[Editorial] Digital hospital exports

Korea is set to create a new promising export industry by combining its advanced information technology with high-quality medical services and world-class construction prowess. The new export item emerging from this combination is a digital hospital ― an IT-based hospital in which all medical inform

Sept. 22, 2011

[Editorial] Curbing greedy bankers

The prosecution will soon launch a large-scale investigation into irregularities at 11 corrupt savings banks. They include five of the seven banks that were suspended Sunday for capital shortage and the six banks that avoided suspension of operations despite their lower-than-required capital adequac

Sept. 22, 2011

[Editorial] Split among conservatives

Conservative groups that are disillusioned with the ruling Grand National Party are rallying behind Lee Seog-yeon, a former minister of government legislation, who has decided to run in the Oct. 26 Seoul mayoral by-election. In response, the ruling party has abandoned the idea of encouraging him to

Sept. 21, 2011

[Editorial] Debt and budget balance

Public attention is drawn to an alarming increase in debt again, this time by lawmakers inspecting government agencies, state-invested corporations and state-funded organizations. Chastised for its failure to put debt in check, the administration has committed itself to curbing spending to balance t

Sept. 21, 2011

[Editorial] Mutual flexibility

North Korea’s party and state media these days are churning out “commentaries” that call for a thaw in relations between the two Koreas. The wording is so earnest and enthusiastic that one cannot but wonder that some tectonic changes might be taking place in the North, at least in the editorial depa

Sept. 20, 2011

[Editorial] ‘Knowledge economy’

Many people still do not know exactly what the Ministry of Knowledge Economy does, three-and-a-half years after it came into being in a government reorganization at the beginning of the Lee Myung-bak presidency. Watching this ministry’s officials scurry for damage control under public wrath over the

Sept. 19, 2011

[Editorial] Suspension of savings banks

Announcing six-month suspensions of seven more savings banks Sunday, Kim Seok-dong, chairman of the Financial Services Commission, said that the unease over the insolvency of the second-tier lenders would now be put to rest. The tough action followed the suspension and closure earlier this year of n

Sept. 19, 2011

[Editorial] Ruling party in trouble

Defeatism prevails among members of the ruling Grand National Party. No trace of the gung-ho spirit is found among its members with the Seoul mayoral by-election fast approaching. Few believe they will win the race again this time.The low morale, resulting from a shift in voter sentiment against the

Sept. 18, 2011

[Editorial] Key aide under probe

Kim Doo-woo, senior presidential secretary for public relations, resigned from his post on receiving a summons from the prosecutors’ office last weekend ― four months after his name was first mentioned in connection with an insolvent savings bank’ illegal lobbying. An arrested lobbyist for the savin

Sept. 18, 2011

[Editorial] Power blackouts

Unprecedented power blackouts struck Seoul and many parts of the nation Thursday, causing enormous inconvenience to the public and temporarily disrupting industrial and commercial activity in the affected areas.The unexpected power outages, the first of their kind in Korea, paralyzed banks, offices,

Sept. 16, 2011

[Editorial] Peak wage system

Domestic banks are among the first companies in Korea to adopt a peak salary system, which extends retirement age for senior employees in return for gradually reducing their salaries in the years leading up to retirement. They introduced the new arrangement one after another following an example set

Sept. 16, 2011

[Editorial] Cornered opposition party

The main opposition Democratic Party appeared to be coming roaring back when its gamble paid off in the April parliamentary by-elections. Its leader, Sohn Hak-kyu, ran in one of the ruling Grand National Party’s conservative bastions and won.Then came an ill-advised decision by Oh Se-hoon, the GNP-a

Sept. 15, 2011

[Editorial] R&D collaboration

According to a report published by the National Science and Technology Council, the Korean government, research institutes, universities and corporations invested a total of 43.85 trillion won ($37.93 billion) in R&D in 2010, up 15.6 percent from the previous year. The high increase rate is notewort

Sept. 14, 2011

[Editorial] Curbing household loans

Last month, domestic banks were criticized for abruptly halting the extension of fresh loans to households. They took the surprise move to comply with the regulator’s policy to rein in household debt. But it was an act that totally ignored the inconvenience that people in urgent need of loans would

Sept. 14, 2011

[Editorial] 10 years on

The Chuseok holidays kept Korean newspapers from editorially remembering the 9/11 terror on the 10th anniversary of the attacks, but we now join the Americans in renewing the resolve to make the world safer from violence and freer from hatred. From reports of memorial ceremonies at Ground Zero in Ne

Sept. 13, 2011

[Editorial] Politics of vortex

In his book, The Politics of the Vortex (1968), Gregory Henderson, a former cultural and political officer at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, observed that political groupings in Korea over a millennium and a half have been associations of individuals whose desire for personal power has far outweighed an

Sept. 13, 2011

[Editorial] Chuseok for lawmakers

Prices have gone up. Jobs are hard to find. It is not easy to rent a home at a reasonable price. But these and other concerns of ordinary people are put to rest for a while, as the four-day Chuseok holiday has just started.For tens of millions of people joining the annual holiday migration, Chuseok

Sept. 9, 2011

[Editorial] Botched battle on prices

It would be humiliating for a man in public office to acknowledge that he has failed in his mission. But Kim Choong-soo, governor of the Bank of Korea, virtually did so when he was briefing on its monetary policy to the press on Thursday.On its homepage, the central bank has a statement in bold lett

Sept. 9, 2011

[Editorial] From growth to welfare

Under pressure from the ruling Grand National Party, the government has finally agreed to pull back on the planned tax cuts for large corporations and high-income individuals. Finance Minister Bahk Jae-wan, emerging from a meeting with top GNP officials on Wednesday, said the government would not pu

Sept. 8, 2011

[Editorial] Specter of currency war

The specter of a global currency war is looming large following Switzerland’s surprise decision to peg the Swiss franc to the euro in a bid to hold back a runaway appreciation of its safe-haven currency. The Swiss National Bank shocked global markets Tuesday by declaring that it would cap the franc’

Sept. 8, 2011