[Editorial] An ultimate choice

North Korea refrained from conducting its fourth nuclear test at least during U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to Seoul last week. Some North Korea watchers here had expected that the isolated communist regime would detonate its latest nuclear device in time for the American leader’s trip.Last month, Pyongyang threatened to carry out a “new form of nuclear test,” apparently referring to a blast involving an atomic bomb built with highly enriched uranium, which would be a more plentiful weapon

April 28, 2014

[Editorial] Unethical ferry owner

Prosecutors investigating the tragic sinking of the Sewol ferry are shifting their focus from the ship’s crew members to its owner family. Thus far, they have arrested all of the 15 key crew members on charges of abandoning the vessel without seeking to rescue passengers trapped in the cabins. Now they are zeroing in on the ferry’s owner family, especially Yoo Byeong-eon, a retired businessman suspected of having remotely controlled the ship’s operator, Chonghaejin Marine Co. Yoo, 73, is a forme

April 27, 2014

[Editorial] OPCON transfer delay

The centerpiece of the summit on Friday between President Park Geun-hye and U.S. President Barack Obama was the agreement to reconsider the current timeline for the transition of wartime operational control. Under the current schedule, Washington is to transfer wartime OPCON to Seoul by December 2015. The transition was originally set to be completed in April 2012, but was delayed at Seoul’s request. The request was prompted by North Korea’s torpedo attack on a South Korean Navy warship in March

April 27, 2014

[Editorial] Parliamentary duties

Calls are mounting in political circles for President Park Geun-hye to overhaul her Cabinet in response to last week’s ferry disaster that left 302 people, most of whom were teenagers on a school trip, dead or missing.All officials responsible for the tragic maritime accident should be subject to stern punishment, and a Cabinet reshuffle seems necessary to tighten discipline and enhance the sense of responsibility among public servants. But this matter should be considered and handled without be

April 25, 2014

[Editorial] Growth momentum

Figures released by the central bank Thursday showed the Korean economy grew by 3.9 percent from a year earlier in the first quarter. This figure marked the fastest year-on-year gain since the first quarter of 2011.Korea’s gross domestic product expanded by 0.9 percent from three months earlier in the January-March period, matching the same growth rate as in the fourth quarter.Analysts at the Bank of Korea see the pace of quarterly growth as an indication that Asia’s fourth-largest economy is un

April 25, 2014

[Editorial] Regulatory capture

The primary responsibility for the sinking of the ill-fated Sewol ferry undoubtedly lies with its irresponsible captain and crew members. They abandoned the ship without attempting to rescue the passengers trapped in the cabins.Equally irresponsible was Chonghaejin Marine Co., which operated the old vessel without bothering to follow safety rules. For instance, the company is alleged to have loaded cargo onto the vessel in excess of its limits. Due to the overloaded cargo, the ferry probably had

April 24, 2014

[Editorial] Condolences from N.K.

North Korea is sending mixed signals to the South. On Wednesday, Pyongyang conveyed to Seoul its condolences over the tragic sinking of a South Korean ferry through its Red Cross Society.The North’s Red Cross chief sent a telephone message of sympathy to his counterpart in the South, expressing his deep sorrow over the disaster that claimed many casualties, including young students.The North’s condolences are the first of their kind since 2003, when the South was hit by typhoon Maemi and a subwa

April 24, 2014

[Editorial] SNU election

Korea’s most recent democratization movement peaked in 1987, when popular protests forced the then-dictatorial regime to revive the direct vote to elect the president. The wave of electing leaders and representatives by direct vote spread to many institutions, including universities and newspaper companies. Seoul National University was one of them as it began electing its president through a vote of faculty members in 1991. Previously, its chief administrator had been appointed by the governmen

April 23, 2014

[Editorial] Evils in society

No human society is free from villains. Yet seeing all the rumors, misinformation, aggravations and scams that flourish around the Sewol ferry disaster, one cannot help but wonder how airheaded, pitiless and barbaric human beings can become. Since the Sewol sank more than a week ago, the Internet and social media, as well as television channels and newspapers, have been flooded with news and postings about the tragic accident. The entire nation has been riveted to it. Outrageously, there are peo

April 23, 2014

[Editorial] Reducing work hours

It was an expected conclusion that a parliamentary subcommittee ended three months of discussion on whether and how to reduce working hours with no concrete conclusion. Members of the subpanel under the National Assembly’s Environmental and Labor Committee failed to settle differences at their final session last week.They agreed in principle to lower the maximum working time limit from the current 68 hours a week to 52 hours a week. But the gap between members from the ruling and opposition part

