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August 01, 2025

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COMMENTARY

Apr 19, 2004

South Korea's youth now in driver's seat

By Tom Plate

NEW YORK -- Veteran Asia-hand Nicholas Platt isn't quite ready to canonize Roh Moo Hyun as a great contemporary Asian leader -- notwithstanding last week's stunning endorsement of the populist president of South Korea in elections that catapulted the progressive, pro-Roh party to the top of the heap...

COMMENTARY

Apr 19, 2004

Karzai must address ethnic imbalance

By Farhan Bokhari

ISLAMABAD -- The U.S.-backed regime of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, which has been promised more than $8 billion in international economic aid over the next three years, is still struggling to consolidate its political position.

COMMENTARY

Apr 19, 2004

Push Japan's good intentions

By Keizo Nabeshima

The lesson from the abduction and subsequent release of five Japanese civilians in Iraq is that the government should send a strong message to the Arab world that it is actively pushing humanitarian assistance and reconstruction in the war-torn country.

EDITORIALS

Apr 18, 2004

A political quake in South Korea

Parliamentary elections last week have transformed politics in South Korea. The Uri Party -- which did not exist a year ago -- has won an absolute majority in the National Assembly, giving President Roh Moo Hyun control of the legislature for the first time since he was elected a year and a half ago...

COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW

Apr 18, 2004

Revisiting an evil stereotype

By Constantine Pleshakov

MOSCOW -- Each country has a reputation. For France, it is wine and food; for Italy, wine, food and the pope; for Holland, canals; for Austria, skiing; for Russia vodka, snow and bears.

COMMENTARY / World

Apr 18, 2004

Seoul should offer Bush a dose of reality

By Eugene B. Kogan

WASHINGTON -- "A friend in need is a friend indeed," a saying goes. South Korea's decision on April 2 to send some 3,600 troops to Iraq is a fitting illustration of the adage. The deployment will make South Korea the largest U.S. coalition partner in Iraq after Britain.

COMMENTARY

Apr 18, 2004

Death of Deng's triangular relationship

By Harvey Stockwin

HONG KONG -- One certainty emerges amid the democratic turmoil in Taiwan and Hong Kong and amid the authoritarian turmoil in the higher reaches of the Chinese Communist Party, which is skilled at concealing its innate factionalism: The triangular relationship between China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, as envisaged...

EDITORIALS

Apr 17, 2004

Hostage release no peace gesture

The three Japanese taken hostage in Iraq have been set free. The joy felt at their release has been tempered by news that two other Japanese have been seized, the savage murder of an Italian security guard by his kidnappers and the knowledge that nearly 20 other foreigners are still being held in Iraq....

EDITORIALS

Apr 16, 2004

Cyprus at a crossroads

If a U.N. reunification plan is accepted by both Greek and Turkish residents in referendums later this month, the island will be reunited, ending four decades of ethnic conflict. If it is rejected, the people of Cyprus will have missed a historic opportunity for both peaceful reconciliation and to join...

COMMENTARY / World

Apr 16, 2004

Alternative road map to launch Myanmar's democratic future

By Nyunt Shwe

T he ruling States Peace and Development Council of Myanmar (SPDC) has raised hopes that it will hold a national constitutional convention before the end of this year after its March 30 announcement that it would convene one on May 17. It had also hinted that opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi could...

EDITORIALS

Apr 15, 2004

Making nuclear energy safer

With the Japanese public remaining skeptical of the safety of nuclear power plants, the government's latest white paper on nuclear safety focuses on an appropriate subject: risk assessment. The message, simply put, is that the safety of nuclear facilities and equipment can be assured more reliably through...

EDITORIALS

Apr 14, 2004

Hostage nightmare continues

Patience is running thin as efforts to have three Japanese hostages in Iraq freed drag on with no apparent progress. The crisis appeared to have been nearing a resolution on Sunday morning when the kidnappers issued a statement saying that they would release the civilians within 24 hours. But the deadline...

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.

With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear

By Jason Coskrey

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Ishii Iron Works remakes self for workers, new energy

Ishii Iron Works remakes self for workers, new energy

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