The Korea Herald

[Editorial] Risks of a deeper slowdown

The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday lowered its 2023 economic growth outlook for South Korea to 1.5 percent, marking the fourth straight trimming since July last year. The revised IMF outlook for Korea -- a 0.2 percentage-point drop from its estimate in January -- did not come as a big surprise in consideration of the latest tumult sparked by fears of the banking crisis in the US and Europe, as well as other data pointing to a slowdown in various industrial sectors. The IMF’s 2023 g

EditorialApril 14, 2023

[Editorial] Excessive goal

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said that the previous administration had raised the country’s carbon emission reduction goal too high without listening to industries sufficiently. The Moon Jae-in administration pledged to the international community to reduce the country’s greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent of the 2018 level by 2030. Han said in a plenary session of the Presidential Commission on Carbon Neutrality and Green Growth on Monday that the goal is becoming a heavy burden

EditorialApril 13, 2023

[Lee Kyong-hee] It’s time to remember their sacrifices

“At the mine in Hamborn where I worked, we went 1 kilometer down in a vertical shaft. There we got on a battery car and moved a few kilometers along the horizontal gallery, and then walked about another kilometer to reach the working face. The coal bed face, about 250 meters long, was inclined some 15 to 30 degrees. By this time, even before starting to work, we had already begun sweating in the high geothermal heat.” This is how Kim Tae-woo describes his daily routine as a coal mine

ViewpointsApril 13, 2023

[Lee Kyong-hee] It’s time to remember their sacrifices

[Editorial] US spying on allies

The United States has suffered another major classified data leak that allegedly contains spying activities on its key allies, including South Korea. Both countries are now scrambling to minimize the negative impact of the fiasco by claiming that most of the leaked documents were faked and reaffirming their bilateral alliance. But things are likely to become more embarrassing -- if not disturbing -- unless proper steps are taken. It is not the first time that the US has failed to keep its secret

EditorialApril 12, 2023

[Kim Seong-kon] Courtesy, common sense and humanity among us

The other day, I was playing music for my granddaughter when the old nursery rhyme “Apples and Bananas” came on. It suddenly occurred to me that the lyrics of this song are an excellent metaphor for the generation gap. “Apples and Bananas” is a song designed for children to practice pronouncing vowels. Therefore, the song switches the spellings and pronunciations continuously. It goes like this: “I like to eat, eat, eat/ Apples and bananas/ Oh I like to ate, ate, at

ViewpointsApril 11, 2023

[Kim Seong-kon] Courtesy, common sense and humanity among us

[Shang-Jin Wei] A reality check for the renminbi

After years of speculation and false starts, it seems that the internationalization of the renminbi is well underway. On March 29, China and Brazil announced plans to trade using their own currencies, rather than the US dollar. The day before, the China National Offshore Oil Corp. and France’s TotalEnergies completed their first-ever renminbi-denominated liquefied natural gas trade. Russian President Vladimir Putin recently said that he wants to use the Chinese currency not just for tradin

ViewpointsApril 11, 2023

[Shang-Jin Wei] A reality check for the renminbi

[Gernot Wagner] Europe must tax brown and subsidize green

After years of global climate-policy leadership, the European Union is looking warily at the United States’ sudden embrace of ambitious clean energy subsidies. Ultimately, America’s entry into the clean energy race is good news for both the planet and Europe. But will US generosity toward its own companies under the recent Inflation Reduction Act hollow out Europe’s industrial base even further? Will dirty industries continue moving east and south as clean ones move west across

ViewpointsApril 11, 2023

[Gernot Wagner] Europe must tax brown and subsidize green

[Editorial] Strengthen drug investigations

Police recently arrested four people who handed out drugged drinks to high school students on a street in Daechi-dong, southern Seoul. The suspects allegedly told students the drinks were good for memory and concentration. The police are currently on the hunt for another suspect who is thought to have ordered the manufacture and distribution of the drinks. Spiked drinks have been a problem for years among adults in nightclubs and other places, and the same approach is now used to blackmail young

EditorialApril 11, 2023

[Editorial] Beyond chip glut

Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest memory chip and smartphone maker, said its operating profit in the January-March period would likely be at the lowest level in 14 years, a clear sign that its earnings are suffering from a setback in its core chip business. Samsung’s woes, however, cannot be brushed off as a temporary drop in profits, as its memory chip business has significant implications for the South Korean economy, particularly concerning semiconductor exports. Samsung&rs

EditorialApril 10, 2023

[Robert J. Fouser] Prospects for Busan’s World Expo bid

Busan’s bid for the 2030 World Expo made big news this week as a delegation from the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) visited South Korea to evaluate the Busan’s ability to hold the event successfully. The country has united behind Busan’s bid and hopes are high that the city will win the event. Amid the enthusiasm for the Busan, two important questions remain. What does it mean for Busan? And what happens if the bid fails? World Expos rank up with the Olympics or the

