[Editorial] Studying in Korea

Probably as another effect of the prolonged global economic downturn, both the outflow of Korean students abroad and the influx of foreign students here have fallen this year.As of last April, 154,178 Korean students were studying degree courses at foreign institutions of higher learning, down 6.1 percent from a year earlier, according to figures from the Education Ministry. It marks the first time since 2005 that the number of overseas Korean students has recorded a year-on-year drop. Even at t

Nov. 22, 2012

[Editorial] Down to the wire

In his closing remarks during a TV debate with Rep. Moon Jae-in, the presidential nominee of the main opposition Democratic United Party, Wednesday night, independent candidate Ahn Cheol-soo said he could not have reached where he stands now without the support of the public. He said he would try to bring in “common sense politics in which the people win.”But the late night debate was certainly far from what the people, including Ahn’s ardent supporters, would have wanted to see. It was preceded

Nov. 22, 2012

[Editorial] Checks on prosecution

It is extremely rare for a prosecutor to detain an incumbent prosecutor suspected of committing a criminal offense. The usual practice is for the prosecution to take the process of receiving a letter of resignation from a prosecutor involved in a criminal case before arresting him. Such a process supposedly helps both the prosecution and the errant prosecutor save what little face they have left.On Monday, however, a special prosecutor arrested an incumbent prosecutor, Kim Kwang-joon, who is sus

Nov. 21, 2012

[Editorial] Residents’ revolts

The Wolseong-1 nuclear reactor in Gyeongju ended its 30-year life span on Tuesday. Now its operator, Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power, is preparing to extend its operation by another 10 years, pending approval from the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission.It will not be the first time for KHNP to restart an old nuclear reactor with an expired lifespan instead of decommissioning it as originally scheduled. When the Kori-1 reactor ended its 30 years of operation in 2007, KHNP extended its life span

Nov. 21, 2012

[Editorial] Legislative populism

With the presidential election less than a month away, lawmakers of the ruling and opposition parties are rushing to pass populist bills to capture votes. Their reckless abuse of legislative power should be stopped as it will not only waste taxpayers’ money but give rise to unnecessary social conflicts. Last week, lawmakers on the National Assembly’s Committee on Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs approved a bill to recognize taxis as public transportation and entitle taxi companies to more fi

Nov. 20, 2012

[Editorial] Trilateral FTA talks

The trade ministers of South Korea, China and Japan have declared the launch of official negotiations on a three-way free trade agreement on the sidelines of a regional summit in Cambodia. It has been six months since the top leaders of the three neighboring countries agreed to start talks on the FTA within this year during a trilateral summit in Beijing in May. Until only recently, it was reported that the start of the negotiations would be delayed to next year due to the heightened tension bet

Nov. 20, 2012

[Editorial] 10 million tourists

Korean tourism officials are preparing for an event to welcome this year’s 10 millionth foreign tourist, who is expected to arrive here Wednesday. The ceremony set at Incheon International Airport, the country’s main gateway, should not end up merely with a self-complacent celebration for achieving the landmark figure for the first time. It should rather serve as an occasion for giving serious consideration to long-term measures to further promote Korea’s tourism sector.The number of foreign tou

Nov. 19, 2012

[Editorial] Diplomats’ discipline

The state audit agency announced last week that it had found 43 cases of embezzlement and other irregularities during its recent inspection of 18 diplomatic missions and other offices abroad.Two Culture Ministry officials, who had been assigned to a cultural service center affiliated with the embassy in Moscow, were found to have embezzled money by doctoring documents. One of them drew up fake papers on fictitious contracts with local cultural agencies. The other official claimed more schooling

Nov. 19, 2012

[Editorial] Korea’s gloomy outlook

The 2012 economic growth outlook officially stands at 3.5 percent. But few believe that is attainable. Instead, the consensus among economic policymakers is that growth will fall below 2.5 percent. Noting that output increased a mere 0.2 percent from the second quarter to the third quarter, a top economic policymaker was quoted as saying that Korea cannot go against the global slowdown.Among those bearing the brunt of the economic slowdown are small- and medium-sized enterprises. Creditors put 1

Nov. 18, 2012

[Editorial] Wintertime blackouts

The nation needs to keep 4 million kilowatts of electric power or more in reserves if it wishes to spare itself blackout fears. If the reserves fall below 2 million kilowatts, the government issues a blackout warning and demands a cut in consumption by public organizations.According to an estimate by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, the reserves will fall to 1.27 million kilowatts when electricity consumption peaks in January. Worse still, the estimate is based on the assumption that two nucle

