[Editorial] Taxes on priests

The administration is working on a new tax policy, which officials say will be made public next week. Among those expected to be made worse off by the policy are Protestant and Buddhist clergy and some others holding religious office that have paid no income taxes in the past.A decades-long attempt to levy taxes on all incomes earned by clergy has been scuttled in the face of looming political backlash from religious communities ― powerful voting blocs. No wonder President Park Geun-hye’s admini

Aug. 2, 2013

[Editorial] Outdoor protest rally

On Thursday, more than 90 lawmakers affiliated with the Democratic Party abandoned air-conditioned conference rooms in the National Assembly and gathered for a protest rally in the scorching Seoul Plaza. Was it was going to be a prelude to raging anti-government street demonstrations or a one-time occasion to vent the anger of a frustrated opposition party?The outdoor protest was directed against the ruling Saenuri Party, which the lawmakers said was obstructing a scheduled parliamentary investi

Aug. 2, 2013

[Editorial] OPCON transfer

It may not be so proud for a nation to repeat calls for a delay in implementing a bilateral agreement with another country. In some cases, however, it can be more rational and important to put other critical considerations before pride.Though not all South Koreans may agree, there seems to be an increasingly prevalent sentiment here that Seoul should again put off taking over wartime operational control from Washington, which is scheduled for December 2015.South Korea handed over its operational

Aug. 1, 2013

[Editorial] Missing politics

The moderate leaders of the main opposition Democratic Party have lost ground to hard-line party members in the course of a backward-looking confrontation with the ruling Saenuri Party in recent months.The opposition party launched an outdoor campaign Thursday by setting up a makeshift headquarters at a central plaza in Seoul and holding a meeting of DP lawmakers there to pressure the ruling party to cooperate in a deadlocked parliamentary probe into the state spy agency’s alleged interference i

Aug. 1, 2013

[Editorial] Corrupt tax officials

Public trust in the nation’s tax office has taken another tumble with the emergence of allegations that a former chief of the National Tax Service took bribes from CJ Group in return for favors during a tax audit years ago.Prosecutors have already arrested Heo Byung-yik, a former deputy commissioner of the NTS, on suspicion that he took bribes from CJ, a food and entertainment conglomerate whose chairman, Lee Jay-hyun, was recently indicted on charges of dodging taxes and misappropriating corpor

July 31, 2013

[Editorial] Anti-corruption bill

The Cabinet has finally approved the so-called “Kim Young-ran Bill” aimed at rooting out corruption in officialdom. It was almost a year after Kim Young-ran, then chairwoman of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, first put forward a draft bill. The main cause of the long delay was disagreement between the anti-corruption commission and the Ministry of Justice over some of Kim’s proposals.Kim, who had also served as a Supreme Court justice, wrote the bill to plug the big loopholes in

July 31, 2013

[Editorial] Facilitating investment

Samsung Electronics Co. announced last week that its revenue and operating profit soared by 20.7 percent and 47.5 percent from a year earlier to a record 57.46 trillion won ($51.5 billion) and 9.53 trillion won, respectively, in the second quarter.The strong performance was attributed largely to increased sales of the company’s mobile devices and higher chip prices as well as seasonal demand for electronics products. According to the data compiled by a local research firm, the company shipped a

July 30, 2013

[Editorial] Limit of compassion

It is right for the government to be focusing efforts on preventing school violence rather than penalizing perpetrators. The Education Ministry said last week it would develop programs to prevent school violence and bullying, and implement them at primary, middle and high schools across the country by 2017.The experience-oriented programs tentatively named “eoulim,” which means harmony, will be designed to help students recognize the destructive effect of harassing acts and learn how to communic

July 30, 2013

[Editorial] Seoul’s rail project

The Seoul Metropolitan Government is pushing for an 8.5 trillion-won project to make urban railway available within 10 minutes of any place in the city. The plan calls for building 10 new subterranean light rail lines in the city’s northeastern, northwestern and southwestern districts, where it takes more than 10 minutes to get to the nearest metro station.City officials say the project is intended to transform Seoul’s mass transit system. Currently, the metro accounts for 36 percent of transit

July 29, 2013

[Editorial] Korea’s Arctic strategy

The government is rushing to formulate its strategy for the Arctic as the nation now has a say on the future of the northern polar region as a permanent observer of the Arctic Council.Korea won observer status to the council in May. Led by the eight Arctic countries including Russia, Canada and Norway, the council is an international forum that lays down the main policies for the polar region.Last week, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries outlined the three goals of its Arctic policy ― building

