[Editorial] Priming the pump

The government has submitted its proposal for a supplementary budget to the National Assembly, hoping for an early passage so that it can inject fresh vigor into the economy. Given the sorry state of the economy, a supplementary budget should have been created much earlier. But the new administration had been held back by a long standoff between rival parties over government reorganization.Now, lawmakers need to rush to handle the bill to give the economy a much-needed boost without further dela

April 18, 2013

[Editorial] Elusive concept

The concept of economic democratization remains as elusive as ever. The vagueness of the concept lies at the center of the ongoing controversy over the proposals under discussion at the National Assembly to promote economic democracy.Some of the proposals have triggered a strong backlash from big business groups as they call for penalizing related-party transactions, a practice prevalent among chaebol groups.For instance, one idea proposes to hold a chaebol chairman accountable, even if there is

April 18, 2013

[Editorial] Concerted message

During her summit with U.S. President Barack Obama in early May, President Park Geun-hye is expected to try to ensure Seoul and Washington will keep taking joint steps in countering threats from Pyongyang and moving toward a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula. Beyond the two leaders’ first talks, it will be a crucial task for Park and her aides to brace for the possibility that the U.S. and China will look for a formula between themselves for defusing the crisis on the peninsula and Washington may se

April 17, 2013

[Editorial] Meeting demands of time

The presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae has distanced itself from a brewing debate on revising the Constitution, which was last amended in 1987 to end military-backed authoritarian rule. Presidential aides have refrained from commenting on the agreement made by leaders of the ruling and main opposition parties last week to form a bipartisan body to discuss rewriting the basic law.On the surface, they make the point that it is inappropriate for the presidential office to get involved in the high

April 17, 2013

[Editorial] Boiling frog

The Korean economy is like a frog in a pot of slowly boiling water. It is in grave danger but the Korean people do not perceive it.So warn the analysts of McKinsey & Company who have recently written a report on Korea. Titled “Beyond Korean Style: Shaping a New Growth Formula,” the report urges Korea to retool the economy before it is too late.Fifteen years ago, the global management consulting firm issued its first report on Korea. At the time, it focused on the excessive debt of large corporat

April 16, 2013

[Editorial] Premature proposal

The government is reportedly planning to allow each member of provincial and metropolitan councils to employ an aide paid for by local residents. Minister of Security and Public Administration Yoo Jeong-bok said the government would push to revise the law on local autonomy to implement the plan within this year.Yoo justified the move by saying that “local councilors deserve better working conditions as they deal with budgets amounting to trillions of won and carry out numerous tasks directly rel

April 16, 2013

[Editorial] Way out of crisis

To President Park Geun-hye, North Korea’s response to her first overture of dialogue was certainly disappointing, if not frustrating. It appears to have displeased the South Korean leader, who has pursued her policy of building trust with Pyongyang against the backdrop of tight security posture in an earnest fashion.The North on Sunday rebuffed the offer of dialogue made by the South three days earlier as a “cunning ploy” designed to hide Seoul’s confrontational approach and deny its responsibil

April 15, 2013

[Editorial] In step with reality

A recent government report showed it cost about 300 million won ($263,000) to raise a child through college in Korea. According to the report based on a 2012 survey of 18,000 households, an average of 1.19 million won a month was spent on raising each child, up from 748,000 won in 2003 and slightly over 1 million won in 2009.Such an increase in the cost of raising a child has been cited as one of the major reasons for Korea’s low birth rate, which slipped to a record low of 1.08 per woman aged 1

April 15, 2013

[Editorial] Chaebol under siege

A week after she was elected president on Dec. 19 last year, Park Geun-hye said she would be a “president for small and medium enterprises.” She made the promise when she met with leaders of their special interests, including the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business, ahead of those of the Federation of Korean Industries, the lobby for big businesses.The action she took as president-elect set her apart from her predecessor, Lee Myung-bak, a CEO-turned president who had maintained a “busi

April 14, 2013

[Editorial] A call for dialogue

In the Korean political context, it would be hardly thinkable for the prime minister to take a different tack when the president was making a shift in policy. But that was what Prime Minister Chung Hong-won did when he said Friday that it was necessary to convince Pyongyang that it was threatening a war against South at its own expense and that Seoul’s proposal for talks now would only make the bad security situation worse.The prime minister told reporters that South Korea, while beefing up its

