Once, during a meeting at my university, a biologist mentioned that he was the only faculty member present from a science department. When I corrected him, noting that I was from the Department of Psychology, he waved his hand dismissively, as if I were a Little Leaguer telling a member of the New York Yankees that I too played baseball.There has long been snobbery in the sciences, with the “hard” ones (physics, chemistry, biology) considering themselves to be more legitimate than the “soft” one

On July 20, the Korea Institute for National Unification and the Korean Political Science Association will hold a joint forum Korean Unification from an International Perspective. The forum is unique in being one of the few efforts to draw in perspectives on Korean unification beyond the participants of the long stalled six-party talks. It may seem logical that the participants in the six-party talks take center stage in any forum on the Korean Peninsula. China, Japan, Russia, and the United Sta

President Lee Myung-bak must have been dejected last week when he saw his older brother, Lee Sang-deuk, being sent to jail on television. He must have wondered what had gone wrong. The same question must have been asked by so many Koreans, who have in the past witnessed some of those close to presidents or presidential candidates being sent to prison for taking bribes and breaching the election-funding law. Lee’s brother, accused of taking money from businesses, may have followed in their footst

It is not surprising to see liberal and progressive opposition parties turn their backs on conglomerates. Traditionally, they have supported small businesses and labor unions while criticizing the business practices of large corporations.To their chagrin, however, the ruling Saenuri Party is withdrawing what has long been seen to be their unwavering support for big businesses. The party has joined the opposition forces in demanding greater economic democratization ahead of the December president

Until recently, respectable opinion frowned on all barriers to money flowing across borders. Today, the old thinking has been overturned. Sometimes, it’s agreed, capital controls are necessary. The old consensus was wrong and won’t be missed. The new view, however, lacks clarity and, when it comes to application, effective oversight. Capital controls may sometimes be necessary ― but they are always dangerous and open to abuse. These policies need to be better considered and more carefully superv

WASHINGTON ― Why did it take Washington nearly eight months to apologize for the deaths of 24 Pakistani soldiers? But you know the answer: It’s because the U.S. and Pakistan have the most neurotic, mutually destructive “friendly” relationship in the world. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton finally said the magic words in a July 3 phone call with her Pakistani counterpart: “We are sorry for the losses suffered by the Pakistani military.” A tepid apology, but enough that the Pakistanis agreed to

The relationship between Tokyo and Seoul is in the news again ― and for all the wrong reasons. Last week, in an apparent sign of bilateral warming, a report from Korea’s Yonhap News Agency indicated that Japan and Korea were on the cusp of formalizing a longstanding commitment to share intelligence and security information on North Korea’s WMD programs. The story claimed that government sources in Seoul were prepared to sign off on a General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) wi

NEW DELHI ― India’s sliding economy has inspired gloom and doom far and wide, but increasingly bearish sentiment is misplaced. India still offers hope, but, to understand why, you have to leave macroeconomic indicators aside and go micro. To take one example: Google the phrase “frugal innovation,” and the first 20 search results all relate to India.Indian companies have long recognized the opportunities in meeting previously overlooked demand at the “bottom of the pyramid.” Shampoo sachets origi

MELBOURNE ― According to the United States Federal Reserve, Americans’ net worth has fallen 40 percent since 2007, returning to its 1992 level. Progress towards recovery will be slow and difficult, and the U.S. economy will be weak throughout the run-up to November’s presidential and congressional elections. Can any incumbent ― and especially President Barack Obama ― win reelection in such conditions?To be sure, the blame for America’s malaise lies squarely with Obama’s predecessors: Bill Clinto

The Yeosu Expo opened almost two months ago. The number of visitors so far is 2.8 million, or 52,000 per day on average. The turnout is much lower than hoped. It falls far short of the 8 million targeted by the Yeosu Expo Organizing Committee.The committee is doubling efforts to attract visitors during the one month left before the finale. It says visitors will enjoy more diverse and interesting programs during this period. For example, the Expo Pop Festival takes place at 8 o’clock every night,

