Most Popular
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Contentious grain bill put directly to plenary meeting for vote
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Yoon's approval rating plunges to all-time low
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Will tug-of-war between doctors, government end soon?
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Climate impacts set to cut 2050 global GDP by nearly a fifth
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Trilateral talks acknowledge ‘serious’ slumps of won, yen
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[KH Explains] Hyundai's full hybrid edge to pay off amid slow transition to pure EVs
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North Korea removes streetlights along cross-border roads with South
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Russia's denial of entry of S. Korean national unrelated to bilateral ties: Seoul official
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S. Korea votes in favor of Palestinian bid for UN membership
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Farming households dip below 1m for first time in 2023
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[Editorial] Health insurance problem
South Korea boasts of a solid and affordable public health insurance system compared to other countries. Unlike the United States, for instance, it is rare to catch hospitals issuing Korean patients with surprise medical bills for relatively simple treatments at hospitals. Although the national health system is far from perfect, it has been dependable for decades, due largely to the government’s systematic and detailed control over the items eligible for public insurance coverage and pri
Aug. 23, 2022
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[Editorial] Stern response needed
President Yoon Suk-yeol said in a press conference marking his 100th day in office on Wednesday that it is important to consistently maintain the law and principles regardless of labor or management. The rule of law must be applied even-handedly, but labor relations are tilted in favor of labor. The government must stop merely watching unlawful labor protests and instead begin to respond sternly to them. Among other revisions, unlawful protesters must be held legally responsible for the damage
Aug. 22, 2022
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[Editorial] Symbolic square
Gwanghwamun Square, a landmark space in central Seoul, reopened on Aug. 6 after the Seoul Metropolitan Government completed a large-scale expansion and renovation project that started in November 2020. Given the historical and symbolic status of the square -- a venue for democratic movements and candlelit vigils over key public issues -- the long-awaited reopening of the square as a spacious park was supposed to be a welcome development for citizens. Unfortunately, a heated dispute is raging
Aug. 19, 2022
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[Editorial] Do not be impatient
Regarding President Yoon Suk-yeol’s “Audacious Initiative,” the presidential office said that the administration would seek to give economic aid even in the early stages of negotiations if North Korea engages in nuclear talks with sincerity. The office also said that if needed, the administration would consult the international community to exempt North Korea partially from UN sanctions. This implies that sanctions may be eased if the North engages in nuclear talks, even wi
Aug. 18, 2022
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[Editorial] A turning point
President Yoon Suk-yeol will mark his first 100 days in office Wednesday. Under normal circumstances, he should have enjoyed favorable coverage from the media, lawmakers and citizens during the period -- a “honeymoon period” traditionally reserved for an incoming president at the start of a five-year term. Unfortunately, Yoon appears to have skipped the supposedly sweet honeymoon period to confront a hostile political battlefield filled with loud explosives from critics and hidden
Aug. 17, 2022
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[Editorial] Self-reflection first
Lee Jun-seok, the suspended former leader of the governing People Power Party, did not mince his words when it came to talking about the conservative party at his press conference Saturday. He condemned President Yoon Suk-yeol and Yoon’s key aides and vowed to fight them to the end. Lee was suspended for six months by the party’s ethics committee on July 8. A day after the party shifted to an emergency mode on Aug. 9, he applied for an injunction. He automatically lost the post of
Aug. 16, 2022
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[Editorial] No to Three No’s
As expected, the first talks between South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi ended without agreement, exposing a serious difference of position on an array of issues. Wang came up with a proposal for five things both countries should do. The first thing is to stay independent, self-reliant and free from external interference. This implies that South Korea is not independent from the sphere of US influence, so it should renounce the US alliance to be independ
Aug. 12, 2022
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[Editorial] Controversial remote work
On Monday, when South Korea was slammed by a record downpour, President Yoon Suk-yeol said he noticed some apartment complexes submerged by flash flooding on his way home after work. Unlike other high-ranking officials who returned to their offices to handle the disaster, Yoon continued to ride back to his house in Seocho-dong, Seoul, and stayed there all night. It is deeply regrettable that Yoon decided to handle the apparently dangerous situation that was threatening citizens from home,
Aug. 11, 2022
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[Editorial] Uphold people’s will
President Yoon Suk-yeol showed a humble attitude to the “will of the people.” It is desirable. Taking questions from the press as he returned from a weeklong vacation on Monday, Yoon said that his vacation was a time to reinforce his belief that his duty to the people is to examine their will carefully and uphold it while sticking to his original intentions. Asked if he has a reshuffle on his mind, he said he would look at all the problems from the perspective of the people and tak
Aug. 10, 2022
