[Editorial] Obama’s Seoul visit

U.S. President Barack Obama is scheduled to arrive in Seoul on April 25 for an overnight stay following his three-day state visit to Japan, diplomatic sources here were quoted by local media as saying this week. It will be his fourth trip to Seoul since taking office in 2009.The White House earlier announced that Obama would travel to Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines in late April, stopping short of disclosing detailed schedules. A South Korean official said Wednesday Obama’s iti

April 4, 2014

[Editorial] Drones from the North

The Defense Ministry’s conclusion that the two drones recently found near the inter-Korean border came from the North has heightened security concerns, as it indicates the possibility of the communist country launching undetected attacks on facilities in the South using remote-controlled aircraft laden with explosives.The South Korean military discovered the two unmanned aerial vehicles in frontline areas ― one in Paju, just south of the demilitarized zone, on March 24, and the other on Baengnye

April 3, 2014

[Editorial] Legislative agenda

The 19th National Assembly wraps up the first half of its four-year term with a monthlong extraordinary session that started Tuesday.Thus far the performance of the current Assembly has been disappointing, to say the least. During the past two years, some 9,500 proposals have been submitted to the Assembly, with about 28 percent of them dealt with. For most of the period, the Assembly has been unable to function properly due to a standoff between the two main parties. To make the first half of t

April 3, 2014

[Editorial] Executive pay

Information about executive compensation at the nation’s major listed companies was released early this week. As had been expected, the data, made public as part of a regulatory filing, instantly became the talk of the town.It is only natural that the public was drawn to the data because it was the first time that such information had been released. The new regulation was based on law revisions last November, which required listed companies to report financial compensation for executives who ear

April 2, 2014

[Editorial] A decade of FTAs

South Korea launched free trade with Chile 10 years ago this week. The free trade pact signed between the two countries was Korea’s first. Since then, Korea’s free trade has grown so much that it may well be considered a major player in open trade. A few figures will suffice to back the argument: Korea now has nine free trade pacts, including those with the United States, ASEAN, India and the EU. They cover 46 countries, which account for a combined 62 percent of the world’s GDP. Korea is the on

April 2, 2014

[Editorial] Obese Koreans

The number of obese people that can be seen in Korean cities is seemingly lower than in cities abroad. But recent data from the national statistics office suggested that the obesity problem in the country was much more severe than it appeared.One in 3 Korean adults was obese in 2013, with the proportion of obese people in the total population increasing by 50 percent over the past decade. In Korea, obesity tends to be regarded as an individual problem. But it needs to be addressed in a social co

April 1, 2014

[Editorial] More brinkmanship?

President Park Geun-hye might not have expected North Korea to immediately show a positive response to a package of proposals for enhancing inter-Korean cooperation and exchanges that she unveiled during her visit to Germany last Friday. Nevertheless, the course of action taken by Pyongyang following her initiative seemed beyond what she and her aides had anticipated.The North on Tuesday made scathing verbal attacks on Park as it downplayed her proposals. The harshly worded diatribe by the Rodon

April 1, 2014

[Editorial] A cautionary tale

The resignation of a senior judge in the southern city of Gwangju over the “emperor’s labor” scandal offers a valuable lesson for his juniors: Judges should behave ethically and endeavor to hand down rulings that make sense to the public. Otherwise, they will pay for it someday.Chang Byong-woo, chief of the Gwangju District Court, offered to resign Saturday, taking responsibility for the recent uproar triggered by an outrageous decision he made four years ago. In a letter to the press, he apolog

March 31, 2014

[Editorial] Corporate restructuring

Corporate restructuring has again emerged as a pressing issue for the Korean economy as the proportion of companies faltering under heavy debt has reached dangerous levels.Last week, the Korea Development Bank held a large seminar on corporate restructuring to mark its 60th anniversary. The forum offered a chance for top financial regulators and scholars to highlight the need to restructure poorly managed companies.Unfortunately, however, the seminar focused only on large corporations with liqui

March 31, 2014

[Editorial] Reaching out to N.K.

