[Editorial] Disregard for security

Many of the 30 million customers of the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation, or Nonghyup, suffered inconveniences for four days from Tuesday as the bank’s computer network broke down. It was the worst accident of its kind in Korea and fueled unease among the public over the security of online financial transactions as it came just several days after a serious hacking incident at Hyundai C

April 15, 2011

[Editorial] Chain bankruptcies

Fears of chain bankruptcies are mounting among domestic construction companies following Sambu Construction Co.’s filing on Tuesday for a court-protected rehabilitation process. Holder of Korea’s first construction business license, Sambu placed 34th among the nation’s top 100 builders last year. It applied for court protection as financial companies refused to roll over the 427 billion won projec

April 15, 2011

[Editorial] Revised target

The central bank was more realistic than before when it abandoned its policy goal of keeping this year’s inflation at 3.5 percent or lower, raising the target rate to 3.9 percent this week. Still, the bank took no action to convince the public that the new goal was attainable.In revising the targeted rate of inflation upward, the Bank of Korea maintained its earlier growth outlook for this year ―

April 14, 2011

[Editorial] Jet exports

Indonesia has recently selected Korea Aerospace Industries as the preferred bidder for its trainer jet project ― a deal which is brightening the prospects for exporting Korean-made supersonic T-50 trainer jets. As the KAI chief executive officer says, it will take some time to conclude negotiations on a final contract regarding the price, the time of delivery, the provision of parts, assistance in

April 14, 2011

[Editorial] Offshore tax evasion

According to the National Tax Service, a shipping magnate is under investigation by the prosecution on charges of offshore tax evasion. The case draws our attention because the fine imposed on him is 410.1 billion won, the largest ever levied on an individual for stashing away personal wealth abroad.The NTS said the shipping tycoon, who is little known to the public, operates a fleet of 160 vessel

April 13, 2011

[Editorial] Chaebol’s responsibility

Under the incumbent Lee Myung-bak government, domestic business groups have expanded their assets and operations at an alarmingly fast clip, and concerns have been rekindled about excessive concentration of economic power.According to data recently released by the Fair Trade Commission, the top 20 business groups increased their asset holdings by 54.2 percent and the number of subsidiaries by 36 p

April 13, 2011

[Editorial] Bills of evil

In this age of plastic cards, keeping a few 50,000-won bills in wallet would not make one feel particularly comfortable. In everyday life, you rarely need to use the light brown note graced by the elegant portrait of virtuous Joseon era lady Shin Saimdang, which was first issued in June 2009. Yet, the Bank of Korea reports that some 400 million 50,000-won notes are “in circulation,” believe it or

April 12, 2011

[Editorial] Suh’s choice

Suh Nam-pyo, a Korean-born professor emeritus at MIT with more than 70 patents in mechanical engineering and experience as vice president of the U.S. National Science Foundation, assumed presidency at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in July 2006. At the time, he set the goal of making KAIST one of the 10 best research universities in the world. He followed up with reform mea

April 12, 2011

[Editorial] After one month

When rain fell last week, workers at some potable water reservoirs were busy covering their large facilities with vinyl sheets to prevent “radioactive” rainwater from being mixed with the drinking water. Cynics remarked, “Why don’t we cover the whole Han River?” This reveals the great psychological impact Korea had from the natural disaster that hit Japan a month ago. The magnitude-9.0 earthquake

April 11, 2011

[Editorial] Hacker’s paradise

In the best-selling crime novel “Millennium Series” by Swedish journalist-writer Stieg Larsson, the heroine Lisbeth Salander freely breaks into the computers of individuals and organizations for her private investigative work and even makes a fortune by penetrating into the domain of a corrupt media magnate. She is a member of the international hacker community called the “Hacker Republic.”Technol

April 11, 2011

[Editorial] Party in crisis?

Bundang B in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, has been a conservative electoral district. One of Seoul’s wealthy suburbs, it has been carried by the ruling Grand National Party in the past. Is the conservative ruling party assured of another win in the April 27 parliamentary by-election?The answer is hardly, as evidenced by the latest opinion poll. The liberal Democratic Party’s chairman, Sohn Hak-kyu

April 8, 2011

[Editorial] Pork barrel

If a person wishes to succeed as a politician, one of the first things he needs to do is appeal to the concerns of those who have elected him into public office and convince them that he has their best interests at heart. Few can afford to ignore their concerns no matter how mundane or absurd they may appear.Thomas Phillip “Tip” O’Neill, Jr., a former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives,

April 7, 2011

[Editorial] Twisting refiners’ arms

In January, President Lee Myung-bak said there was something fishy about domestic gasoline prices. When international crude prices soared, he said, domestic prices of gasoline seemed to go up correspondingly without delay, but when crude oil costs dropped, retail gasoline prices appeared to fall slowly and by a smaller margin.The president’s comment was a signal that the government would step up p

April 7, 2011

[Editorial] Die-hard practices

Old business practices die hard. For an example, look no further than the pharmaceutical industry. Some unscrupulous drug producers are unable to quit the bad habit of offering kickbacks to doctors and pharmacists to boost the sales of their products.According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, it has received more than 100 tip-offs about illegal kickbacks since November last year when the rel

April 7, 2011

[Editorial] Money in envelopes

The prosecutor general has 18.9 billion won earmarked for “special activities” this year ― activities related to gathering information on crime and criminal investigations. He is not required to submit receipts with his claims on the grounds that they may reveal confidential information. As such, he may be tempted to spend the money for other purposes.Given that much of the prosecutorial work must

April 6, 2011

[Editorial] Desperate lawmakers

If a first-term National Assemblyman is banned from running for reelection because of his wife’s illegal campaigning for him, what should he do? He may try to complete his tenure honorably with exemplary legislative activities and prepare to return to his original profession. Rep. Kim Choong-hwan of the Grand National Party had a different idea; he decided to rewrite the law with the support of sy

April 5, 2011

[Editorial] Translation errors

In a press briefing Monday, Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon apologized to the public for translation errors in the Korean language version of the Korea-European Union Free Trade Agreement. With the Cabinet approval of a corrected version on Tuesday, the bill for the ratification of the trade pact will now be submitted to the National Assembly for the third time, an embarrassing record in the country’

April 5, 2011

[Editorial] ‘Science-business belt’

Regarding the new “science-business belt” project, President Lee Myung-bak may believe that his administration is free to select any location for it, whether in Sejong City or anywhere. We cannot disagree, but we also consider the people of Chungcheong have justifiable reason to insist that the multitrillion won (multibillion dollar) project should be awarded to the central region.The science comp

April 4, 2011

[Editorial] Religious bigotry

At a small church in Florida, a 12-man “jury” picked from its members handed down a “guilty” verdict on the Quran. The Islamic holy book was then soaked in kerosene for an hour before it was set on fire. The mock trial had every ingredient of a comedy or a voodoo ritual.That little mischief had grave consequences, however. It touched off fierce protests in the Muslim world. In Afghanistan a score

April 4, 2011

[Editorial] Parts supply

A disruption in the supply of one key part or component of a product may halt operations at assembly lines. A case in point involves the microcontrollers Korean companies import from Japan.Microcontrollers are systems, each with a processor, memory and peripherals, that are embedded in a wide range of home appliances and other sophisticated products. Samsung, LG, Daewoo and other Korean companies

April 3, 2011