The late President Kim Young-sam who passed away Sunday will be laid to rest at the National Cemetery in Seoul on Thursday. An iconic figure of the country’s pro-democracy movement who served as president from 1993-1998, Kim’s life was remembered and celebrated throughout the five-day mourning period. His comrades, former foes and fellow politicians all kept vigil at his wake and tens of thousand...

The special committee charged with investigating the Sewol ferry disaster that claimed more than 300 lives continues to be fraught with political wrangling among its members, raising doubts over whether the committee will be able to complete its task in due time. [번역] 300명 이상이 목숨을 잃은 세월호 참사 조사 책임을 맡은 특별 위원회가 정치적 공방에 휩싸이면서 제 시간에 임무를 완수할 수 있을 지에 대한 의구심이 제기되고 있다. [/번역] On Monday, the committee p...

Kim Young-sam was no doubt a towering figure in Korean politics. Most of all, the man, along with Kim Dae-jung, was a crusader for the nation’s pro-democracy movement. Like any other leader, Kim Young-sam, who passed away at the age of 87 Sunday, did both good things and bad things, but what he did for democracy alone more than makes up for any shortcomings he had. [번역] 김영삼은 분명 한국 정치계의 거목이었다. 무...

The National Assembly’s Environment and Labor Committee has started deliberations on the five labor reform bills. For the deliberations to be productive, lawmakers on the committee are strongly advised to respect the landmark Sept. 15 agreement among labor, management and the government. [번역] 국회 환경노동위원회가 노동개혁 5대 법안에 대한 심의를 시작했다. 생산적 심의가 되려면 환경노동위는 역사적인 9.15 노사정 합의를 존중해야 한다. [/번역] This advice ...

The news that police are questioning an Indonesian national in Korea about his ties with a terrorist group linked to al-Qaida brought home the message that the country may not be completely safe from terrorist attacks. [번역] 경찰이 알카에다와 관련된 테러단체와의 관계에 대해 한 인도네시아인을 조사하고 있다는 뉴스는 한국이 테러에서 100% 안전하지 못할 수도 있다는 메시지를 보냈다. [/번역] According to the National Police Agency, the 32-year-old man arrested at hi...

President Park Geun-hye is pushing hard for her plan to set up a multilateral development bank to finance infrastructure construction in North Korea and other parts of Northeast Asia. Park first proposed the idea for the Northeast Asia Development Bank during her visit to Germany in March last year, pledging to help North Korea develop its economy if it gave up its nuclear ambitions. [번역] 박근혜 대...

The shocking terrorist attacks in Paris have quite naturally put Korean authorities on edge. Government officials have been holding a series of meetings to assess the situation in France and elsewhere in the world and take necessary steps. [번역] 충격적인 파리 테러는 당연히 한국 당국을 자극했다. 정부 관계자들은 프랑스 및 세계의 상황을 평가하고 필요한 조치를 취하기 위한 회의를 잇달아 열고 있다. [/번역] Likewise, politicians are busy calling meetings to discus...

If U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon realizes his plan to visit Pyongyang this week reported Monday based on an unnamed U.N. source it should serve to further the cause of reconciliation on the Korean Peninsula and contribute to North Korea’s denuclearization. [번역] 익명의 유엔 소식통을 인용한 보도처럼 반기문 유엔사무총장의 방북 계획이 이번 주에 실현된다면 남북 화해를 촉진시키고 북한 비핵화에 기여해야 한다. [/번역] Since assuming the top post at the U.N.,...

Japan’s ruling party is reportedly planning to reexamine the history of Imperial Japan from the Sino-Japanese War in the late 19th century to World War II. Japanese media reports that the Liberal Democratic Party plans to set up this month a history review panel to mark the 60th anniversary of the party’s founding. [번역] 일본 여당이 19세기 후반 청일전쟁부터 2차 세계대전까지 제국주의 일본의 역사를 검증할 계획인 것으로 알려졌다. 일본 언론은 자민당이 ...

President Park Geun-hye, in nature, is self-righteous and unilateral. One need not look no further than the way she pushes the replacement of privately published Korean history textbooks for middle and high school students with state-authored ones. [번역] 박근혜 대통령은 사실 독선적이고 일방적이다. 그녀가 중.고교 역사 교과서의 국정화를 추진하는 방식만 보더라도 그렇다. [/번역] Park’s such “nobody but me is right and you should just follow me” ap...

The government has belatedly come up with a plan to prevent Korean construction companies and shipbuilders from getting in trouble by winning risky and unprofitable overseas contracts. [번역] 정부가 건설. 조선업체들이 수익성 없고 위험한 해외 사업을 수주해 곤란에 처하는 것을 막기 위한 계획을 뒤늦게 마련했다. [/번역] The Ministry of Strategy and Finance announced Tuesday that state-run financial institutions would be required to carry out a rigor...

The operations of the National Assembly have been normalized as the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy ended its boycott of parliamentary sessions over the government’s push for state-designated history textbooks. The opposition party’s decision to return to the National Assembly is well-advised, given the long list of urgent national tasks lawmakers have to deal with without fur...

One does not need more data and reports to ascertain how serious the youth unemployment problem in the country is. You can easily come across young men and women struggling to find jobs for years and those who toil in low-paying, unstable part-time and temporary jobs. [번역] 한국의 청년 실업 문제가 얼마나 심각한 지 확인하기 위해 더 이상의 자료나 보고서는 필요 없다. 수년 동안 취직을 위해 고군분투하고 저임금에 불안정한 임시직으로 고생스럽게 일하고 있는 청년들을 쉽게 마주칠 수 있다. [...

As the South Korean leader, President Park Geun-hye faces some perennial, but tough foreign policy challenges, just as her predecessors did. There is the constant troublemaker North Korea, and she has to deal with Japan, which often turns out to be a close neighbor only in terms of geographical distance. The growing rivalry between the U.S. and China is posing new, but no less serious challenges....

This year’s Security Consultative Meeting between Defense Minister Han Min-koo and his U.S. counterpart Defense Secretary Ashton Carter on Monday took place at a significant time in the geopolitics of Northeast Asia, coming on the heels of the Korea-China summit on Saturday, Korea-China-Japan summit on Sunday and the first summit between President Park Geun-hye and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo ...