[Editorial] Fund investment suspicions

Jang Ha-sung, South Korea’s ambassador to China, and Kim Sang-jo, President Moon Jae-in’s former chief of staff for policy, were belatedly found to have invested in funds created by Jang’s younger brother. Jang was Moon’s first chief of staff for policy before being appointed as ambassador to China. Kim was Moon’s first chairman of the Fair Trade Commission before being appointed as his third chief of staff for policy. Jang and Kim are said to have invested about

Feb. 15, 2022

[Editorial] Beyond mudslinging

In the second TV debate held Friday, two leading presidential candidates relied on mudslinging, rather than engaging in serious discussion of policy. The verbal attacks between Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea and Yoon Suk-yeol of the main opposition People Power Party heated up during the debate arranged by the Journalists Association of Korea. For many of Korean voters who watched the debate, fierce attacks on corruption allegations made it hard to understand which pol

Feb. 14, 2022

[Editorial] Probes foretold

Yoon Suk-yeol, the presidential candidate of the main opposition People Power Party, remarked in a recent interview with a local news organization that if he takes power, his administration should investigate corruption allegations involving his predecessor‘s regime. Asked whether his administration would seek to eliminate the evils of the previous administration as President Moon Jae-in’s government did, he said “it should.” Regarding the possibility of criticisms that

Feb. 11, 2022

[Editorial] Toxic mix

South Koreans have been going through a truly tough period, not only because of the protracted pandemic, but also because of a toxic mix of surging prices, taxes, and social insurance costs. According to the Korea Economic Research Institute, the average monthly wage of Korean workers rose from 3.105 million won ($2,600) in 2016 to 3.653 million won in 2021, marking a 17.6 percent increase. During the same period, the average amount of earned income tax and social insurance costs skyrocketed b

Feb. 10, 2022

[Editorial] Dubious hospitalization

The elder son of Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, is suspected of having received a special favor by being hospitalized without an order when he served in the military. Assigned to the Air Force Training Wing after enlisting in August 2013, he was hospitalized in Armed Forces Capital Hospital for 52 days from July 29, 2014 without a related military order. The hospital is reputed to have the military’s best health care facilities. The Tr

Feb. 9, 2022

[Editorial] ‘Green’ nuclear energy

The European Commission has decided to include certain gas and nuclear activities in its taxonomy -- a classification system that offers guidelines on private investment promoting climate neutrality. The latest move made on Wednesday by the European Commission suggests that South Korea is increasingly seen as a country going against the global trend of utilizing nuclear power plants as a source of green energy. Late last year, the Moon Jae-in administration made a hasty and controversial dec

Feb. 8, 2022

[Editorial] Swift probe needed

Lee Jae-myung, the ruling Democratic Party of Korea’s presidential candidate, apologized again Friday for corruption suspicions involving his wife, Kim Hye-kyung. Kim is under fire over revelations by a former low-level employee of the Gyeonggi Provincial Government that allege he had spent most of his working hours running her private errands when her husband was governor of the province. Using public officials privately constitutes a crime of abuse of authority. Under instruction from

Feb. 7, 2022

[Editorial] Japan’s shameless move

It is regrettable that the Japanese government took a step Tuesday to list a gold mine linked to wartime forced labor as a UNESCO World Heritage site, as the apparently politically motivated attempt is feared to worsen the already trouble-laden relations with South Korea. The Japanese government submitted a letter of recommendation for the gold and silver mines on Sado Island, as the Cabinet of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida gave a green light to the 2023 UNESCO heritage bid -- despite strong op

Feb. 4, 2022

[Editorial] Sluggish reaction

When a nation faces a security crisis, it is critical to swiftly convey information about it to the public. But the South Korean government’s communication with media and the public following North Korea’s latest missile provocation is disappointing. North Korea fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile into the East Sea from Mupyong-ri in the northeastern province of Chagang on Jan. 30. It was the North’s longest-range ballistic missile launch since November 2017 when it

Feb. 3, 2022

[Editorial] Dawdling at probe

Years ago, an opposition party raised a suspicion that Lee Jae-myung, then Seongnam mayor and current presidential candidate of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, made several companies sponsor a city-run professional football club in exchange for resolving their issues mostly related to land use and construction authorization. Lee was the president of the club at the time. Six companies offered a total of 16.05 billion won ($13.3 million) to the team under the pretext of sponsorship and adv

