[Editorial] Time running out

The sixth round of talks between Korea and Japan on the issue of Japanese military sex slavery during World War II on Monday appears to have ended on a positive note, fanning hopes that the issue may be resolved this year, which marks the 50th anniversary of normalization of ties between the two countries.Monday’s talks lasted more than three hours, an improvement over the previous meeting in November when the two sides merely confirmed their differences. In her New Year’s press conference on Ja

Jan. 20, 2015

[Editorial] Tragedy of a defector

North Korean defector Shin Dong-hyuk, whose testimony of life in a North Korean gulag before his escape in 2005 propelled the unprecedented effort by the international community to address the brutal human rights abuses in the totalitarian state, has recanted parts of his story, potentially dealing a blow to the movement for which he was a poster boy.Questions about the veracity of Shin’s story told in “Escape from Camp 14,” written by former Washington Post journalist Blaine Harden and publishe

Jan. 20, 2015

[Editorial] Lowest approval rating

President Park Geun-hye should not have been surprised by the result of an opinion poll released Friday, which showed her approval rating had plunged to the lowest level since she took office in February 2013. The survey conducted by Gallup Korea of 1,002 adult Koreans found that 55 percent of respondents disapproved of the way Park has been handling her work while 35 percent expressed satisfaction with her performance.The low rating was seen mainly as a public backlash against her New Year news

Jan. 19, 2015

[Editorial] Day care nightmare

A day care worker was arrested Saturday on charges of child abuse after closed-circuit TV footage showing her slapping a 4-year-old girl sparked public outrage across the country early last week. A police investigation revealed the 33-year-old female worker had abused other preschool children at the day care facility in Incheon on at least four other occasions since September.Ruling Saenuri Party leader Kim Moo-sung described the taped scene of the little girl being beaten to the floor by her na

Jan. 19, 2015

[Editorial] Fair reform

Last week, we were given a rare glimpse of military salaries. It was interesting to know that our top men and women in uniform receive fairly decent paychecks, if not as fat as those of people in the corporate and financial sectors. The 2014 Defense Statistics Annual Report, which made the first-ever public disclosure of details of service members’ salaries, showed that the annual salary of a four-star general averaged 128.4 million won ($118,000) and a lieutenant general receives 121.7 million

Jan. 18, 2015

[Editorial] Long overdue

The Nuclear Safety and Security Commission again delayed its already long overdue decision on whether or not to allow the extension of the operation of the country’s second-oldest reactor.The nuclear watchdog said its commissioners failed to reach an agreement in a meeting last week on the future of nuclear reactor unit 1 at Wolseong Nuclear Power Plant in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province. The 30-year design life of unit 1 began in 1982 and the 678-megawatt reactor began commercial operations

Jan. 18, 2015

[Editorial] Coordinated position

In her New Year news conference Monday, President Park Geun-hye said the latest U.S. sanctions on North Korea for its alleged hack on Sony Pictures would not derail Seoul’s efforts to push for talks with Pyongyang. But it seems that her administration’s recent moves toward resuming inter-Korean dialogue are set to be moderated by a hardening U.S. stance against the North.Speaking at a House committee hearing the day after Park’s news conference, a senior U.S. diplomat said the U.S. “is using the

Jan. 16, 2015

[Editorial] Illegal immigrants

Few Koreans would deny their country should accept more immigrants to maintain and enhance its demographic vitality and growth momentum.A report published by a local think tank last year warned that Korea’s potential growth rate ― an economy’s maximum capacity to grow without causing additional inflation ― would fall below 1 percent in 2050, due to a shrinking working-age population. According to the report, the country needs to let in a total of 9.26 million immigrants by 2030 and 14.79 million

Jan. 16, 2015

[Editorial] Crying foul

The election campaign to select the new leader of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy is heating up as the Feb. 8 voting day draws closer. But the campaign is gaining little public attention because, as expected, it is simply turning into a battle that worsens the party’s deep-rooted factional strife, rather than providing a stage on which the contestants present visions for the country’s largest opposition group.Both leading candidates ― Moon Jae-in and Park Jie-won, who rep

Jan. 15, 2015

[Editorial] Carbon trading

Korea launched its carbon trading market this week, which government officials hope will help the nation meet its international commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and foster green industries.As expected, the market got off to a slow start, registering thin trading in terms of the volumes and values of the carbon emission allowances that changed hands. As officials say, it will take some time for the market to take root. Korea opened the market under a law it enacted in 2009, which gi

