[Editorial] Suspicions die hard　

A former member of a Cheong Wa Dae special inspection team was found dead Sunday. The prosecution and police are investigating his death as a suicide.He was an investigator belonging to the prosecution who had been dispatched to a special inspection team under Baek Won-woo, then the presidential secretary for civil affairs. Baek is now vice director of the Institute for Democracy, which has been dubbed as the ruling Democratic Party’s think tank to devise election strategies.The man w

Dec. 3, 2019

[Editorial] Sapping economy

Last week the Bank of Korea forecast that the country’s economy would expand around 2 percent this year, marking the central bank’s fourth downward revision of its growth outlook for 2019 over the past year. The growth estimate was lowered from 2.7 percent late last year to 2.6 percent in January, 2.5 percent in April and 2.2 percent in July.The BOK also trimmed its growth projection for next year to 2.3 percent, down from 2.5 percent forecast in July.The central bank’s latest

Dec. 2, 2019

[Editorial] Concerns on election meddling

Suspicions about Cheong Wa Dae’s election intervention are mounting.　On March 16, last year, about three months before the June 13 local elections, Ulsan Mayor Kim Gi-hyeon of the opposition Liberty Korea Party won nomination to seek reelection. On the same day, Ulsan Metropolitan Police Agency raided the city hall on tip-off about irregularities.　Before police launched investigations, Kim had led Song Cheol-ho, a candidate of the ruling Democratic Party, by more than 10 percentage points

Dec. 1, 2019

[Editorial] Reform adrift

Health and Welfare Minister Park Neung-hoo suggested this week it would be virtually impossible to pass a bill on reforming the pension system during the current National Assembly’s term.He said it might be senseless to submit any additional reform proposals to the parliament, as all lawmakers are preoccupied with preparations for the upcoming general election on April 15. In his view, serious parliamentary deliberations on reform bills will be possible only after the next Assembly begins

Nov. 28, 2019

[Editorial] Reconsider military accord

A North Korean front-line unit conducted artillery drills just north of the West Sea border with South Korea. But the Ministry of National Defense did not announce the provocation immediately. News spread to South Korea from a North Korean media report. The ministry said it could not announce the provocation because the analysis of a mysterious sound source it had detected was not finished. This means that military authorities were incompetent in grasping the sound source within those two days b

Nov. 27, 2019

[Editorial] Ties with ASEAN

A two-day special summit between South Korea and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations ended Tuesday with the adoption of a statement on a vision for future partnership.The summit, hosted by South Korea in the southeastern port city of Busan, was meant to mark the 30th anniversary of establishing a bilateral dialogue relationship and set the direction for deeper cooperation between both sides in the future.The ASEAN-Republic of Korea Commemorative Summit also served as an occasion

Nov. 26, 2019

[Editorial] Reality of income statistics

The government is delighted at the income statistics for the third quarter, asserting that its income-led growth policy is having a positive impact, but it is hard to agree with this interpretation.The average monthly income of the bottom 20 percent bracket rose 4.3 percent to 1.37 million won ($1,160) from a year earlier in the July-September period, according to Statistics Korea.However, it increased largely thanks to the government’s fiscal support. Earned income for this group decrease

Nov. 25, 2019

[Editorial] Step forward

South Korea’s decision last week to suspend the planned termination of a military information-sharing accord with Japan has provided room for negotiations to settle a longstanding bilateral feud that has spread from history to the trade and security spheres.In an announcement made just six hours before the pact was due to expire at midnight Friday, Seoul said it would put off the effectuation of its earlier notice of termination, as long as discussions are held on withdrawing Japan’s

Nov. 24, 2019

[Editorial] Tall order

It is regrettable that the US is pressing Seoul harder than ever, despite a backlash from South Koreans, to increase to exorbitant levels its share of the cost of keeping American troops on its soil.In a rare sight, the US negotiating team walked out of the third round of defense cost-sharing talks on Tuesday. James DeHart, the US chief negotiator, said the US side had “cut short” the meeting to give Seoul more time to “put forward new proposals.” He said the Korean propo

Nov. 21, 2019

[Editorial] Generational change

With the next general elections five months away, momentum toward generational change is building in South Korea’s political circles, where the handful of young politicians can hardly make themselves heard.Most senior lawmakers of major political parties in the country are preoccupied with their vested interests and are inept at, or indifferent to, handling a range of complicated challenges facing the nation.Catalyzing the calls for change in both the ruling Democratic Party and main oppos

