[Editorial] Legislation ruckus

In the highly confrontational politics in this country, the ruling and opposition parties rarely act in unison over a legislative plan. The almost only exceptions are when bills are proposed to raise the allowances of the members of the National Assembly or to create new positions for legislative aides.Parties were about to make an important entry in the short list of legislations with bipartisan

March 8, 2011

[Editorial] ‘Good-bye Pyongyang’

“Good-bye Pyongyang,” an 82-minute documentary now showing in cinemas across the country, filmed by a Korean resident in Japan, offers a glimpse of life in the North Korean capital through the eyes of a separated family living in the two countries. Director-producer Yang Yong-hi’s three brothers enjoy relative luxury, with consumer items sent by their parents in Japan over the past 30 years, but w

March 7, 2011

[Editorial] Japan politics

Controversy over illegal political donations of 200,000 yen (2.7 million won) over four years has further shaken the fragile Naoto Kan administration of the Democratic Party of Japan with the resignation of Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara. As the donor happens to be a Korean restaurant owner in Kyoto named Jang, who says she did not know foreigners were banned from political donations, some may be

March 7, 2011

[Editorial] Throwing tantrums?

Twenty-seven of the 31 North Koreans who strayed into the South Korean waters aboard a fishing boat a month ago, are stuck in limbo ― Pyongyang refuses to take them back unless Seoul sends them all. The other four desire to remain in the South. Is Pyongyang throwing tantrums when it says the South is holding them against their will?When South Korean officials took the 27 North Koreans to the truce

March 6, 2011

[Editorial] No to airport plan

Until recently, the nation had 19 airports in operation. But the government had to close four of them during the 2002-07 period because they did not handle enough flights. Only a few others are faring any better than those four. But they are somehow in operation, wasting tens of billions of won in taxpayers’ money each year.A case in point is Muan international airport that opened in South Jeolla

March 6, 2011

[Editorial] Moral deficit

Financial institutions run into trouble when their officials exhibit a serious lack of morals. A case in point is the chaos at Shinhan Financial Group last year that was triggered by an internal feud among its three top executives. The trio staged a crippling power struggle in total disregard for the group’s reputation and the interests of its shareholders.The trio was ousted and the financial gro

March 4, 2011

[Editorial] Profit-sharing

Former Prime Minister Chung Un-chan appears to have learned no lesson from the Sejong City debacle last year. Upon his appointment as prime minister in September 2009, Chung staked his political career on a bill aimed at changing the concept of the planned city from an administrative town to a science-technology hub.Chung, a former Seoul National University economics professor, went in all guns bl

March 4, 2011

[Editorial] Debt and income

Household debt is at an alarmingly high level. Worse still, interest payments are growing three times as fast as disposable income. But there are few signs indicating that the debt burden will shrink anytime soon. On the contrary, interest rates are rising as inflationary pressure is increasing.According to a recent report from the Bank of Korea, household debt, including purchases on credit, stoo

March 3, 2011

[Editorial] Deplorable act

Those who have passed the state-run judicial examination are required to complete a two-year training course at the Judicial Research Training Institute before entering the legal profession. With the judicial examination being replaced by the Korean bar examination administered for law school graduates, the training at the institute is set to continue during a transitional period lasting until 201

March 3, 2011

[Editorial] Japan’s empty promise

President Lee Myung-bak has again called on Japan to take sincere action to transcend the past and build a future-oriented bilateral relationship with South Korea. In a speech on Tuesday to mark the 92nd anniversary of the March 1 Independence Movement against Japan’s colonial rule, Lee urged Tokyo to follow through on Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s statement issued in August last year.On Aug. 10, Kan

March 2, 2011

[Editorial] A happy ending

Kudos to the doctors at the Ajou University Hospital in Suwon who should be credited for giving the Samho Jewelry’s skipper Seok Hae-gyun a new life through their painstaking month-long treatment of his multiple gunshot wounds. And it was the 58-year-old former Navy petty officer’s strong willpower that made the medical miracle possible.“I love you, dear,” Seok said to his wife in a clear voice on

March 1, 2011

[Editorial] Nukes in the South?

It is absurd that South Korea and the United States should bind themselves to “the principle of denuclearization” on the Korean Peninsula which was declared with North Korea 20 years ago while the North has conducted nuclear tests twice and threatens the South with a nuclear holocaust on a daily basis. Calls for the reintroduction of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons into South Korea become louder of

March 1, 2011

[Editorial] N.K. threats

North Korea released dual warnings of retaliation against the South over the weekend, one about the floating of balloons containing leaflets and basic supplies and the other about the Key Resolve/Foal Eagle joint exercise with the U.S. military. The messages from the North Korean military used extreme words such as “turning Seoul into a sea of fire” with their nuclear and missile powers.The Key Re

Feb. 28, 2011

[Editorial] Religion and state

Some in the Korean Protestant churches may believe that they scored a major victory in their campaign against a legislative move to introduce Islamic bonds or “sukuk” here as parties have dropped a bill aimed to exempt various taxes on the special type of loans originating in the Arab world. But is that so?When we observe the recent actions by religious groups concerning political and social issue

Feb. 28, 2011

[Editorial] Illegal capital outflow

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office indicted on Thursday the head of a doll exporting company on charges of illegally siphoning off personal assets worth 94.7 billion won overseas and evading taxes totaling 43.7 billion won.The businessman, identified only by his surname Park, was suspected of having shifted his assets abroad for nine years since 2000 using his subsidiary in Hong Kong,

Feb. 27, 2011

[Editorial] Win-win index

Korea is probably the first country in the world to develop an index to measure how large corporations treat their small subcontractors. On Wednesday, the Commission on Shared Growth for Large and Small Companies disclosed a draft plan to introduce the so-called “win-win index.”If enforced as planned, the index is expected to provide a turning point in transforming trade practices in the domestic

Feb. 27, 2011

[Editorial] New FKI head

After a seven-month hunt for its new leader, the Federation of Korean Industries has finally installed Huh Chang-soo, GS Group chairman, as its chairman. The new chief of the nation’s most powerful business lobby will certainly have his hands full as he tries to reset its relations with the government.The FKI has been denounced for pursuing the interests of big businesses and nothing else. But the

Feb. 25, 2011

[Editorial] Party in disarray

Incumbent lawmakers tend to put their reelection before anything else. Nothing is wrong with their single-mined pursuit of reelection unless they engage in an act that can be morally or legally sanctioned.Still, they may cause problems for their party if their actions, though taken legitimately for the sake of their reelection, conflict with their party’s policies. It may also create a problem for

Feb. 25, 2011

[Editorial] Inflation woes

Korea’s inflation woes are deepening as the worsening turmoil in Libya has sent oil prices on an upward spiral. The price of Dubai crude oil, South Korea’s benchmark, stayed above the $100 mark for the three consecutive days on Thursday. If the Dubai oil price remains above $100 for two more days, the government has to upgrade its energy alert level from the current “blue” to “yellow.”The surge in

Feb. 24, 2011

[Editorial] N.K. human rights bill

Press reports say several hundred residents in Sinuiju, a North Korean city on the border with China, clashed with security forces on Feb. 18 over the death of a merchant during a police crackdown on a market. On Feb. 14, small protests reportedly broke out in three northeastern cities of the impoverished country over fuel and food shortages.Are these signs that the “Jasmine Revolution” that start

Feb. 24, 2011