[Editorial] Measured provocations

North Korea test-fired a new type of long-range cruise missile over the weekend in yet another move to bolster its leverage for a deal with the US. The tests, conducted Saturday and Sunday, saw the missiles travel for 7,580 seconds in the air above the North’s territorial land and waters and hit targets 1,500 kilometers away, according to the communist state’s official Korean Central News Agency. Coming right after a scaled-down military parade in Pyongyang, the test-firing is seen

Sept. 15, 2021

[Editorial] Rule-of-thumb relief

The government and the ruling Democratic Party of Korea plan to expand the range of COVID-19 relief aid recipients from the bottom 88 percent income bracket to the bottom 90 percent as complaints are pouring from those excluded from the grant. The government and the party originally agreed on the bottom 80 percent in early July but eventually expanded the scope to 88 percent, reflecting demands by some in the party for relief money to the whole nation and affected by Gyeonggi Provincial Gov. Le

Sept. 14, 2021

[Editorial] Illusory approach

President Moon Jae-in and his aides may have been more disappointed than Pyongyang with last week’s decision by the International Olympic Committee to suspend North Korea’s national Olympic committee until the end of next year. The decision, a punishment for the North’s refusal to participate in the recent Tokyo Summer Olympics over COVID-19 concerns, virtually bars the reclusive communist state from the Beijing Winter Games, which kick off in early February. The Moon adminis

Sept. 13, 2021

[Editorial] Obligation neglected

Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki told the truth when he noted during a parliamentary session this week that South Korea’s state coffers “are being emptied rather than filled.” He made the remark when a ruling party lawmaker asked him why the government “has stacked up grains in the barn” while calling for aggressive fiscal spending. In fact, the incumbent Moon Jae-in administration has increased government spending at a faster pace than any of its predecessors. Accord

Sept. 10, 2021

[Editorial] A loss to the people

Gyeonggi Gov. Lee Jae-myung said Friday that he had decided to revoke the National Pension Service’s right to operate the Ilsan Bridge so he could make it toll-free. The NPS wholly owns the right to operate the bridge, and revocation is an exceptional measure under the law.　 Of course, frequent users of the bridge will welcome the decision, but there are several issues to consider. Is it fair for local government heads to abrogate the rights of privately owned businesses without warning?

Sept. 9, 2021

[Editorial] Deflected focus

The conservative main opposition People Power Party’s primary race to choose its candidate for next year’s presidential election has gotten off to a rough start. The ceremony, held Sunday to officially kick off the race with presidential contenders committing themselves to fair competition, only exposed the party’s lingering internal discord. Four of the dozen contenders boycotted the event in a show of their discontent with a bid by the intraparty election management committ

Sept. 8, 2021

[Editorial] Ridiculous appointment plan

Korea Growth Investment Corp. (K-Growth) is expected to pick a former administrator of the presidential office, who’s ignorant of investment management, to take charge of a 20 trillion won ($17.2 billion) “New Deal Fund” that includes 7 trillion won in government policy funds. Its board of directors is said to have decided to appoint Hwang Hyun-seon as chief of the recently created Second Investment Division if he is elected as a director at the shareholders meeting on Sept. 1

Sept. 7, 2021

[Editorial] Unsustainable benefits

When President Moon Jae-in took office in May 2017, his administration took over more than 10 trillion won ($8.6 billion) in employment insurance funds from the government of his predecessor Park Geun-hye. The fund has since shrunk at a rapid pace. It is expected to dwindle to 4.7 trillion won by the end of this year. Excluding the 7.9 trillion won borrowed from the public capital management fund, the employment insurance fund has already been depleted and is forecast to be saddled with a defi

Sept. 6, 2021

[Editorial] Irresponsible budget

The Moon Jae-in administration is continuing with its rapid fiscal expansion. It drew up a record 604 trillion-won ($519 billion) budget proposal for next year, 8.3 percent larger than this year’s. It started with a 401 trillion-won budget when it was launched in May 2017, and its budget snowballed 51 percent in just five years. The growth rate overwhelms that of two previous presidencies -- 32.9 percent for Lee Myung-bak and 17.1 percent for Park Geun-hye. This is mostly attributable to

