[Editorial] Keep on track

The White House has announced US President Donald Trump will hold his second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in late February. The Trump administration said it would announce a location at a later date.No signal has come from either side yet that they have narrowed the gap between their demands -- the North’s implementation of denuclearization and the US’ relief of sanctions against the North. 　Experts in the US are very skeptical that North Korea will give up its nuclear weapons pro

Jan. 20, 2019

[Editorial] Unity first

The main opposition Liberty Korea Party is still struggling to rebuild itself after its fall that stemmed from the ouster of former President Park Geun-hye. Former Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn joining the Liberty Korea Party should provide it with the momentum to overcome Park’s legacy and regain public trust. Hwang’s entry into the Liberty Korea Party, which paves the way for him to run for the party’s leadership next month, is already stirring Korean politics because recent opinion polls showe

Jan. 17, 2019

[Editorial] Change of tack

Once again, President Moon Jae-in’s administration is facing louder calls to reconsider its plan to phase out nuclear power in the country.The impetus is the choking fine dust that blanketed most parts of the country for three consecutive days over the weekend.The Moon government adamantly adheres to its anti-nuclear stance, turning a deaf ear to a long list of costs critics say its misguided energy policy will incur. In a meeting with a group of corporate leaders Tuesday, Moon reiterated that n

Jan. 16, 2019

[Editorial] Break silence

Cases of sexual abuse in Korean sports are surfacing. Former judo player Shin Yu-yong revealed Monday that she had filed a complaint with police in March last year accusing her high school coach of sexual assault. Six days earlier, Shim Suk-hee, a two-time Olympic short track speedskating champion, accused her former coach Cho Jae-beom of rape. These revelations may only be the tip of the iceberg, but we hope the #MeToo movement has arrived in the sports community in Korea. The Ministry of Cultu

Jan. 15, 2019

[Editorial] All are equal

The ongoing investigation concerning former Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae poses two challenges to the country -- restoring public trust in the judiciary and separating politics from the criminal justice system, especially the state prosecution. The complete truth in the case has yet to be proved, but the undeniable fact is that the prosecution’s investigation of Yang and other former top justices itself has reduced public trust in the judiciary.Indeed, some described the scene Friday of Yang walki

Jan. 14, 2019

[Editorial] Bypassing sanctions

President Moon Jae-in’s government is seeking ways to circumvent international sanctions against North Korea to reopen an inter-Korean industrial park. The Kaesong industrial complex north of the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas was shut down in February 2016 after Pyongyang conducted its fourth nuclear test.In a lecture to a group of ruling party lawmakers on Friday, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha raised the need to study whether it would be possible to resolve the matter in a way

Jan. 13, 2019

[Editorial] Job policy backfires

Job data released by Statistics Korea on Wednesday show the employment policy of the Moon Jae-in administration has backfired.The number of jobs increased 97,000 on-year in 2018, dipping below 100,000 added for the first time since 2009. However, if you take a closer look, the job situation is even more concerning.The number of nonfarming, private-sector jobs decreased 16,000 on-year in 2018. This figure had increased 256,000 in 2017 and 239,000 in 2016 year-over-year. It is the first decrease i

Jan. 10, 2019

[Editorial] Busy year

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s visit to China heralds brisk diplomatic maneuvers ahead over how to end the country’s nuclear threat. Most of all, the visit, set to end Thursday, further heightened prospects for a second meeting between Kim and US President Donald Trump that is expected to set the course of their stalled denuclearization talks. In many respects, the surprise visit made at the start of the year is seen as a move by North Korea and China to demonstrate their alliance, especially

Jan. 9, 2019

[Editorial] Yet another defector

Seoul, Pyongyang and Washington have remained tight-lipped about the disappearance of North Korea’s acting ambassador to Italy, who seems to be yet another high-level defector from the oppressive regime.Jo Song-gil, the charge d’affaires of the North’s Embassy in Rome, has been missing since early November, weeks before his term was due to end. Italian media reported that Jo, who had gone into hiding with his wife, was under the protection of the Italian government and seeking asylum in the US.T

Jan. 8, 2019

[Editorial] Stop war of nerves

Conflicts between South Korea and Japan are growing. Their cooperation is required to resolve the problem of North Korea’s nuclear weapons, among others, and prosper together economically, but they are going separate ways. Disputes are escalating over whether a South Korean destroyer locked its fire control radar on a Japanese patrol aircraft on Dec. 20. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe vowed Sunday to take strong countermeasures in response to Koreans‘ legal action against a Japanese company,

