Most Popular
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Controversy rekindled over when to name criminals, suspects
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Hybe-Ador CEO conflict gets messier
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Battery makers ramp up efforts to diversify graphite supply chain
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[KH Explains] Hyundai Motor’s plan for new landmark keeps hitting bumps
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Seoul vows action over Naver's Line, Yahoo dispute
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Prosecutors to summon pastor who allegedly gave Dior bag to first lady
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‘Monk’ DJ spreading Buddhism goes global
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[LLG] Unseen inheritance: Trauma of transnational adoption 'trickles down' to adoptees' children
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Court's ruling set to shape path of medical school expansion
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Loans of self-employed swell 50% in four years
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[Editorial] Talks as a formality?
The inter-Korean nuclear talks held in Indonesia on Friday were the first step toward the resumption of full-fledged, six-way talks on Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program. It had previously been agreed that Pyongyang would talk first with Seoul and later with Washington before the six-way talks, stalled since December 2008, would resume.Given the affirmative assessment of the Friday talks by the S
July 24, 2011
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[Editorial] Koreans overeducated
Few would dispute that high school education is enough for the lowest two administrative positions on the one-to-nine scale. Nor would anyone deny that it does not take much formal education to sweep streets. But this common sense does not prevail in Korea, as shown by examples below.Last year, the Seoul metropolitan government selected 415 recruits to fill the vacant positions of grades eight and
July 24, 2011
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[Editorial] Nonregular workers
Remedying discrimination against nonregular workers has emerged as a burning issue as political parties are competing to win their hearts and minds to ensure victory in next year’s parliamentary and presidential elections. Irregular workers are a political force to be reckoned with. As of March, they accounted for 5.77 million or 33.8 percent of the nation’s 17.06 million paid workers. When daily
July 22, 2011
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[Editorial] GNP’s new vision
The Youido Institute, the think tank of the ruling Grand National Party, has released a report to outline a new vision for the party. The document, unveiled Wednesday, signals the beginning of a major debate within the ruling party over the revision of its platform in preparation for the general and presidential elections slated for next year. Thus far, the GNP’s vision has been “the advancement o
July 22, 2011
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[Editorial] New renegotiations?
It was assumed that the ratification of the free trade agreement with the United States would be the focal point of contention when the National Assembly opens its August extraordinary session. The ruling Grand National Party had selected the motion for ratification as one of the main bills to act on in the face of fierce resistance from the opposition Democratic Party.The ruling party had apparen
July 21, 2011
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[Editorial] Quixotic war on prices
Shortly after he was inaugurated in February 2008, President Lee Myung-bak selected 52 daily necessities and put their prices under tight control. Still, items whose prices gained continued to outnumber those whose prices fell.Since inflationary pressure started to build appreciatively during the second half of last year, the Lee administration has been monitoring changes in their prices around th
July 21, 2011
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[Editorial] Scary bullet trains
It’s really past time for Korea Railroad Corp. to stop the operations of its problem-ridden bullet trains and make a comprehensive safety check. This year alone, KTX high-speed trains have stopped 36 times for various reasons, including derailment and equipment malfunctions. This is an unmistakable sign that something is seriously wrong with Korail’s high-speed trains. In a latest incident that to
July 20, 2011
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[Editorial] Unification tax
On Aug. 15 last year, President Lee Myung-bak proposed the introduction of a unification tax to secure the funds that would be needed to finance reunification with North Korea. Given that the North is, for all intents and purposes, an economic basket case, it is impossible to dispute the need for the South to prepare for reunification. But this does not necessarily mean that the public would welco
July 20, 2011
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[Editorial] Rival’s assessment
It may be pleasing for our manufacturing giants to hear a major Japanese business newspaper admit Korea’s overtaking or close chase of Japanese rivals in the global market with such top-line products as cars, ships and appliances. But what is important is paying attention to how they assess the factors of success and failure in the intense rivalry between the two neighbors.In an article titled “So
