[Editorial] Trilateral cooperation

Representatives from about 140 nations and international organizations attended a memorial service in Tokyo on Monday for the victims of the massive earthquake and ensuing tsunami that hit Japan’s northeastern coast two years ago. South Korea and China failed to send delegates to the ceremony in what could have been viewed as a move reflecting the strained relationship between the Northeast Asian neighbors over historical and territorial rows. They were represented at last year’s service to mour

March 14, 2013

[Editorial] Cigarette prices

Korea’s antismoking policy is one of the weakest among members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a recent report indicated, giving weight to calls for higher cigarette prices to cut the country’s smoking rate. According to the report released by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, a state-funded think tank, Korea ranked 24th out of 25 major industrialized nations in terms of the effectiveness of their antismoking measures.It is a natural result that the

March 14, 2013

[Editorial] Reality check for DUP

Former independent presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo has returned home, pledging to “walk the thorny road to usher in a new politics.” Ahn’s plan to run in the April by-election in Seoul’s Nowon C district has left the main opposition Democratic United Party flustered. The party’s leaders are anxious, not knowing how to respond.The party is split over whether it should field a candidate of its own or return the favor Ahn made in the presidential election. He dropped out of the presidential ra

March 13, 2013

[Editorial] Household bailout

Plans are shaping up for a household debt write-off, one of the key campaign pledges of President Park Geun-hye. The Financial Services Commission is planning to launch an 870 billion won debt-rescheduling fund as early as the end of this month.The envisioned fund, dubbed the “People’s Happiness Fund,” will purchase overdue debts from financial companies and then write them down so that delinquent borrowers can resume debt repayment.Eligible for the debt rescheduling program are people who have

March 13, 2013

[Editorial] Intelligence reform

Retired Army general Nam Jae-joon, who was picked by President Park Geun-hye early this month to head the National Intelligence Service, is said to have charged on several occasions before his nomination that the nation’s top intelligence agency “has remained dead” in past years. His remarks referred to the weakening of the agency’s function of gathering and analyzing sensitive information on North Korea during the rule of Park’s predecessors.Its crucial human intelligence network in the North,

March 12, 2013

[Editorial] Tighter discipline

It has increased public concerns over the slack posture of the new government that dozens of military officials played golf over the weekend amid heightening tensions with North Korea. No excuse can be made for the military officials, including some generals, having enjoyed a round of golf at a time when they should have been on standby against growing threats from the North.Pyongyang had threatened to stop abiding by the Armistice Agreement that ended the 1950-53 Korean War from Monday, when So

March 12, 2013

[Editorial] Educational inequality

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education has launched an investigation into alleged admission corruption at Younghoon International Middle School, one of the two special-purpose middle schools in Seoul set up to nurture global talent.The allegations were put forward last week by a member of the Education Committee of the Seoul Metropolitan Council. The official said that a parent told him last month that she paid the school 20 million won for her son’s admission. As the whistleblower also told

March 11, 2013

[Editorial] Insensitive to safety

Many citizens in the industrial city of Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province, are seriously thinking about relocating as they are terrified by an unending series of industrial disasters.This month alone, three industrial accidents took place, spooking the city’s 400,000 citizens. Just as a burned child dreads the fire, they are still seared by the memory of the massive hydrofluoric acid leak last September that left five dead and many more injured.On March 7, a large oil tank containing 4,000 liters

March 11, 2013

[Editorial] Retailers under siege

The central government is putting undue pressure on E-mart and other retail giants not to raise prices, while Seoul’s metropolitan government is taking ill-considered steps to have certain items removed from their shelves. Those actions against the retailers, however, are not legally warranted.On Thursday, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy summoned executives of E-mart, Homeplus and Lotte Mart for talks on price stability. A ministry spokesman’s comment on the meeting was mildly worded. He said

March 10, 2013

[Editorial] Quasi-state debt

The government has reportedly demanded that Korea Land and Housing Corp. pay out 120 billion won in dividends, or roughly 10 percent of the corporation’s 2012 net profit. The corporation is set to make a decision when its board members meet, as scheduled, on March 22.But the corporation, better known as LH Corp., has no other choice than to comply as it is state-owned. Still, the government’s demand leaves those familiar with LH Corp.’s finances scratching their head. They cannot be blamed if th

