[Editorial] Cosmetic change

The Blue House appointments President Park Geun-hye made Sunday are more evidence that she will not be swayed by the ruling party’s defeat in the April 16 parliamentary election. Park had already expressed her reluctance to admit her wrongdoing -- that she and her associates interfered with the candidate nominations for the election -- and take due steps, such as a sizable shakeup of the Cabinet and the Blue House. Accordingly, the appointment of Lee Won-jong, chief of the Presidential Commissio

May 16, 2016

[Editorial] One month after defeat

The ruling Saenuri Party plans to hold a national committee Tuesday to launch two panels that will lead reform efforts in the party that have been necessitated by the devastating defeat in the April 16 parliamentary election. The national committee is expected to endorse the launch of an “emergency” leadership body to be headed by floor leader Chung Jin-suk and a reform committee to be headed by Kim Yong-tae, a three-term lawmakers from western Seoul. Party officials say the caretaker leadership

May 16, 2016

[Editorial] Off to a good start

The Friday meeting between President Park Geun-hye and the new floor leaders and chief policymakers of the three major political parties was a welcome first step toward collaboration in dealing with state affairs.　At the meeting, Park offered to meet with heads of the three parties every quarter, an overture that showed her attitude toward the opposition camp has changed following the ruling Saenuri Party’s humiliating defeat in the April 13 general election.　The president also demonstrated her

May 15, 2016

[Editorial] Unscrupulous deals

Prosecutors have launched an investigation into allegations that thousands of government officials working in Sejong City have illegally resold their ownership rights in apartments in the city to earn undue gains.　Investigators have raided six large real estate agencies in the city and seized their transaction files and records. The probe was prompted by a request from the city government, which has confirmed the involvement of realtors in the alleged illegal property deals by public officials.　

May 15, 2016

[Editorial] Snowballing scandal

As anticipated, the case involving cosmetics firm Nature Republic’s CEO Jung Woon-ho is growing into a major corruption scandal that threatens to implicate incumbent prosecutors and judges.At the center of the case are allegations that Jung attempted -- through the help of lawyers and middle men -- to buy the influence of prosecutors and judges to get a lighter punishment for his illegal gambling charges.The scandal has already put a senior-judge-turned-lawyer into custody and forced a senior ju

May 13, 2016

[Editorial] Obama in Hiroshima

U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to Hiroshima later this month will have many implications for the world and South Korea as well.Most of all, the first visit by the incumbent U.S. leader to the place where it dropped an atomic bomb 71 years ago should reawaken the world to the need to get rid of the most menacing weapon of destruction ever made by mankind.In fact, Obama has tried to build nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation as a key legacy of his presidency. He kicked off his denucleariz

May 13, 2016

[Editorial] Fine dust

The government has poured more than 3 trillion won ($2.5 billion) into the air quality control sector over the past decade. However, a revelation from the Board of Audit and Inspection indicated that the ministry had failed to identify the main pollutants causing air pollution and erroneously measured the amount of fine dust in the air.The fine dust that swept over the Seoul metropolitan area and some major cities over the past two months came mostly from China and Mongolia’s sand storms. But a

May 12, 2016

[Editorial] Penalty-free cartels

The antitrust regulator has just issued a kind of verbal warning to the nation’s eight major duty-free operators for cartel behavior, without handing down any fines.The duty-free shops were found to have engaged in price-fixing by setting irregular foreign exchange rates for 63 months from 2008 to 2012. The players are Shilla, Walkerhill, Dongwha, the Korea Tourism Organization and four Lotte affiliates.Given that the Fair Trade Commission looked into the case for about four years, it is not sat

May 12, 2016

[Editorial] Anti-graft law

In March last year, the National Assembly passed a drastic bill aimed at rooting out corruption among public officials. The bill was considered so draconian that lawmakers delayed its implementation to September this year to give people enough time to prepare for it.The legislation, commonly called the Kim Young-ran Act, is basically intended to plug a big loophole in existing laws. Currently, it is difficult to punish public officials who have received large amounts of money from businessmen if

May 11, 2016

[Editorial] Performance-based pay

The government’s push to introduce a performance-based pay system at public institutions is facing growing resistance from trade unions.As part of its campaign to reform the public sector, the government has been pressuring 120 public institutions to introduce performance-based pay by the end of this year.   But progress has been slow. The Ministry of Strategy and Finance said Monday has said that only 53 institutions have adopted merit-based pay and promotion systems so far. 　Resistance to meri