Jan. 7, 2019

[Editorial] Protecting truth

 The two whistleblowing scandals rocking the Moon Jae-in administration expose some chronic illnesses of the Korean government and politics. The two cases also manifest that whistleblowers in this society are vulnerable to reprisals and retaliation.One of the common elements of the two cases, both of which target alleged wrongdoings of senior government officials, is that the power elite, especially presidential aides, are prone to abuse their power. At the core of the first sets of allegations

Jan. 6, 2019

[Editorial] Worrying prospect

The country’s exports reached a record high of $605 billion  in 2018, up 5.5 percent from a year earlier, according to data released by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on the first day of the New Year. This achievement has made South Korea the world’s seventh economy to surpass the $600 billion mark in outbound shipments, following the US, Germany, China, Japan, the Netherlands and France.It was no small feat, and with almost all economic indicators pointing downward recently, Preside

Jan. 3, 2019

[Editorial] NK sticks to its guns

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un expressed his hopes of a second summit with the US in his New Year’s speech, but did not offer additional steps toward denuclearization.Instead, he repeated the North’s existing position -- that the US must ease its sanctions against the communist state.Few would criticize the South Korean government if it tried to mediate in the summitry, but it should avoid doing so as a means to rush inter-Korean projects among other things.Kim’s address invites concerns that h

Jan. 2, 2019

[Editorial] First task

In the first weeks of each year, political parties are busy mapping out plans and schedules for the New Year. This year, one of their major concerns will be preparing for the general elections in April 2020, the first parliamentary elections since President Moon Jae-in took power. In relation to this, the parties’ most urgent job should be reaching an agreement on electoral reform. Also important is to work out a bipartisan bill to revise the Constitution. It was fortunate that the five parties

Jan. 1, 2019

[Editorial] Let practicality prevail

The nation ushers in 2019 amid deepening concerns over the sagging economy and the stalled process of North Korea’s denuclearization.The economy is suffering from a simultaneous decline in output and investment, with unemployment and income inequality worsening continuously.The North appears to be upgrading its nuclear capabilities, while balking at denuclearization talks with the US and pressing the South to be more active in going ahead with inter-Korean projects.By adhering to policies critic

Dec. 31, 2018

[Editorial] Suspected blacklisting

The Ministry of Environment admitted Thursday that it had prepared a document disclosed by the main opposition Liberty Korea Party with notes on which executives of public institutions under its supervision had resigned and which ones had refused.When the document was disclosed a day earlier, the ministry denied preparing it or reporting it to the presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae. But around midnight the ministry admitted that it had prepared the document at the request of Kim Tae-woo, a for

Dec. 28, 2018

[Editorial] Benefit or liability?

It is not fresh news that US President Donald Trump puts priority on “America First” -- a mere euphemism for the pursuit of the selfish interests of his country -- at the expense of others, including allies and friends. But his latest comments on the costs for keeping US forces overseas should raise new concerns, especially in connection with the stalled endeavors to denuclearize North Korea. In a Twitter post earlier this week, Trump said the US is “substantially subsidizing the militaries of m

Dec. 27, 2018

[Editorial] ‘No Surrender’

Tension is rising between Cheong Wa Dae and opposition parties over a whistle-blowing dispute involving a former member of the special inspection unit of the presidential office. The main opposition Liberty Korea Party has already taken the case to the state prosecution, accusing top presidential aides of abusing their power and dereliction of duty. Other opposition parties, including the Party for Democracy and Peace, a liberal group that is usually supportive of the ruling party, and the centr

Dec. 25, 2018

[Editorial] Take long view

Lee Jae-woong, chief executive of car-sharing service SoCar, resigned as co-head of a government organization formed by the Ministry of Economy and Finance for the growth of the national economy through innovation. He said he offered to resign because the “sharing economy has made no progress” and because “reasonable measures for those likely to suffer from innovation-driven growth failed to take a single step forward.” He joined the body probably because he agreed to the need to find a new grow

Dec. 24, 2018

[Editorial] Credibility gap

President Moon Jae-in has vowed to take complementary measures related to minimum wage hikes. However, the Ministry of Employment and Labor appears to be moving to make the minimum wage more burdensome for employers.　The ministry plans to revise an enforcement ordinance of the Minimum Wage Act to recognize the weekend (Saturday and Sunday) as working hours in the calculation of the minimum wage.　Parliamentary approval is not needed to revise an enforcement ordinance because an ordinance is not a

Dec. 20, 2018