The Justice Department has entered into the largest criminal settlement in U.S. history with the giant oil company BP, in connection with the 2010 disaster in the Gulf of Mexico that killed 11 people and caused the worst oil spill in American history. BP pleaded guilty to 14 criminal counts, including manslaughter, and agreed to pay $4 billion over the next five years.This is nonsensical. BP isn’t a criminal. Corporations aren’t people. They can’t know right from wrong. They’re incapable of crim

One needs to look no further than the Korean-English and English-Korean dictionary to see where we must start if we want to truly internationalize the teaching of Korean language. Most English-Korean and Korean-English dictionaries (all dictionaries that I have ever seen) are written in a manner that discourages foreigners from learning Korean. I think that it would be easy to create truly foreigner-friendly dictionaries and the investment could revolutionize the status of Korean language around

Two years have passed since North Korea shelled the South’s Yeonpyeongdo in the West Sea. The artillery bombardment on Nov. 23, 2010 killed two soldiers and two civilians, injured many others, and devastated villages on the peaceful island.It was the first attack by the North against civilians in the South since the Korean War ended in 1953. As reasons for its deadly bombing, Pyongyang cited firing drills by the marines on the island. Yet it was nothing more than a thinly veiled pretext for its

2012 will go down as a meaningul year in Korea’s film history. In September, Korean movie “Pieta,” directed by Kim Ki-duck, won the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival, becoming the first Korean movie to claim the top prize of one of the world’s three most prestigious film festivals. The domestic film industry has recently set a more significant milestone: It broke the 100 million mark in annual audience number for the first time. According to the Korean Film Council, this year’s combi

PARIS ― A colleague mentioned earlier this week how thankful he is that he can tell anyone who deserves it to go take a flying leap. (Actually, his precise words are unprintable, but you get the idea.) At first glance, such uninhibited opinion-sharing might seem rude and unacceptable, but upon further reflection, it becomes clear how individuals rising up and courageously telling off the creeps who deserve it would benefit society as a whole, and how capitalism in particular is the perfect vehic

WASHINGTON ― An Israeli official was listening a few days ago to the familiar critique that Israel doesn’t have any strategy in Gaza, just periodic tactical assaults on Hamas. The official finally exploded: “That is our strategy. Don’t you understand? We don’t have any other choice except to punch our adversary in the face every few years.” The most depressing aspect about the latest Gaza war is that it dramatizes this “no exit” aspect of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Wars recur every four o

The chameleon is finally showing his true colors.Since taking office in June, Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s not-so-new president, has been equivocating, trying to balance Egypt’s longstanding diplomatic and financial relationship with the West with his true self: a Muslim Brotherhood fundamentalist who is contemptuous of the West, hates Israel and wants to turn Egypt into a fully Islamic state.“He speaks of moderation for the West,” Perihan Abou-Zeid, a 28-year-old Egyptian officer for a media-producti

SEOUL ― Chinese, South Korean, and Japanese diplomats recently took to the podium of the United Nations General Assembly to reassert their countries’ positions on the territorial issues surrounding several small islands in the seas of East Asia. But the composed manner in which they delivered their remarks belied their countries’ long-simmering tensions over the islands, which have come to a near boil in the last few months.At the center of one heated dispute, between China and Japan, are the Se

Japan stands at a crossroads. The direction it takes will be critical to determining whether Japan can remain one of the world’s leading nations.As political gridlock continues and the economy staggers along, the people’s sense that the country is stagnating has been growing. How can the nation overcome this situation?During the upcoming House of Representatives election campaign, we urge each party to present the course they want Japan to pursue and a new “vision” for this nation. Each party th

Even though the reelected U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to Myanmar this week will be brief, it will have a series of significant outcomes for Myanmar and the region. Make no mistake, his visit is part of a long-term strategic plan by U.S. decision-makers, who view the once most condemned nation in the world as a key future ally.The U.S. knows this is the best time to approach Myanmar because the Thein Sein government has demonstrated its willingness to engage with the West, especially the