April 22, 2014

[Editorial] Distrust of government

It can hardly be possible to fathom, let alone help relieve, the agony of families of the victims in last week’s sinking of a ferry with 476 passengers on board, many of whom were teenagers on a school field trip.For most grieving parents, the 250 dead or missing students are their only sons or daughters, to whose successful growth they have devoted virtually everything they have. One of the missing children was brought up by his grandmother after he had lost his parents when he was young.It ref

April 22, 2014

[Editorial] School excursions

The tragic sinking of the Sewol ferry is raising questions about school trips. Parents are reportedly bombarding schools with phone calls to urge them to cancel their planned field trips. Their reaction is understandable, as on board the ill-fated ship were 325 students from Danwon High School in Ansan who were on their way to Jejudo Island for a study trip. When the ferry capsized, only a small number of students were rescued.It is not just parents who are scared. Teachers and students are feel

April 21, 2014

[Editorial] Disaster response

The ferry disaster off the southern coast has laid bare the nation’s utter unpreparedness for major disasters. Although the government launched a new disaster response system in February after a reform last year, it has proven to be totally ineffective in handling the maritime tragedy.The sinking of the Sewol ferry has also brought into focus the safety problems of coastal liners stemming largely from the small scale and poor financial status of their operators and the superficial nature of the

April 21, 2014

[Editorial] Preventing disasters

Accidents can happen and there could be calamities for which little can be done or explained, as in the latest case of the missing Malaysian airliner. The sinking of the ferry Sewol is not such a disaster, which deepens the pain over the loss of the lives of innocent people, many of them high school girls and boys. While in shock and immense grief, many Koreans feel a sense of deja vu as they follow the news reports about the sinking of the ferry that carried as many as 476 passengers. It appear

April 20, 2014

[Editorial] Finance sector reform

Korea’s financial sector is in sheer disarray. There have been so many serious cases of poor management and corruption recently that public confidence in the nation’s financial system is at rock bottom. Therefore, when the head of the top financial watchdog called a meeting with the chiefs of the nation’s top commercial banks last week, few saw it as another case of the government’s heavy-handed treatment of the private sector. Choi Soo-yun, governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, told th

April 20, 2014

[Editorial] Talks on sex slavery

Korea and Japan have resumed the diplomatic dialogue that had been suspended following Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to the Yasukuni Shrine in December. Diplomats from the two countries met in Seoul on Wednesday to discuss the Japanese imperial army’s coercion of Korean women into sexual slavery during World War II.The meeting, held between the director generals for Northeast Asian affairs from Seoul and Tokyo, was meaningful as it represented the first official talks between the tw

April 18, 2014

[Editorial] Manmade disaster

The ferry that sank off the nation’s southern coast Wednesday with 475 passengers on board again brought home to us the lack of safety awareness prevalent in Korean society.The main cause of the tragedy has yet to be determined but investigators suspect that the 6,325-ton ferry Sewol lost balance and listed rapidly after changing direction abruptly. A ship tilts under the influence of inertia turns too quickly. The site of the tragedy is where ships sailing from Incheon to Jejudo Island change d

April 18, 2014

[Editorial] Regulating tobacco

Smoking is an everlasting subject of debate. The debate usually concerns just how harmful it is to human health and the extent to which the tobacco industry should be regulated. This longstanding debate has been intensifying in Korea lately in the wake of two landmark litigations, one of which ended in favor of the industry with the other having just been set in motion. In the closed case, the Supreme Court rejected a suit by 36 individuals seeking 474.7 million won ($458,000) in damages for lun

April 17, 2014

[Editorial] Paygo rules

The government has announced a package of measures to reduce the fiscal deficit that has been threatening the sound management of the national economy. The measures, announced earlier this week, include plans to reduce the number of government-funded projects by 600, or 10 percent, over three years by merging and closing overlapping ones. More significant is the introduction of so-called “paygo” rules for all government projects to be included in next year’s budget. The rules require increases i

April 17, 2014

[Editorial] Trilateral coordination

Seoul and Tokyo have been stepping up three-way security consultations with Washington ahead of U.S. President Barack Obama’s trip to Asia next week.Senior defense officials from South Korea, the U.S. and Japan plan to hold a two-day meeting starting on Thursday in Washington. Last week, top nuclear envoys from the three nations met there to discuss coordination on North Korean issues, including its nuclear and missile programs and human rights abuses.These discussions come on the heels of a tri

April 16, 2014