[Editorial] Seek to avert chaos

A sense of fear is spreading among patients as doctors at major hospitals are set to go ahead with the planned walkouts in protest of the government’s decision to boost the medical school enrollment quota. With no sign of a breakthrough, concerns abound about how the government will respond to the ultimatum that the country’s biggest doctors’ group issued Sunday. Medical professors -- who also serve as senior doctors -- at four hospitals affiliated with Seoul National Universit

June 17, 2024

[Editorial] Doing it right

South Korea’s financial authorities are now expected to ponder the timing of a rate cut in a more cautious way as the US Federal Reserve decided Wednesday (US time) to freeze the benchmark interest rates at between 5.25-5.5 percent for a seventh-straight time. The Fed’s decision came after fresh inflation data issued earlier in the day slightly moderated last month but still above its 2 percent inflation target. The US benchmark rates have been kept unchanged since July last year. Th

June 14, 2024

[Editorial] Prepare for earthquakes

A magnitude 4.8 earthquake struck near Buan, North Jeolla Province, early Wednesday, sending off alerts across the nation and causing minor property damage. Although no injuries were reported, the strong quake highlighted the need for tight, systematic preparations against tremor-related disasters. The temblor struck near the southwestern county at 8:26 a.m. at an estimated depth of 8 kilometers, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration. Firefighter and Interior Ministry officials sa

June 13, 2024

[Editorial] Negative growth in 2040s

South Korea’s current economic performance is not spectacularly impressive, but it is not so bad in a way that heralds serious trouble -- at least for now. The long-term outlook, however, suggests that something dramatic should be done to avoid a crisis stemming from a shrinking workforce and the dearth of innovative products. The Korea Development Institute said Tuesday in a monthly report that the Korean economy was showing some signs of improvement in the strength of export growth, thou

June 12, 2024

[Editorial] Seek ways to defuse tensions

As North Korea continued to send trash-carrying balloons across the border, South Korea resumed the loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts Sunday, signaling escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula. Although the smelly and noisy campaigns in recent weeks are not deadly clashes, the pace of the tit-for-tat exchanges is fast enough to raise serious security concerns. Despite Seoul’s repeated warnings, Pyongyang keeps sending waste-loaded balloons. South Korea’s military said Monday that

June 11, 2024

[Editorial] Doctors’ strike

The Korea Medical Association, South Korea’s largest organization of doctors, said in a press briefing Sunday that it would stage a walkout and a rally on June 18, signaling another clash between doctors and the government over its medical school quota hike. The KMA, which has more than 129,000 members, said that in the survey conducted last week more than 90 percent of the respondents voted to support the “strong protest” against the government’s increase in admission qu

June 10, 2024

[Editorial] Impasse from the start

The National Assembly on Wednesday held its plenary session and elected the speaker to lead the first half of its new term in a unilateral vote, with the lawmakers from the ruling party boycotting the session, the first time this has happened in South Korea’s history. The Assembly controlled by the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea went ahead with the plenary session to elect five-term lawmaker Woo Won-shik as the new speaker and four-term lawmaker Lee Hak-young as the vice speaker

June 7, 2024

[Editorial] Korea-Africa Summit

The Korea-Africa Summit wrapped up its two-day schedule Wednesday, marking a major step forward in strengthening economic and diplomatic cooperation between South Korea and 48 African nations. President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday hosted the main session of the first-ever summit with African delegations at Kintex in Gyeonggi Province, where the leaders adopted a joint declaration aimed at promoting trade and investment as well as collaborating on critical minerals and development projects. Notably,

June 6, 2024

[Editorial] Gas, oil exploration

President Yoon Suk Yeol’s surprise press briefing Monday over the possibility of gas and oil sent energy stocks higher and generated plenty of media buzz about a rosy scenario for a country heavily dependent on imported resources. But there are skeptical views about its feasibility. Yoon said the government has approved a massive project to kick off exploratory drilling in search of gas and oil reserves in the deep sea off the country’s southeastern coast. He said the reserves could

June 5, 2024

[Editorial] NK provocations

The South Korean government confronts the tricky task of taking stern measures against North Korea’s latest provocations in the form of trash-filled balloons floated over to the South and at the same time seeking ways to defuse inter-Korean tensions. The conflicting challenges for Seoul came after Pyongyang sent another batch of balloons carrying waste and propaganda to the South over the weekend, and continued to jam GPS signals near the border since Wednesday. The Joint Chiefs of Staff s