Nov. 20, 2019

[Editorial] No to talks for show

US President Donald Trump urged North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Sunday to “act quickly” and reach a deal with him on dismantling the country’s nuclear weapons program. “You should act quickly, get the deal done. See you soon!” he tweeted.　The tweet came just about 10 hours after the defense ministers of South Korea and the US announced the postponement of the allies’ wintertime combined air exercises. Trump sent a message that it was Kim’s turn to sho

Nov. 19, 2019

[Editorial] Growth potential

President Moon Jae-in’s administration has been trying to shore up the country’s economic growth rate above 2 percent this year. It seems to be concerned that any lower figure will throw cold water on the ruling party’s prospects in the general elections set for April.The government plans to announce its growth outlook for next year in mid-December. But Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki, who doubles as deputy prime minister for economic affairs, recently said all efforts would be ma

Nov. 18, 2019

[Editorial] Risky bet

In response to Tokyo’s export curbs against South Korea, President Moon Jae-in’s administration decided to terminate its military intelligence sharing pact with Japan. But Japan has not flinched yet and a crisis in the alliance with the US looms large.US Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley visited Seoul last week for the annual Security Consultative Meeting with South Korea. It is rare for both US defense secretary and JCS chief to vi

Nov. 17, 2019

[Editorial] Shorter workweek

Time is running out on enacting measures to soften the landing of a shorter workweek for small and medium-sized enterprises. President Moon Jae-in’s government and the political parties should cooperate to stem the potentially huge fallout from the planned expansion of the shorter workweek scheme’s application to SMEs from the beginning of next year.The local labor law was revised in February last year to reduce the maximum weekly working hours to 52 from the previous 68.The reduced

Nov. 14, 2019

[Editorial] Distorted self-praise

Cheong Wa Dae admired itself looking back at the first half of President Moon Jae-in’s term, but its self-praise does not reflect what is actually happening. It is questionable if it has a normal grasp of reality.“The government began with rebuilding the collapsed nation and normalized it,” Moon told his aides and senior secretaries on Monday, referring to the past 2 1/2 years. “Now the government is diffusing the values of fairness and justice throughout our society.&rdq

Nov. 13, 2019

[Editorial] Multicultural children

The proportion of babies born into multicultural families accounted for 5.5 percent of all newborns in South Korea last year, marking the highest since the state statistics office began compiling related data in 2008.According to data released by Statistics Korea last week, as many as 18,079 mixed-heritage children were born in the country in 2018, with the whole number of births 326,822.The increasing population of multicultural children, whose numbers now exceed 200,000, should be welcome for

Nov. 12, 2019

[Editorial] Rash deportation

Many suspicions have been raised by the recent deportation of two North Korean fishermen suspected of killing 16 other crew members on their boat and then fleeing south.Questions concern whether the government tried to deport them secretly, how the two committed such ghoulish mass murder on an apparently small wooden boat, whether deportation was the proper step and if the investigation of the murders was sufficient. Also, problems were revealed in the military discipline and line of command.　Th

Nov. 11, 2019

[Editorial] Fiscal instability

 South Korea’s fiscal deficit has been rising at an alarming pace this year due to the combination of a steep rise in government expenditure and declining tax revenues. The overall fiscal balance -- the difference between the government’s gross revenue, including taxes and proceeds from asset sales, and its total expenditure -- recorded a deficit of 26.5 trillion won ($22.8 billion) in the first nine months of the year, according to a report released by the Ministry of Econ

Nov. 10, 2019

[Editorial] Unconscientious remodeling

The Board of Audit and Inspection announced that the National Court Administration, under the supervision of the Supreme Court, diverted about 475 million won ($409,000) of its budget without authorization to remodel the chief justice’s official residence. The administration included 1.552 billion won for the remodeling project in the 2017 budget of the Supreme Court, but the National Assembly slashed it to 999 million won. Then it appropriated other Supreme Court budget allocations arbitr

Nov. 7, 2019

[Editorial] GSOMIA miscalculation

South Korea now finds itself being squeezed between the US and Japan over its decision not to extend a military-information sharing accord with Tokyo, which is scheduled to expire late this month.This is certainly not the situation President Moon Jae-in’s government in Seoul anticipated when it made the decision in August amid an escalating feud with Tokyo over the issue of compensating Koreans forced to work for Japanese companies during Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule of the peninsul

Nov. 6, 2019