[Editorial] Medical rebates

When 13 medical, pharmaceutical and medical instruments industry organizations held a joint rally last week to pledge to put an end to the practice of rebates between the medical goods suppliers and doctors, the Korea Medical Association, a powerful organization of doctors, did not take part. The KMA’s excuse was that the declarative action would have little effect and participating in such a move was like admitting that all doctors are corrupt.The body of nearly 100,000 medical doctors was in f

Dec. 26, 2011

[Editorial] Crisis in school

Schools in Korea are in crisis from the elementary to university level. Problems range from costly and prevalent off-school classes and high tuition fees for college students to rows between liberal and conservative educators over “human rights” in school. Classroom violence has worsened and adult society, preoccupied with its own problems, does not know what to do. The suicide of a middle school boy in Daegu last week once again alarmed teachers and parents about the growing evil of bullying in

Dec. 26, 2011

[Editorial] Going nuclear with caution

The government has selected two candidate sites for nuclear power plants ― Yeongdeok County of North Gyeongsang Province and Samcheok City of Gangwon Province. The two locations, both on the eastern coast, would be finalized by late next year, if they pass on-site inspections and environmental surveys.The government said each site, if finalized, would have four APR1400 reactors, the latest 1.4 million kilowatt model Korea has exported to the United Arab Emirates. Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co

Dec. 25, 2011

[Editorial] Helping N.K. open up

Following the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, a debate has flared up on whether his successor would push for economic reform and opening to better feed the nation’s starving 24 million people.On one side are skeptics who suggest that Kim Jong-un, the third son and heir of the deceased leader, won’t be able to change the course of the economy because his power base is still shaky.Yet a larger number of experts predict that the twenty-something new leader would seek to open the economy w

Dec. 25, 2011

[Editorial] Preparing for reunion

As instructed at school at an early age, South Koreans used to regard eventual unification with North Korea as a matter of course. They were taught a song whose lyrics said in part: “What we desire even in our dreams is unification.”But the envisioned unification has lost much of its appeal, as evidenced by a survey conducted by a Seoul National University think tank in July. Moreover, the number of unification advocates is declining at a sizable rate.The poll by the research institute of 1,200

Dec. 23, 2011

[Editorial] Respect for the court

Chung Bong-ju, a former opposition lawmaker who has gained fame as one of the four hosts of a podcast talk show, is set to be sent to prison because the Supreme Court upheld a lower court decision on Thursday. He had been sentenced by the lower court to one year in prison for making a false statement that President Lee Myung-bak was involved in a stock price manipulation scam.The ruling also deprived Chung of his right to election to public office for the next 10 years, making it impossible for

Dec. 23, 2011

[Editorial] New North Korea policy

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s sudden death has further increased the uncertainty on the Korean Peninsula. Yet it has also provided an important opening for the two Koreas to end the hostility and pursue peace and mutual prosperity. To grab this rare opportunity, the Seoul government needs to recalibrate its North Korea strategy.Inter-Korean relations have remained deadlocked for years, especially following the North’s provocations against the South last year ― the destruction of the Navy’s C

Dec. 22, 2011

[Editorial] Korea-China hotline

The government’s response to North Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s death has exposed some glaring problems. One such problem concerns the failure of the nation’s main spy agency to detect Kim’s death before Pyongyang’s state media announced it on Monday.The National Intelligence Service had no clue to Kim’s death for two days, revealing its serious lack of capability to gather intelligence on North Korea. The agency’s intelligence lapse kept President Lee Myung-bak in the dark about the grave situat

Dec. 22, 2011

[Editorial] Condolences to N. Korea

South Korea has offered condolences to North Korea over Kim Jong-il’s death in the manner it apparently considered most appropriate. This should settle the dispute over whether or not the South should express condolences to the North.The South Korean government directed its condolences to the North Korean people, not to the North Korean government or Kim’s successor ― his youngest son. By doing so, President Lee Myung-bak’s administration appeared to be aiming at appeasing conservatives, who wer

Dec. 21, 2011

[Editorial] Investor confidence

The South Korean financial markets plunged on the news about North Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s sudden death on Saturday. They did so with good reason. One of the investor concerns was undoubtedly the possibility of a power struggle breaking out in North Korea in the aftermath of Kim’s death and an ensuing calamity spilling over into the South.When his death was announced two days later, on Monday, South Korea’s benchmark stock index lost 3.43 percent, or 63 points, and closed at 1,776.93. The Ko