June 4, 2024

[Editorial] Soaring power demand

South Korea announced plans to build up to three new nuclear reactors by 2038, launch a 0.7-gigawatt small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) by 2035, and triple solar and wind power generation facilities by 2038. As it takes about 14 years to secure a site for and build a nuclear reactor, the planned reactors could be operational by 2038 if the government begins the process this year. Under the blueprint, carbon-free energy sources such as renewables and nuclear power will take up 70 percent of the

June 3, 2024

[Editorial] Reasonable doubt

The former defense minister's telephone records drew renewed attention this week to suspicions that President Yoon Suk Yeol interfered with an inquiry into the death of a marine last year. News reports revealed that the president spoke on the phone with then-defense minister Lee Jong-sup three times on the day the Marine Corps inquiry team handed over the results of its probe to the police. Lee also exchanged dozens of phone calls and text messages with senior officials of the presidential

May 31, 2024

[Editorial] China’s big bet on chips

China has ratcheted up its plan to pour a massive amount of money into the semiconductor industry to better compete with the US. China’s aggressive move has alarmed South Korea, whose crucial chip industry is now stuck with a stalled bill and other troubling issues. China has set up its third state-backed investment fund valued at 344 billion yuan ($47.5 billion), marking the largest-ever fund aimed at strengthening the global competitiveness of Chinese chipmakers. The third fund, expected

May 30, 2024

[Editorial] Good bills abandoned

A slew of bills for deregulation and support of industries among others are set to die as the 21st National Assembly’s term expires Wednesday. At the plenary session on Tuesday, parliament voted down the controversial special counsel bill to investigate allegations that the presidential office unduly meddled with an inquiry into the death of a marine. The special counsel bill, which President Yoon Suk Yeol had vetoed earlier, has therefore been automatically scrapped. The majority-controll

May 29, 2024

[Editorial] Progress at summit

South Korea, China and Japan held their first trilateral summit in over four years in Seoul on Monday amid expectations that the three countries would focus on exploring deeper cooperation in the economic and trade sectors. But the focus of the three-way summit expanded to cover the threats of North Korea, which announced it would launch a spy satellite just hours before South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida sat down for the nint

May 28, 2024

[Editorial] Time to end standoff

South Korea has finalized the first increase in its total medical school enrollment quota in 27 years, a move that the government hopes will help address the shortage of doctors in the coming years. But the outlook for a full normalization of the country’s medical services hit by the prolonged strikes of trainee doctors remains uncertain. The Korean Council for University Education, a group of university presidents, held its admission committee meeting Friday, where it approved the hike of

May 27, 2024

[Editorial] Pension reform bill

With only a few days left until the 21st National Assembly’s term expires on May 29, rival parties have one thing they can achieve, if they have the will, which is passing the pension reform bill. As South Korea rapidly ages, the national pension fund is expected to be drained by 2055 if no structural changes are made. If the pension system isn’t revamped now, the National Pension Service might have to sell off its investment assets in six years to pay out pension benefits, according

May 24, 2024

[Editorial] Minimum wage debate

The official review process to set the 2025 minimum wage started Tuesday, heralding a heated debate among the members of the tripartite commission due to conflicting views about how much minimum wage should be raised. This year, there are two primary issues: whether next year’s minimum wage per hour will exceed the threshold of 10,000 won ($7.34) for the first time and whether the differentiated application of minimum wages will be allowed, depending on the situations of industries. The ou

May 23, 2024

[Editorial] Special counsel bill

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday vetoed a special counsel bill to investigate allegations that his office or others exerted undue influence on an inquiry into the death of a Marine last year. "The special prosecutor system is an exceptional measure that can only be introduced supplementarily when the investigation by law enforcement agencies is inadequate or when the fairness or objectivity of the investigation is in doubt, but investigations by police and the CIO are currently underway,&

May 22, 2024

[Editorial] Cross-border trade

The Yoon Suk Yeol administration’s embarrassing backtracking of its hastily formulated policy plan to block consumers from directly buying cross-border items -- mostly from China -- has sparked a wave of criticism, raising questions about its administrative capabilities, as well as its ulterior motives regarding the country’s safety certification system, which is saddled with some critical issues. On Sunday, Lee Jeong-won, second vice minister of the Office for Government Policy Coor

May 21, 2024