[Editorial] Low-paid workers

Figures released this week by the national statistics office showed deteriorating employment conditions for low-income earners.While a growing number of workers have been paid less than the minimum wage in recent years, the number of day laborers has been on a steady decrease, according to data from Statistics Korea.As of August, about 2.27 million workers, or 12.1 percent of all employees in the country, got less than the minimum wage of 5,210 won ($4.70) per month for this year. The number mar

Nov. 20, 2014

[Editorial] Virtual bribery

The news about the long lines of people holding envelopes of cash at the wedding of the child of a senior Financial Supervisory Service official testifies to the nation’s elite’s ethical standards. The news reports said that many of the estimated 600 guests at the wedding of the daughter of Cho Young-jae, vice commissioner of the financial watchdog, were executives of financial firms. The FSS, unlike the regulatory Financial Supervisory Commission, is not a full government agency, but it is entr

Nov. 19, 2014

[Editorial] Concerns and hopes

Presidential appointments of senior government officials usually face meticulous scrutiny from the public and the parliament. The latest round of appointments made by President Park Geun-hye must be even more tightly screened because the posts carry extra significance. The appointments involve the new Ministry of Public Safety and Security created in the aftermath of the Sewol ferry disaster, and such key offices as the arms procurement agency, which has recently been battered by high-profile co

Nov. 19, 2014

[Editorial] Accident waiting to happen

The fire at a pension in Damyang, South Jeolla Province, on Nov. 15 that claimed four lives and injured six others, including one who is in critical condition, is a stark reminder of how, despite the tragedy of the Sewol ferry disaster, Korea has yet to make safety a priority.Firefighters found four bodies close to the only exit of the barbecue hut that burned down at the pension, the victims having succumbed to asphyxiation. Witnesses said there were no fire extinguishers in the building and on

Nov. 18, 2014

[Editorial] Park’s 3-way summit proposal

President Park Geun-hye appears to have gained an upper hand on the Northeast Asian diplomatic stage with the proposal of a summit meeting of the leaders of Korea, China and Japan.The proposal was made in Myanmar on Nov. 13 during the ASEAN Plus Three summit. Only a few days earlier, Park seemed to be at risk of diplomatic isolation as Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe shook hands at a summit meeting in Beijing on the sidelines of the APEC summit. When the Blue

Nov. 18, 2014

[Editorial] N.K. special envoy

A top aide to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un embarked on a weeklong trip to Russia on Monday as Kim’s special envoy. Choe Ryong-hae, a senior secretary of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party, is expected to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow to deliver a letter from Kim.Choe’s trip, which could be followed by a visit by the young North Korean ruler to Russia, comes as Pyongyang’s maneuvers to improve ties with all other powers in Northeast Asia have hit a wall.The announcement o

Nov. 17, 2014

[Editorial] Compassionate ruling

The courtroom should be the last place where money talks. Many Koreans, however, remain skeptical about whether this saying applies to the local judicial system as they have seen some rich and influential people receive relatively lenient punishments for their crimes.Their skepticism of judicial equality was probably deepened by a recent report indicating that judges here have made some unequal rulings on white collar crimes such as embezzlement and bribery. The report released by a research tea

Nov. 17, 2014

[Editorial] It gets gloomier

Korea’s labor market is getting worse as more firms are shedding jobs and cutting hiring due to economic difficulties. The situation is so grave that some predict that the unemployment problem will become catastrophic next year.Downsizing already began in the first half of this year, with financial firms hit by the economic slump shedding jobs on a massive scale. Manufacturing giants were not exempted from the wave of layoffs, as firms such as GM Korea, Hyundai Heavy Industries and Samsung Elect

Nov. 16, 2014

[Editorial] An annual affair

Politicians easily disappoint us, but one of the most frustrating things is that they are allowed to repeat their improper actions.One prime example of how old habits die hard is the way National Assembly members deliberate the state budget. They are keener on earmarking pork barrel projects than making sure taxpayers’ money is spent appropriately. The problem starts with the deliberation of the government’s spending proposal by the parliamentary standing committees. Members of each committee, r

Nov. 16, 2014

[Editorial] Real jobless rate

Many Koreans have felt a widening discrepancy between official unemployment figures and actual perceptions. Jobless rates regularly announced by the national statistics office have been criticized by job seekers and some analysts as being understated. A new index introduced in the latest monthly labor market report released by Statistics Korea this week seemingly paints a more accurate picture of the unemployment problem.The report put the country’s official jobless rate at 3.2 percent last mont

