[Editorial] Natural step

In a speech at the plenary session of the National Assembly Monday, Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, vowed to give up his privilege as a lawmaker of being able to avoid a pre-trial detention hearing. In Korea, the prosecution is required to seek consent from the National Assembly on the detention of its members when the Assembly is in session. Consent is given if the majority of Assembly members attend the voting session and the majority of those members pr

June 21, 2023

[Editorial] Hasty policy shift

In South Korea, education policy is often stressed as an endeavor spanning 100 years. But education policymakers appear to be driven by short-term political calculations. A recent episode involving President Yoon Suk Yeol and the country's college scholastic ability test, known as Suneung, presents a striking example. Last Thursday, Education Minister Lee Ju-ho outlined education reform plans to Yoon and said in a media briefing that the president ordered him to exclude any material not cov

June 20, 2023

[Editorial] Politics of fear

The sales of sea salt are said to have surged at many supermarket chains this month. Salt sales reportedly increased 55.6 percent while sun-dried salt sales rose 118.5 percent on-year at Emart June 1-14. Salt sales at Lotte Mart rose 30 percent over the same span from a year earlier. Sun-dried salt sales at an online shopping mall increased sixfold on-year June 1-14. Some shoppers joined wholesalers in stockpiling salt out of fear that Japan’s planned release of treated wastewater from the

June 19, 2023

[Editorial] Corrupt energy projects

The previous Moon Jae-in administration launched an ambitious policy initiative to shift the country’s energy policy toward clean and renewable sources while phasing out nuclear power generation. As with other past large-scale government projects, however, many of President Moon’s renewable energy projects fell into a trap of insider collusion and corruption, involving not only those at private companies, but also government officials including those in charge of energy policy. Rampa

June 16, 2023

[Editorial] Punish tech theft sternly

Semiconductor technology and industry are a field where the United States and China are vying fiercely for hegemony. They also account for the largest portion of South Korea’s exports. Semiconductor technology is expected to prop up its economy for decades to come. Then its semiconductor technology got almost stolen altogether. A former senior executive of Samsung Electronics was recently arrested and indicted for stealing its trade secrets to build a copycat chip plant in China. Six other

June 15, 2023

[Editorial] Shortage of pediatric doctors

A medical conference was held at a hotel in Seoul on Sunday, drawing some 800 participants. But the conference was not a usual one, as the topic focused on “ways to get out of the pediatric department.” At the conference, participants, including pediatric doctors, listened to lectures on popular medical services such as Botox injections, beauty treatments and tips on handling adult patients with chronic diseases. The conference reflects the sad reality of South Korea’s distorte

June 14, 2023

[Editorial] Dwindling momentum

Japan's economy expanded 0.7 percent in the January-March quarter from the previous quarter. On an annualized basis the country expanded 2.7 percent, significantly higher than economists forecasted. Its growth was more than twice as high as South Korea’s 0.3 percent. If this trend continues all year around, Japan's growth is likely to outstrip South Korea’s for the first time in 25 years after the foreign exchange crisis of 1998. The Organization for Economic Cooperation an

June 13, 2023

[Editorial] China’s distorted view

In a photo taken on Thursday, Chinese Ambassador Xing Haiming and Democratic Party of Korea leader Lee Jae-myung shake hands with big smiles on their faces at the envoy’s residence in Seoul, as if reaffirming friendly diplomatic relations between South Korea and China. What happened was far from a “diplomatic” gesture, as their meeting touched off a firestorm of criticism from the Yoon Suk Yeol administration and political circles here, while the Chinese government joined the d

June 12, 2023

[Editorial] Role of a public broadcaster

A dispute over the license fee for state broadcaster KBS took a strange turn Thursday following the Yoon Suk Yeol administration’s recommendation that broadcasting authorities change the fee collection method in favor of a separate billing system. The presidential office said Monday it sent the recommendation to the Korea Communications Commission and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, asking them to revise related laws so that the license fee could be separated from electricity b

June 9, 2023

[Editorial] Clarify position

President Yoon Suk Yeol said in his Memorial Day address on Tuesday that it is the government's duty to remember and honor the uniformed heroes who sacrificed their lives to defend South Korea's liberal democracy. He awarded certificates to five surviving soldiers of the Cheonan corvette. This is the fair treatment that heroes who defended the country deserve. Recognizing and rewarding their patriotism is a value that should be respected and carried out regardless of partisanship. But

