The current drive to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear arsenal reflects two important, and interrelated, changes. From Israel’s perspective, these changes are to be welcomed, though its government must remain cautious about the country’s own role.The first change is the escalation of efforts by the United States and its Western allies to abort the Iranian regime’s nuclear quest. This was instigated in part by the International Atomic Energy Agency’s finding in November 2011 that Iran is ind

Korean football has been in a state of complacency for at least 10 years. Numerous examples of deceit and chicanery in Korean football have been unveiled recently. Korean football has neglected to develop infrastructure in communities and the K-league. Also, K-league players have been found to very frequently partake of match-fixing and illegal gambling. Moreover, the Korean Football Association has acted in ways that are entirely inscrutable to the general public. For instance, it recently repl

President Lee seems to have more regrets than satisfaction as he enters the final year in his five-year tenure. In a rare press conference on Wednesday, the president was particularly apologetic about graft cases involving people around him. He said his heart stopped when another name popped up from among his aides and relatives in a corruption scandal.Newspapers featured improprieties related to Lee’s associates on the fourth anniversary of his inauguration. “I have no words to say to the peopl

More than 30 North Korean defectors caught in Shenyang by Chinese security police are facing repatriation to the North. The problems of North Korean defectors in China are hardly new, but this time, the situation is much more serious than before. The new North Korean leader, Kim Jung-un, openly threatened in January to “exterminate three generations of the family” of anyone who defects during the 100-day mourning period for his deceased father, Kim Jong-il.As the arrested defectors could face pu

A quarrel has flared up between the government and political parties over the latter’s welfare-related campaign promises.On Monday, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance announced it had launched a task force to study the feasibility of the welfare proposals presented by the ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition Democratic United Party.The schemes floated by the two parties included quadrupling the salaries of conscripted soldiers to about 400,000 won, free child care services for kids und

In his new book, “The Persistence of the Color Line: Racial Politics and the Obama Presidency,” Harvard law professor Randall Kennedy offers up the most sober (and sobering) assessment of Barack Obama’s grappling with race to date. The book looks at the big media events such as the controversy around Reverend Jeremiah Wright, the arrest of Henry Louis Gates and the forced resignation of Shirley Sherrod. But it is arguably at its most trenchant where it is most humble.An example of this occurs ea

How many billionaires does it take to buy a presidential election? We’re about to find out. The 2012 campaign is likely to be a battle between one group of millionaires and billionaires supporting President Obama and another group supporting his GOP rival.Perhaps this was the inevitable result of the Supreme Court’s grotesque decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission in 2010, which opened the floodgates to unrestricted campaign money through so-called “super PACs.” But I’m not s

NEWPORT BEACH ― Let me set the scene: an increasingly discredited economic policy approach gives rise to growing domestic social and political opposition, street protests and violence, disagreements among official creditors, and mounting concerns among private creditors about a disorderly default. In the midst of all of this, national leaders commit to more of the same harsh austerity measures that they have been unable to implement for two years. Official creditors express skepticism, in privat

RIO DE JANEIRO ― Since late last year, a series of positive developments has boosted investor confidence and led to a sharp rally in risky assets, starting with global equities and commodities. Macroeconomic data from the United States improved; blue-chip companies in advanced economies remained highly profitable; China and emerging markets slowed only moderately; and the risk of a disorderly default and/or exit by some members of the eurozone declined.Moreover, under its new president, Mario Dr

Mark Zuckerberg is pulling off a feat bigger than becoming the world’s richest 20-something: thriving in the cyber age even before “friending” the most populous nation and biggest Internet market. Facebook Inc.’s founder will soon have to “like” China, where his website is banned. A post-initial-public-offering Facebook will have shareholders demanding that it tap China’s 1.3 billion people, and now. Such is life when your business model is predicated on ever-growing ranks of users updating, sha

BRUSSELS ― Austerity alone cannot solve Europe’s economic and financial crisis. Growth and jobs need to be promoted with equal zeal. European Union leaders now recognize this: kick-starting growth in 2012 was high on the agenda at the European Council’s meeting on January 30. But the big question remains: How?The need for immediate action is clear. The eurozone’s economy contracted in the last three months of 2011; even Germany’s shrank. The new year is looking grim. France is flat-lining (as is

The global aviation industry is still scratching its head while digesting the contents of the latest bid by Brussels to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Starting from Jan. 1, the EU included the aviation industry in its CO2 Emission Trading System and started imposing extra taxes on airliners. Actual payments will not take place until 2013, but the system is now up and running. A very laudable effort indeed, but here is the trick: This program of the EU applies to all foreign airlines as well, if

Asia’s development has been so successful that it has been labeled a “miracle.” However, if this is true for economic growth, the picture looks far less impressive if you look at other dimensions of economic development. A return of leadership is needed. Looking at Asia’s phenomenal economic growth figures since the second half of the 20th century, it becomes easy to understand why international observers have used the word “miracle.” From 1975 to 2000 East Asia grew faster than any other region

Twenty-eight years ago when I was at the L.A. airport waiting for a plane to Seoul, I watched on television clashes between riot police and the tear-gassed students of South Korea, who were protesting against the military dictatorship. I was embarrassed and reluctant to go back to Korea, even though I was returning home after six years in the States. Upon arriving at Gimpo Airport, I was taken aback by the unfriendliness and arrogance of the immigration and customs officers, who treated internat

The global aviation industry is still scratching its head while digesting the contents of the latest bid by Brussels to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Starting from Jan. 1, the EU included the aviation industry in its CO2 Emission Trading System and started imposing extra taxes on airliners. Actual payments will not take place until 2013, but the system is now up and running. A very laudable effort indeed, but here is the trick: This program of the EU applies to all foreign airlines as well, if

Don’t look now, but the 2012 election is turning into a national referendum on what to do about Medicare.Democrats want to run on the issue ― and to charge that Republican proposals to change Medicare into a voucher-based system would end the current guarantee of virtually unlimited health care for the elderly.The chairman of their House campaign committee, Rep. Steve Israel, D-New York, has told candidates to stress three issues: “Medicare, Medicare and Medicare.”At least some Republicans ― suc

Both parties and both houses of Congress appear to have worked through their differences and are poised to extend a payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits and avoid drastic cuts in reimbursement rates for physicians treating Medicare enrollees.The optimist thinks, “So Congress CAN deal with real problems, even in a campaign year.”The pessimist thinks, “The Republicans’ radical wing already lost this fight in December, and party leaders saw no reason to follow the fringe to a repeat defeat in

The solitary campaign of Rep. Kang Yong-seok against Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon with allegations of impropriety in having his son exempted from military conscription seems to be paying off. Park has agreed to open his son’s spinal image to the public.Rep. Kang has volunteered a “sniper’s role” against leading liberal figures, including Seoul Education Superintendent Kwak No-hyun and Mayor Park. The sons of both Park and Kwak were disqualified from active duty because of their physical conditions.

Intelligent Koreans find it increasingly difficult to tell the whole truth from half-truths and outright lies these days. “Facts” about people are disseminated through the media and the social networking service channels, but their respective audiences should exercise great discretion to decide whether the information is true or not.Most dangerous are half-truths which make people believe the whole information is true when it is partly false. This can be compared to a recently circulated nude pi

The horrifying inferno that engulfed a prison in Honduras and claimed 355 lives or more didn‘t have to happen. In the months preceding this disaster, Honduran officials, beginning with President Porfirio Lobo, ignored multiple warnings that conditions at the jails were ripe for a calamity.One report by the United Nations said overcrowding was out of control by any standard. On any given date, 800 prisoners were confined in a facility built for 500. Those numbers, outrageous in themselves, were b