[Editorial] Joint efforts

It is laudable for South Korea and China’s respective private sectors to take the initiative in coordinating on resolving the fine dust problem. A large part of the fine dust that swept over the Seoul metropolitan area and some major cities over the past two months came from ChinaOver the weekend, a group of Korean and Chinese business leaders agreed to work together to try to reduce dust in the air.Ultrafine dust is too small to be seen by the naked eye and is difficult to filter. Trapped in th

June 20, 2016

[Editorial] Depositors’ frustration

The Bank of Korea’s cut in the benchmark rate has lowered commercial banks’ interest rate offering on deposits to a record-low level.Commercial banks say they -- as well as depositors -- are also suffering low profitability as a result of the BOK’s all-time low base rate of 1.25 percent. Over the past two years, the central bank has lowered the rate by 125 basis points from 2.5 percent in July 2014.A savings product offered by a commercial bank provides customers with only a 0.01 percent rate pe

June 20, 2016

[Editorial] Extra budget

The government is leaning toward creating a supplementary budget in the second half of the year to boost the sluggish economy.Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho said Friday that the government would come up with aggressive fiscal measures to cope with growing downside pressures at home and abroad.A day earlier, he had said the government would examine the option of drawing up an extra budget in its search for the right mix of policies to revitalize the economy.The minister’s remarks represent a shift in

June 19, 2016

[Editorial] Unwarranted revolt

Factional strife at the ruling Saenuri Party has been rekindled following the interim leadership’s surprise decision Thursday to reinstate the seven lawmakers who defected from the party after being denied nominations at the April election and were then elected as independents.The decision angered the party’s mainstreamers loyal to President Park Geun-hye, as the seven readmitted lawmakers included Yoo Seong-min, a former floor leader who was forced by the mainstream faction to step down from hi

June 19, 2016

[Editorial] Border islands

The number of fishing boats and patrol boats from North Korea has recently surged around the Northern Limit Line. The situation has coincided with the South Korean Navy’s three-day maritime exercise in the West Sea this week.　Tension is naturally increasing as the two Koreas fought several bloody battles along the NLL across the West Sea over the past decade. Further, the timing is quite uneasy as both of the battles around the South’s Yeonpyeongdo Island in 1999 and 2002 occurred in June.　The N

June 17, 2016

[Editorial] Rate hike delay

The global economy has faced another extension of uncertainty as the U.S. Federal Reserve again chose to delay its base rate hike. Early this year, expectations of a hike during the first half were dominant in the market.　The most likely timing for a hike was June, according to earlier bets of global investment banks. And the global market was fully bracing for temporary shocks from a U.S. rate hike, alongside hopes for a fast rebound, as the scenario was sufficiently reflected in the market.　Th

June 17, 2016

[Editorial] Resource assets

As part of its campaign to reform the public sector, the government is pushing to scale back the overseas resource development business of state-owned corporations. The government’s reform plan, which was disclosed Tuesday, calls for selling off unprofitable assets held by these companies. Yet it should take care not to undermine the nation’s fragile energy security.Korean companies, both private and public, invested heavily in overseas resources under former President Lee Myung-bak. Amid high o

June 16, 2016

[Editorial] Fettering universities

Presidents of Korean universities seldom criticize the Education Ministry in public, as they know only too well that they gain nothing by falling into disfavor with a government agency that has the power to determine the amount of financial support they get. Yet principals of 10 major private universities in Seoul got what they had to say off their chests in a seminar held Tuesday to mark the launch of the “Future University Forum.” Choi Kyung-hee, president of Ewha Womans University, criticized

June 16, 2016

[Editorial] Long overdue

As Speaker Chung Sye-kyun noted in his speech opening the 20th National Assembly, the new parliament faces daunting challenges in the coming four years.First and foremost is restoration of public confidence in the parliament, which dropped to its lowest level during the 19th Assembly. The new parliament should neither repeat the fierce partisan strife that often paralyzed legislative business nor tolerate corruption and abuse of power by its members. Chung added one more important task to those

June 15, 2016

[Editorial] Twin follies

The emissions cheating scandal surrounding the German automaker Volkswagen shows that a combination of dishonest, irresponsible business and incapable, negligent regulators can cause immense damage to innocent consumers. Korean prosecutors questioned a senior executive of the Korean unit of the carmaker Monday, about five months after the Environment Ministry asked them to investigate the case. Prosecutors suspect that the carmaker forged at least 48 fuel efficiency test records between June 201

June 15, 2016

[Editorial] Terror and politics

U.S. President Barack Obama has called the shooting in Orlando an act of terror and an act of hate. He also said the massacre at a nightclub in the Florida city is a further reminder of how easy it is for Americans to acquire deadly weapons.Obama said, “We have to decide if that’s the kind of country we want to be.”Five months ahead of the U.S. presidential election, the issue of gun control appears to have come to the fore as one of the biggest issues in the campaign.Earlier this year, the U.S.