Jan. 28, 2022

[Editorial] Too busy to talk

It is unprecedented that a much-anticipated and potentially crucial presidential press conference was abruptly canceled with only three days left before the event, citing a controversial, if not dubious, reason. President Moon Jae-in was scheduled to hold a New Year press conference Thursday, but the presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae announced Monday it would call it off because the president has to focus on measures to counter the omicron-led COVID-19 surge. It is doubtful that the presid

Jan. 27, 2022

[Editorial] Clarify rules

The Severe Accident Punishment Act with a far-reaching impact on industrial sites will take effect Thursday. The act imposes punishment -- one or more years of imprisonment or a fine of up to 1 billion won ($835,000) -- on business owners or responsible executive officers for severe industrial accidents that result in death or serious injury. Heads of local governments and chief executives of public enterprises are also subject to punishment under the act. It went through a one-year grace perio

Jan. 26, 2022

[Editorial] Omicron fears

South Korea is in for another round of the COVID-19 crisis, as the highly transmissible omicron has officially become the dominant strain amid growing concerns over its potentially sweeping impact on high-risk groups and the already fragile health system. According to the government data released Monday, the detection rate of the omicron variant hit 50.3 percent in the past week. As omicron has emerged as the dominant COVID-19 variant, health authorities said they will shift gears and implement

Jan. 25, 2022

[Editorial] United for neutrality

Cho Hai-ju, the standing commissioner of the National Election Commission, was going to stay on the commission at President Moon Jae-in’s request, but left it under its staff’s collective pressure. This is an unprecedented incident. Days before his term as the standing commissioner expires, Cho reportedly expressed an intention to leave the commission completely. But Moon was said to have requested he keep a nonstanding commissioner position after resigning as the standing commissi

Jan. 24, 2022

[Editorial] N. Korea’s saber-rattling

North Korea on Thursday ratcheted up its threat level dramatically by hinting at lifting a moratorium on major weapons tests, with South Korea reluctant to strongly protest the North’s continued missile tests despite mounting tensions on the Korean Peninsula. The policymaking politburo of the ruling Workers’ Party, presided over by leader Kim Jong-un, held a meeting and decided to “examine the issue of restarting all temporarily-suspended activities,” the North’s o

Jan. 21, 2022

[Editorial] End spoils system

Political appointments to reward those who were helpful to the current administration are going too far as Moon Jae-in’s presidency nears its end. As a matter of fact, no administration has been completely free from the practice of using appointments as a reward for loyalty. The spoils system is an undesirable custom, but realistically, it is a hard one to eradicate. Nonetheless, past governments have shown as much restraint as possible from filling high-level posts with their supporters,

Jan. 20, 2022

[Editorial] Family matters

Political leaders often confront accusations about their family members meddling in state affairs or peddling influence due to the inherently intimate relationships they have with each other. A striking example is the raging dispute over Kim Kun-hee, wife of the main opposition People Power Party’s candidate, Yoon Suk-yeol, after a local broadcaster aired recordings taken from phone calls she had with a reporter of a pro-government YouTube channel Sunday. Even before the controversial

Jan. 19, 2022

[Editorial] Passing on ‘pension bomb’

The Korea Economic Research Institute warned that people born after 1990 may not receive national pension at all unless the scheme is reformed.　 The institute affiliated with the Federation of Korean Industries raised the need for the reform of the system on the grounds of its analysis of data compiled by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and Statistics Korea. The nation’s elderly poverty ratio reached 40.4 percent in 2020. The figure is the highest among the 37 O

Jan. 18, 2022

[Editorial] Mixed message

In a bid to tighten the flow of money and rein in runaway inflation, the Bank of Korea raised the interest rate on Friday. But on the very same day, the Ministry of Economy and Finance unveiled a plan to draw up another supplementary budget to support COVID-hit merchants. The mix of the two potentially conflicting measures could send a wrong message to the market and increase the risk of weakening the purported effects. In an ideal world, when the central bank moves to raise the benchmark rat

Jan. 17, 2022

[Editorial] Surveillance in its DNA

It was recently revealed that the Board of Audit and Inspection checked the mobile phone records of 31 high-ranking staff employees in early November last year, apparently to find the leaker of inside information. A lawmaker of the main opposition People Power Party said in the National Assembly in October last year: “Word is going around that if Choe Jae-hae is appointed as chair of the board, a secretary in the presidential office will succeed a member of its council of commissioners (w

Jan. 14, 2022