Is China enough?
BUENOS AIRES ― For many countries in Latin America, demand from China has been essential to maintaining high GDP growth rates over the last decade. But will Chinese demand for commodities be enough to sustain high prices for the region’s exports in the coming years? During the last two decades, four factors combined to generate […]
Small firms need to overcome Peter Pan Syndrome
Small Korean firms are trapped in what resembles the Peter Pan Syndrome or Dwarf Syndrome, where adults do not want or feel unprepared to grow up. In the Korean economy, this tendency can be seen among small- and medium-sized firms that fear to become large companies. Since the 1980s, the number of large firms the […]
The new old year
NEW YORK ― Any look back at 2012 would necessarily focus on three parts of the world: the eurozone, with its seemingly endless financial uncertainties; the Middle East, with its many upheavals, including, but hardly limited to, the Muslim Brotherhood’s accession to power in Egypt and Syria’s savage civil war, which has already claimed more […]
Are extraterrestrials here?
We sometimes encounter people who behave extraordinarily. When we do, we refer to them as “sachawon” which means four-dimensional. My daughter, now turning 19, is one of these and is often scolded by my wife for her frequent unexpected behavior. Once she disappeared in the middle of eating breakfast leaving her spoon still on top […]
How to lure more foreign visitors
In front of the main office of the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) in Seoul stands a small stele that is engraved with words by late President Park Chung-hee, the father of President-elect Park Geun-hye. It reads “For the Promotion of Tourism,” and the date shows the commemorative stone slab was set up in March 1973. […]
Smaller Cheong Wa Dae
What matters most is to select ‘good people’ President-elect Park Geun-hye’s vision for her new presidential office structure, unveiled Monday, can be summed up as slimmed down and simplified. This direction is reflected well in the fact that the title of the bureaucratic unit at Cheong Wa Dae will be changed from the Office of […]
The end of pasta?
PRAGUE ― Scare stories have been an integral part of the global warming narrative for a long time. Back in 1997, Al Gore told us that global warming was making the El Nino winds stronger and more severe. That has not happened. Greenpeace and many others have told us for years that we will see […]
Kickbacks for doctors
The government is stepping up its crackdown on the long-standing practice of offering and receiving kickbacks in the medical community. Yet it remains to be seen whether the illegal practice will be uprooted this time, given that it is endemic and deep-rooted. A joint investigation team of prosecutors, police and health officials are summoning about […]
Presidential transition team
When President-elect Park Geun-hye announced her presidential transition team, each member surprised many people. Some were not so well-known or surprise picks that went against people’s expectations. What caught my eye was a critical article pointing out that four of the 24 members were “children of the Yushin regime,” those whose fathers or fathers-in-law were […]
Samsung comes of age
You don’t have to hang around Samsung Electronics for long before the word “innovation” is mentioned. Samsung people love to use it; I am not sure you can even have a chinwag with them without the “i” word cropping up. Personally, I have never been convinced. Certainly, Samsung is a well-run company, a zero-to-hero success. […]
Media in Tie-up with The AsiaN 
Trump, Kim, and the Three P’s of Summit Diplomacy: 
