[Editorial] A rare N.K. show

North Korea’s young leader Kim Jong-un, accompanied by an unidentified woman, recently attended a concert that marked an unusual departure for his isolated regime.Footage run on state TV showed performers dressed as Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh and other Disney characters dancing against a backdrop of clips from Disney movies including “Snow White” and “Beauty and the Beast.”The concert also played a rendition of the famous “Rocky” theme song, showing scenes of the U.S. film character pounding

July 15, 2012

[Editorial] Embracing multiculturalism

A recent debate on multiculturalism in Korean society was disturbed by some people antagonistic toward expatriates here.One of them jumped on the podium and claimed that multicultural policies would destroy the integrity of the nation. He then hurled invective against the organizer of the debate, a female immigrant from the Philippines who was elected to parliament as a proportional representative for the ruling Saenuri Party in the April general elections. While being taken out of the conferenc

July 15, 2012

[Editorial] Institutional changes

President Lee Myung-bak told his senior secretaries that his was a “morally perfect administration” and that, as such, it “should not permit even the tiniest blemish.” He made the remarks in reference to corruption allegations against some of his aides on Sept. 30 last year.It was not clear whether he actually believed in his administration’s moral supremacy or intended his remarks to be mere political rhetoric. But a stern-faced senior presidential secretary, emerging from a meeting presided ov

July 13, 2012

[Editorial] A surprise move

The central bank’s latest decision to cut its base rate by 25 basis points came as a surprise to the financial market, which, given its governor’s earlier remarks, had anticipated a continued freeze. When the rate was frozen at 3.25 percent for the 13th consecutive month in June, the governor said it did not mean any change in the central bank’s policy of raising the rate to the proper level at a time deemed suitable.Many had anticipated the central bank would keep the rate intact this month aga

July 13, 2012

[Editorial] Die-hard privileges

The parliamentary dismissal of the arrest motion for a ruling party lawmaker suspected of bribery is shameful for both of the major parties, which pledged to give up privileges given to legislative members.The dismissal is expected to make voters more cynical and distrustful of the parties, especially the ruling Saenuri Party, whose members worry about its possible negative impact on the prospects of their candidate winning the presidential election in December.Rep. Chung Doo-un, a three-term Sa

July 12, 2012

[Editorial] Holidays at home

In contrast to sluggish domestic consumption, a growing number of Koreans have been traveling abroad, spending large amounts of money in foreign shops, resorts and other tourist attractions.Local travel agencies, which sold a record number of overseas tour packages for the first half of this year, expect the sales to increase at a more rapid pace during the summer holiday season.The number of people on the subscription list of their July-August package trips abroad rose by nearly 10 percent from

July 12, 2012

[Editorial] Positive campaign

Park Geun-hye, the presidential frontrunner of the ruling Saenuri Party, has officially announced her bid to become the nation’s first woman president. She pledged to democratize the economy, create jobs and expand welfare to make Korea a country where everybody can achieve their dreams.Park’s announcement signaled the beginning of the race for the next presidency. Ten or so candidates from the ruling and opposition parties have already joined the contest, with a couple more expected to particip

July 11, 2012

[Editorial] Surge in micro businesses

In recent months, job creation has been brisk. According to employment data, Korean employers added 472,000 new jobs to the economy in May, not a small number in light of the global economic downturn and the subsequent stagnation of Korea’s export sector.Yet one problem is that a large proportion of the new jobs were created by micro-businesses with less than five employees. According to Statistics Korea, the number of people working at such tiny businesses increased 286,000 in May compared to a

July 11, 2012

[Editorial] Intra-group trading

A leading conglomerate has been given a hefty fine for illegal intra-group trading at a time when political parties are moving to rein in chaebol, or family-controlled business groups. This does not bode well for corporations.On Sunday, the Fair Trade Commission said seven companies affiliated with SK Group breached the fair trade act when they awarded another affiliate, SK C&C, a systems integrator, with no-bid contracts amounting to 1.77 trillion won during the period from 2008 to June this ye

July 10, 2012

[Editorial] 2007 campaign funding

A prosecutorial investigation into fallen savings banks points to the possibility that substantial amounts of money from them found their way into President Lee Myung-bak’s 2007 election fund. But the prosecutors’ office is reluctant to start a new investigation to this, though it promises to look into the alleged secret contributions.A recent news report quoted an unidentified executive of Mirae Savings Bank as saying that its chairman gave 3 billion won, not 300 million won as is believed by t

