from North Korea, which is reacting fiercely to the planned deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense. In its first reaction to the announcement, the Nort

Last week the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank posted a job vacancy announcements on its website. It included openings for vice president for finance and director-general for risk management.The announcement confirmed that the bank is seeking a replacement for Hong Ky-ttack, the South Korean vice president for risk management who is on a leave of absence. Also evident is that the vice presidency that had been held by Hong went to the finance officer and the post of the risk management office

Recently, a middle-aged Korean-American man wrote about his impressions of Korea on Facebook after a sojourn in Seoul. First of all, he was quite impressed by the convenient electronic devices pervasive in Korean society. “Thanks to the automatic identification system installed at the entrance,” he wrote, “Korean drivers can smoothly drive though the parking lot without stopping to pull out a parking slip.” He was also impressed when he saw Koreans efficiently transfer between the subway and bus

As minister of culture, sports and tourism of the Republic of Korea, I am pleased to send heartfelt congratulations on the 20th Anniversary of the Asia-Europe Meeting, a central forum for cooperation between the two regions. Cooperation requires unceasing efforts for mutual understanding, and for this reason, I am grateful to ASEM and the Asia-Europe Foundation for taking the principal initiative in promoting such efforts.Underlying the recent tragic terror attacks in Paris and all other conflic

Since the onset of the global financial crisis, I have pointed out that advanced economies should learn policy lessons from the experience of the developing world. This argument has been reinforced by two developments last week: the destabilization of the pound after the Brexit vote in the U.K., and indications that the U.S. now has less influence over the yield curve for its government bonds.For decades, three key beliefs structured our understanding of the economic and financial underpinnings

When I mention my profession, the first question people usually ask is how international law is enforced. As a matter of fact, international law has a relatively weak enforcement mechanism. While some of the newer norms are equipped with stronger mechanisms of enforcement, such as trade or investment), there are other norms that are characterized by the lack or absence of enforcement mechanism. One thing people usually miss here, however, is that states abide by judgments of international courts

The purpose — and even the survival — of the European Union is being questioned as never before. In fact, Europe’s citizens and the world need a strong EU now more than ever.Europe’s wider region has become less stable and more insecure in recent years. Moreover, the crises within and beyond the EU’s borders are directly affecting the lives of all European citizens.In challenging times such as these, a strong EU is one that thinks strategically, shares a vision, and acts together. In the wake of

The leadership race of the ruling Saenuri Party is heating up. On Sunday, two candidates threw their hats into the ring, boosting the number of candidates who have said they will run for the Aug. 9 election to five. The candidate list could still be extended before it is finalized around the end of this month.The leadership contest offers the party an opportunity to take significant strides toward reform based on an accurate and thorough analysis of its humiliating defeat in the April general el

Farmers are strongly resisting a plan by LG Group to invest 380 billion won ($309 million) to develop smart farm technology. They view the investment as another attempt by a chaebol to engage in large-scale fruit cultivation, which would threaten the livelihoods of many small fruit growers.Yet the farmers’ resistance is short-sighted and goes against the government’s push to revolutionize Korea’s agriculture with smart farm technology.A smart farm refers to an automated, remotely controlled gree

The economic dangers of Britain’s exit from the European Union are probably exaggerated. The U.K.  is in a bit of trouble, since falling real estate prices might spark a recession there. But it seems unlikely that the spillover to the global economy will be severe. British trade policy probably won’t change much, and extremists in the U.K. Independence Party, which spearheaded the “Leave” campaign, are unlikely to take power. The EU itself is on shaky ground, but that was just as true before Bre

These days, there is one overriding issue on the minds of the French. It isn’t “Brexit.”Nor is it whether France will copy Britain and “Frexit” the European Union. Pas du tout.What is fixating the French is whether their national soccer team will beat Portugal in the final of the Euro 2016 championship tournament. Raucous celebrations for France’s semifinal win over Germany went on most of Thursday night outside the Paris apartment where I’m staying.The national team, with its “Black, Blanc, Beu

Be despondent, America. Acknowledge your humanity. Surrender to the nagging instinct to feel hopeless about the level of anger and violence in the country, and the number of guns in our midst that allow one man to instantly cause the death of others -- numerous others, or one at a time; a police officer shooting a civilian, a civilian shooting a police officer; a disturbed man shooting children and their teachers, or churchgoers, or sheriff deputies, or a wife or girlfriend; a woman killing her