[Editorial] Climate change efforts

To scientists and environmental groups, the outcome of the recently ended U.N. climate talks in Durban is a big disappointment. Ostensibly, the two-week-long conference, which was attended by more than 190 countries, delivered results. It produced a package of agreements, including, among other things, the extension of the Kyoto Protocol for another five years.The delegates also agreed to launch negotiations next year to hammer out a new legally binding treaty by 2015. The envisioned pact is aim

Dec. 14, 2011

[Editorial] Disorderly ‘integration’

Few were surprised that the main opposition party’s rally at a gymnasium in Seoul to approve merger with another group of progressives was marred by so much noise and violence, as such scenes are rather a tradition in the nation’s rugged political history. And true to tradition, the losers in Sunday’s Democratic Party convention are about to bring the intraparty dispute to court.Rep. Park Jie-won and his supporters contended that the vote on the merger with the Citizens Unity Party, a hurriedly

Dec. 13, 2011

[Editorial] Outrages at sea

China has become a world superpower, but some of its people behave like Somalian pirates. The frequent, rather routine violations of Korean-controlled waters by Chinese fishing boats make us doubt that Chinese authorities have any concerns about the outrages at sea perpetrated by their people. The captain of a Chinese fishing boat was arrested for attacking Korean Coast Guard officers, killing one and seriously injuring another, as they seized his ship operating deep inside the Korean exclusive

Dec. 13, 2011

[Editorial] President’s brother

Rep. Lee Sang-deuk announced Sunday he would not run for the 19th National Assembly election next April. His retirement, we believe, was four years too late. He had been advised by people in and outside the Grand National Party to make an exit from politics when his younger brother Lee Myung-bak was elected president in December 2007. But “SD” decided to seek his sixth term ― and won it ― “to play the role of the bridge” between the new ruling party and the president, who lacked firm roots in th

Dec. 12, 2011

[Editorial] Strange judges

We are increasingly uneasy that judges are making the news, not only with their verdicts but with their Twitter messages, and even with a collective appeal to the Supreme Court concerning the desirability of an international pact ratified by the Assembly and signed into law by the president.Judge Kim Ha-neul at the Incheon District Court has sent a letter of suggestion to Chief Justice Yang Seung-tae, asking him to form a task force for a court-level study of the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement

Dec. 12, 2011

[Editorial] Bleak job market

Job creators are patriots. So said President Lee Myung-bak during a meeting with a group of businessmen a few days ago. The terse remark sums up the bleak labor market outlook for next year. Jobs are likely to be much more difficult to find in 2012 as domestic companies plan to scale back new hiring in response to slowing economic growth at home and abroad.The Bank of Korea puts the number of new jobs to be created next year at 280,000, a 30 percent plunge from the average 407,000 jobs created i

Dec. 11, 2011

[Editorial] Park in driver’s seat

Rep. Park Geun-hye, the leading presidential hopeful of the ruling Grand National Party, is set to take the helm of the party, which has been drifting without a rudder. Park, who served as the party’s chairwoman between 2004 and 2006, has a demanding task cut out for her. She has to salvage the sinking party and navigate it toward victories in the April general election and subsequent December presidential election.The stage for her comeback after more than five years was set last Friday when th

Dec. 11, 2011

[Editorial] Better late than none?

The Dec. 2 constitutional deadline for the passage of a budget bill has come and gone. Yet, no agreement on an extraordinary parliamentary session appeared to be forthcoming from the ruling and main opposition parties when the regular parliamentary session was set to come to a close Friday. The reason was that the parties were embroiled in internal turmoil.Budget officers in the administration must have been fretting over the possibility of being forced to draw up a provisional spending plan. To

Dec. 9, 2011

[Editorial] At a crossroads

The main opposition Democratic Party is set to hold a national congress on Sunday to determine whether or not it will disband itself for a merger with a group of political, social and labor activists. Either way, its decision will have a great impact on the general and presidential elections next year.The party’s proposed merger with the activist group, which goes by the name of “Innovation and Integration,” is an attempt to unite politicians and political activists that were close to the two la

Dec. 9, 2011

[Editorial] GNP’s way out of crisis

The ruling Grand National Party is teetering on the brink of collapse. On Wednesday, three of the party’s five top leaders quit their posts, calling for reform of the party. The majority party has been floundering in defeatism after losing the Seoul mayoral by-election on Oct. 26. The collective resignations of the three leaders ― Reps. Yoo Seung-min, Nam Kyung-pil and Won Hee-ryong ― were intended to pressure party leader Hong Joon-pyo to step down. What motivated the trio to drag Hong down was