March 10, 2013

[Editorial] Saenuri sandwiched

President Park Geun-hye’s proposal to establish new ministries and make other changes to the organization of government agencies is mired in protracted negations between the ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition Democratic United Party. Her repeated appeal to the National Assembly to promptly pass the underlying bill has fallen on deaf ears.The ruling party, with 153 seats in the 300-member National Assembly, finds itself languishing over the lack of progress in its talks with the opposit

March 8, 2013

[Editorial] Change in tax payment

Consumers pay a 10 percent value-added tax each time they purchase a good or a service, not directly but through the seller. A change in payment would increase the tax collections by up to 7.1 trillion won each year, according to a report from a research institute.This should be good news to President Park Geun-hye, who says she will make good on her election promise to spend an annual average 27 trillion won on her welfare programs additionally each year without any tax increases. The administr

March 8, 2013

[Editorial] E-mart’s example

E-mart, the nation’s largest discount store chain, has taken a bold step for its non-regular workers. The retail giant announced earlier this week that it would grant regular employee status to 10,000 workers currently employed by its in-house subcontractors.The retailer plans to convert the status of the large number of workers next month, entitling them to stable employment until retirement age, a 27 percent salary increase and various welfare benefits, including health insurance and education

March 7, 2013

[Editorial] Volunteering abroad

Korea became the world’s eighth-largest trader last year, moving up a notch from a year earlier. An interim report from the World Trade Organization, cited by the government Monday, showed the country’s trade volume amounted to about $1.07 trillion in 2012, surpassing Italy for the first time.Koreans may well be proud of this accomplishment, though they have been struggling to go through the prolonged global economic downturn. There is another ― probably more valuable ― achievement that they can

March 6, 2013

[Editorial] Time to compromise

Many Koreans might have sympathized with the frustration President Park Geun-hye expressed in her address Monday over the delay in parliamentary approval of her government reorganization plan. Still, they were not so supportive of the way she had pressured the opposition party to accept the scheme.Her strongly worded appeal to the public proved counterproductive in making the main opposition Democratic United Party drop its objection to transferring broadcasting-related work to the envisioned Mi

March 6, 2013

[Editorial] Scaring away talent

The resignation of Kim Jeong-hoon, President Park Geun-hye’s science minister nominee, is another painful reminder that Korea badly needs to reform its politics before trying to rejuvenate its economy. The nomination of Kim for the post of future planning and science minister was seen by many as the highlight of Park’s ministerial appointments made last month. Such a view is justified by Kim’s distinguished career. Since 2005, Kim has served as the president of Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs, one of t

March 5, 2013

[Editorial] Ahn’s comeback

Former presidential hopeful Ahn Cheol-soo’s decision to run for a parliamentary seat in April signals that the software entrepreneur-turned politician has started to position himself to take another shot at the presidency ― this time using a different approach. Ahn, 51, founder of AhnLab, Korea’s largest anti-virus software company, had no political experience to speak of when he announced his independent candidacy last September.The hugely popular businessman could have become a lawmaker had he

March 5, 2013

[Editorial] Inequality gap

A recent study by a local professor suggested that income distribution in the country was far more unequal than had been measured by government statisticians. The findings of the study, which placed Korea fifth-highest in income inequality among the 34 member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, should be taken seriously, calling policymakers’ attention to the need for a more accurate grasp of the matter.The new administration has pledged to ease economic polariza

March 4, 2013

[Editorial] Misguided visit

Former NBA star Dennis Rodman lauded North Korea’s young ruler Kim Jong-un as an “awesome guy” and his father and grandfather as “great leaders” at the end of his four-day visit to Pyongyang last week. It would be nonsense to give meaning to the remarks of the flamboyant American athlete, who revealed his ignorance in a Twitter post expressing his hopes of meeting South Korean pop sensation Psy in the North Korean capital.Kim, who sat knee to knee with Rodman to watch a basketball game joined by

March 4, 2013

[Editorial] Time to withdraw

Pressure is mounting on Kim Byung-kwan, nominee for the post of defense minister, to withdraw for the numerous allegations of ethical lapses he made when he was a senior Army officer. The main opposition Democratic United Party says he is not even qualified to defend himself at a confirmation hearing.The pressure is coming not just from the opposition party, which is resisting the ruling Saenuri Party’s attempt to schedule his confirmation hearing at the National Assembly. In a turn of events, s

March 3, 2013