[Editorial] Dilemma of Kim dynasty

In her Liberation Day speech given a day after South and North Korea agreed to reopen a joint industrial complex, President Park Geun-hye proposed that the two sides hold reunions for separated families and establish a peace park in the heavily-fortified strip of land dividing them. The realization of her proposals, which appear to reflect her increasing confidence in dealing with Pyongyang, would help significantly thaw the frozen ties between the two Koreas.How far her process of inter-Korean

Aug. 15, 2013

[Editorial] Reality check for Park

It took less than a day for Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok to come up with a revised tax reform plan after President Park Geun-hye sent the original version back to the drawing board.Park told officials Monday to start again from scratch as the ministry’s proposal triggered a massive outcry from middle-income taxpayers. The plan proposed to collect more taxes from workers with annual income of 34.5 million won or more.On Tuesday, Hyun briefed the leaders of the ruling Saenuri Party on the amended

Aug. 14, 2013

[Editorial] Heat wave

The sweltering heat wave shows no signs of letting up, forcing the nation to continue its all-out struggle to avoid a major power shortage.For weeks, temperatures have remained at an unusually high level across the nation. In some areas, including Ulsan and Gimhae in South Gyeongsang Province, the mercury rose to 40 degrees Celsius, setting new highs. The relentless heat wave pushed electricity consumption to levels far exceeding those forecast by power authorities, threatening to cause serious

Aug. 14, 2013

[Editorial] As we turn 60

On Aug. 15, 1953, Koreans marked the eighth anniversary of their liberation from Japan’s colonial rule in the ashes of a just-ended fratricidal war. Enduring hardships and privations in the days following the three-year conflict, they were never overwhelmed by their colossal mishap and kept the aspiration and determination to build a secure and prosperous modern nation.It was on that day under this atmosphere that The Korean Republic, which was renamed The Korea Herald a dozen years later, was l

Aug. 13, 2013

[Editorial] Partisan deadlock

The standoff between the ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition Democratic Party is deepening as the government’s controversial tax reform proposal has provided fresh ammunition for the opposition party to attack the ruling camp.On Monday, the Democratic Party seized upon the unpopular tax plan to step up its assault on President Park Geun-hye. It kicked off a nationwide signature collection drive to thwart the reform plan, which was unveiled Thursday to levy more taxes on people in the mi

Aug. 12, 2013

[Editorial] Abe’s wrongheaded move

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has taken another step toward allowing Japan to exercise the right to collective self-defense, causing concern in Japan and neighboring countries. Abe recently appointed Ambassador to France Ichiro Komatsu to head the Cabinet Legislation Bureau, which advises Cabinet members on legal issues and examines the government’s legislative proposals. The appointment is widely seen as reflecting Abe’s intention to lift Japan’s self-imposed ban on engaging in collective

Aug. 12, 2013

[Editorial] No special amnesty

President Park Geun-hye is reportedly planning to set herself apart from her predecessors by withholding the use of special presidential amnesty ahead of Liberation Day this coming Thursday. This is a rare piece of welcome news.First as a presidential candidate and later as president-elect, she repeatedly committed herself to putting strict restrictions on her use of special amnesty. She promised not to pardon senior public officeholders, politicians and businessmen serving prison terms simply b

Aug. 11, 2013

[Editorial] Revenue shortage

The promotion of happiness for all people is the catchphrase of President Park Geun-hye’s administration. During the run-up to the presidential election last December, she said she would spend 135 trillion won on her new projects designed to make all people happy ― many of them focusing on welfare.Her administration, which started to flesh out her five-year spending plan upon its inauguration in February, said it would save a large sum of money by reducing spending waste to the minimum, removing

Aug. 11, 2013

[Editorial] Japan’s wartime flag

The Japanese government under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is reportedly moving to permit the use of the wartime rising-sun flag ― a symbol of horror to Asian victims of Japanese colonial aggression. If a recent report by the Sankei Shimbun, a conservative Japanese daily, is true, it shows the true colors of the right-wing, revisionist Abe government again.Abe implied he was denying Japan’s imperialist aggression against its Asian neighbors when he impudently claimed that there was no established d

Aug. 9, 2013

[Editorial] Back to normal soon?