Dec. 8, 2011

[Editorial] Boosting housing market

The government has again come up with a package of measures aimed at stimulating the dormant housing market. It is the sixth of its kind introduced this year. The frequent announcements of policy steps illustrate the difficulty of the task facing policymakers ― injecting new life into the moribund housing market without letting the genie of real estate speculation out of the bottle.The latest package, announced by the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs on Wednesday, contained bolde

Dec. 8, 2011

[Editorial] Ruling party in chaos

The Grand National Party has been urged to dissolve itself for the creation of a new party. The demand is coming not from outside but from members of the ruling party ― a party that is in disarray though it has the National Assembly under its control.Creative dissolution may be one of the most viable choices open to the party, which, as one leading member puts it, is plummeting into a bottomless pit. He says “one bottom after another is collapsing” under the feet of the ruling party, which is ca

Dec. 7, 2011

[Editorial] Beyond $1tr in trade

External trade since the outset of this year recorded $1 trillion on a customs-clearance basis around 3:30 p.m. on Monday ― no small achievement for Korea, which was the first former colony to reach the milestone. Moreover, no more than eight countries had broken through the $1 trillion mark ― the United States, Germany, Japan, China, France, Britain, the Netherlands and Italy.It is expanding trade, or more accurately growth in exports, that has made it possible for Korea to write a rags-to-rich

Dec. 7, 2011

[Editorial] Blue House communication

President Lee Myung-bak ordered yet another reorganization of the Blue House staff this week. His aides explained the measure was focused on improving “communication” between the core of administration and various sectors of society. It is dismaying that Lee, after four years in office, still feels insufficient public communication is the biggest weakness in his governance.Changes included installing new secretaries in charge of publicity of state policies and communication with the people and a

Dec. 6, 2011

[Editorial] ‘Republic of gambling’

A steep rise in the sale of lottery tickets is alerting government overseers. The National Gaming Control Commission under the Prime Minister’s Office is reported to be considering issuing a “stoppage order” for the online Lotto as the total lottery sales this year have nearly hit the year’s ceiling of 2.8 trillion won. From Jan. 1 to Nov. 30, Lotto and other ticket sales totaled 2,794.8 billion won. As sales in December will easily exceed 300 billion won, the year’s total will pass the authorit

Dec. 6, 2011

[Editorial] Politics of broadcasting

Out of curiosity, television viewers are channel surfing between the four “general programming” pay-TV channels that went on air simultaneously last week. All of a sudden, they now have seven channels to choose from instead of three for prime time news as well as dramas and documentaries. It is fun, if a little cumbersome, but many viewers also feel uncomfortable hearing the political noise concerning this so-called “big bang” in the media industry.Opposition lawmakers declined invitation to a j

Dec. 5, 2011

[Editorial] Two juxtaposed numbers

This week, we have news reports revealing two significant statistics. One has it that Korea is to achieve $1 trillion in annual two-way trade volume this week. The other is not so encouraging: the nation’s total household debt is expected to hit 1,000 trillion won by 2013 ― roughly equivalent to $1 trillion.These two figures are of course not directly related to each other in economics. Yet, they are related to the general perception among Koreans regarding how far they have come through the pas

Dec. 5, 2011

[Editorial] DDoS suspect

An aide to a lawmaker of the ruling party is suspected of being behind cyber attacks that crashed the computer systems of the National Election Commission and the liberal candidate for Seoul mayor on the day of the Oct. 26 by-election. The lawmaker, who denies involvement, says he would resign from his post if proven otherwise.As he claims, Rep. Choi Koo-sik of the ruling Grand National Party may not be involved in the distributed denial-of-service, or DDoS, attacks, which shut down the websites

Dec. 4, 2011

[Editorial] Military’s preparedness

Burma is one of the few countries to which Pyongyang exports its arms and military technology. But the Southeast Asian country is most likely to downgrade its military ties with North Korea, though perhaps not sever them outright, to improve relations with the United States. During her visit to the Southeast Asian nation last week, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton reportedly called on the Burmese leaders to discontinue military cooperation with North Korea, which is suspected of pr

Dec. 4, 2011

[Editorial] Emissions trade bill

Many important bills are gathering dust at the National Assembly as rival parties are still locked in a stand-off following the unilateral passage by the ruling Grand National Party of the Korea-U.S. free trade bill on Nov. 22. The emissions trade bill submitted by the government in April is one of them.The legislation aims to launch a greenhouse gas emissions trading system in 2015 to stimulate corporate efforts for emissions reduction. In 2009, the Korean government voluntarily declared it wou

Dec. 2, 2011