Analysis: Obama 2nd term to sustain Asia pivot

WASHINGTON (AP) ― President Barack Obama’s re-election means he can sustain the strategic shift toward the Asia-Pacific started during his first term but the attention and resources the region gets may be hostage to instability in the Middle East and budget battles in Washington.

Obama is slated to attend a summit of East Asian leaders in Cambodia this month, underscoring his commitment to the region. He could also make a side-trip to Myanmar, becoming the first U.S. president to visit that military-dominated country to reward its democratic reforms.

Many Asian governments are likely to welcome Obama’s victory over Republican challenger Mitt Romney. Concerned about China’s rising power and assertive behavior, they have supported the Obama administration’s ``pivot’’ to the region as the U.S. disentangles from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

Still, they also want the U.S. to get along with China, the hub of the Asian economy. Romney’s more confrontational stance, based on his threat to designate China as a currency manipulator, could have set back U.S.-China relations and even sparked a trade war.

Romney’s defeat will be greeted with quiet relief in Beijing, which wants stability in its most critical bilateral relationship as it undergoes its own leadership transition that kicks off at a Communist Party Congress on Thursday.

Whether Asia policy gets the kind of attention from the U.S. as during the first term will depend partly on who succeeds Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. She has made at least a dozen trips to the region and championed the view that U.S. interests lie in more ties with that booming continent. Her hard-charging top diplomat for East Asia, Kurt Campbell, is also expected to move on.

U.S. President Barack Obama makes an acceptance speech during an election night rally in Chicago, Illinois. (Bloomberg)

The agenda of the next secretary of state, who is yet to be named, could be at the mercy of events. 

Walter Lohman, director of Asian studies at the Heritage Foundation think tank, said China is the main long-term strategic threat for the U.S., but the most immediate foreign policy concern is Iran’s nuclear program. A conflict there would suck up resources and could upset what the administration wants to achieve elsewhere, he said.

Fighting in neighboring Syria also shows no sign of abating. Security in Iraq remains fragile, and in Afghanistan, a withdrawal of U.S. combat forces by 2014 leaves it vulnerable to the kind of civil war that blighted the country in the 1990s and led to a Taliban takeover.

Political problems at home could also cramp Obama’s outreach to Asia.

His most immediate domestic challenge is an impending showdown over tackling the national debt that economists say could send the world’s biggest economy back into recession.

Even before Obama gets to his second inaugural on Jan. 20, he must reach a budget deal with Republicans to prevent a combination of automatic tax increases and steep across-the-board spending cuts ― dubbed a ``fiscal cliff’’ ― set to take effect in January. 

That would entail nearly $500 billion in defense spending cuts over a decade that could undermine plans to devote more military assets to the Asia-Pacific, where the increased capabilities of Chinese forces pose a growing challenge to U.S. pre-eminence in the region. 

China is already acting with growing assertiveness in the seas of East Asia. 

Its territorial dispute over islands administered by U.S. treaty ally Japan could trigger a military confrontation between Asia’s two biggest economies. This year, China has already faced down the Philippines over sovereignty of a reef in the South China Sea, where the competition among China and its neighbors for fish and potential underwater oil and gas reserves could also sow seeds of conflict.

Two years ago, Clinton announced the U.S. national interest in the peaceful resolution of South China Sea. That step irked Beijing, and managing those diplomatic tensions will be of growing importance in the second term. Washington supports efforts by Southeast Asian nations to negotiate collectively with China on the disputes, but China remains reluctant to play ball.

A strident nationalistic tone in China’s state rhetoric in its dispute with Japan has fueled concerns that the Communist Party could increasingly resort to such patriotic appeals if China’s juggernaut economy slows and public dissatisfaction with the party grows further.

Obama has attempted a balancing act in relations with Beijing, seeking deeper ties and encouraging it to play by international norms to ward off the possibility of confrontation, but also stepping up trade complaints in an effort to protect the interests of U.S. companies.

