Launch of transition team
President-elect needs to polish up vetting process President-elect Park Geun-hye’s transition team was officially launched Sunday, setting in motion the full-fledged formation of the new administration and the solidification of major issues to be pursued over the next five years. A signboard hanging ceremony took place in front of the team’s headquarters in central Seoul […]
Tough lessons in dealing with North Korea
South Korea has elected a new president, Park Geun-hye. The vote was primarily about economics, but Park promised to reengage the North with a policy of “trust building.” Now the North’s leader has responded by calling for a reduction in tensions. Unfortunately, Pyongyang remains an impossible partner. A year ago North Korea’s “Dear Leader” Kim […]
Park’s foreign policy
President-elect Park Geun-hye has appointed former Defense Minister Kim Jang-su as foreign policy point man for her transition team that will prepare for next month’s inauguration of the new administration. Although foreign policy, including the North Korea issue, was not a dominant campaign issue, it is directly linked to most important national interests for survival, […]
Rare elephants’ sports competitions attract over 100,000 spectators in Nepal
Photo: Bishnu GautamKATHMANDU – Over 100,000 local and foreign tourists enjoyed the games and beauty pageant of elephants in the Chitwan National Park, some 200 kilometers west of here last week.An overwhelming crowd of viewers of all ages and sexes reached the park, the largest national park of Nepal, to enjoy the three-day elephant running competition, soccer […]
Not Backing Down: China Responds to the US Rebalance to Asia
*Author, Wu Xinbo is Professor and Deputy Director, the Center for American Studies, Fudan University, Shanghai. Predictably, the last US presidential election campaign featured the usual competition between candidates over who would be “tougher” on China, a ritual political exercise that is almost always followed by even greater American engagement with China once the new […]
Challenging ASEAN:The US Pivot Through Southeast Asia’s Eyes
*Author, Donald K. Emmerson heads the Southeast Asia Forum in the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University. The US pivot toward Asia has been viewed largely through the lens of American security and economic competition with China. Within that context, writes Donald K. Emmerson, Washington is also deepening its involvement in ASEAN in terms […]
Branding Korea by Psy
LONDON ― There was a time when Korea was best known overseas for Samsung gadgetry and Hyundai cars. Now Korea is permeating the global consciousness in ways that would have seemed unlikely if not impossible two or three years ago. The latest proof positive is a New Year’s eve feature in The Times ― that […]
Talking elegantly can be a New Year’s resolution
People make numerous resolutions at the start of the new year — to get rich, to lose weight, to be promoted, to learn English. Yet one crucial resolution seems to be missing on many people’s lists — to stop verbal abuse. Verbal abuse pervades many aspects of the Korean society, and has hurt so many […]
Message from North
Koreas should be ready to meet each other half-way The New Year message from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attracts our attention more for its style than substance, and for what’s been left unsaid rather than said. For the first time in 19 years, North Koreans watched their leader deliver the year-opening message on TV […]
South Korea’s global role
The election on Dec. 19 of Park Geun-hye as president of South Korea represents a milestone event in the remarkably rapid evolution of that country from wartime devastation to post-Cold War leadership. She is the first woman to be elected chief executive of her country, which alone represents significant forward movement in fairness, as well […]
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