[Editorial] Job growth road map

The government has unveiled a comprehensive job creation road map to attain President Park Geun-hye’s pledge to boost the nation’s employment rate from the present 64.2 percent to 70 percent by 2017.To achieve the goal, the road map calls for creating a total of 2.38 million jobs, or 476,000 per year during the next five years, a tall order given the economy’s limited job-creating capacity. The blueprint rests on three pillars: expanding part-time employment, fostering “creative” service busines

June 5, 2013

[Editorial] A teachable moment

The forced repatriation of nine North Korean refugees from Laos has triggered loud calls for legislation aimed at improving human rights conditions in North Korea and providing support to people fleeing the pariah state.Many North Korea experts here assert that had there been such a law, the nine young North Koreans would not have been sent back to the North, where they are feared to face brutal punishment. They note that one underlying cause of the debacle was poor communication between the Kor

June 5, 2013

[Editorial] Speech in Chinese

In a meeting with Cheong Wa Dae correspondents last week, President Park Geun-hye gave a strong indication that she would deliver an address in Chinese during her planned state visit to China late this month. Park said she intends to give a Chinese speech, “if many people want” her to do so.It appears that many South Koreans back the idea. We are of the same view that it will help win Chinese hearts if Park delivers a speech in their language.During her U.S. visit in early May, she addressed a j

June 4, 2013

[Editorial] Corporate restructuring

Amid growing concerns over the effect of a weakening yen, Korea recorded a nearly three-year high in trade surplus last month, according to government figures released last Saturday. Mainly on the back of increased demand from the U.S. and China, exports grew by 3.2 percent from a year earlier to $48.37 billion, while imports fell by 4.8 percent to $42.34 billion. The May trade surplus of $6.03 billion is the highest record since October 2010, marking the 16th consecutive month Korea’s trade bal

June 4, 2013

[Editorial] Unified command

The militaries of South Korea and the United States have reportedly agreed to maintain the current unified command structure for allied forces even after Seoul takes back the wartime operational control of its armed forces from Washington in December 2015.The two sides had originally agreed to dissolve the U.S.-South Korean Combined Forces Command following the planned OPCON transfer, with each military operating on its own under a parallel command structure.Yet according to reports, they recent

June 3, 2013

[Editorial] Funding Park’s pledges

The government has finalized the financing plan for President Park Geun-hye’s campaign pledges.It is the first time a Korean government has come up with a detailed funding scheme to implement the president’s election promises. To her credit, Park had budget officials clearly show the public how much money would be needed to deliver on her promises and where it would come from.According to the final plan, a total of 134.8 trillion won would be needed over the next five years to translate the pled

June 3, 2013

[Editorial] Bills to act on

The ruling Saenuri Party has selected 111 bills it plans to act on during the June extra session the National Assembly is opening on Monday. Among those being given priority are 10 bills submitted to advance President Park Geun-hye’s economic agenda, including bills on the promotion of information and communication technology, ventures and technological innovation for small and medium-sized business enterprises.Rep. Choi Kyung-hwan, the new floor leader of the Saenuri Party, says his party will

June 2, 2013

[Editorial] Tripartite agreement

Deep skepticism was voiced when the Economic and Social Development Commission decided in late April to negotiate ways to increase the portion of employed people ― from 64.2 percent last year to 70 percent by the end of President Park Geun-hye’s five-year governance.According to one estimate, no fewer than 2,320,000 new jobs will have to be created during the next five years if the administration is to make good on President Park’s election promise to raise the employment rate. This should be no

June 2, 2013

[Editorial] Growth at faster pace

On Wednesday, President Park Geun-hye said slow growth was setting in for the long haul. There was nothing new about her warning. Still, it carried much weight as it indicated that her economic policy will focus on growth during the next five years of governance.She made the remark at the inaugural conference of the National Economic Advisory Council ― a blue-ribbon panel of renowned economists and economic policymakers that is tasked with providing the president with unbiased economic analyses

May 31, 2013

[Editorial] New modus operandi

South Korea is pushing for new rules for engaging North Korea in dialogue, making it clear that it will no longer allow itself to be bandied about. It says it will not tolerate any attempt by North Korea to pit South Korean civilian groups against their government in pursuit of gain.Under this policy, South Korea has decided not to allow South Korean civilians to attend a ceremony marking this year’s anniversary of the South-North Joint Declaration adopted by South Korean President Kim Dae-jung

