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Column
Seoul’s strategic relationship with Beijing
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the normalization of South Korea-China diplomatic relations. Now, South Korea plays a global role, and China is the No. 2 economy in the world. Nonetheless, the quiet atmosphere of celebrating the 20th anniversary reflects that the strategic cooperation partnership between South Korea and…
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Column
US ‘pivot’ toward China
A new word has come into vogue over the past year as the United States draws down its forces in Afghanistan and gets out of Iraq. The word is “pivot.” We’re told the U.S. is “pivoting” toward Asia, focusing on this part of the world after having concentrated on the…
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Column
[Indonesia Report] British couple feared to be imprisoned 20-years in Indonesia
Julian Ponder and Rachel Dougall, both are British nationality, are facing a 20-year imprisonment. Indonesian police arrested Ponder and Dougall on May 19. They were arrested in their villa in Tabanan, Bali, after another British woman, Lindsay June Sandiford, who was arrested earlier told police that she had handed over the…
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Aborted flood aid
NK’s rejection darkens inter-Korean ties Hopes for improved inter-Korean relations are fading out as North Korea rejected the South’s flood aid Wednesday. In its cable earlier in the day, the North said the aid wasn’t needed to cope with suffering caused by recent torrential rains and typhoons. The rejection came…
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Column
Why America’s Christian right is wrong
It’s always been easy to use religion, in this case Christianity, as a means to enshrine bigotry, hatred, and stupidity. In the last 30 years or so, we’ve seen a strong and politically effective bond between Christian zealots and the American Republican Party. All social democracies have freedom of religion.…
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Column
US-China ties: cooperation and competition
In the mid-1960s, when the world was dominated by the two superpowers ― the United States and the Soviet Union ― China routinely described their relationship as one of “colluding and contending” for power and influence. That was the view of a China that was economically weak and diplomatically isolated.…
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Column
Japanese flag haunts Koreans
The German law bans the use of the Hakenkreuz, the symbol used by the Nazi Party adopted by Adolf Hitler. Violators are fined or face imprisonment of up to three years. The Nazi regime and its collaborators engineered the Holocaust decades ago that massacred 6 million Jews. Today, Europeans pursue…
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Column
Violent sex crimes against children
Several years ago I wrote an article in this paper (“From sexually abused to abusers”) after a violent eroticised attack on a young girl. I stated that the mass media coverage of such crimes was useful because it reminded us that the types of people who reside inside the prison…
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Column
Independent offspring
Family lore has it that I have always been very independent. As a toddler, I refused to hold anyone’s hand when crossing the street. So my dad had to be creative: he convinced me to hold onto his belt loops instead. Thankfully, I wasn’t an impulsive kid, which is probably…
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Column
[Indonesia Report] Australia troubled for growing asylum seekers
Australian Immigration Minister, Chris Bowen told reporters that he hoped to start sending asylum seekers who arrive by boat to Nauru later this week, AFP reported. Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s planned to reopen the Howard government’s asylum seeker processing centre, to send the asylum seeker who try to enter…
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