The Hillary Clinton campaign is relentlessly focusing on the defects of Donald Trump rather than the defects of the Republican agenda. That’s understandable, and it could be a winning strategy. But it has pitfalls.The campaign‘s goal is to attract a wide swath of voters who might ordinarily lean Republican on issues, as well as unenthusiastic Democrats who need the specter of a Trump presidency to get to the polls.As Clinton told a crowd a few weeks ago at the American Legion convention in Cinci

XIAN, China -- Liu Qibao minced no words and spoke at length about the concept and enormous potential of the Belt-and-Road Initiative for the global community and China’s future position in the world. As head of the Communist Party Central Committee’s Publicity Department, Liu expounded on how his country’s advanced modern technology and financial support would transform the ancient Silk Road trade route into a major land-sea transport network linking the three continents of Asia, Africa and Eur

Institutional investors usually rake in huge capital gains by trading equities after borrowing from individuals or pension funds. Local institutions have been more active in using their trading skills than their foreign counterparts on South Korean bourses.It is illogical from one perspective that some -- but not all -- investors are allowed to sell others’ stocks at their own will. And the discontent among ineligible investors stems from the unfair situation that individual investors, who are b

 We have definitely become hardened to news stories about children abused and murdered by none other than their parents. Yet, the latest case in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, is shocking enough to make one shudder with rage. This time, the victim is a 6-year-old adopted girl. The girl, according to police, was bound up with duct tape by her foster parents. She died, and they moved her body to a mountain and burned it. Police said the victim’s adoptive father, 47, and his 30-year-old wife told them

With a strike this week across the de facto border in Kashmir, India appears to have found a new way to respond to attacks by Pakistan-linked militants. Its government should be wary of overestimating the scale of its victory, though, or underestimating the scope of the challenges that remain.That’s not to say India doesn’t deserve credit for its deft handling of the latest confrontation between South Asia’s nuclear-armed neighbors. After Pakistan-linked militants killed 19 Indian soldiers in Ka

World leaders assembled in Israel last week for the funeral of former Israeli President Shimon Peres were mourning more than his passing.Peres was a founding father of Israel, a realist who led the development of its defense industries and nuclear weapons program. Yet those mourners knew him best for his tireless pursuit of peace with the Palestinians. As Haaretz columnist Barack Ravid wrote, “They identify Peres utterly with the peace process (and) his chief legacy of the last 25 years — the (1

The United States needs to shift its spending from war to education, from CIA-backed regime change to a new Global Fund for Education. With hundreds of millions of children around the world not in school, or in schools with underqualified teachers, a lack of computers, large class sizes and no electricity, many parts of the world are headed for massive instability, joblessness and poverty. The 21st century will belong to countries that properly educate their young people to participate productiv

Washington state residents must hope that Hillary Clinton is pulling our leg and will end up supporting the Trans-Pacific Partnership if she’s elected president.This is a sorry state of affairs: Hoping a politician flip-flops.Yet the alternative is sadly much worse. Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, has threatened to scrap existing trade agreements if they can’t be reworked and raise tariffs. Instead of restoring jobs across the heartland, this would start a punishing trade war just as the e

Hungarians voted in a referendum Sunday to support Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s policy of trying to keep migrants from war-torn countries to the east out of Hungary. The vote in favor was about 92 percent, but the 3.3 million who came to the polls were too few, representing 40 percent of registered voters; Hungarian law requires a 50 percent turnout for such a measure to become operative. Orban’s government has signaled its intent to go ahead anyway, in defiance of the law.European Union planni

“Catastrophic” is the word several US officials use privately to discuss the latest developments in Syria, in which a savage Russian bombing campaign has brought Aleppo near the point of surrender. Yet even as members of the Obama administration acknowledge the horror, they remain wary of options that might counter the onslaught.Whatever else US officials say about Syria, they should begin with an admission that we are diminished, as individuals and as a nation, by watching the destruction of a

