[Editorial] Abusive tycoons

Reports on chaebol scions and business owners accused of abusing their employees never cease, fueling anticorporate public sentiment and raising serious questions about the ethical standard of Korean business leaders.The latest case involves Chung Il-sun, president of Hyundai BNG Steel, an affiliate of Hyundai-Kia Motor Group that manufactures stainless steel products. He is one of the grandsons of the late Hyundai Group founder Chung Ju-yung.On Friday, a local media outlet reported that he had

April 11, 2016

[Editorial] Youth in plight

Korea is undergoing such rapid demographic changes that many relevant statistics keep producing new records. Those on marriage are no exception.  　Latest figures show that in 2015, the number of marriages stood at 302,800, the lowest since 2003. The ratio of the number of marriages to every 1,000 people dropped to 5.9, marking the first time that it has gone below six.　The record-breaking spree continues: the average age of Korean men tying the knot for the first time reached a record high of 32

April 10, 2016

[Editorial] Homework to do

With the campaigns for Wednesday’s general election in the final stretch, voters should think about decisions they have already made or will make. Here are some of the points we suggest voters ponder over before they go to the polling stations. 　First, the quadrennial election should serve as a verdict on the administration of President Park Geun-hye. Her five-year single term of office has already passed its midway point, but an election like this is usually regarded as a sort of midterm evalua

April 10, 2016

[Editorial] Sugar-coated pledge

Political leaders often promise voters the moon in a desperate attempt to win elections. Kim Jong-in, the interim head of The Minjoo Party of Korea, did just that in Gwangju on Wednesday.Gwangju has long been a bastion for the opposition party. For decades, its citizens have provided overwhelming support for the party’s candidates in elections, without bothering to ask whether they are qualified or not.Not anymore. Many Gwangju voters have shifted their allegiance to the minor opposition People’

April 8, 2016

[Editorial] Overseas consumption

Last year, the government tried every means to boost domestic consumption as exports ceased to play their traditional role of driving economic growth. It had to execute an 11 trillion-won supplementary budget to fuel domestic demand, as the outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome stifled consumer spending.  The government also organized a Korean version of Black Friday, a 15-day shopping promotion campaign aimed at stimulating domestic consumption and attracting shoppers from abroad.Thanks

April 8, 2016

[Editorial] Temples’ revenue

The Jogye Order’s disclosure of the finances of the four largest Buddhist temples in the country will certainly help enhance transparency of religious organizations and overall public confidence in religion. According to the nation’s largest Buddhist sect’s announcement this week, Bongeunsa Temple in southern Seoul and Jogyesa Temple in central Seoul recorded revenues of 21.09 billion won ($18.3 million) and 20.05 billion won, respectively, last year. The disclosure of the finances of the major

April 7, 2016

[Editorial] Positive cracks

In terms of public interest, the April 13 general election remains an average parliamentary poll, with few big issues grabbing the attention of the voters. But there is at least one positive aspect, which should be maintained until voting day and beyond. There are apparent signs that in the southeastern and southwestern regions, an increasing number of voters are abandoning their traditional blind allegiance — based on regional favoritism — to certain political parties. As a result, the ruling S

April 7, 2016

[Editorial] Police on Facebook

An alleged sexual assault on an Australian woman, Airdre Mattner, in September 2015 has received wide attention thanks to an article in The Korea Herald last week and follow-up by other news outlets.The Seoul police station in charge of the case has said that it has yet to find sufficient evidence to arrest any suspect. While Mattner said that she was drugged, abducted and raped, it seems that investigators have faced hurdles though they said they had collected an unidentified DNA sample from he

April 6, 2016

[Editorial] Tesla warning

It takes years or decades for businesses to commercialize futuristic projects. However, after mass production starts, the speed of the products’ penetration into ordinary consumers’ daily lives often goes beyond estimations.Korean consumers saw simple mobile phones being rapidly replaced by smartphones, and they are about to enter a big bang in commercial banking thanks to the emergence of fintech and Internet-only banks.Another drastic change is foreseen in the automobile industry, which U.S. f

April 6, 2016

[Editorial] Panama papers leak

The eldest son of disgraced former President Roh Tae-woo has been found to have established three paper companies in an offshore tax haven in 2012, raising suspicions that he might have attempted to hide some of his father’s slush funds.The finding was reported by Newstapa, an independent online news outlet that analyzed, in cooperation with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, the leaked documents of Mossack Fonseca, a Panama law firm known for helping clients hide their w

April 5, 2016

[Editorial] Minimum wage

The Minimum Wage Council will kick off negotiations Thursday to set the national minimum wage for next year. Discussions among the labor, management and government representatives are expected to be unusually stormy this year, as labor groups are determined to raise the wage floor drastically. Last year, the trilateral council set the minimum wage for 2016 at 6,030 won (about $5.30) per hour, up 8.1 percent from that for 2015. The increase rate was the highest since the 8.3 percent hike in 2008.

