The U.S. appears to be moving toward a military test of China’s claims of sovereignty in disputed areas of the South China Sea, and officials here seem pleased that President Obama is prepared to put more muscle into his famous “pivot” to Asia. 　The U.S. has been briefing Asian allies about its new readiness to assert “freedom of navigation” by sending ships within the 12-mile limits that China has placed around its newly reclaimed “islands.” Adm. John Richardson, the new chief of naval operatio

October has been a clarifying month. The first Democratic debate exhibited Hillary Clinton’s competence and reassured the Democratic Party elite that she remains a formidable candidate. In addition, it helped chase two also-rans -- Jim Webb and Lincoln Chafee -- from the primary and appears to have breached the porous borders of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ support.This week, Vice President Joe Biden’s retreat from the field ratified Clinton’s commanding position, freeing up funds and quashing a distrac

Debate is raging online over how to deal with street cats following the recent death of a “cat mom” in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province.A cat mom refers to a person who provides food to stray cats. The police at first suspected that the Yongin woman was killed by one of her neighbors who hated people taking care of stray cats, given that she was hit by a brick while setting up a shelter for feral cats in a garden at the apartment building. But the suspect identified by the police on Friday was a 10-yea

The persisting drought has begun to take an increasingly heavy toll on crops across much of the nation. As weather forecasters warn that the drought is highly likely to last until next April, the government needs to step up efforts to secure water resources and minimize damage.The hardest hit region has been South Chungcheong Province, where the accumulated rainfall from January to September this year totaled 754 millimeters, slightly more than 60 percent of the 30-year average of 1,188 millimet

Earlier this month, I was fortunate to attend the Khazanah Megatrends Forum 2015 in Kuala Lumpur on disruptive innovation. The forum brought together many amazing speakers who are at the cutting edge of innovation. The most impressive was Hugh Herr, who lost both legs to frostbite when mountain climbing.　His doctors told him that he should be resigned to limited mobility. After an initial period of despondence, he decided boldly that it was conventional medicine that was broken, not his body or

The first-ever Korean adaptation of the “Black Friday” sales in the U.S. appears to be just another sales period.While the Black Friday event in the U.S., which takes place the day after Thanksgiving, is a once-a-year deal offering steep discounts of up to 80 percent on a wide range of items, the same event here which kicked off Thursday for a two-week run is not much more than the regular autumn sale under a different name. People who flocked to department stores in search of bargains Thursday

Saenuri Party chairman Kim Moo-sung, embroiled in a highly public and bitter exchange of words with the Blue House over secure mobile phone polling for party nominations in elections, appears to have offered an olive branch, at least for now. Boycotting all official functions on Thursday, including the Armed Forces Day ceremony attended by President Park Geun-hye and a meeting of the Saenuri Party Supreme Council, Kim met with reporters at the National Assembly and rebutted the Blue House critic

Overhauling opposition　NPAD far from becoming an election-winning forceRep. Moon Jae-in, chairman of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy, said the passage of reform measures by its executive members this week reflected their demand that the party should be overhauled to win future elections. But the liberal opposition party, which has been embroiled in chronic internal feuding, still seems far from becoming a credible alternative to the conservative ruling Saenuri Party. It i

Youth employment fundEfforts should focus on creating more jobsPresident Park Geun-hye has demonstrated her commitment to increasing the country’s youth employment by pledging to give 20 percent of her monthly salary each month -- on top of a 20 million won ($17,000) initial donation -- to an envisioned fund meant to help young people find jobs. Her monthly contribution will amount to about 3.4 million won, given that her annual salary is set at 205 million won this year.Disclosing the president

College rankings miss the markAfter heavy lobbying from some of the nation’s most elite institutions of higher education, the president has just abandoned his effort to rank the nation’s 7,000 colleges and universities.So, with college application season almost upon us, where should aspiring college students and their parents look for advice?In my view, not U.S. News and World Report’s annual college guide (out last week). It’s analogous to a restaurant guide that gives top ratings to the most e

