[Editorial] Opening rice market

Korea has decided to open its rice market next year, inviting strong opposition from special interests representing farmers. Now the question is how high a tariff it can impose on rice imports to protect the embattled domestic rice growers.In the past, Korea has tried to protect the domestic market by limiting imports to the minimum level permitted under the Uruguay Round of trade negotiations. The minimum market access, which is set to increase incrementally in the coming years, has now reached

July 20, 2014

[Editorial] Ill-advised policy

Domestic demand is weak. It is so weak that the administration is attempting to resuscitate it by any means possible. Some of the efforts, however, are more laughable than laudable.One such example is a ban on government employees taking overseas holiday trips. Schoolteachers and other government officials have been told to exercise self-restraint about going out of the country for summer break, with “self-restraint” being a euphemism for an outright ban in the Korean bureaucracy.In addition, th

July 18, 2014

[Editorial] Stress on safety

Intercity express buses had had to pick up passengers at each bus stop, whether their seats were fully occupied or not, until the new rule permitting no straphangers went into effect earlier this week. The change in policy on public transportation was designed to enhance passenger safety, especially on expressways linking Seoul and its satellite cities.The new rule did not create any of the chaos that had been anticipated for the mass transit system in Seoul’s metropolitan area. Nor were there v

July 18, 2014

[Editorial] No more fiascos

The exit of two minister nominees this week is yet more evidence of President Park Geun-hye’s personnel mismanagement. The problem is that the end of the latest nomination scandals does not resolve public misgivings about the way she picks candidates for senior government posts. Chung Sung-keun, Park’s nominee for culture minister, withdrew his name Wednesday in the face of mounting public and opposition criticism. Chung’s decision to give up nomination followed Park’s decision to cancel her nom

July 17, 2014

[Editorial] Threat from within

The defense industry is certainly vulnerable to corruption. Yet, the recent case in which seven people, including retired and serving military officers, were indicted for trading military secrets is truly upsetting. State and military prosecutors said earlier this week that after a joint investigation, they indicted three active military officers and four others on charges of violating the Military Secrets Protection Act. They said two executives of a defense contractor, one of them a retired Na

July 17, 2014

[Editorial] Unification committee

South Korea launched a presidential blue-ribbon committee devoted to making preparations for inter-Korean unification Tuesday. The 50-member panel, aided by 31 experts and 68 advisers, will be tasked with laying the groundwork for the reunification of the two Koreas, which have been divided for more than six decades, through joint work between government policymakers and private-sector pundits.President Park Geun-hye disclosed the plan to set up the committee in time for the first anniversary of

July 16, 2014

[Editorial] Increasing labor disputes

Concerns are growing that the sluggish Korean economy, struggling with slumping consumer spending and the steep appreciation of the won, may be further held back by increasing labor disputes in the months to come.Thousands of unionized truckers across the country staged a one-day strike Monday, asking for the early passage of a bill designed to improve their working conditions. They threatened to go on a general strike unless their demand is met soon.Most automakers are also facing the prospect

July 16, 2014

[Editorial] Angry calls

Families of the victims of the Sewol ferry sinking, who are still battling the agony of losing their loved ones, are stepping up their protest against politicians over the slow progress of the work to legislate a special act. A group of the families began a hunger strike near the National Assembly on Monday. The hunger strike followed an overnight sit-in protest they staged over the weekend.Their protest targets the ruling and opposition parties, which had been negotiating a special act that aim

July 15, 2014

[Editorial] After the victory

It had been expected to be a close race, but Rep. Kim Moo-sung easily defeated his archrival, Rep. Suh Chung-won, in Monday’s vote for leadership of the ruling Saenuri Party. Kim, a five-term lawmaker who once had been alienated from President Park Geun-hye, won about 52,000 votes, compared with 38,000 for Suh, a seven-term lawmaker and leader of the party’s mainstream faction loyal to Park. The leadership race, which also elected Suh and three other members of the top decision-making Supreme Co

July 15, 2014

[Editorial] Alliance of cities

In an event that should have drawn wider attention, urban research institutes representing five Asian megacities held an inaugural forum in Seoul last Friday. Participants in the first meeting of the Megacity Think Tanks Alliance discussed risks facing megacities in Asia and cooperative measures for resolving them.The launch of MeTTA comes at a time when the need for sharing experience and knowledge to settle urban problems is growing amid the increasing transnational competition between cities.