July 10, 2012

[Editorial] Whaling uproar

Korean officials might not have expected their plan to restart whaling for “research purposes” to prompt such vehement international protests.The plan, announced at a meeting of the International Whaling Commission in Panama last week, triggered criticism from anti-whaling nations and global conservationist groups. They suspected it might be a pretext for commercial whaling, with Korea following the example of Japan. Through a loophole in the commission’s 1986 moratorium on whaling that permits

July 9, 2012

[Editorial] Jobs for disabled

Korean society has traditionally been biased against physically-challenged people.The deep-rooted prejudice, which seems to originate from life in a homogenous agrarian community, has somewhat diminished in the modern era but still remains as a psychological obstacle to Koreans building a truly advanced nation.It was partly against this background that a law was enacted more than two decades ago to encourage public institutions and private companies to employ more physically-handicapped persons.

July 9, 2012

[Editorial] Japan’s militarization

Japan has recently alarmed its neighbors by taking a series of moves that suggest the world’s third-largest economy is rushing its comeback as a military powerhouse. Since the early 1990s, Japan has slowly but steadily proceeded toward militarization despite the constraints posed by its so-called peace constitution. Dubbed the “no-war” clause, Article 9 of the constitution renounces war and the right to use force as a means of resolving international disputes. It also declares that Japan will ne

July 8, 2012

[Editorial] Green light to Jeju base

The Supreme Court has put an end to the drawn-out dispute over the construction of a naval base on Jeju Island by ruling that the Ministry of National Defense has proceeded with the project in a lawful way.The top court’s final verdict has cleared a big obstacle to the project, ensuring that the construction of the important naval base will go ahead as planned.The lawsuit was filed by residents of Gangjeong Village on the island in 2009 to stop the base construction, which they claimed would dam

July 8, 2012

[Editorial] Fumbling step

In recent months, the Federation of Korean Industries, the country’s main business lobby, has been standing up to the political parties’ moves to tighten the reins on conglomerates.Though public concern is mounting over the concentration of economic power on big businesses, there could be some rationale for its argument that the politically-motivated regulatory pressure could hamper corporate activity and national competitiveness. It may be common sense that the organization should behave proper

July 6, 2012

[Editorial] Old age blues

Alarm bells have been sounding continuously against worsening poverty among aged people in the country.A review of concrete figures showing the depth of the problem should add to the urgency of working out measures to help ease increasing difficulties facing elderly Koreans.The average income of elderly households was only 66.7 percent of the average family income in Korea last year, according to statistics from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.The proportion was the sec

July 6, 2012

[Editorial] Chaebol under siege

The debate on “economic democratization” is intensifying in politics, although the term still remains vaguely defined. In whatever ways the term is defined, one thing is clear ― it involves reforming the chaebol.The ruling Saenuri Party is expected to step up its push for economic democratization as Kim Jong-in, a key proponent of the elusive concept, has been named co-chairman of Rep. Park Geun-hye’s presidential campaign.While serving as a member of the ruling party’s emergency committee led b

July 5, 2012

[Editorial] Misguided welfare plan

The Ministry of Strategy and Finance is set to take a scalpel to the controversial day care subsidy program for children under 24 months old.In March, the government began to provide day care subsidies to all families, regardless of their income, only if they registered their toddlers with a child care center. Previously, the subsidies were offered to families in the bottom 70 percent of the income distribution. The expansion was rushed by the ruling Saenuri Party, which was blinded by its desir

July 5, 2012

[Editorial] What not to do

President Lee Myung-bak reportedly blew his top over the recent mishandling of a controversial treaty with Japan by his Cabinet on Monday. His anger was supposedly targeted at those who had decided not to make public the Cabinet approval of the treaty on the exchange of confidential security information.According to a news report, Lee said the relevant government agencies should have had a process of building a public consensus in favor of the treaty, instead of putting it as an urgent secret ag

July 4, 2012

[Editorial] Spies among defectors

A North Korean spy who came to South Korea last year, posing as a defector, has been caught and indicted. The agent is the third North Korean woman to disguise herself as a defector to infiltrate the South.South Korea’s counterespionage officers will have to keep their guards up against North Korea’s attempt to dispatch spies as defectors. The job will be difficult, given that more than 2,000 North Koreans defect to the South each year. It is not rare for some of them to slip out of the country

July 4, 2012