[Editorial] Supply chain risk

Conflict over supply chains is deepening between the US and China. China on Thursday banned the export of technology to extract and separate rare earths, materials used to manufacture a wide array of high-tech products. Beijing stresses protecting national security and public interest as the main reasons, but it seems to have made a countermove to a US move to expand restrictions on trade with China. Prior to the Chinese ban, the US said it will launch a survey to identify how US companies are s

Dec. 27, 2023

[Editorial] Policies for older people

Both the ruling and main opposition parties are now rushing to announce new election pledges targeting the elderly in a bid to win more seats in the forthcoming general election in April next year. In rapidly aging South Korea, it is no surprise that politicians are catering to this important voter group. But the question is whether generous -- or populist in the eyes of critics -- election pledges can be implemented without securing enough funds. Last week, both President Yoon Suk Yeol and Demo

Dec. 26, 2023

[Editorial] Ailing party's best bet

Han Dong-hoon accepted his new post as interim leader of the ruling party and resigned as justice minister on Thursday. The daring and relatively articulate former prosecutor seems to be the torpid party’s best bet. The ruling People Power Party has been powerless ever since the last general elections in 2020, and is terrified of another crushing defeat in the upcoming vote in April. With the Democratic Party of Korea holding the majority in the National Assembly and thus, the power to pas

Dec. 22, 2023

[Editorial] Reduce security risks

President Yoon Suk Yeol nominated his national security adviser Cho Tae-yong as director of the National Intelligence Service and Cho Tae-yul, a former second vice foreign minister, as foreign minister. Considering Yoon's appointments of Kim Yung-ho and Shin Won-sik as the unification and defense ministers in August and October, respectively, the president has effectively completed his new diplomacy and security team. They have a lot on their shoulders now that the tension around the Korean

Dec. 21, 2023

[Editorial] Fears of negative growth

South Korea’s economic growth has been tepid in recent years, with experts calling for drastic measures to shore up sagging productivity and the shrinking working-age population. And a new report highlights the forthcoming crisis: a negative growth from 2042, a mere 19 years from now. The report, issued by the Economic Research Institute of the Bank of Korea, paints a truly gloomy picture for the country in the 2030s and 2040s unless the country deals with its sluggish productivity and plu

Dec. 20, 2023

[Editorial] Boost military intel

North Korea fired its fifth intercontinental ballistic missile this year into the East Sea on Monday morning, just 10 hours after it launched a short-range ballistic missile Sunday night as it reviled South Korea and the US over their latest show of resolve against the North’s nuclear provocations. A US nuclear-powered submarine arrived in Busan on Sunday, after South Korea and the US said “any nuclear attack by North Korea against the US or its allies will result in the end of the K

Dec. 19, 2023

[Editorial] Self-serving ex-activists?

In the National Policy Committee of the National Assembly on Thursday, the Democratic Party of Korea, which holds a majority in the Assembly, passed a bill to treat democratization movement contributors as “persons of distinguished service to the state,” amid protest by members of the ruling People Power Party. In a bid to prevent the opposition party from rushing the bill, the People Power Party requested the creation of a six-member panel under the committee that must deliberate th

Dec. 18, 2023

[Editorial] Support singletons

The South Korean government has long pushed for policies aimed at supporting what is considered a typical form of families with more than two members: two parents and a child or two. But it’s time to acknowledge that such a traditional concept does not work any longer, as over one third of Korean households are single-person households, and the share of these smallest of family units has been on a steady rise in recent years. According to Statistics Korea, 7.5 million Korean nationals were

Dec. 15, 2023

[Editorial] Get the job done

The preliminary candidate registration for the general election on April 10 opened this week, but once again, rival parties are dragging their feet to set electoral boundaries and rules. Those who sign up as preliminary candidates can open an election office, hire up to three paid staff members, launch a fundraising organization, make phone calls, give out name cards and wear a sash to make themselves known. Introduced in 2004, the preliminary registration system is designed to provide opportuni

Dec. 14, 2023

[Editorial] Normalize the judiciary

The most urgent task for Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae, who was inaugurated in a ceremony Monday, is to do away with judiciary distrust stoked by his predecessor, Kim Myeong-su. Distrust of the court was fanned by trial delays, among other factors. It took three years and nine months to issue first-trial sentences against former Justice Minister Cho Kuk and two years and five months for Yoon Mi-hyang, an independent lawmaker. Cho was indicted in connection with his children’s unlawful universi

Dec. 13, 2023

[Editorial] Regulating AI

The European Union agreed Friday to a set of new controls aimed at regulating artificial intelligence, marking the world’s first attempt to put limits on the use of fast-evolving technology that generates both positive and negative responses. The EU’s new law, called the “AI Act,” is yet to be formally approved by the European Parliament and the bloc’s 27 member states, but Friday’s political agreement signals that the legislation’s key points have been

Dec. 12, 2023

[Editorial] Did 'people come first'?

