[Editorial] Credit card bubble

A decade ago, domestic credit companies created a huge financial bubble by recklessly pursuing expansionism amid a loose regulatory environment.When the bubble burst, card companies were all irreparably hurt. The government had to intervene to clean up the mess. Some were sold to new owners while others were bailed out by their parent companies. The turmoil rocked the nation’s entire economy. Now, concern about another credit card bubble is growing as credit card firms are stepping up efforts to

Feb. 2, 2012

[Editorial] More tuition cuts

Last year, student activists managed to make high tuition fees a social and political issue. Their vehement protests led the government to roll out a plan to cut college tuition by 30 percent by 2014. Political parties reacted reflexively, pledging to cut tuition rates in half.This year, student protests are expected to intensify as private universities are announcing cuts that hardly match up to their expectations. Protests are also expected at public universities as Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon’s

Feb. 2, 2012

[Editorial] Investment ceilings

Both ruling and opposition parties are moving to restrict investments by large business groups. The purported goal is to prevent economic power from being concentrated in the hands of a select few.But the proposed control, if written into law, will obstruct large corporations planning to venture into new technology-intensive business areas in pursuit of sustained growth. Moreover, the proposal to restrict investments will discourage corporations from providing young people fresh out of school wi

Feb. 1, 2012

[Editorial] No more ‘new towns’

The ambitious urban redevelopment projects that President Lee Myung-bak launched as Seoul mayor a decade ago are being phased out in disgrace. Park Won-soon, the incumbent mayor, says he will discontinue most of them with approval from residents. He says his metropolitan government will help residents repair their shoddy homes, instead of supporting massive urban redevelopment projects.Left behind are displaced residents and investors that have sustained huge losses. Who will have to be held acc

Feb. 1, 2012

[Editorial] New GNP platform

The Grand National Party, which will soon have a new name, released a new draft platform in a desperate move to keep public support. As was widely expected, the 10-point platform, which was dubbed “Promise with the People,” was focused on welfare in what was seen as a bold departure from traditional conservative values.Park Geun-hye, who was given full mandate to manage the troubled party as head of the emergency committee, declared that the new platform marked a “fundamental change” of the part

Jan. 31, 2012

[Editorial] Na Kyung-won case

Na Kyung-won of the Grand National Party lost to Park Won-soon in the Seoul mayoral by-election last October by a 7 percent margin. Most analysts agreed that an allegation that she spent 100 million won ($90,000) at a skincare clinic in Gangnam cost the ruling party candidate a lot of votes along with the disclosure that President Lee Myung-bak purchased a plot of land in Gangnam in his son’s name to build his retirement house.In the contest against a rival posing as the advocate of common peopl

Jan. 31, 2012

[Editorial] Expo preparations

Korea has been reasonably successful in hosting major world events such as the Olympic Games, the FIFA World Cup and even the 2011 World Athletics Championships in Daegu. Success in these affairs is generally measured by financial profitability with large numbers of participants and spectators and trouble-free proceedings. The 1988 Seoul Olympics, which were held after partial boycotts in 1980 and 1984, are remembered as having helped foment the end of the Cold War and introduced Korea as an eme

Jan. 30, 2012

[Editorial] Racial dispute in Texas

An ongoing racial dispute in Dallas, Texas, involving a Korean-American gas station owner and the local African-American community draws our concern for its possible impact on the life of the Korean immigrants in the area and elsewhere. Reasonable efforts should be made to prevent mistakes by individuals from causing unnecessary racial clashes.A Park, who runs a gas station and a convenience store in the predominantly black South Dallas, seems to have somewhat antagonized poorer customers for hi

Jan. 30, 2012

[Editorial] Gloomy growth outlook

The Korean economy grew at a disheartening rate of 3.6 percent last year, almost half the 2010 growth rate of 6.2 percent. Even gloomier is what is yet to come. Few private financial institutions and research institutes predict this year will be better than last year. Mostly culpable were the worsening external economic conditions. The Bank of Korea had to revise its 2011 outlook from the original 4.5 percent to 4.3 percent when the global economy showed few signs of an early recovery. It lowere

Jan. 29, 2012

[Editorial] No good reason

Choi See-joong, chairman of the Korea Communications Commission, tendered his resignation last Friday. His resignation came as criminal allegations were made against his former aide. However, he said at a news conference that he was resigning, not because he or his former aide did anything wrong, but because he was “physically and mentally exhausted.” But it was too early for Choi to claim innocence, as prosecutors are conducting or preparing to conduct inquiries into two corruption scandals inv