Dec. 21, 2011

[Editorial] Extreme fluidity

North Koreans may think that it was fortunate that their leader, Kim Jong-il, officially anointed his successor more than a year before his death. But Kim died too soon to ensure his third son a smooth takeover as the ruler of the isolated, impoverished country of 24 million people.Pompous funeral ceremonies for the dictator who ruled the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea for 17 years after the death of his father, Kim Il-sung, will be held on Dec. 28 in freezing Pyongyang. And no one knows

Dec. 20, 2011

[Editorial] Korea, Japan and China

President Lee Myung-bak spent more than half of his summit talks with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda in Kyoto on Sunday with the issue of the World War II “comfort women.” He asked for the Japanese government’s “sincere and courageous efforts” to settle the issue, which has become a major obstacle to the partnership between the two neighbors.It certainly was extraordinary that the Korean president raised the wartime sex slavery in his conversation with the Japanese head of government for

Dec. 19, 2011

[Editorial] Last U.S. troops out

The last U.S. troops left Iraq Sunday, eight years and eight months after the first American missiles struck Baghdad, ostensibly to stop Saddam Hussein from threatening world security with weapons of mass destruction. The soldiers are returning home, but many of them will be sent to Afghanistan, where George W. Bush had started war to destroy al-Qaida, the perpetrators of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. When another Middle East invasion was made into Iraq, much of the non-Arab world supported the U.

Dec. 19, 2011

[Editorial] Crumbling power base

President Lee Myung-bak used to say his power would remain intact until his final day in office, brushing aside the possibility of sliding into lame-duck status in his last year in office, as his predecessors did. Set to enter into the final year of his five-year presidency soon, however, he needs to look squarely at irksome truths about his crumbling power base.When his administration was inaugurated on February 2008, Lee looked so indomitable that all his detractors, both actual and potential,

Dec. 18, 2011

[Editorial] Upward mobility

A society is certain to lose vitality and remain stagnant, if not go backward, if its members believe that they cannot move to a higher social status whatever efforts they may make. Such pessimism is gripping Korea, as evidenced by a survey recently conducted by Statistics Korea.According to the 2011 social survey of 17,000 households throughout the nation, almost half the Korean people believe they belong to the working class and six in 10 believe they cannot improve their social and economic s

Dec. 18, 2011

[Editorial] Fostering youth start-ups

The government is rolling up its sleeves to stimulate start-up activities among young people as youth unemployment worsens.The November job data released by Statistics Korea on Wednesday put the unemployment rate among those aged 15-29 at 6.8 percent, more than double the general unemployment rate of 2.9 percent.While the overall jobless rate improved this year on the back of employment growth in the service sector, the rate among young people worsened.Korea’s youth unemployment figure may not l

Dec. 16, 2011

[Editorial] End to GNP factionalism

Rep. Park Geun-hye has cleared the biggest hurdle to her comeback in more than five years as the leader of the embattled ruling Grand National Party.On Wednesday, she met a group of reformist GNP lawmakers who had vociferously called for dissolving the party to create a new one. They threatened to leave the party should Park reject their demands. Two hot-tempered lawmakers did declare their departure from the party on Monday.Park was in principle against disbanding the GNP. She regarded it as no

Dec. 16, 2011

[Editorial] Summit agenda

President Lee Myung-bak is visiting Kyoto, Japan, on Saturday and Sunday for shuttle diplomacy with Prime Minister Yoshiko Noda. Glaringly missing from the officially sanctioned summit agenda, however, is an issue concerning Korean women forced into sex slavery during World War II. The summit will have to deal extensively with the case, be it on the official agenda or not.True, presidential aides say that Lee, very much concerned about the issue, may take it up any time he meets Noda. But a curs

Dec. 15, 2011

[Editorial] GNP in turmoil

The ruling Grand National Party, faced with a leadership crisis, is put to a test over whether it will be able to put itself on the path to its former glory or continue to run adrift until it is shipwrecked. There is no easy prediction about its future, as an ad hoc committee that is empowered to map it out has yet to be created.For the moment, however, pessimism is outweighing optimism. Some demoralized party-affiliated lawmakers are giving up running for reelection, while some others are vowin

Dec. 15, 2011

[Editorial] Playing it safe in 2012

Next year is likely to be another tough year for Korean economic policymakers as economic and political uncertainties are likely to mount at home and abroad. Globally, the eurozone sovereign debt crisis is expected to persist, adding fuel to turbulence in global financial markets and aggravating the vulnerability of the Korean economy.The year 2012 is also an election year not only in Korea but in many countries, including the United States, Russia, France and Spain. A leadership change is also

Dec. 14, 2011