Nov. 14, 2014

[Editorial] Wrong step

The main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy this week proposed a bill requiring government approval to send propaganda leaflets to North Korea.Under the revision to the Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Act submitted to parliament, leaflets and any printed materials would be added to the list of items that can be sent across the border only after getting the green light from the unification minister. It would also oblige the minister to put a ban on sending items that might under

Nov. 14, 2014

[Editorial] Empathy for Sewol families

A page has been closed on the Sewol ferry tragedy, which claimed 304 lives on April 16.On Tuesday, the Gwangju District Court sentenced the captain of the Sewol, Lee Joon-seok, to 36 years in jail, following a five-month trial for him and 14 other crew members. Lee was acquitted of murder charges while the ship’s chief engineer was found guilty of murder and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Other crew members received terms ranging from five years to 20 years. Earlier in the day, the government

Nov. 12, 2014

[Editorial] A summit that wasn’t quite

President Park Geun-hye and U.S. President Barack Obama met Tuesday on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Beijing. It was the fourth summit between the two leaders.During the 20-minute meeting, which took place following a working lunch of APEC leaders, Park and Obama pledged to make joint efforts toward the denuclearization of North Korea, according to a Blue House official. The two leaders also exchanged opinions on the need for cooperation among Korea, the U.S. and Japan, according to the of

Nov. 12, 2014

[Editorial] Korea-China FTA

The leaders of Korea and China declared a de facto conclusion of free trade negotiations between both countries during their summit in Beijing on Monday.The declaration came four months after President Park Geun-hye and her Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping agreed to conclude a bilateral free trade agreement within this year, when they met in Seoul in July. Their agreement put pressure on negotiators from the two sides to conclude their stalled talks on the FTA, which were launched in May 2012.The

Nov. 11, 2014

[Editorial] Welfare financing

The presidential office has stepped into the mounting controversy over how to fund a set of welfare programs. In a press briefing Sunday, An Chong-bum, the senior economic aide to President Park Geun-hye, said that during her 2012 campaign, Park had pledged free child care, but not free school meals. He criticized some regional governments and education offices for having allocated too much money for the free school meal program but a small budget for the day care service.The main opposition New

Nov. 11, 2014

[Editorial] Not the right way

The ruling Saenuri Party and leaders of government workers’ unions and a teachers’ union held a meeting Friday on the reform of the deficit-ridden pension for civil servants. They had previously agreed to hold discussions without a fixed ending time. But the meeting came to an end in just half an hour as the union leaders marched out of the room, accusing Saenuri officials of rejecting their demand to establish a body to form social consensus and withdraw the plans to complete the reform by the

Nov. 10, 2014

[Editorial] Illegal surveillance

While Korea’s baseball league has entered its final, most exciting stretch with the ongoing best-of-seven Korean Series, the national pastime is being hit by an unlikely but deplorable allegation ― that players were put under illegal surveillance by club officials. It is alleged that executives of the Lotte Giants obtained footage from surveillance cameras installed at hotels when the baseball team was traveling for road games. Club officials said they conducted the monitoring to find out what t

Nov. 10, 2014

[Editorial] Caps and mufflers

Can Lee Hee-ho, the widow of former President Kim Dae-jung, create a breakthrough in the icy relations between Seoul and Pyongyang? That is the question being asked by political watchers as Lee prepares to visit North Korea.Lee, who serves as the head of the Kim Dae Jung Peace Center, met with President Park Geun-hye at the Blue House on Oct. 28, two days after she had sent a wreath on the memorial day for Park’s father, President Park Chung-hee. During the meeting, Lee said that she would like

Nov. 9, 2014

[Editorial] China, Japan summit

Beijing and Tokyo have agreed to work on improving relations, paving the way for a possible summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the sidelines of the APEC summit, which runs through Wednesday in Beijing. If realized, it would mark the first summit since May 2012. After two years of worsening relations over territorial rows, regional rivalry and historical disputes, China and Japan on Friday issued a four-point statement in which they agreed to res

Nov. 9, 2014

[Editorial] Genuine political reform

Few would disagree that politics is one of the least trusted or respected professions in Korea. The prevailing public view is that many politicians are consumed by a desire for power and money, lack ethical integrity and abuse their power and privileges. So much so that the Korean word for being “political” has such negative connotations as calculating, opportunistic, selfish, treacherous and overly ambitious. By any measure, members of the National Assembly top the list of politicians in terms

Nov. 7, 2014