Jan. 29, 2012

[Editorial] Reforming chaebol practices

As the April general election draws near, political parties are competitively pouring out corporate reform plans. The sudden impetus toward corporate reform could be seen as the customary practice of political parties bashing chaebol before a major election. But this time, there seems to be more to it. Their attack on the chaebol is gaining traction amid a growing perception that the incumbent government’s corporate policy has only benefited chaebol at the expense of small and medium-sized enter

Jan. 27, 2012

[Editorial] GNP’s name change

The ruling Grand National Party has decided to change its name next week. The party’s emergency leadership council announced on Thursday that the party would hold polls on potential names among party members from Friday to Sunday and adopt a new name on Monday. The plan reflects the scandal-ridden party’s desperate attempt to project a new image before the April general election. In recent years, the party has suffered a series of unsavory scandals that tarnished its image irreparably. Hence, a

Jan. 27, 2012

[Editorial] Selecting candidates

With the Lunar New Year holiday over, the ruling and opposition parties will have to speed up the arduous process of selecting parliamentary candidates soon. At the same time, they have to hasten the task of crafting campaign promises. They cannot afford to spend too long on these electoral preparations, with only two-and-a-half months until the April general elections.Parties’ nomination principles are already laid out. Among them are what percentage of incumbent lawmakers will be denied nomina

Jan. 26, 2012

[Editorial] Sharing as solution

The job market is gloomy, as the number of jobs to be created this year is projected to fall 30 percent. The administration says 280,000 jobs will be created in 2012, down 120,000 from last year.These worsening prospects are behind the administration’s push for job sharing. One idea in this regard is to reinterpret a labor law enforcement decree to make it unlawful to exclude hours worked on holidays and weekends from a 12-hour limit to a legally permissible extension to a 40-hour workweek.An em

Jan. 26, 2012

[Editorial] Reshaping election culture

The forthcoming April general election is important not just because it is a precursor to the December presidential poll. It is important more because it offers a rare chance to reshape the nation’s election culture. The April 11 election is the first major election in Korea where candidates and their supporters are allowed to fully utilize the Internet for electioneering ― unless they poison the election atmosphere by attempting to defame their rivals. Previously, the Internet could not be used

Jan. 25, 2012

[Editorial] Beef trade puzzle

Many consumers wonder why beef prices in department stores and other retail outlets remain high even as cattle prices have plummeted at livestock farms. The Consumers Union of Korea has come up with an answer.According to a report released by the union, a top-notch 600 kg Korean cow fetches its owner about 5.8 million won on average. But the cow’s final consumer price is slightly over 10.04 million won, generating a distribution margin of 42.3 percent.The report has found out how the large margi

Jan. 25, 2012

[Editorial] Trust in court

“Broken Arrow,” a court drama film depicting a laid-off professor’s unsuccessful challenge to what he believed were unjust legal proceedings, was a box office leader during the lunar New Year holiday. It can be taken as yet another testimonial to the dwindling public trust in the nation’s justice system, although some attribute its success to the popularity of the two top actors Ahn Sung-ki and Moon Sung-keun.It was only last autumn that another court film, “Dogani (Melting Pot),” stirred contro

Jan. 24, 2012

[Editorial] New crematorium

Changes are happening fast in Korea, even in such tradition-bound areas as funeral culture. In 2000, only about one-third of the dead were cremated; now more than 70 percent of families choose not to bury the dead in tombs. They extend their funeral period by one or two days to secure a slot in the crematorium operated at full capacity.High expenses for burial with limited availability of cemetery spaces and the posterity’s uncertain prospect for properly taking care of the ancestors’ tombs are

Jan. 24, 2012

[Editorial] A done deal

The passage of the Korea-U.S. free trade deal two months ago should have put an end to the time-consuming, rancorous debate on it, though its railroading by the ruling party could have a lingering ill effect on domestic politics. Yet, the bitter conflict has raised its ugly head again.Held primarily responsible is the opposition Democratic United Party. Its newly elected leadership pledges to have the treaty abrogated. But the responsibility must be shared by an ill-prepared administration, whic

Jan. 20, 2012

[Editorial] Shame on speaker

A prosecutor shamed National Assembly Speaker Park Hee-tae, speaker of the National Assembly, when he raided the offices of his secretaries for search and seizure on Thursday. None of his predecessors had faced such mortification since the Assembly was inaugurated in 1948.But the problem is not just that he deserved the shame, as he was suspected of buying votes for his election to the chairmanship of the ruling party four years ago. More humiliation is yet to come if he tries to hide behind wha

Jan. 20, 2012