April 14, 2013

[Editorial] A rate freeze

Defying a thinly disguised request for a rate cut from the administration, the Bank of Korea decided to keep its key rate intact at 2.75 percent for the sixth consecutive month on Thursday. Apparently behind the decision was a belief that the rate was already low enough and that growth, though anemic in the first half of this year, would pick up in the second half.The central bank also appeared to believe that a rate cut would not have the intended effect of boosting corporate investment and con

April 12, 2013

[Editorial] Cyber security bill

It took seven months for the police-run Cyber Terror Response Center to confirm that North Korea was behind a cyber attack on the Seoul-based JoongAng Ilbo daily last June. But it took much less time until a joint investigation, led by the National Intelligence Service, determined that it was North Korea again that attacked the computer systems of South Korean television broadcasters and financial institutions on March 20-26.As the joint investigation proved, a coordinated action involving both

April 12, 2013

[Editorial] More tolerant society

A potentially divisive debate is brewing over whether the country should adopt a comprehensive anti-discrimination law. From a common sense viewpoint, it could hardly be sensible to oppose a bill prohibiting discrimination based on a number of grounds including race, gender, religion, disability, age and so on.But the inclusion of sexual orientation as one such ground has prompted vehement objections from Christian and conservative groups to the bill that was proposed by dozens of liberal-minded

April 11, 2013

[Editorial] United posture

President Park Geun-hye has recently taken the right and necessary steps by strengthening efforts to communicate with and seek support from political circles.Following meetings earlier this week with senior members of the ruling Saenuri Party and parliamentary leaders, she is scheduled to hold talks over dinner Friday with leaders of the main opposition Democratic United Party at the presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae. These top-level encounters are vital at a time when bipartisan cooperation

April 11, 2013

[Editorial] EMP bombs

The government is reportedly rushing to take steps to protect the nation’s power grid and other critical infrastructure from possible electro-magnetic pulse (EMP) bomb attacks from North Korea.An EMP bomb is a non-lethal but highly destructive weapon that disables electrical circuits by radiating a strong electro-magnetic field. When an EMP bomb is detonated, any electrical and electronic device within a certain radius is rendered inoperative, unless it is EMP-protected.For instance, objects suc

April 10, 2013

[Editorial] Bracing for the worst

What will it take for North Korea’s young, inexperienced leader to realize that his attempts to blackmail South Korea and its allies will not work and could instead put him on a slippery slope to ruin?As his previous provocations, such as a nuclear test and missile launches, failed to intimidate Seoul and Washington, Kim Jong-un has started to play a new card ― the shutdown of the Gaeseong industrial complex. But he should be careful what he wishes for. The closure of the complex, widely seen as

April 10, 2013

[Editorial] Born equal

It should make any civilized society embarrassed to deny children basic rights, including equal opportunity for education, because their parents are illegal immigrants. No child should be subject to any type of discrimination in everyday life for reasons that are not their fault.They did not choose their parents or the place they live in. It would be unfair for a child to be discriminated against due to conditions given to him or her through birth.A sensible society should assume moral responsib

April 9, 2013

[Editorial] Crime map

The government’s plan to draw up a map with detailed information on crimes, accidents and natural disasters in each district for public reference can be considered necessary for guaranteeing secure and safe living conditions.In its policy briefing to President Park Geun-hye last week, the Ministry of Security and Public Administration said the planned map, initially set to target some selected municipal areas, would be expanded to cover the whole nation by 2015. To create and update the map, a n

April 9, 2013

[Editorial] Hospital closure

A political storm is brewing over the fate of a 103-year-old public hospital in Jinju, South Gyeongsang Province, which faces a forced closure due to its chronic operational deficit.Kicking up the storm is Hong Joon-pyo, former chairman of the ruling Saenuri Party, who was elected the province’s governor in December. The pushy politician is determined to shut down the nation’s second-oldest public hospital despite calls for caution from the central government.Under Hong’s instruction, the provin

April 8, 2013

[Editorial] BOK out of step?

The Bank of Korea is under growing pressure from the ruling Saenuri Party and the government to lower the benchmark interest rate at its meeting scheduled for April 11. The bank has left the policy interest rate unchanged at 2.75 percent after a 25 basis point cut in October. Earlier this month, Lee Hahn-koo, floor leader of the ruling party, openly urged the central bank to “play a role in stimulating the economy” by lowering the key interest rate and raising the aggregate lending limit for sma

April 8, 2013