China‘s Hu urges firm party control, curb on graft

Soaring won squeezes companies

By Lee Hyo-sik The majority of exporters here have seen their bottom lines deteriorate as a result of the steep appreciation of the Korean won against the dollar and other major foreign currencies over the past few months. Among others, makers of semiconductors, home appliances and chemical products have failed to generate profits from selling goods on the global market, due to the strong won. If the local currency continues to gain ground against the greenback, automakers and most other exporters will face difficulties in remaining profitable. According to a survey of 500 local exporters, conducted by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) Thursday, nearly 58 percent said they are suffering from the won’s recent strength against the dollar, citing foreign exchange losses, worsening profitability and weakening price-competitiveness. The survey showed that businesses want the government to maintain a stable won-dollar rate, extend financial support to exporters and help individual companies manage currency risks. ``It is extremely difficult for individual firms to cope with changes in foreign exchange rates because they are mostly determined by external factors. They should make an all-out effort to cut operating costs and develop advanced technologies to remain competitive in the global market,’’ a KCCI official said. He also said the government should provide more financial and other support to small exporters, as well as stabilize the financial and foreign exchange markets. According to the survey, the average breakeven won-dollar rate for Korea Inc. was estimated at 1,086.2. This means if the rate drops below 1,086 won, companies do not earn profits from shipping and selling products overseas. The won gained 3.9 won to close at 1,089.30 per dollar Thursday from the previous day. The stronger won makes Korean products more expensive on the global market, chipping away at their price competitiveness. This also results in smaller earnings in terms of the won for exporters, which wreaks havoc on their profitability. By sector, the breakeven won-dollar rates were 1,106.5 won for home appliances, 1,104.3 won for petrochemical products and 1,099 won for semiconductors and displays, according to the KCCI. Given the rate fell to 1,085 won Wednesday, the more products they ship overseas, the larger the losses they incur. Automakers are expected to become unprofitable if the won is traded below 1,084.9 won per dollar. The story is the same for steelmakers and shipbuilders if the won-dollar rates dip below 1,084.2 won and 1,083.3 won, respectively. ``Home appliances, semiconductors, automobiles and ships account for more than 40 percent of Korea’s entire outbound shipments. Their deteriorating profitability due to the strengthening of the won has and will pose a serious threat to the local economy,’’ the KCCI official said. The won’s fast appreciation is mainly due to expansionary monetary policies adopted by the United States, Europe and Japan. This has flooded emerging markets with cheap money. Korea’s improved sovereign credit ratings and its relatively high interest rates, compared with advanced nations, have also attracted larger amounts of hot money from investors seeking to earn larger returns. The KCCI said the breakeven exchange rate for large companies was estimated at 1,076 won, while small– and medium-sized enterprises lose money if the rate falls below 1,090 won. This means small exporters are more vulnerable to the strengthening of the local currency against the dollar.

Egypt’s Copts choose new pope for uncertain times

CAIRO (AP) ― Egypt’s ancient Coptic Christian Church named a new pope on Sunday to spiritually guide the community through a time when many fear for their future with the rise of Islamists to power and deteriorating security after last year’s uprising. 

The death earlier this year of Pope Shenouda III, a familiar figure who led the church for 40 years, heightened the sense of insecurity felt by many Egyptian Christians. They will now look to Bishop Tawadros, who will be ordained Nov. 18 as Pope Tawadros II, to fill the void in leadership. 

Tawadros, 60, was chosen in an elaborate Mass where a blindfolded boy drew the name of the next patriarch from a crystal chalice. 

“The situation for us in Egypt is not stable,” said 27 year-old Peter Nasser, a volunteer at the Mass. “We hope the incoming pope will make our problems known to the outside world,” he added, voicing hopes that Tawadros will also raise the profile of Christians in this country. 

Nasser accused the current government, led by President Mohammed Morsi of the Islamic fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, of discriminating against minorities. He claimed the new leadership does not work in the interest of all Egyptians. 

But even under authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak, who ran Egypt for nearly three decades until he was ousted in February 2011, rights groups say police were lax in pursuing and punishing those who attacked Christians and few Copts were named to genuinely powerful posts in government. 