Jan. 15, 2015

[Editorial] Hope for change dashed

President Park Geun-hye’s New Year press conference further cemented the public’s perception of the president as being out of touch with the general public sentiment, an unfortunate turn of events as the Blue House had sought to dispel this image of the president through the rare press conference ― only the second press conference since Park’s inauguration in February 2013.While the economy was foremost in Park’s mind, judging from the numerous times the word “economy” was said during her speech

Jan. 14, 2015

[Editorial] Terrorists, take note

Defying the terrorist attack that claimed the lives of 10 of its staff last week, the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo published a special “survivors’ issue” featuring the Prophet Mohammad on the front page, wearing a white turban and holding a card that reads “Je suis Charlie” under the phrase “All is forgiven.”The two terrorists who attacked the Charlie Hebdo office in Paris on Jan. 7 claimed they were taking revenge for the magazine’s previous publications of Mohammad cartoons. Many Isla

Jan. 14, 2015

[Editorial] ‘Passion pay’

Nearly 1 in 10 Korean youths in their 20s was jobless last year. The youth unemployment rate at 9.1 percent was the highest since the country was hit by the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis.This growing number of unemployed young people is mainly related to the glut of college graduates who have failed to land decent jobs that can meet their expectations. The intense competition for a limited number of jobs has made many young job seekers ready to work as interns at some preferred workplaces for l

Jan. 13, 2015

[Editorial] Groundwork for unification

To some critics, President Park Geun-hye might have seemed more flexible toward North Korea’s recalcitrant regime than toward domestic calls for her to overhaul her way of handling state affairs and communicating with the people in her New Year news conference Monday.Park clearly expressed her willingness to improve ties with the North despite its recent elusive attitude and the escalating confrontation between Washington and Pyongyang. She held out the prospect of an unconditional summit with N

Jan. 13, 2015

[Editorial] Shin’s deportation

The deportation of a Korean-American woman accused of engaging in pro-North Korean activity has become a fresh issue of contention between conservatives and progressives, and touched off a controversy over freedom of speech in the country.Shin Eun-mi was deported Saturday under a decision by the Korea Immigration Service, which reviewed her case at the request of the prosecution. Shin, who arrived in Los Angeles on a Korean Air flight the following day, will be barred from entering South Korea f

Jan. 12, 2015

[Editorial] Make the most of it

The recent plunge in global oil prices is increasing uncertainties in the global economy. There are both positive and negative aspects of the rapid drop in oil prices, and there are conflicting forecasts about their future movement. What seems to be certain, however, is that oil prices will remain low for a long time.The tumbling oil prices are already hurting oil-exporting countries like Russia and Venezuela and invoking a fear of deflation in Europe and elsewhere. The fall of the Russian ruble

Jan. 12, 2015

[Editorial] Blue House in disarray

Koreans may have gotten a glimpse of the goings-on inside the Blue House Friday when Senior Presidential Secretary for Civil Affairs Kim Young-han refused to appear before a parliamentary hearing, in insubordination to his superior, Presidential Chief of Staff Kim Ki-choon.The day will go down in public memory as ignoble for the Blue House when its apparent state of disorder was laid bare for all to see during the live broadcast of the National Assembly Steering Committee hearing.It was only a f

Jan. 11, 2015

[Editorial] Courting danger

Saturday morning’s fire at an apartment in Uijeongbu, north of Seoul, claimed four lives and injured 124 with the death toll likely to rise as several of the patients are listed in critical condition. While the cause of the fire has not been determined, it is known that the fire spread very rapidly in the 10-story apartment building ― the entire building was engulfed in flames about 15 minutes after the fire started ― and also spread to other adjacent apartment buildings. Three apartment buildin

Jan. 11, 2015

[Editorial] Frank communicator

One of the most common criticisms directed at President Park Geun-hye is that she is a bad communicator ― not in the sense that she is a bad speaker, but in the sense that she is not a good listener and tends to avoid open exchanges of ideas and discussions even with senior administration officials. It is often pointed out that Park prefers reading reports and that it is not easy for Cabinet ministers or senior Blue House aides to meet her in person even though they have something to report or d

Jan. 9, 2015

[Editorial] Confidence matters

Hyundai Motor Group has announced plans to invest nearly 81 trillion won ($73 billion) over the next four years. This is good news for the Korean economy, which desperately needs corporate investment and consumer spending to overcome the current difficulties. Hyundai said it will spend an average of 20.2 trillion won through 2018 to expand its production facilities and augment research and development programs. This annual investment budget would be far larger than the previous all-time high of

Jan. 9, 2015