The state audit agency released last week the final results of its yearlong inspection into North Korea’s killing of a South Korean government official who drifted into the North’s waters in the West Sea in 2020. Relevant government agencies under the Moon Jae-in administration at the time -- the presidential National Security Office, the Coast Guard, the Unification and Defense Ministries, and the National Intelligence Service -- did virtually nothing to save the South Korean citize

Dec. 11, 2023

[Editorial] Mental health care matters

As far as mental health care is concerned, South Korea has grim statistics. Over 1 million people suffer from depression, suicide rates remain stubbornly high and a growing number of people are seeking medical help. Worse, doctors and medical facilities meant to treat patients suffering from mental illness are in short supply. To address the serious situation, the Yoon Suk Yeol administration on Tuesday unveiled a comprehensive initiative to overhaul and improve the mental health care system --

Dec. 8, 2023

[Editorial] Diversify imports

The Chinese customs authorities recently suspended shipment of industrial urea to South Korea. They are said to have held off urea shipments as a short supply of the raw material at home is looming. Reportedly, major Chinese fertilizer producers will stop exporting urea until the end of the first half of next year to meet domestic peak-season demand. These developments raise concerns in Korea about yet another severe shortage of urea solution. Beijing's urea export curbs two years ago cause

Dec. 7, 2023

[Editorial] Lessons from botched bid

Busan lost its bid to host the World Expo 2030 last week after spending hundreds of billions of won over the course of a year and half. President Yoon Suk Yeol apologized to South Koreans saying that it was all his fault, and the mayor of Busan said his city is considering trying again for the next expo in 2035. The fact that the South Korean bidding team, at least officially, didn’t see Riyadh’s landslide victory coming until the last minute was disconcerting. The Saudi Arabian capi

Dec. 6, 2023

[Editorial] Reverse depopulation

South Korea’s fertility rate hit yet another record low in the third quarter. According to data released by Statistics Korea, the average number of children to whom a woman is expected to give birth during her lifetime was 0.7 in the July-September period, down 0.1 from a year ago. The figure is just a third of the replacement level (2.1) needed to maintain the population of a nation. Considering the trend of the rate to decrease toward the end of the year in Korea, it could fall further t

Dec. 5, 2023

[Editorial] Unilateral politics

As the general election is set to be held in April, rival political parties, as well as President Yoon Suk Yeol, are ditching normal political strategies in favor of misguided and intensely confrontational tactics -- a sorry sight that raises voters' eyebrows. On Friday, a whirlwind of significant political developments played out at a fast pace. The initial blow was delivered by Yoon, who accepted the resignation offer of Lee Dong-kwan, chief of the Korea Communications Commission. For tho

Dec. 4, 2023

[Editorial] Ruling too late

The court issued a first-trial ruling on Wednesday in a high-profile case in which former President Moon Jae-in's Cheong Wa Dae intervened in the June 2018 election for mayor of Ulsan. It sentenced former Ulsan Mayor Song Cheol-ho to three years in prison for violating the election law and former Ulsan police chief, and current opposition lawmaker Hwang Un-ha to two years behind bars for violating the election law and six months in jail on charges of abuse of power. Also, two former preside

Dec. 1, 2023

[Editorial] Policy on foreign workers

The South Korean government plans to allow a record 165,000 nonprofessional migrant workers in 2024, in a bid to tackle the growing labor shortage across various industrial sectors. But the expansion should be implemented together with proper measures to minimize side effects. The Ministry of Employment and Labor announced the plan based on the Employment Permit System on Monday in response to the deepening labor shortage problems in a wide range of fields. Under the plan, the government will ex

Nov. 30, 2023

[Editorial] Revive summit soon

The foreign ministers of South Korea, Japan and China held a meeting in Busan on Sunday to discuss the matter of holding a trilateral summit, but ultimately failed to agree even on a rough schedule. This shows the reality of relations between the three countries. Their meeting was held about four years and three months after the last one in China in August 2019. Its symbolic significance is not small, considering heightened security concerns in Northeast Asia in the wake of North Korea's la

Nov. 29, 2023