Morsi, who was elected in Egypt’s first free presidential race, has named a number of Christians as advisers and vowed to work closely with the community. But Christians are skeptical. 

Morsi congratulated Tawadros and spoke of Egyptian “unity” and “brotherly love” between Copts and Muslims. 

Copts, estimated at about 10 percent of the country’s 83 million people, have long complained of discrimination by the Muslim majority state. Under both the old regime and the new Islamist leadership, violent clashes with Muslims have occasionally broken out, often sparked by church construction, land disputes or Muslim-Christian love affairs. 

The newfound political power of Islamists in Egypt, who control the presidency and won parliamentary elections, has left many Christians feeling deeply uncomfortable. 

Copts have faced sporadic, violent attacks by Muslim extremists. That has been compounded by deterioration in security and law enforcement since the uprising. In some cases, Coptic families or entire communities have had to flee their towns as a quick-fix solution to avoid more violence. 

Yousef Sidhom, the editor of Egypt’s main Coptic newspaper, said Copts are suffering from the increased lawlessness. 

``There is great apprehension about what tomorrow holds for everyone,’’ he said. 

Another worry for Christians is that the new political powers are pressing for a stronger role for Islamic law in legislation. They are increasingly concerned about further marginalization and a possible curtailing of their rights of worship and expression. 

Around Cairo’s St. Mark’s Cathedral, where the colorful ceremony to select the new pope was held at midday, there was a heavy police presence. 

“We will pray that God will choose the good shepherd,” acting Pope Pachomios told the packed cathedral as he used red wax to seal a chalice with three names inside and then placed it on the altar during Mass. 

There was a moment of silence before the name was drawn by a blindfolded boy. When the new pope was announced, thousands of worshippers erupted in applause, tears and prayer. 

All three senior clerics whose names were in the chalice were considered consensus candidates who stayed out of disputes both within the church and with other groups, including Islamists. Several candidates were eliminated because they were considered either too conservative or too liberal. 

We “will start by organizing the house from within,” Tawadros told reporters after he was named pope. “It is a responsibility,” he said from the monastery complex of Wadi Natrun northwest of Cairo where he was praying. “Most important is ... that the church, as an institution, serves the community.” 

In a recent television interview, Tawadros said the youth-led uprising marked a turning point in the church’s relations with younger generations. 

Tawadros was formerly an aide to the acting Pope Pachomios and he was selected as pope on his 60th birthday, Egypt’s state-run MENA news agency reported. 

It said he was born Wagih Sahby Baqi Soleiman and had two sisters. Tawadros became a pharmacist who briefly managed a government-run pharmaceutical lab in Egypt until he went to a monastery in Wadi Natrun in 1986 where he studied religion for two years. He was ordained a priest in 1989. 

The new pope will face tremendous challenges in navigating Egypt’s changing political realities, where Islamists are now dominant and the liberal and secular groups behind last year’s uprising are struggling. At the center of the political squabbling is the role of Islam in the new constitution, currently being drafted. 

Christians, along with liberals and secularists, oppose demands by the Muslim Brotherhood and more conservative groups to enshrine a stricter adherence to Islamic law. 

Violence is also an ongoing concern. 

Copts have faced attacks since the uprising, and disputes with their neighbors have sometimes flared into deadly clashes. 

On New Year’s Eve 2011, about a month before the uprising began, the bombing of a Mass in the Mediterranean coastal city of Alexandria killed 21 people _ the worst attack against Copts in at least a decade. No one has been arrested. 

In October 2011, soldiers drove armored vehicles into a crowd in Cairo protesting the failure of the military rulers who took over from Mubarak to protect Copts. Twenty-six people, mostly Copts, were killed. 

The papal election comes during a shift in Christian attitudes about their relations with the state. For years, Christians largely relied on the church to secure protection for their rights through the former pope’s close relationship with Mubarak. 

But Shenouda had longstanding critics within the community who questioned why a cleric should act as an intermediary between them and the state. Others criticized him for not being tough enough with the former regime. 