Brinkmanship often works in inter-Korean negotiations, as it does in other settings. This time, however, it is not Pyongyang but Seoul that has given the ultimatum. And the brinkmanship has worked.On Wednesday, South Korea authorized 280.9 billion won ($250.1 million) in insurance payments to its companies that had been forced to suspend manufacturing in the North Korean border town of Gaeseong during the past four months. The decision to make insurance payments was a thinly veiled ultimatum tow

Aug. 9, 2013

[Editorial] Real-name accounting

Twenty years have passed since Korea introduced a real-name financial transaction system. On Aug. 12, 1993, President Kim Young-sam issued a presidential order prohibiting individuals from engaging in financial transactions in other people’s names. The ban was revolutionary at the time, as many people carried out financial transactions under borrowed names to conceal their assets. For the past two decades, the real-name system has played a significant role in making Korean society more transpare

Aug. 8, 2013

[Editorial] Fostering creative talent

President Park Geun-hye’s economic vision is to make Korea a “creative economy,” which is driven by creative entrepreneurship and a convergence of technologies and industries.But it is a vision difficult to attain, as it calls for a departure from the growth paradigm that Korea has been dependent on for decades.In education, Park’s vision is to cultivate creative individuals who can help the nation’s economy thrive on creative endeavors. This vision may be even more difficult to accomplish as it

Aug. 8, 2013

[Editorial] Tax code revision

A government committee is to hold a meeting Thursday to fix a tax code revision bill, which is expected to include measures to increase revenue to fill widening fiscal gaps amid the prolonged economic slump. State budget planners have been pressed by the ruling Saenuri Party to reconsider their plan to reduce tax deductions for middle-income salaried workers more steeply. They do not seem poised to succumb to this pressure, saying they have already taken into account demands from the political c

Aug. 7, 2013

[Editorial] Legal groundwork

It may sound out of tune with the current inter-Korean situation to emphasize the need for legal study in preparation for the reunification of the South and the North. After six rounds of talks, the two sides have yet to bridge gaps over conditions for reopening a joint industrial complex that was suspended in April amid mounting tensions on the Korean Peninsula. Discarding the last remaining symbol of inter-Korean cooperation, which Seoul seems ready to risk if Pyongyang continues to reject saf

Aug. 7, 2013

[Editorial] Endless battle

Will Samsung Electronics be able to turn the tables on Apple Inc. even after the U.S. government’s unexpected overruling of a sales ban on some older iPhone models in the American market? That’s the question being raised as Samsung continues its legal battle against Apple. The world’s No. 1 smartphone maker disclosed Monday that it has submitted an appeal against a June ruling by the U.S. International Trade Commission that Apple was not violating some of its patents.In June, the ITC did rule th

Aug. 6, 2013

[Editorial] Surprise reshuffle

President Park Geun-hye’s reshuffle of her secretariat, which was announced Monday, was surprising in terms of both scale and timing. Upon returning from her brief summer vacation, she replaced half of her 10 senior secretaries, including the chief of staff. Few expected such a sweeping reshuffle from a president who was inaugurated less than six months ago. Announcing the surprise shake-up, presidential press secretary Lee Jung-hyun said it was intended to “implement policies more aggressively

Aug. 6, 2013

[Editorial] Transparent accounting

Nongovernmental organizations are required to apply stricter rules to their financial management than other entities. If they are to keep public trust and be in a position to oversee government agencies and business corporations, they should be transparent on using money donated by people or channeled from the state coffers.Regretful to say, many NGOs in Korea have not been so, inviting calls for tighter measures to enhance the transparency of their accounting. In recent years, a string of misap

Aug. 5, 2013

[Editorial] Presidential initiative

President Park Geun-hye has remained unenthusiastic about a proposal made by the main opposition party leader Saturday to hold talks on a parliamentary probe into the state spy agency’s alleged interference in last December’s presidential election.The offer came two days after the Democratic Party launched a street protest against what it called the ruling Saenuri Party’s attempt to sabotage the inquiry into allegations that the National Intelligence Service ran an online operation to turn publi

Aug. 5, 2013

[Editorial] Icy ties with Japan

There are few signs of a thaw in Korea’s frozen relations with Japan as Aug. 15, the anniversary of liberation for Koreans and that of surrender for the Japanese, approaches. On the contrary, the bilateral ties are worsening with leading Japanese politicians ruffling the feathers of Korean people by making senseless remarks and taking ill-conceived actions.A case in point is the aftermath of the July 28 soccer match in Seoul, during which South Koreans unfurled a banner that read, “There is no f

Aug. 4, 2013

[Editorial] Fish import rumors

Late last month, Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator of the crippled nuclear plant in Fukushima, acknowledged a delay in making public that contaminated water was leaking into the sea. It came up with a lame excuse that it did not want to worry the public until it was certain that there was a problem before making such a “major announcement.”It should not come as a surprise that TEPCO hid its findings until after the House of Councilors election. It is conceivable that it did not want to rub

Aug. 4, 2013