Politics

A lawyer with a long background espousing leftist causes is now the mayor of Seoul, a capital city of 10 million people (20 percent of South Korea’s population), after his overwhelming success in an election that has grave implications for policies visa-vis North Korea.

The U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) will likely finally be ratified in the near future, despite various pending obstacles such as the disagreements with the opposition parties over aspects of the FTA such as the controversial (InvestorState Disment) article. However, the long-stalled FTA deal is expected to generate considerable mutual benefits after its ratification. Upon winning a final approval from the U.S.

The Thousand Islands regency under the Jakarta Provincial Government has been a major tourist destination for the region, attracting anywhere between 15,000 to 20,000 local and international tourists every day. The group of islands is divided into the northern and the southern parts, but only the southern area currently enjoys electricity supplied via underwater cables.

Mexico’s environmental policy has been undergoing some significant changes at the behest of President Calderon, all intended to put the focus of the country’s environmental development on sustainable, or green, energy production.

By just about any international standard, the Philippines ranks near the bottom rung among the world’s most corrupt countries. Transparency International places it 134th among 178 countries, one place below Nigeria but far below the scores of other countries often criticized for massive corruption, including the two Asian giants, China and India.

Last year, the United States completed delivery of a US$6.4 billion arms package to Taiwan, including ballistic missile defense systems, utility helicopters, and mine sweeping ships. This sealed the completion of the security cooperation agenda between the two countries.

“In the golden age of Asia, Korea was one of its lamp bearers. And that lamp is waiting to be lighted once again. For the illumination of the East.” Rabindranath Tagore wrote this famous poem in 1929, and it was on the minds of many people during Indian President Pratibha Patil’s visit to South Korea on July 25.

The United Nations will finally wind up its peacekeeping services in East Timor in 2012, and all preparations to keep within this deadline are in full swing. It was almost six years ago that the East Timor government enlisted the United Nations peacekeeping efforts in 2006, following unprecedented civil riots and factional fighting that was taking one of the youngest nations in the world to the brink of internal strife and civil war.

The sparks are flying in what has been a diplomatic and propaganda war for a little-known island chain claimed in whole or in part by half a dozen powers, notably China but also Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei. Mysterious sightings of Chinese warplanes over distant islets, atolls, and reefs in the South China Sea have fueled reports of China's expansionist aims in these troubled waters. They have assumed importance with the realization that a fortune in oil and gas lingers beneath the shallow sea. The contest most recently has involved a strange realignment of interests in which big brother China, Hanoi's main ally in the war that culminated in the victory of North Vietnam's forces in 1975, is now Vietnam's foe.