“I don’t accept that the church continues representing the community, but it should continue the role of serving the community,” said Sidhom, the newspaper editor. 

Following the uprising and the pope’s death, more Copts, particularly youths, have been emboldened to act outside the church to independently demand rights, better representation and freedom of worship.

Intense fighting erupts in Syrian capital

BEIRUT (AP) ― Palestinian supporters and opponents of Syria’s regime got swept up in intense fighting in Damascus on Monday while rival rebel groups clashed over control of a border crossing with Turkey, activists said. 

The rare infighting among the two groups added a new dimension of chaos to the civil war and heightened fears that if President Bashar Assad falls, the disparate factions battling the regime will turn against each other. 

In the capital, a car bomb ripped through the main square of a residential neighborhood known as Mazzeh al-Jabal, killing 11 people and wounding dozens, the SANA state news agency said. The powerful blast caused widespread panic and massive destruction in residential buildings. Television footage showed bloodied people in the street as firefighters worked to put out the blaze. 

“The explosion was very strong and broke all the windows in my apartment. I just ran with my son and daughter,” said a woman in tears fleeing the blast site. “I don’t know what happened to those who stayed behind, we couldn’t see anything because of the smoke and flames.” 

The neighborhood is inhabited mostly by members of President Bashar Assad’s Alawite minority, and residents said members of his security forces and military officers are known to live there, but it was not clear what the exact target was. 

The car bomb, along with fierce fighting Monday in two other districts of the capital, was some of the worst violence in Damascus since July, when rebels took over several neighborhoods in the capital in a stunning attack. Within days, a regime counterattack pushed the rebels out of Damascus and recaptured the areas. Shortly after those battles, rebels moved on Syria’s largest city, Aleppo, and it has become a major front in the civil war since then. 

The attacks on Syria’s two main cities since summer have demonstrated new organization and capabilities of rebel forces as well as a determination to press their uprising despite the deaths of more than 36,000 people in fighting over the last 19 months. 

Rami Abdul-Rahman, who heads the Britain-based activist group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the fighting in Damascus was concentrated in the southern neighborhood of Tadamon and the outskirts of the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk. 

Damascus-based activist Abu Qais al-Shami told the Associated Press via Skype that the fighting began Sunday night and went on continuously into Monday. 

The Observatory and al-Shami said regime forces are backed by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) led by Ahmed Jibril, a radical Palestinian leader and staunch supporter of President Bashar Assad. 

“Tadamon is being struck with shells, rockets and heavy machinegun fire,” al-Shami said. “People are fleeing the area toward safer areas inside the Yarmouk camp.” 

A Syrian opposition figure, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the events, said Palestinian fighters who are opposed to Assad were fighting alongside the rebels in Damascus. 

“Those who are shelling the camp are terrorists” who want to displace the Palestinians again, PFLP-GC spokesman Anwar Raja told the AP in Damascus. 

Syrian authorities blame the anti-government uprising that began in March last year on a foreign conspiracy. They accuse Gulf countries Saudi Arabia and Qatar, along with the U.S, other Western countries and Turkey, of offering funding and training to the rebels, whom they describe as “terrorists.”

In the central province of Hama, a suicide attacker detonated his car in the village of Ziyara causing some deaths, the state news agency said. It added that the blasts occurred outside a state-run development agency. The Britain-based activist group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the suicide attacker targeted an army checkpoint and killed at least 50 soldiers and pro-government gunmen. 

The Observatory also reported that an air raid on the northern town of Harem killed at least 20 rebels. It said a rebel commander was seriously wounded in the raid. 

Elsewhere in Syria, activists reported air raids, shelling and clashes in the northern provinces of Aleppo and Idlib near the Turkish border to Deir el-Zour region in the east and Homs in the center. 

In the northern town of Kfar Nobol, the Observatory said an air raid killed and wounded a number of people. An amateur video posted online by activists showed cars and shops on fire and debris all over the street. A man was seen running carrying a dead body. The video appeared genuine and corresponded to other AP reporting on the events depicted. 