ViewpointsApril 7, 2023

[Robert J. Fouser] Prospects for Busan’s World Expo bid

[Editorial] Pass fiscal rule

Managing national debt counts for a lot. If a nation manages it poorly, its people pay a terrible price. If sovereign debt exceeds an optimum range, the country’s credit ratings could fall and foreign capital could flee. Worse, the nation could default on its debt. Many people's living standards would fall dramatically, as they did during the Greek and Latin American debt crises. The statement of government accounts for the fiscal year of 2022, which was approved in a recent Cabinet m

EditorialApril 7, 2023

[Mohammed Soliman] New Asian order is emerging

By building up the notion of the Indo-Pacific as a critical region, Abe Shinzo, the late Japanese prime minister, created a strategic framework that presaged the geopolitical and economic integration now taking place across Asia and parts of Africa. As South Asian and Middle Eastern countries merge into West Asia, a new continental order could reshape the global balance of power. During his first visit to India as prime minister, in August 2007, Abe delivered his seminal “Confluence of t

ViewpointsApril 6, 2023

[Mohammed Soliman] New Asian order is emerging

[Wang Son-taek] China diplomacy is shining. Where is the US?

Chinese diplomacy is being highlighted in the international theater. As Chinese President Xi Jinping entered the mediation of the Russo-Ukrainian war, there has been increasing attention, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also showing a positive response. President Xi's moves have drawn even more regard since he was recently successful in assisting with a peace deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran. An interstate cease-fire or peace mediation is usually led by a hegemonic state li

ViewpointsApril 6, 2023

[Wang Son-taek] China diplomacy is shining. Where is the US?

[Editorial] Regulating ChatGPT

Tech buzzwords tend to come and go quickly. Remember the metaverse? Or the fourth industrial revolution, a concept that swept South Korea several years ago? Now, all attention is placed on what is called “generative AI,” led by OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The popularity of artificial intelligence-powered ChatGPT, which generates highly human responses to text queries based on algorithms and a vast volume of data sets, is sparking off a whole host of new phenomena in various applications

EditorialApril 6, 2023

[Doyle McManus] Ukraine’s offensive against Russia

After a winter of punishing but indecisive battles, Ukraine is preparing a long-promised spring offensive that officials hope will change the course of the war against Russia. The goal is to break Russia's hold on southern and eastern Ukraine and convince Russian President Vladimir Putin that his war has become a losing proposition. US officials say that if Ukraine succeeds, Putin could eventually agree to peace talks on terms acceptable to Ukraine. But if Ukraine fails, the conflict is lik

ViewpointsApril 5, 2023

[Doyle McManus] Ukraine’s offensive against Russia

[Kim Seong-kon] Balancing nationalism and globalism

There are certain English words that Koreans misunderstand due to awkward or erroneous translations. For example, the Korean translation of “people” is “gungmin” in the famous phrase from Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg address, “that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.” The Korean word, “gungmin,” means “citizens of a country.” However, the word “people” has nothing t

ViewpointsApril 5, 2023

[Kim Seong-kon] Balancing nationalism and globalism

[Editorial] Delaying the inevitable

It is indisputable that raising electricity and gas fees is the only solution in the current situation to prevent majority state-owned public enterprises Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) and Korea Gas Corp. (KOGAS) from going bankrupt. Their losses have snowballed because they failed to reflect sharp international energy price increases in their fees. KEPCO suffered an operating loss of 32.65 trillion won ($24.8 billion) last year alone. It has to pay 3.8 billion won each day in interest payme

EditorialApril 5, 2023

Indonesian foreign minister attends Iftar in Seoul

Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi (front row, center) attended the Iftar dinner hosted by Indonesian Ambassador Gandi Sulistiyanto (front row, fourth from right) in Yeouido, Seoul, last Wednesday. Iftar is a meal taken by Muslims at sunset to break the daily fast during Ramadan. Marsudi was in Seoul to attend the 2nd Summit for Democracy, the Indo-Pacific Regional Anti-Corruption Meeting and the 4th Indonesia-Korea Joint Commission Meeting (JCM). The dinner was followed by an informal

Foreign AffairsApril 4, 2023

Indonesian foreign minister attends Iftar in Seoul

[Adam Minter] Farmers are fighting for our right to repair our iPhones

The average Tesla-driving, iPhone-using suburbanite isn’t spending a lot of time worrying about tractor software payloads. They should, though. Fixing a broken-down farm tractor used to take just a wrench set and some elbow grease. Now repairs might require a mobile-device interface, online diagnostic tools and secure software updates, too. And that stuff isn't just sitting around in the barn. It’s mostly held at a shrinking number of manufacturer-authorized dealerships. As a

ViewpointsApril 4, 2023

[Adam Minter] Farmers are fighting for our right to repair our iPhones

[Editorial] Decline in tax revenue

A drop in tax revenue is inevitable when the broader economy slows down and corporations suffer operating losses. But the country's tax revenue is currently declining at a worrisome pace, prompting policymakers to discuss the need for raising taxes. According to data from the Ministry of Economy and Finance, South Korea’s tax revenue amounted to 54.2 trillion won ($41 billion) in the first two months of this year, down 15.7 trillion won from the 69.9 trillion won recorded over the sam

EditorialApril 4, 2023