April 5, 2016

[Editorial] Prosecutor’s jackpot

A high-profile prosecutor reaped stock gains worth 3.7 billion won ($3.23 million) last year, then offered to resign amid growing public suspicion over the weekend. He posted the highest in 2015 wealth growth among the nation’s 2,300 ranking officials, who were subject to private property disclosure.Jin Kyung-jun, a senior prosecutor of the Korea Immigration Service at the Ministry of Justice, had bought some unlisted shares of local mobile game developer Nexon. He took gains by selling about 80

April 4, 2016

[Editorial] N.K. news briefings

South Korean citizens are asking their government what it has done about the North’s provocations, apart from the shutdown of the inter-Korean industrial park in Gaeseong. Though economic sanctions, including the U.N.-led move against the communist country, may help to a certain extent, these will not guarantee the security of South Koreans.On June 7, Cheong Wa Dae’s National Security Office said that the military was fully prepared, stressing that the South’s military would sternly retaliate if

April 4, 2016

[Editorial] Blessing or curse?

Korea is undergoing rapid demographic changes such as the fast aging of the population and an increase in the number of multicultural families, but it would not be wrong to say that both the government and society are not yet coping with the changes properly. 　Of all, the most serious problem is aging. It is normal for a society like Korea to get increasingly older in accordance with its economic advancement. Nevertheless, the pace of aging is too fast.  　Government statistics show that the prop

April 3, 2016

[Editorial] In camouflage

Korea is a democracy, and any one eligible has the constitutional right to seek elected office. But what we hear about some of the candidates running for the April 13 general election provides cause for concern. 　Most worrisome is that some of the candidates are former members of a radical leftist party banned by the Constitutional Court for its pro-North Korea, socialist platform and activities that the court said were acts of rebellion. 　News reports said that about 40 of the 60 candidates run

April 3, 2016

[Editorial] As usual

Campaigning for the April 13 general election is in full swing and, as usual, some negative aspects of Korean elections are rearing their ugly heads, with regionalism standing out. The recent flip-flop at the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea over whether to promise the relocation of the National Assembly to Sejong City in South Chungcheong Province shows clearly that political parties still regard fanning regional sentiment as an easy way to get votes. In the face of mounting criticism of a

April 1, 2016

[Editorial] A united message

The Nuclear Security Summit in Washington could not have come at a better time for South Korea, whose utmost security concern is to tackle threats from North Korea’s nuclear weapons. The biennial summit focuses on coping with the threats of nuclear terrorism and strengthening the safety of nuclear materials and facilities. Although the summit does not focus on nonproliferation, it provided a good stage for calling international attention to the North Korean nuclear issue. Besides, the summit dre

April 1, 2016

[Editorial] Dump investment hurdles

Apart from indirect investment, such as seeking equity trading gains, foreign investment in South Korea remains in the doldrums. The sluggish inbound investment can be seen in a report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.Korea saw the ratio of foreign direct investment to its gross domestic product stay at 12.7 percent from 2010 to 2014 on the average. The figure is far behind the world average, which came to 31.3 percent. The average emerging country and developed country

March 31, 2016

[Editorial] ‘Patriotism index’

Around 7 in 10 citizens are willing to take up arms to fight in a war, according to a recent survey released by the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs. The highest proportion of those willing to do so was made up of those in their 50s and 60s, while those in their 20s and 30s were less willing. The poll also found that women were more passive about participating in war than men. It also showed that white-collar employees had much less desire to participate in armed conflict, compared to f

March 31, 2016

[Editorial] Job inheritance

The Ministry of Employment and Labor has found that a quarter of the nation’s corporations still have “job inheritance arrangements” set out in their collective bargaining agreements.The ministry recently examined the collective bargaining agreements of 2,769 corporations with more than 100 workers on their payrolls. It found that the bargaining agreements of 694 companies contained a clause that either required management to hire the children or family members of former workers who had died or

March 30, 2016