Businessweek (January 23)
Is North Korea’s cycle repeating itself? “It starts with a long-range rocket launch. The United Nations punishes the act with sanctions. And Pyongyang responds by conducting a nuclear test. It happened in 2006, and again in 2009.” Before deciding whether to complete the cycle that began with a December 2012 test, Kim Jong Un will probably wait to evaluate the emerging foreign policies of incoming South Korean President Park Geun-hye and President Obama’s second term. He may be inclined to break the cycle because ordering a nuclear test “would risk additional sanctions at a time when Kim wants to revive the economy.”
Tags: Kim Jong Un, North Korea, Nuclear test, Obama, Park Geun-hye, Rocket launch, Sanctions, South Korea, U.N.
Euromoney (November issue)
“Asia’s young population has long been the envy of the west, but several of Asia’s most developed economies, including Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea, were among the countries with the lowest fertility rates in the world this year as a result of rising education levels, more women working long hours and people getting married later, among other factors…. This presents many threats, but foremost among them are slowing economic growth and the need to provide income support for more elderly populations.”
“Asia’s young population has long been the envy of the west, but several of Asia’s most developed economies, including Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea, were among the countries with the lowest fertility rates in the world this year as a result of rising education levels, more women working long hours and people getting married later, among other factors…. This presents many threats, but foremost among them are slowing economic growth and the need to provide income support for more elderly populations.”
Wall Street Journal (October 11)
“Jordan last month amended its already restrictive press-and-publications law to include Internet firms and organizations. The move risks chilling business development in what had been a promising site of economic progress in a changing region” The new restrictions are bad for Jordan. “Emerging markets have a unique opportunity to embrace the Internet as their central business platform. Singapore, South Korea and Israel did so and became world-class technology players.” By embracing “open, globally competitive access to technology,” these countries could get ahead in ways that Jordan will not be able to under the new restrictions.
Wall Street Journal (May 28)
“It used to be said that when America sneezes, the world catches a cold.” Now, it’s China. “As the reality of slowing growth in China sets in—and with little help on the way from a still-sluggish America and a Europe in euro crisis—economies from South Korea down to New Zealand and Japan over to Thailand are starting to feel the effects. China’s flu is set to become the main preoccupation for policy doctors across the continent.”
Tags: China, Europe, Global economy, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Thailand, U.S.
Wall Street Journal (May 18)
“South Korean President Lee Myung-bak deserves praise for one accomplishment above all others: He has put human rights in North Korea on the world’s agenda.” North Korea’s network of labor camps has been exposed. The suffering of the approximately 200,000 political prisoners should convince other nations against trying to improve North Korea through engagement. “Sustaining Pyongyang with aid only extends the misery of those imprisoned in the North’s gulag.”
“South Korean President Lee Myung-bak deserves praise for one accomplishment above all others: He has put human rights in North Korea on the world’s agenda.” North Korea’s network of labor camps has been exposed. The suffering of the approximately 200,000 political prisoners should convince other nations against trying to improve North Korea through engagement. “Sustaining Pyongyang with aid only extends the misery of those imprisoned in the North’s gulag.”
Financial Times (May 13)
Japan, South Korea and China generate nearly 20% of global GDP and now they’re working toward a free trade agreement. They all have a common interest in this. China is “the biggest trade partner of Japan and South Korea.” Xinhua has estimated a treaty could boost each country’s GDP between 0.5% (Japan) to 3.1% (South Korea). An agreement may not, however, come easily as the three nations “are divided by political distrust, trade barriers and diverging investment policies.”
Japan, South Korea and China generate nearly 20% of global GDP and now they’re working toward a free trade agreement. They all have a common interest in this. China is “the biggest trade partner of Japan and South Korea.” Xinhua has estimated a treaty could boost each country’s GDP between 0.5% (Japan) to 3.1% (South Korea). An agreement may not, however, come easily as the three nations “are divided by political distrust, trade barriers and diverging investment policies.”
Tags: China, Free trade agreement, GDP, Japan, South Korea
Chicago Tribune (February 22, 2012)
“This planet is a more dangerous place now that the isolated and dictatorial government of North Korea has perhaps a dozen nuclear bombs. That danger will multiply if the belligerent and theocratic government of Iran, too, develops nukes. Either nation, with launchable nuclear bombs, qualifies as an existential threat to U.S. allies, including Israel and South Korea. What’s more, the prospect of Tehran or Pyongyang slipping small nukes to anti-U.S. terror networks is too unnerving for many among us to contemplate.”
Tags: Iran, Israel, North Korea, Nuclear bombs, South Korea, Terror networks, U.S.
Economist (December 31)
To die naturally without pain, Kim Jong Il was luckier than he deserved, given the pain and suffering he inflicted on an entire country. “The whole country was his movie set, where he could play God and have the people revere him.” Now his son looks set to become the new movie director. The show must not go on. Change mus be encouraged. “The regrettable truth is that not just China but also America (fearful of another global crisis), South Korea (fearful of the costs of adopting a country that seems alien to many young Koreans) and Japan (fearful of a united Korea) have propped up a murderous regime.”
Tags: China, Japan, Kim Jong Il, North Korea, South Korea
Bloomberg (November 8)
“As China’s might increases, India’s influence flowers, South Korea grows more competitive and Indonesia booms, Japan’s standing is waning faster than Tokyo realizes.” Can Japan adapt? First it will need to abandon the “head-in-the-sand dynamic,” characteristic of the recent Olympus scandal, “that many investors had hoped was a thing of Japan’s past.”
“As China’s might increases, India’s influence flowers, South Korea grows more competitive and Indonesia booms, Japan’s standing is waning faster than Tokyo realizes.” Can Japan adapt? First it will need to abandon the “head-in-the-sand dynamic,” characteristic of the recent Olympus scandal, “that many investors had hoped was a thing of Japan’s past.”
Washington Post (October 14)
Passage of the free trade agreement with South Korea took half a decade: a disgrace. Still there is ample cause for celebration. “South Korea is a stable democracy in Northeast Asia and a growing, trillion-dollar market. Under the new deal, 95 percent of industrial and consumer goods will soon move tariff-free between the United States and South Korea, adding $12 billion annually to U.S. exports — and fortifying an alliance that helps maintain peace and security in China’s neighborhood…. So, go ahead: Declare the glass half full and raise it to the long-overdue victory for free trade.”
Tags: Alliance, Democracy, Free trade, South Korea, U.S.
