The opposition Democratic Party occupied the parliamentary culture committee hall on Tuesday ― an attempt to forcibly block the process of raising the license fee the state broadcaster KBS charges each household. By doing so, it turned itself into a target of public criticism.The opposition party’s reversal of an earlier accord on raising the TV license fee from 2,500 won to 3,500 won drew denunci

Reciprocity, with which homo sapiens survived as a hunter-gather, is an unmistakable human trait, if not a manifestation of human nature. The urge for reciprocity compels people to return favors and repay kindness with kindness. Of course, retaliation is another form of reciprocity ― an eye for an eye.What drives people to reciprocate has long been a subject of scholarly research among anthropolog

NEW YORK ― The world can breathe easier with the reelection this month of United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to a second term in office. In a fractious world, global unity is especially vital. During the past five years, Ban Ki-moon has embodied that unity, both in his unique personal diplomacy and in his role as head of this indispensable global organization.Winning reelection to lead t

A hypothetical letter from the Western-educated daughter of China’s next paramount leader:To: Comrade Xi JinpingFrom: Your daughterRespected Father,As you prepare to assume the leadership role in China, I write to share with you thoughts on the global situation and China’s role that I have gained here in my studies at Harvard University.The financial tornado of 2008 and ensuing economic difficulti

How far student speech has come since Mary Beth and John Tinker and Christopher Eckhardt wore black armbands to school in Des Moines to protest the Vietnam War and got suspended as though they were common hooligans.Now, online-savvy teens get in trouble for rudely mocking their elders on social networking sites, and the ensuing court battles rattle and redefine free-speech boundaries.In Tinker v.

Many Americans probably wonder why President Obama didn’t call for a bigger troop pullout from Afghanistan.Having recently returned from Afghanistan and Pakistan, I think he could have made a stronger case for his decision to bring home only 10,000 troops by the end of this year. (The rest of the 33,000 “surge” troops he has deployed will return no later than September 2012, with a full transition

Recently, CNNgo.com featured an article titled “12 Rules for Expat Life in Korea.” Under the phrase, “Avoid culture shock with our quick guide to acclimatizing Seoul,” the writer provides 12 survival tips with a fine sense of humor. “In Seoul, drinking on the job is in the contract,” he writes rather humorously. “Your work contract might say 9-5 but you forgot to read the fine print. Birthday part

June, the “Month of National Protection,” is passing with public and private events to evoke the people’s determination to fight whatever enemy threatens national independence. Media special features around Memorial Day on the 6th and the Korean War anniversary on the 25th reminded Koreans of who they are indebted to for what the Republic of Korea is today and how they should prepare themselves to

Officials of the Ministry of Homeland and Maritime Affairs in charge of the Four Rivers Development Project, the local authorities along the rivers and millions of residents are anxiously watching the water levels rising in this rainy spell. They all fear possible damage to the embankments, dikes and bridges built over the past couple years under President Lee Myung-bak’s signature project.The yea

Three years ago, the last graduating class of the “old” Locke High School listened to a commencement speaker whose main thrust was that only a small number of students had made it to that point. Odd words at most graduation ceremonies, but appropriate at Locke. Under the management of the Los Angeles Unified School District, the number of graduates at this public school in Watts was regularly a fr

PARIS ― Are women in Europe on the verge of becoming an engine for political change? In economic-development circles, experience and common sense suggest that progress, accountability and hard work start with and depend on women. Micro-credits, for example, are much more efficient when women receive and repay them. Perhaps because they bear children and must find the means to feed them, women are

If I had a dollar for every time a Sarah Palin supporter accused me of not taking her seriously because I’m jealous of attractive women who’ve combined powerful careers with large families, I’d be in another tax bracket, one that might encourage me to vote for Ron Paul.Now Michele Bachmann just might shut that crowd up.She’s another attractive conservative mom, and guess what? A whole lot of peopl

As a free-market, limited-government conservative, I find the total implosion of the Greek economy to be the most stunning example of everything I’ve ever tried to warn about in regard to socialism. Despite the rest of Europe and the International Monetary Fund promising last year to give Greece 110 billion euros over three years, the country remains in a death spiral, with its budget deficit at a

President Lee Myung-bak is meeting Rep. Sohn Hak-kyu, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, on Monday morning. They are set to discuss six agenda items at the breakfast talks, which their aides expect to last for about two hours.The agenda items are: a cut in university tuition fees, a corruption scandal involving savings banks, an early ratification of the Korean-U.S. free trade agreeme

WASHINGTON ― Gen. John Abizaid used the phrase “the long war” to describe America’s battle with Islamic extremism after Sept. 11, 2001. When I first heard him say it in the dark days of 2004, as Iraq was spiraling downward, I had the feeling that it would last for most of our lifetimes. Behind this decades-long battle, Abizaid said, was the political modernization of the Islamic world ― the explos

President Obama announced Wednesday night the size of the withdrawal from Afghanistan after a bruising internal debate within the administration. Proponents of a fast, immediate drawdown have been making essentially two arguments, neither especially compelling.There is the fiscal argument: We can’t afford the cost of the war effort. It’s true that we are facing a budget crunch, but the savings fro

Back in 1987, the hot novelty item at the Young Republicans’ national convention was a T-shirt bearing the slogan: “He’s Tan, Rested and Ready. Nixon in ‘88.” The kids were just a little bit ahead of their time; it would take us an additional 20 years before we elected a tan version of Richard Nixon.Barack Obama’s inner Nixon was all over the place as Congress and the national news media finally a

Recently, conservative political leaders, opinion makers and mass media have been passionately debating “welfare populism” and warning of its political demagoguery and devastating effect on the national economy. The nationwide debate focuses on free meals for primary and secondary school students, a 50 percent reduction in college tuition fees and free medical services. They cite the political and

If Syrian President Bashar al-Assad wants a glimpse of his nation’s future, should he continue savagely suppressing his people’s democratic aspirations, he need only look north to Belarus, another venal dictatorship whose security forces brutalized thousands of citizens protesting a fraudulent election in December.With blood in the streets, hundreds in jail, scores more in hospitals with cracked h

About 30 years ago, I drove northward from Sotobo in Chiba along the coastline in Fukushima and Miyagi as far as accessible by road, passing through inland areas in Iwate to Miyako again, and went up north to the Shimokita Peninsula. The purpose was to see various cultural building properties around those regions. At that time, I did not have tsunamis in mind particularly.Now I am reminded, howeve