In northern Syria, An opposition figure also said there were clashes between rival rebel groups for control of the Bab al-Salameh border crossing point with Turkey that has been in the hands of rebels since July. The opposition figure spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. 

The opposition figure said Sunday’s fighting was between the Northern Storm Brigade and the Amr bin al-Aas brigade, which has a large number of Muslim hardliners. 

There are dozens of opposition groups and rebel brigades fighting in Syria’s civil war. Rivalries are common though violent clashes are unusual. 

A Turkish government official based in the border town of Kilis confirmed two Syrian rebel groups were “engaged in a power struggle,” fighting each other for the control of the Bab el-Salameh border crossing. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, in line with government rules, said however, that Turkish officials were still trying to determine who the two groups were. 

Former Syrian Prime Minister Riad Hijab, who defected, met with Turkey’s foreign minister behind closed doors in Ankara to discuss the Syrian opposition meeting in Qatar and efforts to restructure the opposition, a Turkish Foreign Ministry official said. The two also discussed the more than 110,000 Syrian refugees in Turkey. 

It was Hijab’s second visit to Turkey since he defected to Jordan in August. 

Prominent Syrian-born Palestinian actor Mohammed Rafeh was buried in a Damascus cemetery a day after he was shot dead by anti-government gunmen for his apparent support of the regime. 

Draped with the Syrian flag, Rafeh’s coffin was carried into the cemetery on the shoulders of friends and relatives as men fired in the air in mourning. More than 500 men and women marched behind the coffin and later dispersed after the funeral procession ended.

Republicans lose US Senate seat

Republicans lost a seat in the Senate in Tuesday's elections, boosting Democratic prospects for keeping control of the upper chamber even as they had little hope of capturing the House of Representatives.

Democrats were counting on the victory in Maine by independent Angus King as they looked to protect their 53-47 advantage in the Senate, where 33 of the 100 Senate seats were at stake in Tuesday's vote. Only a dozen Senate votes _ including Maine _ were seen as competitive.

All 435 House seats were on the ballot, but Republicans were expected to keep control of the chamber, despite the possibility of some Democratic gains.

That means the winner of the presidential vote _ President Barack Obama or Republican Mitt Romney _ will likely face a divided Congress that would make passing any major pieces of legislation difficult.

Republicans had seemed poised to snatch control of the Senate from the Democrats, who were defending 23 seats and losing several retiring veterans. But Republican prospects were undermined by a firestorm that erupted after their candidates in Indiana and Missouri made explosive comments about abortion, rape and pregnancy, and the surprise retirement of Sen. Olympia Snowe in Maine. 

Snowe voiced her frustration with the gridlocked Congress when she announced her retirement earlier this year. King, a former governor, won a three-way race to replace her. 

King has vowed to be a bridge between the parties and has not said whether he would caucus with Democrats or Republicans and the outcome of the presidential election is certain to have a bearing on any decision. However, he was expected to side with the Democrats after Republican groups spent hundreds of thousands of dollars attacking him.

In Connecticut, Democratic congressman Chris Murphy won the seat being vacated by retiring Independent Joe Lieberman. Vermont's Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders was re-elected, as expected. 

Four Democrats senators have also won re-election: Bill Nelson in Florida, Sheldon Whitehouse in Rhode Island, Ben Cardin in Maryland and Tom Carper in Delaware. Republican Sen. Bob Corker was re-elected in Tennessee. Only the race in Florida was competitive.

Democrats were expected to retain control of the Senate but would remain nowhere near the 60-vote supermajority needed to easily pass legislation under Senate rules. Republicans were expected to retain their solid advantage in the House.

Congress consistently rates low in public opinion surveys, but incumbents still tend to get re-elected. They benefit from a system that gives them huge financial advantages in their re-election bids, and enjoy support from voters who tend to favor their own lawmakers even if they dislike Congress overall. Many incumbents in the House are also helped by the once-a-decade redrawing of district boundaries, which has just been completed.