Economy-related ministries had said that the nation would see a rebound in exports this year, predicting a 2.1 percent increase on-year. But exports for the first nine months dropped 8.5 percent over the same period last year.On a monthly basis, exports fell 5.9 percent in September from a year before. Over the past 20 months, the export sector has experienced 19 months of negative growth with the exception of August 2016 when compared to the same month in the previous year.Given the unfavorable

PARIS -- In many countries, where you live tends to be an accurate predictor of what or whom you are voting for. This was most evident in the maps of the electoral geography of voting for “Leave” and “Remain” in the United Kingdom’s June referendum on European Union membership. A similar pattern can be found in the distribution of votes in the 2012 US presidential election or in French support for Marine Le Pen’s National Front in the 2015 regional elections. It is very likely to be found in the

India and Pakistan perpetually shift between a steady simmer and a roiling boil. When relations reach the latter extreme, Kashmir quite often fans the flames.　Tension between the two nuclear-armed archrivals is at the highest it’s been in years, following a Sept. 18 attack on the portion of Kashmir controlled by India. Eighteen Indian soldiers were killed. India says the raid was carried out by a Pakistani militant group, Jaish-e-Mohammed, and further asserts that the militants were actively sup

I watched the 1959 version of “Ben-Hur” in 1962 when the classic American movie was released in Korea. At the time, I was an eighth grader who hopelessly fell in love with Hollywood movies. Charlton Heston, who starred in “Ben-Hur,” was my idol and John Wayne in “Stagecoach” was another. Living in a bleak landscape of postwar Korean society, I found solace and comfort in colorful American movies that introduced me to a whole new world. While watching Hollywood movies in a theater, I was able to

Nearly one and a half billion people in the two countries of India and Pakistan appear to be held hostage to conspiracy, rumour and reckless warmongering, and this needs to be stopped immediately. 　On Thursday, 11 days after the Uri attack and seemingly an eternity in Pak-India sabre-rattling and diplomatic tensions, another layer of confusion and chaos was added to one of the world’s most complicated bilateral relationships. 　With the facts of the Uri attack yet to be established or shared with

Donald J. Trump is a rich man. Exactly how rich is unknown. Around $10 billion, as he has claimed? Or $4.5 billion, as Forbes counted? Maybe just a few hundred million? Voters likely won’t know unless Trump releases his tax returns, a modern tradition for presidential candidates that Trump says he can’t follow because he’s being audited — even though experts, including the IRS, say an audit has no legal bearing on whether Trump can share his returns with the electorate.The point of releasing his

September is the busiest month for government agencies. An annual parliamentary audit and inspection of the government takes place for about a month. Ministers and other high ranking officials attend audit sessions and respond to questions and comments from National Assembly Members. This year’s session was officially scheduled to begin Sept. 26 and run until Oct. 19. As regards the National Assembly overseeing governmental affairs, none would be a more effective and influential tool than the au

Take a broad look at what’s happening in all sectors of Korean society and you will be convinced this country is in big trouble. You will also agree that lack of efficient and trusted leadership is primarily to blame for the current dismal state of the nation. For starters, politics is in utter disarray. The National Assembly has been paralyzed for more than one week since the opposition unilaterally passed a no-confidence vote against Agriculture Minister Kim Jae-soo. The action prompted the ru

If Americans had known how sick Franklin D. Roosevelt had become by 1940, would they have voted to give him an unprecedented third term as president? What about his fourth, which lasted three months and ended with his death?Who knows, but at least voters would have had the information necessary to make a rational choice.Instead, most Americans voting in the 1940 election were unaware that the polio victim had astronomical blood pressure, a condition he could do little to combat outside rest, die

For a few years it seemed that Americans were moving to the cities, but now the trends are toward the suburbs once again. Long-term trends favor suburbs even more.One reason is the rise of Uber and other ride-sharing services. Uber helps users virtually everywhere, but in cities there are subways and buses and walking might be an option. Uber therefore is swinging the advantage to the suburbs, or to spread out suburb-like cities such as Los Angeles.Self-driving vehicles are also likely to help t