[Editorial] Election fever

Election fever is gripping the nation, as official campaigning for the April 11 parliamentary election has started. Some 920 candidates will campaign boisterously in 246 electoral districts across the nation for 13 days from Thursday to the eve of polling.The temperature of the election fever is unusually high. One indication is the expected high voter turnout. According to a recent survey conducted by the National Election Commission, 56.9 percent of the respondents said they would “definitely”

March 30, 2012

[Editorial] Nuclear deal with Vietnam

Korea is one step closer to participating in Vietnam’s nuclear power construction project. According to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, Korea has concluded an agreement with Vietnam to conduct a preliminary feasibility study on building a Korean-developed nuclear power plant in the Southeast Asian country. The deal was agreed between President Lee Myung-bak and Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on Wednesday following the Nuclear Security Summit held in Seoul. According to the ministry

March 30, 2012

[Editorial] Post-election prices

A brewery raised the prices of its five beer brands by an average of 7.48 percent in December only to revert them to the previous prices in three days. In the same month, a food company announced a 7 percent increase in its tofu prices only to rescind it in the same day.Given that the two companies were among many others that made unsuccessful attempts at price increases, it is easy to assume that a not-so-hidden hand was behind the price rollbacks. Indeed, the administration had repeatedly prom

March 29, 2012

[Editorial] A sobering reminder

The ruling Saenuri Party’s ill-prepared commitment to child care is backfiring ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections. But the main opposition Democratic United Party finds itself in no position to feel schadenfreude. Its election pledges for welfare are a target of public criticism as well.The ruling party’s predicament dates back to August, when it promised to provide subsidies for child care. It did so without seriously considering the administration’s budget constraints and the shaky

March 29, 2012

[Editorial] Related-party deals

The Fair Trade Commission has toughened its regulation on related-party transactions among subsidiaries of chaebol groups in a bid to expand business opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises.Under the new rule, which is to apply starting April 1, a company belonging to a business group with aggregate assets exceeding 5 trillion won is required to obtain prior approval from the board of directors when it places an order valued at 5 billion won or more with a sister affiliate. Presentl

March 28, 2012

[Editorial] Speed up investigations

The presidential office must be on edge as it faces two high-profile investigations at the same time. One concerns the cyberattack last October on the website of the National Election Commission while the other is about illegal surveillance of a civilian.On Monday, an independent counsel started a probe into the NEC website attack that took place on Oct. 26, the day Seoul mayoral by-election was held. A massive distributed denial-of-service attack brought the election watchdog’s website down, ma

March 28, 2012

[Editorial] Biggest nuclear threat

The leaders of 53 nations and international bodies met in Seoul for two to reconfirm their shared responsibilities to keep nuclear materials from dangerous hands, but the absence of North Korea and Iran helped the participants of the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit realize where the biggest threats are. One positive outcome for President Lee Myung-bak, host of the second nuclear summit after the first in Washington in 2010, was that he had a great opportunity to convince world leaders of the nature

March 27, 2012

[Editorial] English-only lectures

Universities are increasing the number of English-only lectures to “go in step with the globalization trend,” but students and professors are uncomfortable with the plan. They complain that learning efficiency decreases rather than increases in classes where teachers and students are supposed to speak only English.Since the innovative Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology president Suh Nam-pyo declared “all-English” lectures at the state-run university five years ago and the decisio

March 27, 2012

[Editorial] Opposition alliance

Park Geun-hye, Han Myeong-sook and Lee Jung-hee. These three women dominate electioneering in the Republic of Korea, each leading a political party. Of them, Lee is the youngest and newest. This baby-faced, smiling woman is also probably most intelligent ― the highest female scorer in the 1987 SAT ― but she is dedicated to the toughest political cause. She wants to be Korea’s first woman president from the working class.Lee Jung-hee, a co-leader of the United Progressive Party, left the parliame

March 26, 2012

[Editorial] Obama at DMZ

When U.S. President Barack Obama visited Camp Bonifas near the Panmunjeom truce village on his way to a guard post in the Korean Demilitarized Zone on Sunday, he must have been told whom the U.S. Army facility was named after. It was dedicated to Capt. Arthur Bonifas, one of the two U.S. officers who were killed by axe-wielding North Korean guards while on a work detail from the U.N. Command on Aug. 18, 1976.Time has passed very slowly in the 36 years since the bloody incident and since the sign

