The Internet is all agog these days to speak about the “racist” behavior of some K-Pop stars. Those comments, ranging from outright denunciation to admonition, reflect the rapidly increasing popularity of Korean entertainers, but warn of possible repercussions that could affect their popularity itself.Setting off the recent controversy was Jenny Hyun, a co-songwriter for Girls’ Generation and Chocolat, who made a series of racist tweets about black people. In her blog, she said she was incensed

VIENNA ― Nuclear power has become safer since the devastating accident one year ago at Fukushima, Japan. It will become safer still in the coming years, provided that governments, plant operators, and regulators do not drop their guard.The accident at Fukushima resulted from an earthquake and tsunami of unprecedented severity. But, as the Japanese authorities have acknowledged, human and organizational failings played an important part, too.For example, Japan’s nuclear regulatory authority was n

What a difference four years makes if you’re Hillary Clinton. In March 2008, though she would remain a presidential candidate for several more months and win some big primaries, she was defeated and discredited. Barack Obama was sweeping most contests and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said it was unacceptable for then-Senator Clinton to try to use controversial rules to wrest the nomination. Obama’s campaign outperformed hers, starting with the Clinton miscalculation that her support for the Iraq W

Apparently, it is reckless to think that India could bring about a rapprochement between Iran and the U.S. That, at least, is the view of some readers of my last column on India’s lenient attitude toward Iran’s nuclear program. They reprimanded me for being naive. For Iran, run by Islamic fundamentalists committed to the destruction of Israel, desires no such reconciliation with the country Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini indelibly called the “Great Satan.” Alas, such a view, which sees fixed essenc

The futurist Ray Kurzweil has famously predicted that humanity is approaching a “singularity,” a fateful moment when our technology becomes smarter than us and able to learn faster than we can, when it becomes the principal creator of new technologies and machines race far ahead of us. Humans may effectively fall out of the loop ― a species demoted, if not eliminated. For now, this world remains science fiction, at least at the level of humanity. But finance is flirting with a similar transition

Despite extraordinary election-year pressure, President Obama stood up to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week and refused to be dragged into still another war ― this one against Iran.And for that I admire him because, should Israel’s right-wing government make the great mistake of attacking Iran ― as some Israelis leaders are tacitly threatening to do ― the United States is almost certain to be drawn into the fighting.Over several days, Obama repeatedly pledged that he would atta

Corruption has been declared such an extraordinary crime in Indonesia that the state has established the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on top of the other two institutions with prosecutorial powers ― the Attorney General’s Office and the National Police ― and the Corruption Courts distinctly separate from the regular District Courts nationwide in an attempt to eradicate this acute and ingrained social illness.Still, various antigraft measures have apparently failed to prevent Indonesia

ANKARA ― After decades of official neglect and mistrust, Turkey has taken several steps to ensure the rights of the country’s non-Muslim religious minorities, and thus to guarantee that the rule of law is applied equally for all Turkish citizens, regardless of individuals’ religion, ethnicity, or language.Turkey’s religious minorities include Greek Orthodox, Armenian, Assyrian, Kaldani, and other Christian denominations, as well as Jews, all of whom are integral parts of Turkish society. As part

Gnothi Seauton ― In Greek, these words mean “know thyself.” Such was the inscription at the ancient Temple of Apollo, where people would visit the sacred Oracle. Moving on to present-day Korea, the Korean people indeed “know themselves.” Korea has a strong sense of national identity and pride, with the largely homogeneous Korean people being in no doubt with regard to their origins from Mongolian tribes and seen with the people’s determination to forge ahead for a better tomorrow and a general s

Credit the Obama administration with the patient pursuit of negotiations toward dismantling North Korea’s nuclear program. Once again it may all come to a frustrating impasse.Still, North Korea did announce Wednesday it would allow international inspectors into its Yongbyon nuclear complex and suspend nuclear weapons tests and uranium enrichment in anticipation of talks.The New York Times reports the latest round of contacts began last July with the U.S. offering 265,000 tons of food to get the

The World Bank report, “China 2030: Building a Modern, Hamonious and Creative High-Income Society,” which was released this week, stated that liberalizing interest rates according to market principles is a priority for China’s financial reforms over the next two decades, highlighting the dilemma facing the government. China’s banking system remains a highly regulated sector; policymakers set the interest rates, not the market and most of the large state-owned banks tend to offer credit facilitie

NEW YORK ― In the wake of the Koran-burning by troops at the United States’ Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, protests continue to escalate, and the death toll mounts. In the process, three U.S. blind spots have become obvious.One is that of the U.S. media, whose coverage simply underscores ― and amplifies ― the stunning cluelessness that triggered the protests in the first place. Professional journalists are obliged to answer five questions: who, what, where, why, and how. But, reading reports fr

Protests against China’s forced repatriation of North Korean defectors are spreading in South Korea and abroad. The problem has been around for a long time but has never attracted as much domestic and global attention as it does now. Now that the ball has started rolling, it is incumbent on government officials, politicians, civic groups and celebrities participating in the protest movement to keep up the momentum. Especially, politicians on both sides of the aisle need to pull their weight to w

Tensions are mounting on Jeju Island as the Navy has started preparatory work for the construction of a naval base on the island amid vehement protests from the local government and environmentalists.On Wednesday, builders began demolition work on the construction site, removing parts of a rocky outcrop that environmental activists claim to have high geological value and therefore deserves preservation.Jeju Governor Woo Keun-min and other leading politicians of the island requested that the Navy

Earlier this week, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, visited President Barack Obama in the White House. The two met together with their national-security advisers for 90 minutes, then had a 30-minute chat alone, then moved to a lunch together with various high officials of their governments. Many words were exchanged during these meetings, but it turns out they all might have been superfluous. Netanyahu delivered his overriding message quite efficiently, and almost wordlessly, in t

You probably feel it intuitively. The grids underlying our digital lives ― our bank accounts, mobile phones, e-mail, medical records ― are more vulnerable than ever. Companies such as Lockheed Martin Corp., Citigroup Inc. and Sony Corp. have recently reported serious breaches of their networks. NASA said last week that hackers had launched 13 major attacks against it last year, including one in which they gained access to networks at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages active space miss

CHICAGO ― Justice will be a long time coming in Syria, but it can begin with a Security Council referral of the situation in that wounded country to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for investigation and, ultimately, prosecution. The obstacles are serious, but the goal is imperative.This week, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay and French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe called for such a referral to the ICC during a session of the U.N. Human Rights Council that shar

The auditing profession’s top U.S. overseer usually does a flawless job of safeguarding the most embarrassing secrets of accounting firms and their corporate clients. Fortunately, every now and then, the watchdog slips up. Take the case of Kyoto Audit Corp., a Japanese affiliate of the Big Four auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers. On Feb. 14, the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board released its first-ever inspection report on the Kyoto-based firm. The report said the board’s staff reviewed

A year after an earthquake in Japan touched off the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl, here’s the question on my mind: Who’s going to jail? The news media are asking the obvious and safe questions ahead of March 11: How well did the government respond? Whither the devastated northeast? What’s the economic effect? When might the 52 of 54 nuclear reactors mothballed since then reopen? This barrage of “anniversary” articles misses the point. Anniversaries commemorate events in the past, ones for

Nowhere is the epic stoicism of the Japanese more evident than in their approach to a mountain of public debt that leaves government finances in a perilous state. Eclipsing the debt load of Greece, not to mention the advanced economies, Japan has the granddad of government debt at $11 trillion, which amounts to a debt-to-gross domestic product ratio that exceeds 200 percent. A policy board member of Japan‘s central bank was right to warn last month that his country is not immune to a sovereign d