[Editorial] Enhancing looks

Veteran singer Yoon Bok-hee said in an interview last week that she was afraid of watching TV these days because she sees so many entertainers who have undergone cosmetic surgery. “With your skin yanked and bone carved, can you correctly express your emotion? With your mouth reconstructed, can you sing normally?” she asked.The 65-year-old singer insists that a truly dedicated actor or singer shoul

April 28, 2011

[Editorial] Post-poll plans

The electorate in the Bundang B district said no to the status quo and, instead, endorsed a call for change when it elected Sohn Hak-kyu, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, in the April 27 parliamentary by-election. Of great concern to the conservative ruling party and the liberal opposition party is whether the electoral outcome will prove to be a tempest in a teacup or a prelude to

April 28, 2011

[Editorial] Pension fund voting

Few would question the “one-share, one-vote” rule as the basic principle behind corporate governance. Nothing would be wrong if the National Pension Service exercises its voting rights, mandated by the number of common shares it possesses, at a listed company’s meeting of shareholders.The National Pension Service is one of the largest institutional investors, which holds more than 5 percent of sto

April 27, 2011

[Editorial] Trust betrayed

No sane person would deposit a large sum of money with a financial institution if he had no conviction that he would be able to withdraw the deposit at maturity. This depositor trust was betrayed when the Financial Services Commission suspended operations at Busan Savings Bank on Feb. 17.Worse still, what had reportedly happened at the savings bank before it was ordered to suspend operations calls

April 26, 2011

[Editorial] At the polls

Balloting starts at 6:00 a.m. on Wednesday for the by-elections in three parliamentary districts, one gubernatorial district and several districts for municipal mayors. Though the electoral districts are small in number, the polls have good reason to draw more attention than they would normally deserve.First of all, public attention will focus on the vote in the Bundang B district in Seongnam, Gye

April 26, 2011

[Editorial] Smartphone suits

A week after Apple Inc. filed a patent lawsuit with a California court against Samsung Electronics, the latter came up with countersuits against Apple at courts in Korea, Japan and Germany. While the battle between the two global giants will cost both sides huge legal, the suits could generate enough consumer interests in the products of both parties to more than compensate the costs of litigation

April 25, 2011

[Editorial] Rain tops Time 100

Singer and actor Rain was chosen as the most influential person in the world in a Time magazine poll for the third time since 2006. Rain, 28, with the Korean name Jung Ji-hoon, took the top spot in the Time 100 reader poll for the third year, trouncing competitors from Barack Obama to Lady Gaga, the U.S. news magazine said. Calling him “the unstoppable South Korean superstar,” Time reviewed how Ra

April 25, 2011

[Editorial] Localization of parts

Domestic companies are stepping up efforts to localize some of the parts and materials they import from Japan as their suppliers in the neighboring country are in trouble due to the March 11 earthquake.For instance, LG Electronics has decided to develop a microcontroller unit for its home appliances as Toshiba Corp., which accounts for 60 percent of the global MCU supply, has still not fully norma

April 24, 2011

[Editorial] Card crisis deja vu

Korea suffered a severe credit card crisis in 2003 that not only disrupted the financial system but hit the real economy with a body blow. The crisis followed a massive credit card lending boom, which was fueled by the government’s misguided bid to boost consumption. As the government eased regulations on the credit card business, card issuers pulled out all the stops to recruit new cardholders. T

April 24, 2011

[Editorial] Union demand

If a company is to prosper, one of the first things it must do is hire people with skills, knowledge, capacity and other qualifications that can be put to good use. It goes without saying that no restrictions should be placed on the process of selecting qualified persons from among job applicants.But Hyundai Motor Co.’s unionized workers demand their children be given favors when they apply for em

April 22, 2011

[Editorial] Reform in jeopardy

Cronyism in the legal profession is set to be weakened, if not removed, with the National Assembly scheduled to act on a bill to restrict the practice of law by judge- and prosecutor-turned lawyers this month. Given a bipartisan accord, its passage is almost assured.If the bill is approved, lawyers will be banned for one year from serving as counsel on cases tried or investigated by the court or t

April 22, 2011

[Editorial] Checks on reactors

Concerns about the safety of the nuclear reactors in Korea are growing as problems arise in succession at the reactors of the Gori nuclear power plant near Busan. The Gori-1 reactor, the oldest in Korea, which started operation in 1978, shut down on April 12 after a fire destroyed one of its circuit breakers. At first, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. said a defective power switch caused the power

April 21, 2011

[Editorial] Defusing debt bomb

The Korean economy is sitting on a ticking time bomb ― household debt that has topped 800 trillion won. To figure out the risks that this huge debt bomb poses to the national economy, one has only to remember that one percentage point hike in interest rates would increase the interest payment burden on households by 8 trillion won a year. No wonder the Bank of Korea has been hesitant to raise the

April 21, 2011

[Editorial] Bad bank

The proposed establishment of a bad bank is set in motion by the financial regulators, who are worried that soured project financing loans, if not dealt with appropriately, could cause a financial crisis. At the request from the regulators, creditor banks will sooner or later discuss the details, including how much of money each of them will chip in to set up a bad bank and how much of toxic loans

April 20, 2011

[Editorial] Overeducating

The number of people who are highly educated but economically inactive has been increasing at an alarmingly high rate during the past decade ― surely an unwelcome reminder to parents that the costly efforts to send their children to university may not pay off.As opposed to the economically active population, those economically inactive are people who do not work and, at the same time, do not meet

April 20, 2011

[Editorial] 6 parties, 6 dreams

The six-party talks for the denuclearization of North Korea may be resumed sometime this spring after a hiatus of more than two years. South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton agreed in Seoul last week that they would pursue direct inter-Korean talks as a prelude to reopening the six-way talks. This concurs with China’s recent proposal for a three-sta

April 19, 2011

[Editorial] Return of artifacts

Yet another joint government-civic committee is about to be formed to take charge of identifying Korean cultural articles overseas and start working for their return home. President Lee gave the instruction upon the return of Joseon era books last week from France after they were plundered from a royal archive on Ganghwa Island during an attack a century and a half ago.Like the 296-volume Joseon “

April 18, 2011

[Editorial] By-elections

The April 27 by-elections to pick National Assemblymen for three districts in Gyeonggi, South Gyeongsang and South Jeolla provinces, the governor of Gangwon Province and to fill vacancies at several local autonomous bodies are about a week away. Neither the ruling nor the opposition party sees a clear lead in any of the parliamentary and gubernatorial contests, and both consider these polls as a b

April 18, 2011

[Editorial] On the mend

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, driven into chaos by four student suicides this year, now appears to be recovering from the initial shock and looking for solutions to stressful campus life. KAIST will do well to take time in determining what to do to avoid similar tragedies, as advised by its board of directors.Last week, the board of directors, after being briefed on remedial

April 17, 2011

[Editorial] Judicial reform

When asked about judicial reform last week, Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik was noncommittal. He apparently did not want to be drawn into a conflict over the thorny issue when he said, “There is no right answer to the question. I hope considerate debate (on the issue) will proceed in a way that will be of help in advancing the nation in the future.”But the administration will have to get itself activ

April 17, 2011