[Editorial] Nation at crossroads

A new year has begun, but a heavy heart comes before expectations and hope. Last year, the nation was dismayed by the alleged irregularities of the family of Cho Kuk, President Moon Jae-in’s choice for justice minister, and the ensuing bribery and election-meddling allegations against the president’s cronies.The scandals revealed the hypocrisy and dogmatism of the Moon regime, which trumpeted fairness, equality and justice as its credo and identity. Society has been split ideological

Dec. 31, 2019

[Editorial] Influx of tourists

On Thursday last week, a ceremony was held at Incheon International Airport to welcome the 17.25 millionth foreign visitor to South Korea this year.The number of foreign travelers to the country is expected to reach 17.5 million by the end of the year, surpassing the previous annual record of 17.24 million set in 2016, according to the Korea Tourism Organization.The figure translates to one foreigner arriving here every 1.8 seconds over the course of a year. Or 118 planes carrying 407 foreigners

Dec. 30, 2019

[Editorial] Keep up probe

Shortly after the court rejected the prosecution’s request for an arrest warrant for former Justice Minister Cho Kuk on Friday, Cheong Wa Dae said the court decision showed that the prosecution’s request was unreasonable.This comment appears intended to call attention to the need to reform the prosecution. The ruling party hailed the court decision as rational, and revealed its true colors by saying, “We will push through a bill to create a separate investigation agency targeti

Dec. 29, 2019

[Editorial] Dialogue momentum

The range of pending issues between South Korea and Japan are so complex and deep-rooted that they cannot be expected to be solved by a meeting between their leaders.Still, Tuesday’s summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe produced critical momentum for the dialogue needed to resolve the long-standing disputes between the two countries.The first Moon-Abe summit in 15 months had been scheduled for half an hour, but instead lasted 45 minutes.

Dec. 26, 2019

[Editorial] Withdraw bills

With the electoral reform bill laid by Speaker Moon Hee-sang at the plenary session of the National Assembly, democracy is doomed to be undermined. The election system is in tatters as it was tampered with through a series of collusive dealings by a “four plus one consultative group” of representatives from the ruling Democratic Party, three minor parties and one splinter group. The bill, along with two other controversial ones, was fast-tracked to the National Assembly by the partie

Dec. 25, 2019

[Editorial] Trilateral deal

During their meeting Tuesday in the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu, leaders from South Korea, China and Japan endorsed an earlier decision by their trade ministers to accelerate negotiations on a trilateral free trade agreement.Few people appear to be aware that talks on such a deal have been held over the past six years. The latest and 16th round of negotiations held in Seoul in November drew little attention, having made little headway from previous discussions.Trade ministers from the t

Dec. 24, 2019

[Editorial] Self-injurious policy

Thirteen senior figures who worked in the fields of science and technology under past governments urged the current administration last Thursday to reverse its nuclear phase-out policy.They are eight former science ministers, a former environment minister, a former president of the nation’s utility monopoly Korea Electric Power Corp., a former education minister, a former chairperson of the presidential advisory council on science and technology, and a former vice minister of science.They

Dec. 23, 2019

[Editorial] String of summits

South Korean President Moon Jae-in will hold talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Monday before he meets with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe the next day on the sidelines of a trilateral summit among the leaders of the three Northeast Asian powers in the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu.The string of summits are taking place as tensions have risen over North Korea’s threats to resume nuclear and long-range missile tests unless the US offers concessions to break the

Dec. 22, 2019

[Editorial] Curb cash welfare

Provincial governments are competing to increase cash welfare provisions. According to the Budget Settlement Committee of the National Assembly, the central government’s 2020 budget for programs that pay cash directly to people, such as the youth allowance to fund young people’s job-seeking activities, increased 12.5 percent to 54.3 trillion won.The cash payment budget rose modestly 5.9 percent in 2017 when President Moon Jae-in’s government was launched, then surged 14.9 perce

Dec. 19, 2019

[Editorial] Wayward approach

President Moon Jae-in’s administration has gone further in its fruitless efforts to curb soaring home prices by tightening regulations without increasing supply in preferred residential areas.On Tuesday, the Finance Ministry and other related government agencies announced a set of measures to rein in the rise in housing prices for the 18th time since the administration took office in May 2017.The steps unveiled included stricter rules on lending to home purchasers, expanded application of