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[Editorial] Pandemic impact
It appeared that South Korea was finally pulling out of the COVID-19 pandemic before the summer holiday season started. But highly transmissible omicron strains, led by BA.5, are hitting the nation, sending the number of new infections spiking in recent weeks. Nonetheless, the government does not have a plan to restore strict social restriction rules on the assumption that the country can handle the current resurgence and, over time, infections will fade away. It is not certain whether such
Aug. 9, 2022
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[Editorial] Establish rule of law
The police on Thursday forcibly disbanded about 200 unionized lorry owner-drivers who were blocking the only road to the Gangwon factory of HiteJinro, the country’s largest maker of soju and beer, in Hongcheon, Gangwon Province. The police arrested some of the illegal demonstrators for disobeying the dispersal order. It was the first time for the Yoon Suk-yeol administration to disperse a labor union’s illegal demonstration by force. The lorry owner-drivers, belonging to the H
Aug. 8, 2022
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[Editorial] Cutthroat competition
The ruling People Power Party has proposed a package of two bills to strengthen the country’s semiconductor industry with key countries intensifying competition to stay ahead in this important tech sector. One of the proposed bills is aimed at raising the tax deduction rate to a range between 20-30 percent, depending on the size of companies, up from the current 6-16 percent range. It also intends to extend the period of tax credit in high-tech sectors to 2030. The other bill is design
Aug. 5, 2022
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[Editorial] Export alarm
South Korea posted a trade deficit for the fourth consecutive month this week. It failed again to escape from a trade deficit in figures for July, as imports increased more than exports did, due to high energy prices. According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, exports rose 9.4 percent year-over-year to $60.7 billion last month, but they were outpaced by imports that expanded 21.8 percent to $65.37 billion. It is the first time in 14 years after the 2008 global financial crisis t
Aug. 4, 2022
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[Editorial] Dispute over education plan
Overhauling South Korea’s education system is an extremely difficult task as it involves many stakeholders and potentially explosive issues in a nation where hyper-competition among parents and students is the norm. It is no wonder then that the government’s plan, abruptly announced Friday, to lower the school starting age from the current 6 to 5, starting as early as 2025, is touching off a firestorm of criticism from teachers, parents and education experts. The Education Minist
Aug. 3, 2022
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[Editorial] Shrinking population
Last year South Korea’s total population decreased for the first time since it began taking census data in 1949. The total population is the total number of people who live on the South Korean land, including foreigners. According to the 2021 Census by Statistics Korea last Thursday, the country’s total population as of Nov. 1, 2021 was 51.73 million, down 91,000 from a year earlier. The number of deaths began to outpace that of childbirths in November 2020, and to make matters wo
Aug. 2, 2022
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[Editorial] Leadership in peril
President Yoon Suk-yeol is now confronting a serious leadership crisis, a sorry development that he has created himself with a series of misguided or unilateral choices. The question is whether he will continue to ignore the warning signs from the opinion polls -- something he famously disregarded as “meaningless.” A Gallup Korea poll of 1,000 voters nationwide showed Friday that Yoon’s approval rating fell to 28 percent, hitting a fresh low below 30 percent for the first tim
Aug. 1, 2022
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[Editorial] Stop rocking the boat
President Yoon Suk-yeol sent a text message to the mobile phone of Kweon Seong-dong, acting chair and floor leader of the ruling People Power Party, mentioning suspended party chief Lee Jun-seok as the party chair who habitually “shot at insiders.” This means Lee caused an internecine strife. The message on Kweon’s phone was caught on camera by a reporter on Tuesday in the National Assembly. When allegations involving Lee were scrutinized by the party’s ethics committee
July 29, 2022
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[Editorial] Dispute over TV license fee
A new round of disputes over South Korea’s mandatory TV license fee is set to flare up following a landmark move in France. The French National Assembly voted Saturday to abolish the TV license fee that finances public broadcasting. Under the bill, aimed at addressing the rising cost of living and the license fee, France now appears to be on track to end the audiovisual license fee policy and allow 23 million households to stop paying 138 euros ($140) per year, starting from this October
July 28, 2022
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[Editorial] Police disobedience
Some police officers are digging their heels in over the creation of a police bureau in the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. Last Saturday, 189 of 710 police station chiefs and officers of the same rank held a meeting to express opposition to the setup of the bureau. Yoon Hee-keun, acting chief of the Korean National Police Agency nominated by President Yoon Suk-yeol to head the agency, ordered them to stop the meeting and disperse but they did not comply. Yoon placed Ryu Sam-young, chief
July 27, 2022
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[Editorial] Shameful lawmakers
South Korea has a very special group of public officials. They often pass the time by squabbling about things related solely to their own interests, while ignoring what they are supposed to do. They are quick to raise their own pay and, whenever possible, go on overseas trips. And they get paid handsomely -- all through taxpayer money -- without even working for weeks. This very special and unreasonably privileged group is made up of the 300 lawmakers in the National Assembly. Instead of worki
July 26, 2022