The Korea Herald

[Kim Myong-sik] Trump’s gamble in USFK cost-sharing deal

Dec 4, 2019

Negotiations are underway on US President Donald Trump’s demand for a fivefold increase in South Korea’s payment for the cost of stationing 28,500 US troops here. The talks in Washington and Seoul m...
[Noah Smith] US economy defying recession odds

Dec 4, 2019

It’s impressive how well the US economy has held up during the past year. As early as 2018, leading indicators were suggesting a heightened risk of recession in 2019 or 2020. Then early this year the...
[Kim Seong-kon] Korea needs the ‘Factionless’ and ‘Divergent’

Dec 3, 2019

“Divergent” is a 2014 dystopian science fiction film based on Veronica Roth’s novel of the same title. This futuristic movie is set in Chicago, where five factions divide society: Abnegation, Amity, ...
[Robert J. Fouser] Thinking about language and respect in Italy

Dec 3, 2019

A two-week visit to Italy recently revealed much about the state of language in the early 21st century. Apart from sightseeing, I was interested in seeing how much Italian I could learn casually as I...
[Jeffrey Frankel ] The case for old-fashioned tariff cuts

Dec 2, 2019

The “bicycle theory” used to be a metaphor for international trade policy. Just as standing still on a bicycle is not an option -- one must keep moving forward or else fall over -- so it was said tha...
[Jeffrey D. Sachs] How World Bank arbitrators mugged Pakistan

Dec 2, 2019

Wall Street hedge funds and lawyers have turned an arcane procedure of international treaties into a money machine, at the cost of the world’s poorest people. The latest shakedown is a $5.9 billion a...
[Chung Jae-suk] Remaking cultural heritage signs

Dec 1, 2019

When I arrive at a cultural heritage site, I linger at the entrance to carefully read the information sign. I formed this habit long before I became the lead administrator of the Cultural Heritage Ad...
[Leonid Bershidsky] Malta proves oligarchs aren’t all Eastern European

Dec 1, 2019

The government crisis in Malta, one of the smallest European Union members, shows that oligarchs who purchase political influence -- and who may do just about anything, including commit murder, to av...
[Mark Buchanan] Gene editing might alter DNA, but destroy humanity

Nov 27, 2019

Biologists recently revealed a new form of the gene-editing tool known as Crispr that allows researchers to make precise changes to almost any element of DNA, permanently altering cellular biochemist...
[Leonid Bershidsky] Why London has banned Uber — again

Nov 27, 2019

London first banned Uber under its buccaneer of a founding chief executive officer, Travis Kalanick -- and now for a second time under Kalanick’s successor, Dara Khosrowshahi, who was meant to be the...
[Justin Fendos] Where is my data dignity?

Nov 27, 2019

It is an undeniable fact that big data is all around us. Whenever we use the internet, call a taxi, or purchase with credit cards, big data is at work, logging our activities into amorphous balls of ...
[Kim Seong-kon] “Your Republic Is Calling You”

Nov 26, 2019

Kim Young-ha’s celebrated novel, “Your Republic Is Calling You,” is an account of a North Korean spy named Ki-yong who has lived in South Korea since the mid-1980s with no contact from the North. Cut...
[Ann McFeatters] A rare bipartisan show of support for 5G technology

Nov 26, 2019

Amazingly, the US Senate just sent a bipartisan request to the White House. In a hopeful if small sign that there are matters of state that Republicans and Democrats can still agree on, a coalition...
[Martin Schram] Trump Ukraine probe wins one new vote -- Putin’s

Nov 25, 2019

As the House Intelligence Committee has ended its hearings and is racing at a most un-congressional top-speed toward an apparent impeachment of President Donald Trump for crimes including bribery, we...
[Trudy Rubin] Hong Kong crisis has become crucial test of future US-China relations

Nov 25, 2019

Impeachment proceedings have overshadowed another riveting drama half a world away: ongoing pro-democracy protests in the iconic city Hong Kong. Peaceful marches of millions of Hong Kong citizens ha...