After the Senate races are decided, retiring moderates in Maine, Connecticut, Nebraska, North Dakota, Virginia and Indiana will be replaced, while moderates on the ballot in Montana and Massachusetts could also be gone. 

In the Northeast, Republicans could be left with only a few Senate seats. Along with Maine, Massachusetts was vulnerable. Republican Sen. Scott Brown, who managed to win the seat once held by the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, now trails Democrat Elizabeth Warren, who is hailed by liberals for her work as a consumer advocate. 

In Indiana, moderate veteran senator Dick Lugar had been expected to easily win re-election, but he lost a Republican primary to state treasurer Richard Mourdock, who was backed by the anti-tax, limited government tea party movement. Mourdock has come under withering criticism after saying in a debate that when pregnancy results from rape, it is ``something God intended.'' That opened the way for moderate Democratic congressman Joe Donnelly, who has pulled ahead in recent polls.

In Missouri, Sen. Claire McCaskill had been considered the most vulnerable Democratic incumbent. But another tea party-backed candidate, congressman Todd Akin, won the Republican primary. Akin was disowned by Republican leaders, including Romney, after he remarked in August that women's bodies have ways of avoiding pregnancy in cases of what he called ``legitimate rape.'' McCaskill has since pulled ahead in the polls. 

Some tea party favorites are expected to win Senate races, however, including Republicans Deb Fischer in Nebraska and Ted Cruz in Texas. Former Nebraska governor and senator Bob Kerrey has been gaining ground, but Fischer still leads in the race to replace moderate Democratic senator Ben Nelson, who decided to retire.

The closest Senate races could be in the conservative western states of Montana and North Dakota. Republicans hope congressman Denny Rehberg will defeat Sen. Jon Tester, who won a close race during the Democratic wave election of 2008. In North Dakota, Republican congressman Rick Berg is the slight favorite to defeat former state attorney general Heidi Heitkamp for the seat held by retiring Democratic Sen. Kent Conrad. 

If Democrats retain control of the Senate, it would give them a firewall against Republican attempts to overturn Obama's signature legislative achievement, his health care reform law, before it is fully implemented in 2014. If Republicans manage to gain control of the Senate, they have promised to repeal the law.

Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Republican House Speaker John Boehner were likely to remain leaders of their chambers. (AP)

20,000 excited fans welcome Psy to Paris

Psy continues to take the world by storm, beginning his European tour by arriving in Paris on a private jet and performing at a “Gangnam Style” flash mob that gathered 20,000 screaming fans on Monday. 

The flash mob, organized by a French Radio Music channel NJR, was held across from the Eiffel Tower. After his promotions in France, Psy will be heading off to the United Kingdom and Germany where he will give a speech at Oxford University and attend the MTV European Music Awards in Frankfurt, where he has been nominated for the Best Video Award.

South Korean rapper Psy performs “Gangnam Style” in front of a crowd during a flash mob on Nov. 5 in Paris. (AFP-Yonhap News)

“Gangnam Style” has now reached more than 650 million views on YouTube, officially surpassing Jennifer Lopez’s “On the Floor” to become the second-most watched video in the site’s history, behind Justin Bieber’s “Baby,” which currently stands at 796 million views.

Psy fans must wait a little longer to see a new dance to replace the notorious invisible horse. His much anticipated follow-up single, initially scheduled to be released on Nov. 20, has reportedly been postponed until early next year. However, the immeasurable popularity of “Gangnam Style” wave still shows strong signs of not only winning over more Psy fans, but also sparking global attention on Korea. 

On Tuesday, the Culture Ministry announced that the singer would be awarded with the Okgwan Order of Cultural Merit, the fourth-highest honor, for his contribution to the spread Korean pop music on a global scale and in increasing the world’s interest and awareness of Korea. 

A recent survey conducted by the Korea Tourism Organization found that nine out of 10 foreigners expressed a desire to visit Korea after seeing Psy’s “Gangnam Style” video. In the survey, 1,556 internationals from 77 countries were asked various questions regarding one of the most talked-about music videos this year. The survey concluded that 91.4 percent of the participants stated that they have thoughts about visiting Korea because of the music video.