Dec. 18, 2019

[Editorial] Resume dialogue

Stephen Biegun, US special envoy for North Korea, urged Pyongyang to resume denuclearization talks. He proposed a US-North Korea meeting openly.After meeting with his South Korean counterpart Lee Do-hoon, he told reporters that Washington had no “deadline” for the resumption of dialogue with North Korea. The North has set an end-of-year deadline arbitrarily for the US to come up with a new denuclearization deal that includes significant sanctions relief.He said to his North Korean co

Dec. 17, 2019

[Editorial] Proper choice

President Moon Jae-in has not made up his mind on whom to choose to replace Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon.He was expected to announce Lee’s replacement in early December, when he nominated Choo Mi-ae, a five-term ruling party lawmaker, for the post of justice minister. But he stopped short of making public the candidate for the second prime minister of his administration.Lee is believed to be hoping to return to the ruling Democratic Party to run in next April’s parliamentary elections

Dec. 16, 2019

[Editorial] Chance to revive exports

It is welcome news that the United States and China have reached their phase one trade accord. The US agreed to reduce import tariffs on Chinese products worth $360 billion. China agreed to import $50 billion of US agricultural products next year and to ease import tariffs on US products. If Washington had imposed tariffs on Chinese goods worth $165 billion from Dec. 15, as it had initially planned, the global economy would have fallen into turmoil.They made the deal because they were well aware

Dec. 15, 2019

[Editorial] Unrestrained spending

The National Assembly on Tuesday passed next year’s budget bill worth 512.3 trillion won ($430 billion), making little changes to the government-proposed spending plan.The ruling Democratic Party and four minor opposition parties rammed through the budget bill they had deliberated on behind closed doors in the absence of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party.It is hard to justify the budgetary deliberation that was not made in public by relevant parliamentary committees.Furthermore, lawm

Dec. 12, 2019

[Editorial] Kim Woo-choong’s legacy

The evaluation of former Daewoo Group Chairman Kim Woo-choong, who died Monday, is mixed, but his entrepreneurship and spirit of challenge are really some big shoes to fill.The iconic driving force behind South Korea’s outstanding growth from the 1960s to the 1990s was a dauntless businessman.He crisscrossed every nook and cranny of the world including remote parts of Africa and countries in the socialist blocs. His global performance played a decisive role in the establishment of diplomat

Dec. 11, 2019

[Editorial] Task ahead

Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki, who marked one year in office Tuesday, recently posted a message on Facebook to stress the importance of psychology in running the economy.The direction of the national economy hinges on the psychology of economic actors plus economic fundamentals, he said, asking all economic actors to have confidence that they can overcome difficulties by joining forces.His message sounds hollow and inappropriate, as the fundamentals of the economy have been weakening, with all ec

Dec. 10, 2019

[Editorial] Keep innovation alive

The Land Infrastructure and Transport Committee of the National Assembly passed an amendment to the passenger transport service act on Friday. Considering that earlier the related subcommittee had agreed on the amendment unanimously and that the bill caused few controversies, it is expected to pass the plenary session without a hitch.If the amendment is implemented, Tada -- a South Korean rented van-hailing service -- will be unable to operate in the current form.The act prohibits car rental com

Dec. 9, 2019

[Editorial] Reenacted brinkmanship

President Moon Jae-in and US President Donald Trump on Saturday held their first talks over the phone since early May, amid Pyongyang’s increasing threat to return to provocations if talks with Washington remain stalled.During the half-hour call held at Trump’s request, the two leaders agreed that the current situation on the Korean Peninsula was “severe” and “dialogue momentum should be maintained to achieve prompt results from denuclearization negotiations,”

Dec. 8, 2019

[Editorial] Absurd pressure

Prosecutors searched Cheong Wa Dae in connection with suspicions over its abruptly suspended inspection of irregularities involving former Busan Vice Mayor Yoo Jae-soo.They also vowed a thorough investigation into suspicions about Cheong Wa Dae’s intervention in a local mayoral election in Ulsan.　Following this, leader of the ruling Democratic Party Lee Hae-chan raised the possibility of getting a special counsel appointed to investigate the cases and possibly the prosecution. He urged the

Dec. 5, 2019

[Editorial] Thorny task

South Korea and Japan have been moving to ease their strained ties since Seoul conditionally suspended the expiry of a military information-sharing accord with Tokyo last month.Senior trade officials from the two sides are scheduled to meet in Tokyo in mid-December to discuss withdrawing Japan’s export curbs on Korea.In July, Japan imposed restrictions on the shipment of key industrial materials to Korea in apparent reprisal for last year’s ruling by the top court here ordering Japan

Dec. 4, 2019