[Editorial] Delayed tapering

The U.S. Federal Reserve has brought both good and bad news by deciding to delay scaling back its massive bond-purchasing program. The Fed has been printing money to inject liquidity into the financial system and thereby stimulate the U.S. economy. Each month, it has purchased $85 billion worth of Treasury and mortgage bonds to encourage people to borrow, spend and invest.Until early last week, the Fed was widely expected to take its first step toward rolling back the extraordinary stimulus meas

Sept. 23, 2013

[Editorial] Inhumane act

However abrupt and absurd they might seem, all North Korean moves have had their own calculated ulterior motives. But whatever the motive, Pyongyang’s unilateral postponement of the planned reunions for families separated across the inter-Korean border for the past six decades will bring nothing to the regime. The move, which came last Saturday, just four days before the latest round of family reunions was to start, will only make it harder or impossible for the North to gain what it might have

Sept. 22, 2013

[Editorial] Next-generation fighter

The winner of South Korea’s next-generation fighter jet project is to be selected in a meeting to be presided over by Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin on Tuesday. The selection comes amid lingering controversy over the stealth capability of Boeing’s F-15 Silent Eagle, which is deemed a favorite as it is the only candidate within the 8.3 trillion won ($7.2 billion) budget set aside by Seoul for the project.Late last month, 15 former Air Force chiefs of staff sent a letter to President Park Geun-hye

Sept. 22, 2013

[Editorial] Japan’s double standard

The Tokyo government is pressuring Seoul to lift its recently expanded ban on fisheries imports from radiation-hit Fukushima and seven adjacent prefectures. A group of nine Japanese officials visited the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety on Monday to officially demand that Seoul withdraw the measure, which they said was not based on scientific evidence.Last week, the Seoul government extended its existing import ban on 50 types of fish to all types of fisheries imports. The measure was designed t

Sept. 17, 2013

[Editorial] Unproductive talks

It is deeply disappointing that the three-way talks on Monday between President Park Geun-hye and the leaders of the ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition Democratic Party ended without any agreement. The meeting was arranged to resolve the ongoing political impasse and bring good news before the Chuseok holidays. But the political leaders failed to send a message of hope to a nation weary of partisan wrangling.During the 90-minute talks at the National Assembly, Park and DP leader Kim Ha

Sept. 17, 2013

[Editorial] Danger of flip-flopping

It has dismayed and worried the public that the ruling party has recently flip-flopped over the location of the headquarters for two new ministries created under a campaign pledge by President Park Geun-hye.Ruling party lawmakers on a related parliamentary committee and the minister of public administration agreed last Thursday to place the main offices of the Oceans and Fisheries Ministry and the Science and Future Planning Ministry in the administrative town of Sejong in the central part of th

Sept. 16, 2013

[Editorial] Restoring family values

Koreans will be hitting the road in just a few days to get together with their families in their hometowns during the Chuseok holidays that run Wednesday through Friday. Nearly 60 percent of the country’s 50 million people are forecast to make trips this week to spend time with parents, children and siblings.More dramatic and emotional family reunions are set to take place next week when 100 people each from South and North Korea will meet their relatives separated across the border for the past

Sept. 16, 2013

[Editorial] Justice and allegations

Controversy over a conservative newspaper’s report that the prosecutor general fathered a son in an extramarital affair in 2002 is not dying down, even though he tendered his resignation. On the contrary, it is being fueled by the decision he made while reaffirming his claim that the news report was groundless.Chae Dong-wook, prosecutor general, offered to resign when the Ministry of Justice said on Friday that it would look into the case. He apparently believed that an investigation by the mini

Sept. 15, 2013

[Editorial] Trial run in Gaeseong

A trial run is set to start on Monday in the industrial complex in Gaeseong for South Korean factories, whose operations North Korea shut down in April in protest against military drills. The South Korean companies operating the factories may heave a sigh of relief at long last.Yet, the companies should be reminded that their operations in the North Korean border town across the heavily armed Demilitarized Zone are still at the mercy of fickle inter-Korean relations, which the North may plunge i

Sept. 15, 2013

[Editorial] Back to the chamber

Little work is being done at the National Assembly though almost two weeks have passed since the 100-day regular legislative session started on Sept. 2. The National Assembly will have squandered 20 days of the session if it fails to put its operations back on track before the three-day Chuseok holiday starts on Wednesday.The National Assembly is being held hostage by a political standoff over the National Intelligence Agency’s alleged attempt to interfere with the presidential election process

