Most Popular
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Yoon apologizes for first lady Dior bag scandal, calls push for special probe ‘political’
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South Korea open to Indonesian proposal to cut KF-21 payments
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Korea forecast to overtake Taiwan in chip production by 2032: report
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Girl hanging on bridge, police trying to rescue her both fall off; rescued immediately
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[K-pop’s dilemma] Time, profit pressures work against originality
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[K-pop’s dilemma] Can K-pop break free from ‘fandom’ model?
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YouTuber fatally stabbed on livestream by another YouTuber in Busan
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Yoon rebuffs opposition's call for special probe into wife
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Arrest warrant issued for medical student for allegedly killing girlfriend after breakup
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S. Korea to let doctors with foreign licenses practice
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[Editorial] A brake on government
The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea proposed a bill that will strengthen the National Assembly’s control of government decrees. The proposed revisions to the National Assembly Act were authored by Cho Eung-cheon, a lawmaker from the party. It would allow standing committees of the Assembly to request relevant administrative agencies modify or revise their decrees and enforcement ordinances if the Assembly judges them inconsistent with the purpose of laws. If asked to modify dec
June 15, 2022
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[Editorial] Higher education mismatch
President Yoon Suk-yeol recently asked the Education Ministry to recast its policies in order to train more semiconductor engineers at universities, a topic that draws keen attention amid the protracted shortage of chips. South Korean chipmakers such as Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are eagerly searching for graduates with expertise relevant to the semiconductor technology. Given the two top-ranked chipmakers’ clout on the global market and US President Joe Biden’s high-profile
June 14, 2022
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[Editorial] Uncomfortable cohabitation
More than two-thirds of the heads of government-funded institutions have over a year in office left until their terms expire, based on an analysis of public institution information disclosed by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Of the 370 heads of government-funded institutions, 256, or 69 percent, have more than a year left in office, the Ministry data showed. This means almost seven out of ten heads of government-funded institutions who were appointed by the President Moon Jae-in administr
June 13, 2022
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[Editorial] Silencing dissent
President Yoon Suk-yeol officially reversed the nuclear phase-out policy of his predecessor, former President Moon Jae-in, in a bid to resolve the controversy that is closely linked to electricity rates. Unfortunately, the dispute is flaring up again. Shortly after the Moon administration was launched in 2017, the National Planning Committee was mapping out major policy plans, one of which was to phase out the country’s nuclear power plants. The plan itself was fraught with uncertainty a
June 10, 2022
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[Editorial] Untenable strike
The South Korean economy is beset by unfavorable factors including an unstable global supply of goods, surging prices of materials and “three highs” -- high interest rates, high inflation and high exchange rates -- plaguing the Korean currency. Then yet another issue looms large: an industrial strike. The Cargo Truckers Solidarity, affiliated with the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, went on an indefinite general strike on Tuesday -- six months after their last strike. Genera
June 9, 2022
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[Kim Seong-kon] Seven types of politicians we should be wary of
These days, South Korea is enjoying fame as a global leader in many areas. Aside from being one of the top 10 global economies, Korea has internationally acclaimed pop singers, films and television dramas, not to mention advanced technology. Unfortunately, however, Korea is not lucky enough to have great politicians. Our politicians, whose mental clocks appear to have stopped half a century ago, frequently become an embarrassment, especially in the eyes of foreigners. Of course, not all poli
June 8, 2022
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[Editorial] Tit-for-tat response
Tensions are mounting on the Korean Peninsula due largely to North Korea’s latest and biggest single missile test. Pyongyang’s new provocation is deeply worrisome, since it heralds an imminent nuclear test as well as the beginning of a firepower demonstrations race. On Monday, South Korea and the United States launched surface-to-surface Army Tactical Missile System missiles into the East Sea. The rare show of firepower came as a rare tit-for-tat response to North Korea’s lat
June 8, 2022
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[Editorial] Price shock
Consumer prices jumped 5.4 percent in May from a year ago. It was the highest figure in 13 years and nine months after August 2008 when prices rose 5.6 percent. Surging international prices of crude oil and grains among others pushed consumer prices up sharply. The future looks dismal. The Bank of Korea expected prices to keep climbing in a 5 percent range in June and July. The government has suppressed fees of public utilities such as electricity and gas but if they are readjusted to a reali
June 7, 2022
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[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
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[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
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[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
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[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
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[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
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[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
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[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
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[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
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[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
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[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
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[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
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[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