STANFORD ― Political leadership transitions typically signal either a change in direction or continuity. But the mere prospect of such a transition usually postpones some important political decisions and freezes some economic activity, pending the resolution of the accompanying uncertainty.China’s decennial leadership transition, culminating at the Chinese Communist Party’s 18th Congress, is a case in point. And, while many will remember when a Chinese leadership transition was a political and

PARIS ― China may be just a few years away from becoming the world’s leading economic power, and America’s strategic centrality may be on the wane (certainly, no one speaks of the United States today as the world’s “hyperpower”). But America still makes people dream, and its emotional hold on the world remains unique.In this sense, last week brought two victories: not just Barack Obama’s over Republican challenger Mitt Romney in the presidential election, but also the victory of America’s democr

A week ago Saturday I traveled to my former residence in Namwon to pick up my two children, Richard and Andrew. As usual the children were not waiting for me and I knew that once again my ex-wife was violating the court agreement. This two week pattern of violation has been an unfortunate part of my life since the divorce became final in May of 2011. In that time I have grown very accustomed to her repeated violations of the court agreement on visitation and custody. I had also grown very used t

Well over 100 journalists have been killed so far this year ― the highest number since the International Press Institute began keeping count of journalists’ deaths in 1997. All across the world ― from Africa, Asia and Europe, to the Middle East and Latin America ― journalists continue to be systematically and brutally targeted because of their work. Some are caught in the crossfire while reporting on conflict, but most are targeted by criminal groups and individuals who want to prevent informati

NEW DELHI ― Official delegations from the world’s nine most populous developing countries just met in New Delhi to discuss a subject vital for their countries’ futures: education. The meeting of ministers and others from Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria and Pakistan, known as the E-9, is the latest in a series of encounters held every two years to fulfill the pledge of “education for all” by 2015.The E-9 account for 54 percent of the world’s population, 42.3 pe

With the presidential election less than a month away, lawmakers of the ruling and opposition parties are rushing to pass populist bills to capture votes. Their reckless abuse of legislative power should be stopped as it will not only waste taxpayers’ money but give rise to unnecessary social conflicts. Last week, lawmakers on the National Assembly’s Committee on Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs approved a bill to recognize taxis as public transportation and entitle taxi companies to more fi

The trade ministers of South Korea, China and Japan have declared the launch of official negotiations on a three-way free trade agreement on the sidelines of a regional summit in Cambodia. It has been six months since the top leaders of the three neighboring countries agreed to start talks on the FTA within this year during a trilateral summit in Beijing in May. Until only recently, it was reported that the start of the negotiations would be delayed to next year due to the heightened tension bet

WASHINGTON ― Xi Jinping, China’s newly anointed president, made his first visit to the United States in May 1980. He was a 27-year-old junior officer accompanying Geng Biao, then a vice premier and China’s leading military official. Geng had been my host the previous January, when I was the first U.S. defense secretary to visit China, acting as an interlocutor for President Jimmy Carter’s administration.Americans had little reason to notice Xi back then, but his superiors clearly saw his potenti

Barack Obama’s trip to Myanmar is a gift from the photo-opportunity gods. The sight of the U.S. president standing beside political-prisoner-turned-Nobel- laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in Yangon will be a heart-warming moment for a world yearning for good news. The most remarkable thing about Obama’s first trip abroad since his re-election is his itinerary. During the four-day journey that starts tomorrow, Obama will bypass China as well as such staunch Pacific allies as Australia, Japan and South K

WASHINGTON ― Washington superlawyer Joseph Califano once passed a message to a client being grilled by a congressional committee that read: “Keep cool in Kabul.” That phrase has a certain piquancy now, but Califano simply wanted to calm the witness, slow the process a bit and get everyone to chill out. The “keep cool” advice seems especially useful now that Washington’s latest set of scandals is entering the phase of congressional investigation, righteous political indignation and public penance