Sept. 13, 2013

[Editorial] For fiscal prudence

According to a five-year fiscal management plan, the national budget for the 2014 fiscal year should be balanced. Reaffirming the fiscal management plan in September last year, the Lee Myung-bak administration promised that revenues would exceed spending in 2014 although the surplus would be marginal.But the mid-term fiscal plan, updated each year, must be overhauled, with President Park Geun-hye’s administration reportedly set to run a sizable deficit in the year its first budget will be implem

Sept. 13, 2013

[Editorial] Stalled six-party talks

U.S. President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping heightened hopes for resolving North Korea’s nuclear problem when they pledged to work together to denuclearize the recalcitrant regime during their summit in June. South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s meetings with the leaders of the two superpowers, which preceded and followed the Obama-Xi talks within a month, seemed to have helped consolidate the momentum toward the resolution of the issue that has threatened security on th

Sept. 12, 2013

[Editorial] Unintended consequences

An argument has persisted over the revised adoption law, which is aimed at protecting adoptee rights more effectively but has inadvertently resulted in a sharp reduction in adoptions and rise in abandoned infants.Critics note the amended law, which took effect in August last year, has failed to take the actual conditions of Korean society into account. Advocates for adoptee rights, however, argue that it is short-sighted to reject the measure just because of the decrease in adoptions, saying a l

Sept. 12, 2013

[Editorial] Agricultural reform

The nation’s agricultural sector is facing growing pressure to recreate itself as a high-value-added export industry. It is make-or-break time for the sector as Korea is promoting free trade deals with China and other countries that will open the nation’s economy even wider.Agricultural reform requires not only a well-designed plan to support selected segments but also a different mindset among those in agro-fisheries businesses.Last week, Korea and China wrapped up their first round of negotiat

Sept. 11, 2013

[Editorial] Graying workforce

As the nation’s population is aging rapidly, so are workers at industrial plants. The graying of the industrial workforce is cause for concern in its own right. It is all the more so when coupled with a tendency among young job seekers to shun production lines.According to a survey released by the Institute for International Trade, the average age of people in employment is 44.8 this year, up from 40.3 in 2000. Aging is more pronounced among blue-collar workers, with their average age jumping fr

Sept. 11, 2013

[Editorial] Twin countries

Since establishing diplomatic ties in 1992, South Korea and Vietnam have forged a successful partnership at a rapid pace hardly seen in any other bilateral relationship.Trade volume between the two nations increased 44-fold over the past two decades to $21.6 billion last year. Vietnam is home to about 1,800 Korean companies and the No. 1 recipient of Seoul’s official development aid. In turn, some 53,000 Vietnamese workers stay in Korea and more than 40,000 women from the Southeast Asian country

Sept. 10, 2013

[Editorial] Addicted society

Known for their impulsive temper, Koreans may be no less likely than others to be drawn into various patterns of addiction.Figures from the government and private organizations seem to support this unpleasant presumption. About 3.3 million Koreans, or 6.7 percent of the country’s population, are thought to be addicted to alcohol, gambling, online games or narcotics. Experts say that more than 10 percent of them need immediate treatment ― 220,000 for alcoholism, 50,000 for online games addiction,

Sept. 10, 2013

[Editorial] Financial storm in offing

As the U.S. Federal Reserve is likely to start winding down its massive stimulus program soon, Korean policymakers need to step up market monitoring and take steps to minimize its negative impact.The Fed is holding a policy meeting Sept. 17-18 with two-thirds of Wall Street analysts betting that what will emerge from the meeting is a decision to begin tapering the bond-buying scheme starting this month. Since May, when the Fed first suggested that it might start to scale back its money printing

Sept. 9, 2013

[Editorial] Dissolving the UPP

The Ministry of Justice has launched a task force to see if it can take to the Constitutional Court a case that seeks to disband the leftist, minor opposition United Progressive Party.The ministry’s move is a response to the petitions filed in May by conservative civic groups, which asked it to invoke its constitutional right to pursue dissolution of a political party that threatens the democratic order.The nation’s Constitution stipulates that the government can bring action against a political

Sept. 9, 2013

[Editorial] Spending on day care

Under pressure from the central government, Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon decided last week to issue municipal bonds to help finance Seoul’s day care program, which would otherwise have been suspended later this month or early next month. But the bond issue is nothing but a stopgap measure, as the Seoul metropolitan government and the central government have yet to agree on how to share the spending burden.Under President Park Geun-hye’s welfare policy, the number of children under 5 entitled to fre

Sept. 8, 2013