By Julie Jackson (juliejackson@heraldcorp.com)

South Koreans keeping close eye on U.S. presidential election

s the 2012 U.S. presidential election was under way on Wednesday local time, many South Koreans showed keen interest in what is projected to be one of the closest presidential races in the history of America.

On the eve of the election, many of the major Korean newspapers -- including The Korea Herald, Joongang Ilbo, DongA Ilbo, Maeil Business Newspaper -- ran stories about it on their front pages.

SBS, one of the country’s top three broadcasting stations, organized nearly seven hours of special news programs covering the election.

As of 10 a.m. Wednesday, “Obama” was the most searched keyword on leading local search engine Naver.com. Additionally, “U.S. presidential election” was the third-most searched keyword, reflecting Koreans’ interest in the event.

Many Koreans expressed discontent over the seemingly endless parade of news coverage on the U.S. election.

“With America being the most powerful country in the world, I know the election is important, but do we really need live coverage? This is too much. I feel like Korea is one of America’s states,” a South Korean citizen wrote on Twitter.

Some were surprised that the U.S. election was so close, given that the incumbent’s popularity seemed to exceed his Republican rival’s in many countries including South Korea.

“Obama seems to be exceptionally popular outside America compared to the other U.S. presidents in the past, thus showing that an outsiders’ evaluation on a person doesn’t necessarily equal those of insiders,” a Twitter user nicknamed “Lurico” wrote.

In a survey conducted a few years ago by Hanguk College Newspaper and Internet search engine Campus Life, Obama was selected by college students as the most respected foreigner. He was followed by Bill Gates and Oprah Winfrey.

South Koreans weren’t alone in supporting the first-ever African-American U.S. president, either.

A recent BBC World Service poll of 21,797 people in 21 nations found that Obama enjoyed support from most countries that participated in the survey, except Pakistan.

“Pakistan is the only country in the survey where Romney enjoys more support than Obama (14 percent versus 11 percent). However, this small difference in public favor is less striking than is the fact that 75 percent of Pakistanis express no preference,” pollster GlobeScan/PIPA said.

In the survey, France had proven to be the most avid supporter of Obama, with 72 percent of French respondents preferring the Democrat.

According to another poll by British pollster YouGov, 90 percent of Europeans said that they would vote for Obama if they could participate in the election.

Surveys showed that many Europeans thought Romney leans too far to the right.

“Tea Party-influenced Romney is seen as pulled to the extremes, his open criticism of European fiscal and social welfare policies jarring with modern European politics,” said Sarah Ludford, a British member of the European Parliament, in an interview with local media.


By Yoon Min-sik
(minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)

Obama wins re-election, makes history again

U.S. President Barack Obama. (AFP-Yonhap News)

US President Barack Obama swept to re-election Tuesday, creating history again by defying the undertow of a slow economic recovery and high unemployment to beat Republican foe Mitt Romney.

Obama became only the second Democrat to win a second four-year White House term since World War II, when television networks projected he would win the bellwether state of Ohio where he had staged a pitched battle with Romney.

"This happened because of you. Thank you," Obama tweeted to his 22 million followers on Twitter as a flurry of states, including Iowa, which nurtured his unlikely White House dreams suddenly tipped into his column.

With a clutch of swing states, including Florida and Virginia still to be declared, Obama already had 275 electoral votes, more than the 270 needed for the White House and looked set for a comfortable victory.

There was a sudden explosion of jubilation at Obama's Chicago victory party as the first African American president, who was elected on a wave of hope and euphoria four years ago, booked another four years in the White House.

Romney's aides had predicted that a late Romney wave would sweep Obama from office after a single term haunted by a sluggish recovery from the worst economic crisis since the 1930s Great Depression and high unemployment.

But a huge cheer rang out at Obama headquarters when television networks projected Obama would retain Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral votes, and the party grew wilder as they called Wisconsin and Michigan.