Nov. 18, 2012

[Editorial] Right path for defectors

It would be just nonsense to risk one’s life to arrive at a place where he or she is destined to become a criminal or fall victim to crimes. Many North Korean defectors here, however, find themselves trapped in such an unfortunate destiny.In recent months, the local news media have run a number of reports on crimes involving defectors from the North. Police said this week two defectors had been arrested for smuggling methamphetamine from China and selling the drug to dozens of South Koreans. In

Nov. 16, 2012

[Editorial] Run-off election

By any account, it is far from normal that all attention is being riveted to the murky process of choosing a single opposition candidate with little more than a month to go before the Dec. 19 presidential election. A tug of war between the Democratic United Party and an independent political group over fielding a unified candidate has taken the place of debates on policies and future visions, which should have already started between the final runners from the ruling and opposition blocs.The neg

Nov. 16, 2012

[Editorial] Incomplete probe

The independent counsel wrapped up his month-long investigation into the suspicious land purchase for President Lee Myung-bak’s retirement home on Wednesday. But he failed to tie up all the loose ends that the prosecution had left behind.The responsibility for the incomplete investigation, however, did not lie with the independent counsel, but with the first family, who had denied him access to what he perceived to be vital information for prosecution. Moreover, the president had denied him perm

Nov. 15, 2012

[Editorial] No TV debate yet

With a little more than a month to go until the presidential election, many find it still difficult to tell how one candidate differs from others when it comes to key campaign issues, such as national security, economic policy and education.For such people, televised live debates are a good source of information. Actually, few fora provide a better opportunity for eligible voters to evaluate the qualifications of each candidate.True, the number of TV debates has been on the decline ― from 54 dur

Nov. 15, 2012

[Editorial] Brakes on Jeju base

The main opposition Democratic United Party has again put the brakes on the construction of a naval base on Jeju Island. The party has refused to pass a bill allocating 200 billion won for the project next year through the National Defense Committee of the National Assembly. It demanded that the entire budget be axed.Behind the party’s nonsensical move was its presidential candidate Moon Jae-in. A week ago, he visited Jeju and told opponents to the project that if elected president, he would hal

Nov. 14, 2012

[Editorial] Timing for reform

Park Geun-hye, the ruling Saenuri Party’s presidential candidate, has toned down her party’s chaebol reform proposals. She has, among other things, rejected a plan to penalize existing circular shareholding arrangements among chaebol affiliates. Her decision was prudent but drew fire from opposition presidential runners.Circular shareholdings are high on the economic democratization agendas of the three main presidential contenders, who include, along with Park, Moon Jae-in of the main oppositio

Nov. 14, 2012

[Editorial] Seoul Defense Dialogue

Defense officials and private security experts from 17 countries and international bodies will gather in Seoul on Wednesday for a three-day dialogue.Under the theme of cooperation for security and peace, more than 100 participants will discuss concerted efforts to cope with common security challenges in the Asia-Pacific region and threats to cyberspace security. They will also exchange views on ways to improve the efficiency of defense administration.The inaugural conference of the Seoul Defense

Nov. 13, 2012

[Editorial] Castle on a cloud

With about a month to go before the Dec. 19 presidential election, placards publicizing political parties’ populist pledges from increasing pensions for all old-aged people to halving college tuition fees are hung over streets of Seoul and other cities across the country. The competition to win voters’ hearts with promises to shore up their livelihoods hit by the prolonged economic slowdown will be further heated when the official campaign kicks off later this month. The three major presidential

Nov. 13, 2012

[Editorial] Ill-advised move

In a bizarre development over the weekend, the prosecution snatched a bribery case from police and started its own investigation all of a sudden. It did so because the case involved a senior prosecutor. No matter what it says, however, the prosecution made the wrong move.Notwithstanding a long-lasting turf war between the two law-enforcement agencies, the prosecution’s move was seen as nothing but an ill-advised attempt to hoodwink the public and downplay the case. Few would expect the prosecuti

Nov. 12, 2012

[Editorial] Devil is in the details

As Moon Jae-in of the main opposition Democratic United Party rightly observed, the devil is in the details. He made the remark when he was recently referring to his negotiations with the independent Ahn Cheol-soo on which of the two will represent the opposition as its sole candidate in the upcoming presidential election.Moon and Ahn claim their joint pursuit of the opposition’s single candidacy as a means for a change of government is a mandate from the public that desires a political reform.

Nov. 12, 2012