[Editorial] Reality check

The victory of Google’s computer program AlphaGo over Korean Go master Lee Se-dol in the recent “match of the century” came as a shock to many Koreans, whether they were fans of the classic board game or not.Before the match, Lee was expected to win the best-of-five match without difficulty. The gifted Go master himself was confident of a 5-0 victory.But the artificial intelligence program, armed with its powerful self-learning ability, proved to be much stronger than expected. Lee, who represen

March 18, 2016

[Editorial] Living with diversity

It is irreversible. Korea cannot go back to the time when it boasted of its racial homogeneity. This is not simply because we need foreign workers to make up for the workforce shortage caused by the low birthrate and fast aging of society. But what we see around us and hear from experts and statisticians tells us that we Koreans are not yet as receptive to racial diversity as we should be. A recent study released by the Minister of Gender Equality and Family verified the situation. The study, ba

March 17, 2016

[Editorial] At Park’s whim

Politicians and the media that follow what they say and do often contrive expressions, some of which draw a nod of assent or raised eyebrows. Massacre is one such expression. The word is commonly used when a large number of members of a major party faction fail to get nomination for elections due to intraparty politics. This is exactly what is happening at the ruling Saenuri Party. Saenuri is not the only party undergoing upheavals over the nomination of candidates for the April 13 general elect

March 17, 2016

[Editorial] Baseball marketing

South Korea’s professional baseball league will mark the 35th anniversary of its foundation this year. The league, which is now composed of 10 teams, has elevated the sport’s global competitiveness after six teams made their debut in December 1981.Backed by continuous popularity and rapidly developing play skills of the domestic league, Korea has turned out a number of Major Leaguers, led by Park Chan-ho in the 1990s. In addition, Korea’s national team grabbed gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics a

March 16, 2016

[Editorial] Duty-free hurdles

The Finance Ministry is set to unveil amendments to regulations on duty-free businesses in the coming weeks. It seems that operators are busy calculating gains and losses from a possible revision of business clauses.Forthcoming changes to regulations governing the duty-free business are sparking both hopes and concerns among key stakeholders, such as Lotte, Shilla, Shinsegae and Doosan.Doubtless, current operators may be worried about a reduction in their share of the pie if the government eased

March 16, 2016

[Editorial] It takes a community

Despite increased preventive efforts, tragic child abuse cases continue to occur, indicating the need to make more concerted and systematic efforts to tackle the problem. The most recent high-profile case involved Shin Won-yeong, a 7-year-old boy in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, who died on Feb. 2 after three years of horrific abuse by his stepmother. The boy’s body was found buried on a hill in the city last weekend.The tragedy began when the boy’s father brought home the stepmother, surnamed

March 15, 2016

[Editorial] All-in-one account

Banks, brokerages and insurance companies have started to sell individual savings accounts, a new financial product designed to help workers and self-employed people grow their money.An ISA is a versatile account allowing customers to make deposits and at the same time manage a wide range of financial products, such as stock-type or bond-type funds, exchange-traded funds, and equity linked securities.To help people save money, the government will exempt ISAs from taxes on interest income of up t

March 15, 2016

[Editorial] Losing its senses

Factional strife within political parties usually reaches its peak ahead of general elections as each faction strives to get as many nomination tickets as possible. We expected the same for the April 13 election, but the infighting inside the parties -- especially the ruling Saenuri Party -- is really disappointing.Since the nomination process entered full swing, the party did not spend a single day without encountering disputes, accusations, controversies and rumors, with its two factions -- on

March 14, 2016

[Editorial] Kim‘s jitters

The U.S. navy’s nuclear-powered supercarrier USS John C. Stennis docked at Busan Port on Sunday in the latest reinforcement of U.S. military assets aimed at deterring North Korea from provocative acts.The carrier came to South Korea to participate in the allies’ annual joint military exercises, which this year are the largest ever, in the wake of North Korea’s recent nuclear test and long-range ballistic missile launch.Besides the carrier, the U.S. -- in a show of force aimed at deterring the No

March 14, 2016

[Editorial] Lee Se-dol evolves via AI

Champion Lee Se-dol finally beat AlphaGo in the fourth Go match on Sunday after losing ground to Google’s artificial intelligence program in the previous three matches last week.His win broke market expectations that few ninth-dan players, apart from Lee, would be able to outperform AlphaGo. Lee showed the possibility that human beings can evolve by studying AI-based machine’s tactics, and vice versa.Despite the first victory, the human defeat three times earlier led to despondency and fear amon

