[Editorial] Safe roads

The National Police Agency has designated low-speed driving areas at 61 locations to protect pedestrians. In these “safe life road” zones in urban districts, the maximum speed of vehicles will be limited to 30 kilometers per hour. To enforce the low-speed limit, speed bumps will be installed and the surface of the road will be raised at crosswalks.As the police have confirmed traffic accidents red

March 21, 2011

[Editorial] Attack on Gadhafi

“Reiterating the responsibility of the Libyan authorities to protect the Libyan population and reaffirming that parties to armed conflicts bear the primary responsibility to take all feasible steps to ensure the protection of civilians …” said U.N. Security Council Resolution 1973 adopted last week.In compliance with this responsibility, the international community is using military force to help

March 21, 2011

[Editorial] Volcanic eruption?

Pyongyang has repeatedly proposed to hold inter-Korea talks only to be rebuffed by Seoul. The latest proposal is to discuss a potential volcanic eruption on Mount Baekdu, a dormant volcano on North Korea’s border with China.On Thursday, Pyongyang called for talks with Seoul on the possibility of volcanic activity resuming at Mount Baekdu ― discharging hot magma and spewing ash and gases. It propos

March 20, 2011

[Editorial] Japan and prices

Japan’s devastating disasters are pummeling the Korean currency. The weak Korean won will raise the prices of imported commodities, which will work their way down to consumer prices. Moreover, political instability in the Middle East is pushing up oil prices.All these developments will accelerate increases in consumer prices. The threat to price stability is being renewed at a time when housewives

March 20, 2011

[Editorial] China’s nuclear push

Alarmed by the nuclear disaster in Japan, China has ordered a comprehensive safety assessment of all nuclear plants under construction and suspended approval of new plants pending formulation of new safety regulations.In a statement released on Wednesday, the State Council urged using “the most advanced standards” for the safety checks and told officials to immediately cease construction of the pl

March 18, 2011

[Editorial] Quake preparedness

The devastation in Japan unleashed by a 9.0-magnitude earthquake last Friday has heightened awareness of quake risks in Korea, creating an environment conducive to boosting disaster preparedness.On Wednesday, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said he would make it mandatory for all new public buildings in Seoul to adopt earthquake-resistant design regardless of their size. For this, he said he would ask the

March 18, 2011

[Editorial] Thawing job market

New jobs are being added as the nation’s economy gains momentum. Last month, the number of people with a job was at 23,336,000, up 469,000 from a year ago. It was the largest monthly gain since July last year. But the government has a long way to go before the jobless rate falls to a tolerable level.According to a report from Statistics Korea, the employment rate, as a percentage of the working po

March 17, 2011

[Editorial] Who’s populist?

When the main opposition Democratic Party proposed to rein in rising rent prices by capping their increases in January, the ruling Grand National Party accused its adversary of pushing for an irrational populist idea. In an about-face, the ruling party is now moving to adopt the proposal as its policy. Now what will the GNP say about itself?On Wednesday, the ruling party’s task force, working on a

March 17, 2011

[Editorial] Minimizing Japan risks

The crisis in Japan stemming from a triple disaster ― a 9.0-magnitude earthquake, a subsequent giant tsunami and blasts at a nuclear power plant ― is deepening, causing concern that it could take a toll on the Korean as well as the global economy. Korean policymakers initially said the impact of the Japanese disaster on the national economy would be temporary and limited. They need to change their

March 16, 2011

[Editorial] Nuclear safety

The nuclear crisis in Japan shows no signs of abating. Fears of a major radiation leak heightened on Tuesday following two separate explosions at the earthquake-hit nuclear power plant in Fukushima. The blasts, which occurred at the No. 2 and No. 4 reactors, raised radioactive levels in the surrounding areas, leading Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan to urge people within 30 km of the facility to

March 16, 2011

[Editorial] Official residence

It seems that Seoul Education Superintendent Kwak Noh-hyun has felt an acute need to use an official residence since his election last June. This week, the Seoul Metropolitan Education Office proposed the revision of a decree on official properties to enable the acquisition of official residences for the education superintendent and vice superintendent. The office offered two reasons: First, the e

March 15, 2011

[Editorial] Herculean mission

Finance Minister Yoon Jeung-hyun came out in support of former Prime Minister Chung Un-chan in the ongoing debate on “profit sharing” between conglomerates and their subcontractors. The government’s chief economic policymaker told a National Assembly committee on Monday that he believed Chung’s idea should be given support. Yoon’s sympathizing with Chung was particularly noteworthy, as he was reto

March 15, 2011

[Editorial] Nuclear scare

It is ironical that President Lee Myung-bak attended the groundbreaking ceremony yesterday for a multibillion dollar nuclear power plant Korea is to build in the United Arab Emirates while world attention is directed at nuclear power stations on the northeastern coast of Japan, which was devastated by an earthquake and tsunami Friday afternoon.Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan told President Lee,

March 14, 2011

[Editorial] Cronyism in court

Cronyism is definitely a most serious social malady in this country. It is everywhere, in bureaucracy, academia, the art world, and even in court. Close personal ties between judges and lawyers lower public trust in the justice system. “Not guilty with money; guilty without money” has been the most-quoted dictum among critics of the deplorable state of our courts.Judges and prosecutors start pract

March 14, 2011

[Editorial] Baby boomers

It should not come as a surprise that many of the baby boomers, those born from 1955 to 1963, will face extreme financial difficulties when they go into retirement. They have not saved enough for retirement, into which they will start going in a couple of years. But not many realize what is in store for them.The number of baby boomers stands at 7 million, or 14 percent of the total population. Mos

March 11, 2011

[Editorial] Brakes on bonuses

State-run corporations never cease to amaze us. According to a report released by Rep. Kwon Kyung-seok of the ruling Grand National Party, 22 state-run corporations spent 1.75 trillion won last year to pay bonuses to their employees, in crass disregard for their snowballing debts.These corporations paid 14.5 million won on average to each employee last year, an increase of 46.5 percent from the pr

March 10, 2011

[Editorial] Shanghai scandal

Was she a mere visa broker or a spy of a Chinese intelligence agency? This question comes to mind first when we hear that several Korean diplomats at the consulate in Shanghai are accused of having affairs with a Chinese woman and leaking classified information to her.The scandal first surfaced in November last year but the ministries whose officers were suspected of being involved in it did not b

March 10, 2011

[Editorial] Ministry’s audacity

Translating legal documents from one language to another is anything but easy, and all the more so, given that less than clear-cut wording found in the original is often a source of legal dispute. It may be human to err in such a case.But a mismatch between figures in the original and the corresponding ones in a translated version is not a matter concerning translation. Such an error results from

March 9, 2011

[Editorial] Reopen the probe

Jang Ja-yeon, an aspiring actress, killed herself in March 2009, claiming that she had been forced into prostitution by her management agency. Those who had allegedly been provided with sexual favors included top business managers and news media representatives.Her suicide caused a public uproar, forcing the police to launch a seemingly extensive probe into the sexual slavery case. But the investi

March 9, 2011

[Editorial] No-fly zone

The anti-Gadhafi uprising in Libya entered its fourth week and the nation is sliding toward a civil war while the international community can find no effective way of intervening in the situation to stop the violence. The outside world is unable to estimate casualty figures even approximately, as fighting goes on in population centers along the northern coast. All the Western powers and the United

March 8, 2011