June 8, 2023

[Editorial] Misuse of state subsidies

“Finders, keepers” is an English adage that usually refers to a situation where whoever finds something by chance is entitled to keep it. As far as South Korea is concerned, the “whoever” in question are some civic organizations and the “something” is state subsidies. More importantly, those civic groups have not only kept the subsidies but also allegedly misused them by exploiting lax oversight and engaging in dirty embezzlement practices. According to a repo

June 7, 2023

[Editorial] Trilateral cooperation

South Korea, the United States and Japan are accelerating military cooperation in response to North Korea's nuclear and missile threats. South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada met on Sunday on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia's top defense meeting, in Singapore, and agreed to activate a missile data sharing mechanism before the end of the year. Presently, South Korea and Japan each share

June 6, 2023

[Editorial] Election watchdog audit

Public criticism is mounting against the country’s election watchdog mired in nepotism allegations, especially after it refused the state auditor’s inspection, citing a Constitutional practice. The National Election Commission held a commissioners meeting Friday and decided to refuse the proposed audit by the Board of Audit and Inspection. The nine commission members, including its chief Roh Tae-ak, unanimously rejected the audit despite growing calls for a full investigation into th

June 5, 2023

[Editorial] Alert confusion

The mobile text alert that Seoul Metropolitan Government sent out to citizens on Wednesday morning when North Korea launched a rocket caused confusion as it was corrected a little later. At around 6:41 am, after the North’s launch, Seoul sent an alert message that read “Alert issued for Seoul at 6:32 am today. Citizens, please prepare to evacuate and allow children and the elderly to evacuate first.” Seoul citizens' mobile phones blared the alert alarm, but there was no in

June 2, 2023

[Editorial] Telemedicine dispute

COVID-19 has changed many things in South Korea. One inspiring change involves telemedicine, which has helped doctors treat patients via remote solutions -- a revolutionary adoption of innovative technology for the conservative medical sector thanks to the urgent need for fast and contactless treatment. Telemedicine services were provided to 14.2 million patients over the three-year period from 2020 through April this year in connection with treatment of the novel coronavirus, according to the H

June 1, 2023

[Editorial] A blind spot

Alleged employment favoritism which was recently exposed in the National Election Commission shows that an institution, if left unchecked, is likely to decay. NEC Secretary General Park Chan-jin and his deputy, Song Bong-sup, offered to resign Thursday following allegations of preferential treatment in the hiring of their children by the election watchdog. Their resignations came 14 months after the previous Secretary General Kim Se-hwan resigned amid criticisms for poor management of early voti

May 31, 2023

[Editorial] Step up airline safety

It is always too late to lament safety problems after a fatal accident has already taken place. In particular, midair accidents stemming from lax safety rules could have devastating results. On Friday, a frightening accident involving a local carrier took place, alarming authorities and shocking the public. A passenger suddenly opened a door of an Asiana Airlines plane right before landing at Daegu International Airport -- when the aircraft was about 213 meters above ground. The plane landed wit

May 30, 2023

[Editorial] Perils of fake news

Fast-evolving artificial intelligence offers plenty of powerful tools. As with any device and technology, however, AI can be easily abused in a way that often generates unfathomable results. A striking case in point is a fake photo of an explosion near the US Pentagon that went viral on Monday. The concocted image, likely generated by AI, triggered a brief dip in the US stock market, as some media and individual accounts on Twitter picked up the post and shared it with their followers. The messy

May 26, 2023

[Editorial] Revive law enforcement

President Yoon Suk Yeol slammed the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions on Tuesday for its overnight street rally last week. Yoon said its actions infringed on people‘s freedoms and disturbed the public order. He said that his government would not neglect or tolerate any form of illegal action. The ruling People Power Party and the government on Wednesday held a meeting on the issue of establishing the public order. They decided to consider banning rallies from midnight to 6 a.m., strengt

May 25, 2023

[Editorial] Widening trade deficit

Lawmakers from South Korea's rival parties are in a blame game over the continued decline in exports and snowballing trade deficit amid lingering uncertainty in the global economy that spells trouble for economic policymakers. South Korea’s exports dropped 16.1 percent on-year in the first 20 days of May, extending their negative streak to seven straight months, according to data released by the Korea Customs Service on Monday. The trade deficit for the year so far reached $29.5 billi

May 24, 2023