March 13, 2016

[Editorial] General elections close in

The nation’s general election will be held in a month. A total of 300 seats will be filled with lawmakers selected from 253 local constituencies and 47 lawmakers by proportional representation.A key issue is whether the opposition will block the Saenuri Party from gaining an overwhelming majority. The ruling party, which has the majority in the 19th Assembly with 157 seats, has set the target of attaining 180 seats.There are some worries in the divided opposition -- The Minjoo Party of Korea and

March 13, 2016

[Editorial] Real third way

Ahn Cheol-soo, coleader of the People’s Party, is under mounting internal pressure to tie up with the main opposition party to boost their chances of defeating the ruling party in the April 13 general elections. 　The pressure is led by the other coleader Chun Jung-bae and Kim Han-gil, the party’s chief campaigner. The two had failed to persuade Ahn in their three-way meeting the previous day and Kim said Friday he was resigning from his post.  　The argument of people like Kim and Chun is simple:

March 11, 2016

[Editorial] Bluffing or not

North Korea fired two missiles with a range of about 500 kilometers into the East Sea on Thursday. The latest provocation came one week after it sent rockets into the sea hours after the U.N. imposed new sanctions against its latest nuclear test and ballistic missile launch. 　These are part of the rogue regime’s usual responses to outside pressure like the international sanctions, which come amid the largest-ever South Korea-U.S. joint military drills. 　While these traditional provocations shoul

March 11, 2016

[Editorial] Iran summit needed

South Korea’s two major flag carriers have engaged in a tight rivalry to garner exclusive air traffic rights for the Incheon-Tehran route from the local Transportation Ministry amid exporters’ preparations to tap the lucrative Iranian market.The same sort of competition is seen in industrial sectors, such as oil refining, construction, shipbuilding, logistics, petrochemicals, mobile communications and automobiles. It is even fiercer when it comes to global businesses.A global rush to the Iranian

March 10, 2016

[Editorial] Pact with Putin

　In November 2013, President Park Geun-hye held a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Seoul and agreed to cooperate on a Russian-led project to develop a North Korean border port. It was hoped this would set the basis for a railway link from South Korea to Siberia.At the summit, Seoul and Moscow signed a memorandum of understanding for South Korean businesses to participate in the “Rajin-Khasan project” established by North Korea and Russia in 2008 to modernize the 54-kilometer railw

March 10, 2016

[Editorial] Competency-based society

Last year, the government began to introduce a competency-based recruitment system to public institutions as part of its efforts to change Korea’s hiring culture. The new recruitment system is based on the National Competency Standards, a wide-ranging set of standards that define the level of knowledge, skills and aptitudes required to perform each job in more than 800 occupations. The government began to develop the NCS in 2002 to help businesses hire workers based not on their educational back

March 9, 2016

[Editorial] Cyberthreats from N.K.

The state spy agency’s disclosure Tuesday that North Korea has launched cyberattacks against South Korea should not come as a surprise. The rogue state was widely expected to do so after the U.N. Security Council slapped the strongest ever sanctions on it earlier this month for its recent nuclear and missile provocations. Yet the latest cyberattacks are notable as they show the North’s cyberterrorism techniques have evolved. The National Intelligence Service said in a meeting of officials from 1

March 9, 2016

[Editorial] Deterring North Korea

North Korea raises tensions – usually by words and sometimes by provocative acts – at this time of the year, when South Korea and the U.S. hold annual joint military exercises. This year, the seasonal tension on the peninsula is being exacerbated by the U.N.-led international sanctions against the North’s recent nuclear test and launch of a rocket. Under the toughest-ever U.N. punishment of the North, the Philippines has already seized a North Korean ship. China, in a departure from its mediocre

March 8, 2016

[Editorial] Worst election

The current 19th National Assembly is said to be one of South Korea’s worst-ever parliaments, with critics pointing to its poor legislative performance, partisan standoffs and the numerous scandals that have hit its members. It is fortunate that its four-year term is drawing to an end. Unfortunately, the poor Koreans may have yet another bad parliament -- perhaps one even worse than the 19th Assembly. There are many bad omens. First, with only about 40 days left before the April 13 voting day, v

March 8, 2016

[Albert R. Hunt] Remembering the formidable Nancy Reagan

The list of influential modern first ladies always includes Eleanor Roosevelt and Hillary Clinton, but not usually Nancy Reagan. That’s a mistake.　Reagan, who died Sunday at 94, had a big influence on her husband, President Ronald Reagan, both in shaping White House operations in his first term and encouraging his breakthrough relations with the Soviet Union in his second.　For more than a half century, the Reagans’ love story was so intense that at times it burned at the expense of family, frien

March 8, 2016