July 19, 2011
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[Editorial] Free lunch poll
“Are you in favor of providing free school lunch ― by stages until 2014 ― for students from families in the lower 50 percent income level?”“Are you in favor of providing free school lunch for all students regardless of their families’ income level ― from this year at elementary schools and from next year at middle schools?”The above are the two questions that will be asked to Seoul citizens when a
July 19, 2011
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[Editorial] Unions at Samsung
Samsung Group’s virtual absence of working trade union gives the 200,000 employees at its 78 subsidiaries both pride and embarrassment. As the nation’s labor movement entered a new phase with the legalizing of multiple unions at a single workplace, some change may be expected at Samsung. But what has so far happened at Korea’s number one conglomerate disappoints many unionists.A labor union at Sam
July 18, 2011
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[Editorial] Looking at Fukushima
The world has had other affairs since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in northeast Japan. Media outlets are devoting less and less space and time to the aftermath of the disaster. But employees of the Fukushima No. 1 Power Plant, government officials, the residents of Fukushima prefecture and volunteers are still struggling at the limits of human perseverance to contain the nuclear damage that
July 18, 2011
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[Editorial] Japan’s nonsensical move
Japan’s Foreign Ministry has perplexed us by ordering its officials not to use Korean Air for a month starting today. The reason for this ban was a demonstration flight the private airliner recently conducted with its newly introduced Airbus A380 over Dokdo, Korea’s easternmost islets.One may wonder why the Japanese ministry instructed a boycott of the Korean carrier for test flying its newest pas
July 17, 2011
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[Editorial] Korea-China defense ties
South Korea and China have agreed to restore bilateral military relations, which have remained sour following North Korea’s torpedoing of the South’s warship Cheonan in March last year and subsequent shelling of Yeonpyeong Island in October. The agreement was reached between Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin and his Chinese counterpart Liang Guanglie during their talks in Beijing on Friday.According t
July 17, 2011
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[Editorial] Chaebol-driven economy
Korea’s economy is led by a handful of large business groups, most of them being family-controlled chaebol. Their influence is growing, as evidenced by an increase in their contribution to the nation’s gross domestic product. The 10 largest business groups, on an asset basis, accounted for 75.6 percent of GDP last year, up 20.6 percentage points from 2008.Another measure of their dominance in the
July 15, 2011
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[Editorial] For-profit hospitals
The long drawn-out controversy over the establishment of for-profit hospitals in Korea has been rekindled as the government and the ruling Grand National Party seek to pass bills allowing such hospitals on Jeju Island and in the Incheon Free Economic Zone. If passed through the National Assembly in August as planned, the bills will allow private investors to set up and operate hospitals in the two
July 14, 2011
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[Editorial] Small is beautiful
The government and the ruling Grand National Party have agreed to increase the number of welfare staff at local governments by 30 percent to improve the administration of social welfare programs. Under the plan, announced Wednesday, the government would add 7,000 new public officials to the existing workforce by 2014.The plan is aimed at easing the shortage in field workers responsible for deliver
July 14, 2011
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[Editorial] Difference or prejudice
The bills that are not moving along in the process of legislation number 6312. As the leader of the ruling Grand National Party says, it is shameful for each standing committee of the National Assembly to sit on hundreds of bills.The ruling party has decided to speed up the legislation process when the National Assembly opens an extraordinary session next month. That is a welcome decision. Among t
July 13, 2011
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[Editorial] Roads to reelection
Lawmakers are jockeying for position ahead of party nominations, though eight long months are left until the next general elections. Some are abandoning their existing constituencies in search of new electoral districts. Others are jumping ship in factional regrouping.But these efforts to enhance their chances of being nominated again should not come as a surprise. All members of the National Asse
July 13, 2011
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[Editorial] Unrealistic proposal
Rep. Chung Dong-young, an executive member of the opposition Democratic Party, raised the issue of co-hosting the 2018 Winter Olympics with North Korea and DP Chair Sohn Hak-kyu endorsed it in a top-level meeting Monday at Alpensia Resort, which will be the main venue of the Games seven years later. “We should consider it seriously and earnestly,” he said. The party’s rank-and-file loyalists appar
July 12, 2011