Most Popular
-
1
Hyundai Motor eyes 80,000 jobs, W68tr investment at home by 2026
-
2
Seoul bus drivers go on general strike, cause morning rush hour delays
-
3
Korea enters full election mode
-
4
Official campaigning kicks off for April 10 elections
-
5
Dialogue hopes fade as doctors pick hard-liner as new head
-
6
Coupang pledges W3tr to expand Rocket Delivery nationwide by 2027
-
7
[Election Battlefield] Political novice to face off star politician in ‘swing district’
-
8
Immigrant woman stabbed to death by Korean husband
-
9
[Herald Interview] Son Suk-ku chooses to be swayed by others in navigating life
-
10
Seoul’s bus union prepares for strike
-
[Editorial] Second reckoning
The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea suffered a crushing defeat in the local elections. The ruling People Power Party won by a landslide in the race for 17 metropolitan mayors and provincial governors, which was the highlight of the June 1 local polls. The conservative People Power Party took 12 constituencies including Seoul, while the liberal Democratic Party won in five regions, four of them being traditionally supportive of the party. In the first nationwide poll held 22 days afte
June 3, 2022
-
[Editorial] Cultivating chip industry
The South Korean government plans to nurture more than 3,000 skilled experts for the semiconductor industry by 2027, the Ministry of Science and ICT said Monday, a move that follows the high-profile visit of US President Joe Biden to a Samsung Electronics facility amid the global shortage of chips. The announcement of the plan itself is timely for the domestic semiconductor industry, which is home to the world’s biggest memory chipmaker Samsung and the second-largest DRAM supplier SK hyni
June 2, 2022
-
[Editorial] Political extra budget
Three days before the June 1 local elections, the National Assembly passed a 62 trillion won ($50 billion) extra budget mainly aimed at compensating small merchants hit financially by the COVID-19 pandemic. Through negotiations between rival parties, its amount increased by 2.6 trillion won. The number of those eligible for compensation also increased sharply. In order to expand the extra budget, they reduced government debt scheduled to be repaid -- by 1.5 trillion won from 9 trillion won to
June 1, 2022
-
[Editorial] Make the pie bigger
One of the first -- and the biggest -- obstacles online platform startups face is an almost impenetrable fortress of exotic rules and penalties set up by an existing cartel of firms or professionals. These groups indulge in what economists call “rent-seeking” behaviors, referring to anticompetitive practices to ensure outsize profits at the expense of customers and competitors. It is understandable that existing players instinctively try to keep their profiteering scheme against ne
May 31, 2022
-
[Editorial] Growing security threat
The United Nations Security Council on Thursday took a vote on its resolution to strengthen sanctions on North Korea for launching an intercontinental ballistic missile a day earlier, but the resolution fell through due to opposition from Russia and China. The 13 other members of the Security Council voted to adopt the resolution, but the two permanent members vetoed it. A resolution needs nine “yes” votes and no vetoes by five permanent members to be adopted by the council. It i
May 30, 2022
-
[Editorial] Navigating high inflation
The Bank of Korea raised its key policy rate by a quarter percentage point Thursday and revised down the country’s growth outlook, amid runaway inflation accelerated by soaring energy prices. The rate hike itself was widely expected in the market. More significant is the revised outlook the central bank projected for the country going forward, and the figures are far from rosy. The central bank’s latest move put the benchmark seven-day repo rate to 1.75 percent, up from 1.5 percen
May 27, 2022
-
[Editorial] Breaking a promise
The speaker of the National Assembly and chairperson of its legislation and judiciary committee play essential roles in the process of passing bills. The chairperson of the committee has authority to preside over meetings, which are the last hurdle to the assembly plenary session. The speaker has the right to introduce a bill and put it to a vote in the plenary session. In past assemblies, a majority party member of the parliament was elected as the speaker while a member of the second-largest
May 26, 2022
-
[Editorial] Business matters
The summit between President Yoon Suk-yeol and US President Joe Biden wrapped up its three-day schedule Sunday, but its impact is still reverberating among Korean policymakers, businesspeople and the media. In all fairness, Biden reaped plenty of benefits by visiting Seoul as the first stop of his Asian tour -- something that he hopes will boost his standing in the eyes of US politicians, especially those who want to see the president playing a key role in expanding America’s economic clo
May 25, 2022
-
[Editorial] Pointless elections
School district superintendents are responsible for the overall performance of elementary, middle and high schools in their districts. Their authority is powerful. They decide on issues related to school type, such as whether to shut down autonomous private high schools or increase public schools that emphasize creative curricula. They have the authority to propose bylaws such as one to restrict late-night private lessons at commercial education facilities. They have the final say over the wei
May 24, 2022
-
[Editorial] Post-summit tasks