May 11, 2016

[Editorial] Ethical standards

As expected, new allegations and accusations are coming up one after another as prosecutors dig into the case of the deadly humidifier sterilizers that killed more than 100 people. One of the allegations hit a seemingly unlikely group of people -- academics -- as at least two university professors have been implicated in the case that has generated a public outcry and forced government officials and politicians to take action.  The two professors -- one from Seoul National University and the oth

May 10, 2016

[Editorial] N.K. congress

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un clearly showed what was on his mind through the ruling Workers’ Party congress: He wanted to crown himself as the supreme leader of the country and use nuclear bombs to symbolize his ascension. As it turned out, the congress, which opened Friday in Pyongyang, did not result in any major decisions or policy blueprints befitting a high-profile political event held for the first time in 36 years. It is apparent that by holding an event that even his father skipped be

May 10, 2016

[Editorial] Senior strife

Statistics Korea data shows that 1 in 5 seniors aged 65 or over are living alone. The number of senior citizens living in solitude has continued to increase over the past decade, and the future growth is projected to be more rapid.　And some local demographers predict that by 2035, 15.4 percent of all households will be seniors who live alone.　The seriousness of the situation is evident from a survey by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, which found that more than 4 out of every 1

May 9, 2016

[Editorial] Full disclosure

South Korea has introduced the English disclosure system, through which investors can access corporate regulatory filings both in Korean and English. This is a major development in the stock market, which was opened to foreign investors in 1992.　The collective market capitalization of publicly traded companies on the main and secondary bourses is the 13th-biggest in the world with about 1.2 quadrillion won ($1.03 trillion). Considering the scale and policy aims of Korea‘s globalized investment e

May 9, 2016

[Editorial] Unwarranted appointments

On May 2, Choi Gye-woon stepped down as CEO of the Korea Water Resources Corp. His resignation drew attention as there was no particular reason for him to step down six months before the expiration of his term.　A former university professor, Choi is recognized as one of Korea’s top experts in water management. Until recently, he had been passionate about his work. In March, he was elected the first president of the Asia Water Council.　Choi’s abrupt resignation spawned speculation that he had bee

May 8, 2016

[Editorial] Gripped by illusion

North Korea has officially kicked off the era of Kim Jong-un by reaffirming his unchallenged one-man rule at a rare congress of its ruling Workers’ Party.　The party congress is being held for the first time in 36 years. The young leader’s father, Kim Jong-il, had never convened it during his reign for 17 years because his father, Kim Il-sung, the founder of the communist country, told him not to hold a congress until “everyone lived in tile-roofed houses with a hot bowl of rice and beef soup eve

May 8, 2016

[Editorial] New floor leaders

The three major political parties have all picked their new floor leaders amid high expectations for a more productive National Assembly.The three new whips have one thing in common: strong communication skills. Effective communication is essential to successful political negotiations, but it remains to be seen whether the new leaders would be able to handle knotty issues through dialogue and collaboration.The Minjoo Party of Korea, the main opposition party, elected Rep. Woo Sang-ho as its new

May 5, 2016

[Editorial] Trump’s ascension

The upcoming U.S. presidential election will almost certainly be a showdown between Hillary Clinton of the Democratic Party and Donald Trump of the Republican Party, as the two candidates have each all but clinched the nominations of their parties.A former first lady, Clinton has already cleared the way to become the Democratic nominee. Her victories in four states last week gave her an almost unbeatable lead over runner-up Bernie Sanders in terms of the number of delegates.Real estate mogul Don

May 5, 2016

[Editorial] Social germs

The case of harmful sterilizers used in humidifiers shows that a combination of social germs, such as money-grubbing corporations and negligent government officials, could pose an immense threat to public health. The primary blame, of course, should go to the makers of the toxic sterilizers, which have claimed the lives of more than 100 people since 2002, including pregnant women and babies. Outrageously, Oxy Reckitt Benckiser, the leading maker of the sterilizers, and other suppliers tried to s

May 4, 2016

[Editorial] Fair society

One essential thing you need to live in a fair society is solid legal justice, for which highly ethical and capable legal professionals -- prosecutors, judges and lawyers -- are indispensable. Sadly, this is not the case with Korean society. A recent case highlights that the legal community is as vulnerable to corruption as other sectors of society. The central figure in the latest scandal involving legal professionals is Jung Woon-ho, CEO of cosmetics firm Nature Republic, who is serving a pris

May 4, 2016