Sept. 3, 2021

[Editorial] Renewed bargaining chip

In its annual report made available this week, the International Atomic Energy Agency said it had detected new indications of the operation of North Korea’s main nuclear complex in Yongbyon. The report based on satellite imagery said there have been indications since early July that a key reactor at the nuclear complex north of Pyongyang has been in operation. In December 2018, the North suspended the operation of the 5 megawatt reactor, from which it obtained spent fuel rods to extract p

Sept. 2, 2021

[Editorial] Lax probation

A case of murder in which an ex-convict fitted with an ankle monitor killed two women has jolted the nation. A 56-year-old man surnamed Kang killed one woman while wearing an ankle bracelet, cut off the device on a street in Songpa-gu, Seoul, and ran away on Friday, murdering another woman before surrendering to police Sunday. The women are said to be his acquaintances. Police found their bodies where he indicated -- one in his house and the other in the trunk of a rented car that he drove to

Sept. 1, 2021

[Editorial] Sustainable solution

The government and the ruling Democratic Party of Korea last week put forward a package of measures to expand support for young people who are suffering from economic difficulties exacerbated by the pandemic. Under what is dubbed the special youth assistance program, which will be put into practice next year, a monthly rent subsidy of 200,000 won ($170) will be paid for up to a year to young adults on low incomes. About 160,000 people are expected to meet the criteria: those aged 19-34 whose in

Aug. 31, 2021

[Editorial] Umbrella protocol

Vice Minister of Justice Kang Sung-kook on Friday gave a briefing to reporters on government measures to help 390 “special contributors” from Afghanistan settle here. They entered Korea as part of Seoul’s efforts to evacuate Afghans who worked at the Korean Embassy in Afghanistan and other government facilities in the country and their families, who feared for their safety after the Taliban took power. The briefing proceeded in the open air outside the National Human Resourc

Aug. 30, 2021

[Editorial] A tale of two lawmakers

Rep. Yun Hee-suk, a rising lawmaker of the main opposition People Power Party, offered to give up her parliamentary seat and presidential bid over suspicions that her father violated the farmland law in the past. The suspicions are part of the results of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission’s investigation into real estate transactions involving opposition parties. Yun, a political rookie, said resigning is the way for her to keep faith with her supporters and to do what is ri

Aug. 27, 2021

[Editorial] Beyond rhetoric

The conservative main opposition People Power Party on Tuesday decided to expel one of its lawmakers and request five others to leave the party in connection with their alleged involvement in illegal property deals. The decision by the party’s Supreme Council came one day after the state anti-corruption watchdog announced the outcome of its probe into real estate transactions made by 116 legislators from six opposition parties and their family members over the past seven years. The Anti-

Aug. 26, 2021

[Editorial] Delicate steps needed

The financial authorities are reining in household debt. Commercial banks have started to suspend the issuance of home loans. NH NongHyup Bank suspended all mortgage lending and loans for “jeonse” -- South Korea’s rent-free, deposit-only home leasing system -- until Nov. 30. Switching and renewals of mortgages were halted as well. Woori Bank temporarily stopped offering jeonse loans to tenants. 　 If borrowers rush to other banks, home loans available at banks will likely be ex

Aug. 25, 2021

[Editorial] No more delay

A recent court ruling here has heightened the need for Seoul and Tokyo to step up efforts toward a diplomatic solution to the long-standing issue of compensation to South Korean men forced to work for Japanese firms during Japan’s colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. The Anyang branch of the Suwon District Court earlier this month ordered the seizure of about 850 million-won ($724,000) worth of bonds held by a subsidiary of Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in a local company to

Aug. 24, 2021

[Editorial] Rushed legislation

The ruling Democratic Party of Korea, which holds a wide majority in the National Assembly, is rushing to pass a number of controversial bills. The party convened plenary sessions of the National Assembly’s Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee and its Education Committee on Thursday to handle bills to revise laws on press arbitration and private schools. Earlier in the day, the party unilaterally passed a carbon neutrality bill in the Environment and Labor Committee. The bill revised

Aug. 23, 2021

[Editorial] Lessons of Afghan crisis

Chaotic scenes of Afghans trying to flee their home country after the Taliban’s takeover are shocking indeed. The Taliban swept into Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital, Sunday after the government collapsed. As the insurgents closed in, President Ashraf Ghani fled the country. 　 Afghanistan was taken back by the Taliban nearly 20 years after the US declared a war on terror then entered Kabul in November 2001. Though Afghan government forces had more than 300,000 soldiers and equipment th

Aug. 20, 2021