May 31, 2013

[Editorial] Looming power crisis

The suspension of four nuclear reactors due to substandard parts is a big embarrassment for Korea, which seeks to export its reactors. All the more so as it coincided with the groundbreaking ceremony for the second of the four nuclear reactors that Korea is building in the United Arab Emirates.Due to the shutdown, the nation is likely to face an unprecedented power crisis this summer. Even before it, a serious power shortage was expected this summer as many of the nation’s 23 reactors went out o

May 30, 2013

[Editorial] Exam-free semester

The Ministry of Education has unveiled a plan to undertake a bold but untested educational program proposed by President Park Geun-hye.On the campaign trail, Park promised to introduce an exam-free semester for middle school students to give them time to discover their aptitude and talent and explore their career options.The ministry said it would implement the test-free semester system for the nation’s 3,200 middle schools from 2016, based on an assessment of a pilot program that will run from

May 30, 2013

[Editorial] Immigration policy

In a move that should have been more publicized, the government last week announced a set of measures aimed at attracting more foreign talent into the country.Under a start-up assistance program, foreign entrepreneurs who set up a preferably technology-based business on their own or in partnership with local counterparts will be eligible for a subsidy of up to 50 million won ($44,370). With a detailed plan set to be available in the second half, the government will select 10 businesses to benefi

May 29, 2013

[Editorial] ‘Share today, shine tomorrow’

In the coming weeks, President Park Geun-hye will have to allot much of her time to preparing for her China visit in late June, which is to follow her U.S. trip early this month. Between her crucial talks with the U.S. and Chinese leaders on how to resolve nuclear threats from North Korea, Park will invite two African heads of state to Seoul for her first summits at home since taking office in February.She will meet Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on Thursday, followed by talks with Mozambican

May 29, 2013

[Editorial] Corrupt nurseries

A police investigation has confirmed what has been widely suspected: rampant illegal practices at private nursery schools. Yet the pervasiveness of corruption laid bare by the investigation leaves us at a loss for words.The police station in Songpa, a southeastern district in Seoul, said on Monday that it has booked 55 nursery operators in southern Seoul on suspicion of embezzling government subsidies and receiving rebates from teachers offering extracurricular programs. The station started to i

May 28, 2013

[Editorial] Overture for talks

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un followed a familiar pattern when he sent a special envoy to China to express willingness to resume the stalled six-party talks on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.Before the envoy’s visit, the young leader rattled his saber for months, defying international sanctions against the North’s missile launches and third nuclear test. Following his father’s old playbook, he is now shifting to dialogue to get the sanctions lifted. Previously, this ploy worked.

May 28, 2013

[Editorial] Household consumption

In another gloomy indicator of the deepening economic downturn, monthly household consumer spending decreased by 1 percent on average from a year earlier to 2.54 million won ($2,240) in the first quarter of this year, according to figures released by the national statistics office last week. It is the first time that household expenditure has contracted since the January-March period of 2009, when it shrank by 3.6 percent in the immediate aftermath of the global financial crisis.What was further

May 27, 2013

[Editorial] Regional public debt

In a meeting with her senior secretaries last week, President Park Geun-hye emphasized the need to make public the details of local public finance. She said residents should be allowed to look into specific expenditures by their municipal governments and due attention should be paid to their opinions.Her remarks echoed increasing public concern about the moral laxity of local governments that have been piling up debt through reckless spending subject to little effective oversight.Officials at th

May 27, 2013

[Editorial] Probe into CJ Group

It is unusual, if not rare, for the prosecution to conduct a search and seizure at a government agency on a court-issued warrant. But it did so when it raided the Seoul regional office of the National Tax Service on Thursday. The next day, it also served a search and seizure warrant at the Korea Exchange.The searches and seizures are part of a wide-ranging investigation into a case involving CJ Group, which is suspected of creating slush funds, hiding wealth in tax havens, trading stocks on insi

May 26, 2013

[Editorial] Chun’s unpaid fines

The prosecution has launched a task force with a mission to find out where former President Chun Doo-hwan stashed his ill-gotten funds and collect 167.2 billion in remnant fines, with the statutory limitation period set to end in October. The task force, comprising a senior prosecutor as its head and seven seasoned investigators as its members, will be in operation for 100 days.Chun, an Army general-turned strongman, took power in a coup and brutally suppressed a civil uprising in 1980. He amass

May 26, 2013