July 29, 2013

[Editorial] Permanent shutdown

The possibility of a withdrawal of South Korean companies from Gaeseong is looming large as Pyongyang refuses to pledge not to arbitrarily suspend operations in the industrial complex in the North Korean border town, as it did in April, causing great losses to the firms. Now the 123 companies operating factories in the complex may well make contingency pullout plans.Reopening the industrial complex looks as elusive as when North Korea withdrew all 53,000 workers from the factories in protest aga

July 28, 2013

[Editorial] Probe into spy agency

A parliamentary investigation into a serious allegation that the state spy agency meddled in the December presidential election is not proceeding smoothly. Chiefly responsible is the ruling Saenuri Party, which demands the entire testimony of the agency be closed to the public.True, the information the National Intelligence Service is to share with the ad hoc investigation committee of the National Assembly may contain sensitive intelligence. If so, the sensitive part of the hearing can be condu

July 28, 2013

[Editorial] Probe on Chun’s assets

The search for assets hidden by Chun Doo-hwan is gaining momentum as the prosecution seizes properties and valuables suspected of being owned, or given to his children, by the former president. The latest move follows the search and seizure the prosecution previously conducted on the homes of Chun, his children and the offices of the companies they were managing. In 1997, Chun was convicted of treason and corruption and sentenced to life in prison. He was released after eight months in prison wh

July 26, 2013

[Editorial] Truce 60 years on

Saturday marks the 60th anniversary of the armistice that put an end to the three-year Korean War. But the cease-fire has been a precarious one, with armed conflict intermittently flaring up across the border between South and North Korea. With the armistice agreement not replaced with a peace treaty yet, the two sides still remain deadly adversaries.This has to change. Peace must be made permanent on the Korean Peninsula. With the Oriental calendar coming full circle every 60 years, the anniver

July 26, 2013

[Editorial] End the NLL dispute

It is a shame that the ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition Democratic Party have been spending all their time quarreling over an issue that has absolutely nothing to do with improving people’s livelihoods or creating jobs.The two parties have been embroiled in futile political strife over the allegations that former President Roh Moo-hyun offered to make a concession regarding the Western maritime border to North Korean leader Kim Jong-il during their 2007 summit in Pyongyang.To establi

July 25, 2013

[Editorial] Consumer protection

Korea’s financial regulatory system is likely to undergo another major change next year as the government has decided to separate the consumer protection function of the Financial Supervisory Service and expand it into an independent agency.The reform plan is intended to bolster protection for citizens and small firms as a series of financial scandals in recent years, including the savings bank debacle in 2011, showed that the nation’s regulatory system had much room for improvement in terms of

July 25, 2013

[Editorial] Presidential confidence

During a Cabinet meeting Tuesday, President Park Geun-hye reaffirmed her confidence in Strategy and Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok, who concurrently serves as deputy prime minister for economic affairs, saying he “has worked hard.” Her remark subdued the speculation that the chief economic policymaker might be replaced in the face of mounting criticism that he has not shown effective leadership in steering the economy out of its prolonged slump.It was the president herself that added fuel to the

July 24, 2013

[Editorial] Safety consciousness

The government last week announced a set of measures aimed at reducing casualties from traffic accidents, including obliging all passengers to wear seat belts on any type of road starting in 2015. It was a proper but overdue move.In terms of traffic safety, Korea has long remained near the bottom among major industrialized nations. According to figures from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the number of traffic accident fatalities in Korea stood at 2.4 per 10,000 vehicles and

July 24, 2013

[Editorial] Sports event craze

The southwestern provincial city of Gwangju has been chosen to host the world swimming championships in 2019. For the city, it is definitely a matter for congratulation. The biennial swimming competition will give the city, which has already been selected as the venue of the 2015 Summer Universiade, another major chance to promote itself abroad as an attractive investment and tourist destination.Yet the city’s achievement has lost much of its luster as its officials face an investigation for all

July 23, 2013

[Editorial] Buoying housing market

The government has decided to lower the tax rates on home purchases indefinitely to stimulate the depressed housing market. In principle, the decision is a step in the right direction; it will boost housing transactions to some degree by alleviating the tax burden on home buyers.But the problem is that home acquisition taxes account for a large portion of the tax income of local governments. Any cut in the tax rates would translate into a reduction in provincial governments’ tax revenues. Offici

July 23, 2013