North Korea’s brushes with Disney tend to be less than magical. The Kim Dynasty’s first foray to the place where dreams come true ended in a nightmare. In 2001, the brother of leader Kim Jong-un tried to enter Japan to visit Tokyo Disneyland. His Dominican Republic passport and lack of Spanish skills piqued the interest of customs officers, and was an endless source of embarrassment for their Dear Leader father, Kim Jong-il, who died in December. Eleven years after his brother’s attempted visit

BEIJING ― The purge of Chongqing’s Party chief, Bo Xilai, is China’s most serious political crisis in recent decades. What seemed like a relatively stable system of political transition ― two five-year terms for top leaders ― has been thrown into chaos.Or so we are told. Such predictions about the collapse of China’s political system have been constantly repeated since the suppression of the pro-democracy uprisings in 1989. But the system didn’t collapse then, and it won’t collapse now.The key r

Testifying before a Senate committee a few months ago, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lamented that America was “in an information war, and we are losing that war.” This week, she blew a fuse at the “Friends of Syria” meeting in Paris, saying that Russia and China should “pay a price” for not supporting regime change in Syria.Here’s a thought: How about using the power of truth to get things done rather than cover and manipulation?Russia and China aren’t following America’s script for o

You should probably sit down before you read this.Syria has put its name up for membership on the United Nations Human Rights Council, and it will most likely win a seat.Yes, Syria, the state that has slaughtered close to 15,000 of its own people over the last 16 months, including hundreds of women and children. It’s on track to take a seat on the United Nations body whose mission is to uphold human rights around the world.The United States happened to find Syria’s name on a roster of candidates

AMMAN ― The behavior of Jordan’s Royal Court in the days following the official announcement of the victory of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsi in Egypt’s presidential election tells an intriguing story. At first, Jordan’s King Abdullah II hesitated to sign a long-sought-after election law. This was followed by approval of the law, a request for its revision, and a surprise official meeting with the leader of Hamas.During the past year, King Abdullah has been adamant that Jordanians should

In the first of what is likely to be a series of confrontations between Egypt’s new elected leader and the country’s armed forces, President Mohamed Morsi has called for a parliament disbanded by the generals to return to work, pending the election of a new representative body under a yet-to-be-written constitution. As with much about Egypt’s transition from autocracy to democracy, the controversy over the legitimacy of the People’s Assembly is overlaid with legal issues. The Islamist-dominated

There is little doubt that plutocrats are trying to buy the November elections. Not just control of the White House, but control of the U.S. House and Senate, too.Freed from campaign finance limitations by five pliant Supreme Court justices, wealthy donors with no sense of shame are pouring record amounts of money into so-called super political action committees. Donors to super PACs eventually will see their names made public; being shameless, they don’t care.But what about plutocrats who have

Just when you thought Wall Street couldn’t sink any lower ― when its excesses are still causing hardship to millions of Americans and its myriad abuses of public trust have already spread a miasma of cynicism over the entire economic system ― an even deeper level of public-be-damned greed and corruption is revealed.Sit down and hold on to your chair.Consider the most basic services banks provide you: You put your savings in a bank to hold in trust, and the bank agrees to pay you interest on it.

Park Geun-hye, the presidential frontrunner of the ruling Saenuri Party, has officially announced her bid to become the nation’s first woman president. She pledged to democratize the economy, create jobs and expand welfare to make Korea a country where everybody can achieve their dreams.Park’s announcement signaled the beginning of the race for the next presidency. Ten or so candidates from the ruling and opposition parties have already joined the contest, with a couple more expected to particip

In recent months, job creation has been brisk. According to employment data, Korean employers added 472,000 new jobs to the economy in May, not a small number in light of the global economic downturn and the subsequent stagnation of Korea’s export sector.Yet one problem is that a large proportion of the new jobs were created by micro-businesses with less than five employees. According to Statistics Korea, the number of people working at such tiny businesses increased 286,000 in May compared to a