March 26, 2012

[Editorial] Curbing nuclear terrorism

Leaders of 53 nations and four international organizations have gathered in Seoul for a two-day summit on expanding and deepening international cooperation in thwarting nuclear terrorism. The threat of nuclear terrorism loomed large following the 9/11 attacks on the United States. But global efforts to address it had remained low-key until U.S. President Barak Obama energized them. In a speech in Prague in 2009, Obama presented his vision of a world free of nuclear weapons. One initiative he pro

March 25, 2012

[Editorial] Obama’s surprise pick

U.S. President Barak Obama has nominated Jim Yong Kim, a Korean-American who leads Dartmouth College, to become president of the World Bank. Kim, if confirmed by the bank, will become the first Asian-American to head the institution in its 68-year history. The bank has usually been headed by an American, while its sister organization, the International Monetary Fund, has always been led by a European. Kim’s nomination is seen as a move aimed at fending off challenges from developing nations, whi

March 25, 2012

[Editorial] Obama’s DMZ visit

Tension is building as Pyongyang escalates its threats of attack against South Korea. The latest among them is a warning that North Korea would regard it as a “declaration of war” if the forthcoming Seoul nuclear security summit adopts a statement condemning its nuclear program.Those remarks were contained in a statement carried by the North’s state-run news agency on Wednesday. It added: “If there is any provocative act such as the issuance of a so-called statement concerning ‘the North’s nucle

March 23, 2012

[Editorial] Pension depletion

The government estimates the national pension fund will be depleted by 2060 if no action is taken. But a university professor of statistics, who claims the government is mistaken in its estimation, says the year of depletion will be 2049.The dispute over the year of depletion is no small matter, given that the trust of subscribers to the national pension program is at stake. The pension program will be put in jeopardy if it is shunned by suspecting young people.In a paper submitted to a forum on

March 23, 2012

[Editorial] Face the music

Cheong Wa Dae is under snowballing pressure to come clean on its role in the alleged attempt to cover up the illegal surveillance of a civilian by officials of the Prime Minister’s Office in 2008. Opposition parties are zeroing in on President Lee Myung-bak. Defining the case as a Korean version of the Watergate scandal that ousted U.S. President Richard Nixon, they urged Lee to clear up the suspicions that some of his former top aides had been involved in a systematic cover-up. The suspicions s

March 22, 2012

[Editorial] Nuclear safety culture

The Nuclear Safety and Security Commission has concluded that the power outage at the Gori-1 reactor on Feb. 9 had been caused by a combination of a worker’s mistake, a defect in the emergency diesel power generator and a weak safety culture.According to the commission, external power supply to the Gori-1 reactor was suspended while a worker tested the protection system for the back-up diesel power generator. He was found to have not followed the instructions of his supervisor.The emergency powe

March 22, 2012

[Editorial] Taxing clergy

All taxable incomes must be taxed. But there have been unwarranted exceptions ― those accrued to Protestant priests, Buddhist monks and other clergy members. Permitting such an exception goes against the Constitution, which reads in part: “All citizens have the duty to pay taxes under the conditions as prescribed by law.”Now the government belatedly says it will seriously consider taxing all people holding religious office. Finance Minister Bark Jae-wan says he finds it difficult to continue to

March 21, 2012

[Editorial] Official campaigns

Nominees running in the parliamentary elections start their formal campaigns when they register as candidates on Thursday or Friday. Their competition is set to heat up, with all pre-registration campaign restrictions lifted.Surrounded by their campaign workers, candidates will crisscross districts, seeking to win voter support at subway stations, markets and other crowded places. Their campaign vehicles will roam the streets, with loudspeakers mounted on them blaring slogans and jingles.But the

March 21, 2012

[Editorial] ‘Ocean-going navy’

“If a crow-tit walks like a stork, he only breaks his legs.” This old saying is often quoted in debates these days on the role and mission of the Republic of Korea Navy. At present, the proverb that warns against over-ambitiousness in setting a vision for the future is used by those who are opposing the construction of a naval base on the southern coast of Jeju Island and the Navy’s vision of its ocean-going operations.“Ocean-going navy” has been an on-and-off catchphrase of the ROK Navy over th

March 20, 2012

[Editorial] Projectile politics

Even after announcing their plan to launch a “satellite” into space on the back of a rocket, which the international community determined as the test-firing of a missile, North Korean leaders seem to be still hoping that they will receive food aid from the United States under an agreement last February. North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Li Yong-ho said in Beijing that the plan to launch “Bright Star-3” between April 12 and 16 is a “separate issue” from the U.S.-North agreement on the suspension

March 20, 2012