June 14, 2016

[Editorial] ‘Brexit’ worries

Britons will go to the polls on June 23 to decide whether the U.K. should stay in or leave the European Union. Uncertainty over the global economy is mounting over the upcoming “Brexit referendum.”The percentage of the proponents of the departure is estimated to hover around 40 percent in the U.K., while the ratio of opponents slightly exceeds it.If Brexit becomes reality, South Korea is certain to face aggravated difficulties in its export performance that has already taken a big hit. This woul

June 14, 2016

[Editorial] Silence on reforms

The ruling Saenuri Party launched a reform committee on June 2, but the panel, which also acts as the party’s interim leadership until a new leader is elected, has not yet proposed any major reform agenda.The committee is led by Kim Hee-ok, a former head of the Government Public Ethics Committee. When Kim was tapped for the party’s interim leadership, many wondered how the former Supreme Court justice with no political experience would reform the conservative party, which is riddled with faction

June 13, 2016

[Editorial] Lotte probe

Lotte Group, Korea’s fifth-largest conglomerate, is facing an investigation into allegations that its chairman and other top executives embezzled corporate money to create slush funds.Some 200 investigators raided Friday the group’s headquarters and six major affiliates to seize hard disk drives and accounting books. They also searched the homes and offices of the group chairman, Shin Dong-bin, and other key officials.Prosecutors are focusing on asset deals among Lotte subsidiaries, suspecting t

June 13, 2016

[Editorial] Ugly sectionalism

The strife between two candidate cities for a new airport in the south of the country testifies to the chronic social illness in Korea – extreme sectionalism fanned by politicians. The contention between Gadeokdo Island in Busan and Miryang in South Gyeongsang Province is so intense that there could be serious fallout whichever side wins the airport project. Given the benefits that will come from having an international airport in the neighborhood, local residents may well cling to the project.

June 12, 2016

[Editorial] First real test

The corruption scandal buffeting the People’s Party is setting the first major test for the party’s self-avowed mantra -- new, clean politics. Given what we have been hearing, the chances are that the test result will be negative. The scandal surrounds allegations -- raised by none other than the National Election Commission -- that party officials got back -- in the form of rebates -- 238 million won ($206,000) out of 3.2 billion won they paid to firms hired for the April 13 parliamentary elect

June 12, 2016

[Editorial] New speaker

Lawmakers of the 20th National Assembly have completed the election of the new parliamentary leadership with unprecedented swiftness, showing their resolve to make the new Assembly different from previous ones. On Thursday, they picked Rep. Chung Sye-kyun of the main opposition The Minjoo Party of Korea as the new speaker, while electing Rep. Shim Jae-chul of the ruling Saenuri Party and Rep. Park Joo-sun of the minor opposition People’s Party as vice speakers.The election of the new leadership

June 10, 2016

[Editorial] Rehabilitation plans

The government has finally unveiled a plan to restructure the nation’s ailing shipbuilding and shipping industries. The scheme, announced Wednesday, calls for creating an 11 trillion won ($9.5 billion) fund to recapitalize the two state-run banks, the Korea Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of Korea, which are heavily exposed to the two sectors.The main contributor to the fund is the Bank of Korea, which will provide 10 trillion won in the form of a loan to the government. The Industri

June 10, 2016

[Editorial] Reining in North Korea

It is apparent that North Korea does not intend to give in to the international sanctions against its nuclear and missile provocations. The latest evidence of this is the intelligence reports that it is producing more weapons-grade plutonium. The latest report came from the U.S. State Department, in which officials were quoted by the news agency Reuters as saying that North Koreans were producing plutonium by reprocessing fuel spent at the 5-megawatt reactor in Yongbyon. It came one day after si

June 9, 2016

[Editorial] Good or bad role model?

Nexon Corp., South Korea’s biggest online game developer, is an up-and-coming information technology firm whose online and mobile games are highly popular worldwide. It is a workplace coveted by many young Korean job seekers. But a high-profile scandal involving its founder and a senior prosecutor -- the two went to the same university in the same year -- is threatening to inflict severe damage to the reputation of the company which has grown into one of the most successful and revered IT ventur

June 9, 2016