[Editorial] Unanswered questions

Suspicions surrounding Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won continue to mount after it was revealed following his nomination that he had previously been investigated by prosecutors. In October 2021, Kim, then a first-term Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker, was investigated for allegedly requesting the then head of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety to approve clinical trials for a COVID-19 drug developed by Genencell, at the request of a female broker surnamed Yang, who was also an acquaint

2026-09-08 05:30:00:00

[Editorial] Budget built on boom

The government’s budget proposal for next year, totaling 820.9 trillion won ($599 billion), is the largest ever. The 12.8 percent year-on-year rise and the 92 trillion won increase are also the largest on record. The government’s ability to ramp up spending so substantially is due above all to an exceptional tax revenue windfall brought about by the semiconductor supercycle. The ambitious 162 trillion won Future Response Fund, too, would not have been possible without the surge in corporate tax

2026-09-03 05:30:01:00

[Editorial] Reshuffle sans reform

President Lee Jae Myung’s partial Cabinet reshuffle on Sunday appears to reflect his determination to restore the momentum of his administration, which has been weakening amid a recent decline in his approval ratings. Most notably, the two top officials in charge of real estate policy, which has been a major source of public discontent, have been replaced. The Lee administration’s real estate policies so far, including punitive tax reforms and half-baked initiatives such as plans to develop Yong

2026-09-01 05:30:00:00

[Editorial] Historical populism

The government of North Jeolla Province in southwestern Korea will reportedly pay an annual allowance of 1.2 million won ($868) to each of 723 family members of participants in the Donghak Peasant Revolution, which took place 132 years ago. The government is using taxpayers’ money to provide cash payments to the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of participants in the revolution, as descendants of victims of the historic event of 1894-1895. The Donghak Peasant Revolution was a popular uprisi

2026-08-27 05:30:00:00

[Editorial] Police bury cases

Given the recent police misconduct involving officers quietly burying cases at an early stage, having suspects treated as witnesses, and helping to destroy key evidence, it is astonishing that the police can still claim to be on the front line of public safety. With the revised Criminal Procedure Act set to take effect on Oct. 2, public anxiety over the police’s impending monopoly over investigative authority is bound to grow. A police officer at Jeju Seobu Police Station in Jeju City, who is ac

2026-08-25 09:02:35:00

[Editorial] Growing spy threat

Two Chinese nationals were arrested earlier this month for allegedly collecting classified information related to South Korea-US military exercises and intercepting fighter jet communications near an air force base, police said on Aug. 11. One of the suspects, a Chinese man in his 40s, allegedly recruited a South Korean civilian employee at Camp Humphreys, a major US military base in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, and obtained information on the locations of US command facilities, weapons moveme

2026-08-18 05:30:00:00

[Editorial] Dangerous mismatch

South Korea and the United States have scaled back field training exercises (FTX) during the Ulchi Freedom Shield, a combined military exercise, compared with last year. Meanwhile, North Korea, which is accelerating its nuclear threat, is gaining real-world combat experience by deploying troops to Russia to fight in the war against Ukraine. This year's UFS also provides an opportunity to assess South Korea's ability to lead the combined forces after assuming wartime operational control from the

2026-08-13 05:30:00:00

[Editorial] Tax resistance

Hwang Hee, a three-term lawmaker from the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, on Friday proposed a plan to convert scrapped buses into housing for young people. This is nothing short of an absurd idea and an insult to young people struggling to find a home. The proposal sparked an angry backlash among young people and on online communities, with critics denouncing it as an out-of-touch idea that ignores the harsh realities young people face. “Are young people homeless or refugees?” and “Why don’t

2026-08-11 05:30:00:00

[Editorial] Wrong prescription

The Lee Jae Myung administration said it would gather a wide range of market views through five rounds of public debates on real estate policy. Yet the tax reform package the government unveiled on Monday following the debates ultimately amounted to a tax hike. Lee's pledge not to use taxation as a tool of housing policy has vanished into thin air. The government announced a package that would sharply raise both the holding tax (the Comprehensive Real Estate Tax) and the transaction tax (the cap

2026-08-06 05:30:00:00

[Editorial] Justice weakened

On July 31, the Democratic Party of Korea pushed through the National Assembly plenary session an amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act that abolishes not only prosecutors' authority to conduct direct investigations, but also their authority to carry out supplementary investigations. Cheong Wa Dae said it respects the National Assembly's legislative process and final decision, indicating that the president will not exercise his veto power. As a result, the abolition of prosecutors' authority t

2026-08-04 05:30:00:00