The mood at Romney headquarters in Boston however had grown subdued throughout the evening as partisans stared at their smart phones.

Disappointed Republicans were seen leaving what had been billed as a celebration of Romney's expected triumph in central Washington.

Defeats in New Hampshire, where Romney has a summer home and Wisconsin, the home of Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan were especially sickening for Republicans.

Early signs were that the election, while a building triumph for Obama would do little to ease the deep polarization afflicting US politics, as Republicans racked up huge margins in safe states, though struggled in battlegrounds.

Exit polls appeared to vindicate the vision of the race offered by Obama's campaign, when top aides predicted that Obama's armies of African American, Latinos and young voters would come out in droves.

Polls also showed that though only 39 percent of people believed that the economy was improving, around  half of Americans blamed President George W. Bush for the tenuous situation, and not Obama.

The president, who made history by becoming America's first black president after a euphoric victory, carved a new precedent on Tuesday by defying the portents of a hurting economy to win a second term.

He awaited his fate in his hometown of Chicago, while Romney, a multi-millionaire former investment manager and Massachusetts governor was laying low in a hotel in Boston awaiting results.

As expected, television networks projected that Republicans would win the House of Representatives.

Democrats clung onto the Senate, and retained a seat in Missouri, where Senator Claire McCaskill fended off a challenge by Representative Todd Akin, whose remarks about rape and abortion sparked national outrage.

Both presidential candidates had earlier marked time while voters dictated their fates.

Romney appeared caught up in the emotion of seeing his name on the ballot for President of the United States and also saw an omen in a huge crowd that showed up at a multi-story parking lot to see his plane land at Pittsburgh airport.

"Intellectually I felt that we're going to win this and I've felt that for some time," Romney told reporters on his plane.

"But emotionally, just getting off the plane and seeing those people standing there... I not only think we're going to win intellectually but I feel it as well."

While Romney penned his victory speech, Obama took part in his election day tradition of playing a game of pick-up basketball with friends, including Chicago Bulls legend Scottie Pippen, after visiting a campaign office near his Chicago home.

The president, who like a third of Americans voted before election day, congratulated Romney on "a spirited campaign" despite their frequently hot tempered exchanges.

"I know that his supporters are just as engaged and just as enthusiastic and working just as hard today. We feel confident we've got the votes to win, that it's going to depend ultimately on whether those votes turn out," he said.

"I think anybody who's running for office would be lying if they say that there's not some butterflies before the polls come in because anything can happen," the president added later in a radio interview.

CBS News, quoting early exit polls, said 39 percent of people approached after they had voted said the economy, the key issue, was improving, while 31 percent said it was worse and 28 saw it as staying the same.

Voters were also choosing a third of the Democratic-led Senate and the entire Republican-run House of Representatives. But, with neither chamber expected to change hands, the current political gridlock will likely continue.

The US presidential election is not directly decided by the popular vote, but requires candidates to pile up a majority -- 270 -- of 538 electoral votes awarded state-by-state on the basis of population.

A candidate can therefore win the nationwide popular vote and still be deprived of the presidency by falling short in the Electoral College.

The election went ahead in New Jersey with thousands of people without power, and large areas devastated by superstorm Sandy which roared ashore last week killing more than 100 people.

Adora Agim, an immigrant from Nigeria, said the chaos shouldn't stop voting. "I have lived in a Third World country where your vote does not matter. It's nice to be somewhere where it matters," she said, in Hoboken, New Jersey.

The central message of Obama's campaign has been that he saved America from a second Great Depression after the economy was on the brink of collapse when he took over from Republican president George W. Bush in 2009.

He claims credit for ending the war in Iraq, saving the US auto industry, killing Osama bin Laden, offering almost every American health insurance, and passing the most sweeping Wall Street reform in decades.

Romney sought to mine frustration with the slow pace of the economic recovery and argued that the president was out of ideas and has no clue how to create jobs, with unemployment at 7.9 percent and millions out of work. (AFP)