President Yoon Suk-yeol and US President Joe Biden agreed Saturday to expand joint military exercises to counter threats from North Korea, and strengthen regional economic cooperation through a new US-led trade framework. During their first summit talks in Seoul, the two leaders discussed pending issues, including Pyongyang’s continued saber-rattling; a strategic alliance based on a “norm-based order”; and South Korea’s participation in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framewo
May 23, 2022
-
[Editorial] Spirit of integration
President Yoon Suk-yeol, government ministers and nearly all lawmakers of the People Power Party attended the 42nd anniversary of the May 18 Gwangju Democratic Uprising. It is unprecedented that most lawmakers of the party attended the official ceremony to memorialize the civil revolt, which has long been associated with the liberal Democratic Party of Korea. On May 18, 1980, Gwangju citizens rose up against the then-military junta led by the late President Chun Doo-hwan. The conservative part
May 20, 2022
-
[Editorial] Not-so-stable ‘stablecoins’
Cryptocurrencies still sound cryptic to most people, especially those who are not familiar with how its jargon-filled blockchain technology works. But the message from the plunging market capitalization of major cryptocurrencies like bitcoin is not so cryptic: Panicky investors are selling off their risky digital assets. At the center of the rushed crypto sell-offs are none other than Korean-made cryptocurrencies, terra and luna, both of which were launched by local startup Terraform Labs. Its
May 19, 2022
-
[Editorial] Surging Kepco losses
Korea Electric Power Corp. (Kepco), a state-run firm with a monopoly on power transmission and distribution, reported a record-high operating loss of 7.78 trillion won ($6.06 billion) in the first quarter of this year. The figure is much larger than the company’s operating loss of 5.86 trillion won logged for the whole of last year. Considering that its 2021 annual loss was the worst ever, the third-quarter loss is astronomical. If this trend continues, its operating loss for the year wi
May 18, 2022
-
[Editorial] COVID-19 woes in NK
While the entire world was fighting tooth and nail to contain the COVID-19 pandemic over the past two years, North Korea remained tightly closed and insisted it is coronavirus-free in a way that spawned much speculation. Last Thursday, Pyongyang finally broke its silence and reported through state media that the country had its first COVID cases. Since then, a flurry of bad news has been coming out, turning hitherto educated guesses into a stark reality. The communist regime said Sunday it a
May 17, 2022
-
[Editorial] Unending sex scandals
A sex scandal hit the Democratic Party of Korea again. The party decided Thursday to expel Rep. Park Wan-joo for his “sexual illegality” against his female aide. Park is a three-term lawmaker who once held key posts in the party -- chief policymaker, first vice floor leader and a member of the Supreme Council. The party said it would not disclose details of the incident to prevent secondary victimization, but considering that it called an emergency meeting to expel Park and requ
May 16, 2022
-
[Editorial] No easy task
The new economic team of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration is confronted with a crisis from the very beginning of its term. The continued rise in inflation, interest rates and the US dollar -- the so-called “three highs” -- pose a grave threat for the South Korean economy. For Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho, the three highs are only one of the serious risk factors he has to tackle. Although the COVID-19 pandemic is receding, an economic recovery is so fragi
May 13, 2022
-
[Editorial] End of an era
Cheong Wa Dae opened to the public shortly after President Yoon Suk-yeol’s inauguration ceremony Tuesday, ending its 74-year-old role as the site for the presidential office and residence. Also called the Blue House, its status as the pinnacle of power -- which has been maintained by 12 presidents from the first President Syngman Rhee -- became history. Many citizens from across the country visited Cheong Wa Dae on the day. They said that it was amazing and meaningful to walk down promen
May 12, 2022
-
[Editorial] A tough path
President Yoon Suk-yeol took office Tuesday, vowing to push for liberal democracy and revive the market economy amid concerns that he will be confronting a host of critical challenges during his five-year term. As the new leader of South Korea, Yoon rightly deserves to be congratulated. But the road ahead would be tougher than expected, to say the least. The inauguration ceremony was held at the National Assembly in Seoul with 41,000 people in attendance. Ahead of the event, Yoon already star
May 11, 2022
-
[Editorial] Shameless candidacy
Lee Jae-myung, the former presidential nominee of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, on Sunday declared his candidacy for a parliamentary seat in the by-elections. The former governor of Gyeonggi Province will run in the Gyeyang-B district in Incheon. It is unusual for an unsuccessful former presidential candidate to run for a legislative seat just two months after losing the March 9 presidential election. It is a shameless act that ignores voters. Of course, the former presidential candid
May 10, 2022
-
[Editorial] Shameful self-praise
When President Moon Jae-in took office in May 2017 on the strength of citizens’ anger following the ouster of then President Park Geun-hye over an influence-peddling scandal, public expectations were sky-high. People expected Moon to open a new era of transparent, democratic and communication-based presidential leadership, in contrast to his predecessor’s closed and isolated style. At the time, Moon famously promised to talk as often as possible with the people and media, publicly
May 9, 2022