President Park Geun-hye unveiled last week a package of proposals to North Korea, which she hopes will help improve relations and boost her drive to achieve unification of the two Koreas. The proposals, which Park outlined in a speech in Dresden, Germany, on Friday, were highlighted by three themes ― resolution of humanitarian issues, assisting infrastructure development in the North and restoring integration of the two Koreas. They included regular reunions of separated families, cooperation in

March 30, 2014

[Editorial] Growth not warm enough

The Bank of Korea has released major economic statistics for last year, which showed that the Korean economy fared better than expected. Gross domestic product expanded 3 percent, 0.2 percentage point higher than the previous estimate. The gross national income increased 4 percent on-year, with per capita gross national income hitting a record high of $26,205. It is believed that vigorous exports, stable prices and improvement of trade terms combined to contribute to the growth of the economy. O

March 30, 2014

[Editorial] ‘Emperor’s labor’

Korea’s Constitution says all men are equal before the law, but everybody knows that there is one law for the rich and another for the poor.A recent case in point involves Huh Jae-ho, 72, the former chairman of the now-defunct Daeju Group who was handed in 2010 a two-and-half-year suspended prison sentence and ordered to pay 25.4 billion won in fines for evading 50 billion won in corporate taxes and embezzling 10 billion won in corporate funds.The judge who handed down the lenient ruling made an

March 28, 2014

[Editorial] Park-Abe meeting

The leaders of Korea, Japan and the United States held their first summit Tuesday on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit in The Hague. The three-way summit drew keen attention as it offered a chance for the estranged leaders of Korea and Japan to meet face to face for the first time since taking office more than a year ago.U.S. President Barack Obama took pains to persuade President Park Geun-hye and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to sit down and mend their frayed ties.Obama’s media

March 28, 2014

[Editorial] Dealing with N. Korea

The recent flurry of news about North Korea shows how challenging it is to deal with the unruly and dangerous regime. Digesting this spate of news leaves one wondering whether there is a breakthrough in sight, let alone an eventual solution, regarding the North’s military threat. One development came in The Hague, Netherlands, where the leaders of South Korea, the U.S. and Japan reaffirmed their unified stance on North Korea. Among other things, they agreed to push for the reopening of the six-n

March 27, 2014

[Editorial] Spot gold market

South Korea’s underground economy is estimated to be one quarter of the gross domestic product, much bigger than those of other advanced economies. One component of the shadow economy is the black market in gold, where unreported and illegal trade is rampant. One government estimate shows that gold kept by individuals amounts to 720 tons, about seven times the 104 tons of gold reserves kept by the Bank of Korea. During the 1997-98 financial meltdown, Koreans brought 250 tons of gold in the forms

March 27, 2014

[Editorial] Launching of new party

Wednesday’s launch of a merged opposition party was designed to enhance its image as a political group that gives due credit to those who have contributed to economic progress and emphasizes national security.Among the invitees were war veterans and a group of senior citizens who worked as miners or nurses in West Germany in the 1960s and construction workers in the Middle East in the 1970s. During the ceremony, a moment of silence was observed in memory of the 46 South Korean sailors killed whe

March 26, 2014

[Editorial] Smartphone addiction

Korea’s mobile industry has been growing at a dazzling pace on the back of an explosive increase in the number of smartphone users, with Koreans perhaps the fastest adopters of new wireless technologies in the world. As of the end of 2013, about 72 percent of Koreans owned smart devices, compared with the 31.3 percent two years earlier, according to a recent survey by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning.The survey, which was conducted on 15,564 users aged between 10 and 54, also hig

March 26, 2014

[Editorial] Korea-China summit

President Park Geun-hye’s meeting on Sunday with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit in The Hague provided much-needed momentum to Park’s efforts to set the unification process in motion.At the meeting, held ahead of the summit between the United States, Korea and Japan, Park gained full support from Xi for her vision of a unified Korea ― a nuclear-free nation that would symbolize peace and become a growth engine in Northeast Asia.Park also explained her

March 25, 2014

[Editorial] ‘Galapagos regulation’

Korea is one of the most wired nations in the world. It is the world leader in terms of Internet connectivity and speed. But when it comes to electronic commerce, it is still a laggard.Korea’s Internet economy is small compared with other countries. In Korea, online shopping accounts for a mere 0.24 percent of gross domestic product, much smaller than 1.68 percent in China and 1.6 percent in Japan.Korea’s backwardness is also manifested on its trade balance. Korea posted a record trade surplus o

March 25, 2014

[Editorial] Church sets example

Each year taxpayers report to tax authorities how much money they offered to the churches, temples and other religious bodies they attend. By presenting receipts on their offerings to the tax office, they get part of the money back in tax refunds. It is the same with people who donate money to charities. The National Tax Service says that in 2012, a total of 5.57 trillion won was reported to be in this category of expenses eligible for tax privileges. It is a huge sum and thus requires a high le

March 24, 2014