The latest proposal for a cable car to be installed at Mount Seoraksan National Park has deeply divided the proponents, who claim the cable car would boost the local economy, and the opponents, who argue the cable car would damage the environment and threaten gorals, an endangered goat-like species living in the area. 　Proposals from Gangwon Province for a cable car taking off from Osaek in Mount Seoraksan National Park have already been twice rejected, in 2012 and 2013, by the National Park com

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are high following North Korea’s firing of rockets across the border and South Korea’s subsequent return fire. 　North Koreans fired several shells toward loudspeakers broadcasting anti-Pyongyang propaganda and the South retaliated by firing dozens of 155-millimeter howitzer rounds Thursday afternoon. Seoul had resumed propaganda broadcasting after an 11-year hiatus as retaliation against North Korea’s land mines placed on the southern side of the DMZ that injured

Netflix just announced it’s offering paid leave for new mothers and fathers for the first year after the birth or adoption of a child. Other high-tech firms are close behind.Some big law firms are also getting into the act. Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe is offering 22 paid weeks off for both male and female attorneys.Even Wall Street is taking baby steps in the direction of family-friendly work. Goldman Sachs just doubled paid parental leave to four weeks.All of this should be welcome news. Mil

On July 30, Yakub Memon, a chartered accountant and the brother of a notorious gangster now living in self-imposed exile, was hanged for complicity in the planning and execution of serial bomb blasts that killed 257 people in Mumbai in 1993. The hanging, India’s first in three years, has prompted reactions ranging from dismay to scarcely concealed bloodlust. And it has intensified the domestic debate over the death penalty.To be sure, no one suggests that India’s judicial system did not function

One way to think about the recent financial turmoil in China is as a parenting dispute between “Xi Dada” and “Yang Ma” -- meaning “Big Daddy Xi” (the nickname for President Xi Jinping) and “Big Mama” (a popular moniker for the People’s Bank of China).Dada and Ma are the two centers of power, political and economic, in a China that is coping with a painful new period of slower economic growth. They work in surprising harmony most of the time, but you could see the strain this summer as China stru

Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae on Thursday recommended Lee Gi-taek, head of the Seoul Western District Court, as the successor to a justice who is to retire in September. A justice is appointed by the president after parliamentary approval.　　Lee was chosen from three final candidates selected by a recommendation committee earlier this week. They were all male senior judges in their 50s, who graduated from the same school -- Seoul National University’s College of Law.　　Their selection has been met w

Lee Hee-ho, the widow of former President Kim Dae-jung, is on a four-day visit to North Korea, at a time when tension lingers on the divided Korean Peninsula.　The two Koreas have not held high-level talks since February 2014. They remain far apart from agreeing to hold joint events to mark the 70th anniversary of the peninsula’s liberation from Japan’s colonial rule, which falls on Aug. 15.　When the 93-year-old former first lady, accompanied by an 18-member entourage, arrived in Pyongyang on Wed

“He can’t possibly win the nomination” is the phrase heard most often when Washington insiders mention either Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders.　Yet as enthusiasm for the bombastic billionaire and the socialist senior continues to build within each party, the political establishment is mystified.　Political insiders don’t see that the biggest political phenomenon in America today is a revolt against the “ruling class” of insiders who have dominated Washington for more than three decades.　In two very

If years had buzzwords, the one for 2015 in the U.S. would sure be “Millennial.” The news is full of stories about what the Millennial Generation likes and doesn’t like and how they are beginning to make their mark on society as move toward middle age. They are said to prefer urban areas over the suburban areas they grew up in. They are said to prefer sharing and renting over ownership. As the first generation to grow up with the Internet, they are said to prefer online communication over face-t

Here’s the bottom line on the Iran nuclear pact: Whether you like it or hate it, or feel as I do -- that it’s barely passable but U.S. negotiators could have done better -- it’s a done deal.There are many things in this pact that make me queasy (see below). And the administration’s Iran-empowering policy in the Mideast region gives me heartburn. But if this deal goes down to defeat (with Congress overriding a presidential veto), international sanctions will collapse and Iran will be free to ramp