July 14, 2014

[Editorial] Demographic structure

Koreans have grown accustomed to concerns about the problems that will result from their country’s chronically low birthrate and rapidly aging population. Data released last week, however, painted yet another gloomy ― and even more alarming ― picture of Korea’s demographic structure. According to figures from the national statistics office, the number of people aged 9-24 stood at 9.84 million this year, accounting for 19.5 percent of the total population, the lowest level ever.The proportion of

July 14, 2014

[Editorial] Ugly professors

There is some dissent over the recent election of the new president of Seoul National University. Professors who oppose Sung Nak-in, who is to take office in a week, threatened to take group action and arranged to meet Monday to discuss the issue. The root cause of the dispute at the nation’s top university lies with, among other things, the complicated method of choosing its president. Originally, there were 12 candidates. A presidential recommendation panel consisting of 20 members from within

July 13, 2014

[Editorial] Dusting off the Diamond

On Nov. 18, 1998, a group of 826 South Korean tourists visited Mount Geumgangsan in North Korea aboard a cruise ship. The historic tour program was initiated by Chung Ju-yung, the late founder of Hyundai Group, with the backing of both Korean governments.Along with the Gaeseong industrial park, which started operation in 2004, the tour program to the scenic area, whose name translates as “Diamond Mountain,” rightly became a symbol of reconciliation and cooperation between the two Koreas. For the

July 13, 2014

[Editorial] Change in labor policy

Exports have in the past fueled growth in Korea. In a virtuous circle, robust exports have produced huge trade surpluses and encouraged businesses and enterprises to spend on new factories. Still better, they helped to fatten consumer pockets.In other words, exports and export-led domestic demand have generated high rates of growth. But exports, which now have lost much of their momentum, are not regarded as a powerful an engine of growth as before.True, Korean exports continue to produce trade

July 11, 2014

[Editorial] Strategic nominations

Members of the National Assembly have dual status. On one hand, they represent the legislature, with powers and responsibilities divided among the three branches of government. On the other, most of them represent an electoral district whose constituents have elected them to the National Assembly.Of immediate concern to voters, however, is district representation. It is only a matter of course that constituents in a district, when an election comes around, desire to pick the one candidate that t

July 11, 2014

Uber’s price policy makes economists sad

New York just killed every economist’s favorite thing about Uber: surge pricing. Sure, many economists also love convenient car service at the touch of a button. But black-car services have been around for a long time. Explicit surge pricing ― which both creates new supply and rations demand ― has not, but it’s long been a core feature of Uber Technologies Inc.’s business model. While it can be annoying at times (during a recent rainstorm, I noticed a sudden epidemic of drivers canceling rides,

July 11, 2014

[Editorial] Pacific trade accord

Korea will probably conclude free trade agreements with its major trade partners by the end of the year, with President Park Geun-hye and her Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, having finally agreed to wrap up negotiations on a bilateral trade accord by December.The only exception will be Japan, negotiations with which are now stalled. There is little likelihood that they will resume anytime soon, given that Korea has sharply reduced its diplomatic contact with Japan, which is attempting to rewrit

July 10, 2014

[Editorial] Anticorruption bill

Despite assurances from political parties, many suspect that they will again take no action on a new, strengthened anticorruption bill. No one can be blamed for harboring such suspicions, given that the parties reneged on their earlier promise to pass the bill under a bipartisan accord. In what is perceived by many as an attempt to sabotage the bill’s passage, members of the National Policy Committee continue to bring up minor issues instead of taking the plunge and putting it to a vote. That wa

July 10, 2014

[Editorial] Welcome, but ...

North Korea has said it will send a cheerleading squad to the Incheon Asian Games in September, the latest in a series of peace overtures toward South Korea. It follows Pyongyang’s earlier decision in May to send about 150 athletes to the event. The North Korean cheerleading group, which is expected to number about 100 people, will be the fourth of its kind and the first since a similar squad accompanied athletes participating in the 2005 Asian Athletics Championships in Incheon.Although it cert

July 9, 2014

[Editorial] Will it work?

The government’s plan to overhaul the nation’s safety system and fight corruption, prompted by the tragic sinking of the Sewol ferry, is drawing public criticism for, among others, its lack of substance and concrete timetable. All the criticism is warranted. The plan, announced Tuesday by Prime Minister Chung Hong-won, calls for the establishment of a “pan-national committee for the grand rebuilding of the nation.” The committee, to be overseen by the prime minister, will have subpanels, dealing

July 9, 2014