[Editorial] No sanctuary in probe

Former President Moon Jae-in reportedly refused to receive the Board of Audit and Inspection's written investigation late last month in connection with the incident of North Korean soldiers shooting dead a South Korean government employee in the western sea. Then the board requested a written inquiry in an email to the office of Moon's secretary, which is said to have returned it Friday. Lee Dae-jun, an official of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, went missing on duty from a monit

Oct. 5, 2022

[Editorial] Collateral damage

Twitch, a popular game streaming platform, dropped its maximum video quality in South Korea on Friday from 1080p to 720p, intensifying disputes over the country’s network usage fee. In a related move, other global platforms such as YouTube and Netflix are expected to stage a tough fight over the fee with local internet service providers. Twitch, a unit of Amazon, said in an update announcement Thursday that its operating cost in South Korea has been on the rise and the trend appears to be

Oct. 4, 2022

[Editorial] Dispute on price controls

The South Korean government is now running a pilot program of the delivery unit price indexation system -- an interlocking price adjustment system for the cost of goods delivered, chiefly designed to help protect small businesses when they handle orders from big companies. But there is a dispute over whether it undermines free market principles, especially concerning artificial price control by the government. Under the system when there is, for instance, a big change in the price of raw materia

Sept. 30, 2022

[Editorial] Abide by principles

In response to the controversy that broke out over the use of foul language during his recent visit to New York, President Yoon Suk-yeol said that untrue news reports undermining the US alliance are endangering South Koreans. He maintains that the news reports on his remarks are not true, so a probe is needed to uncover the truth. MBC is the only media outlet to have recorded the video of Yoon speaking to his entourage while exiting the Global Fund conference in New York on Sept. 22. At that tim

Sept. 29, 2022

[Editorial] Meaning of family

A fresh round of disputes is erupting over the legal definition of family in South Korea, as the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family has suddenly ditched its plan to allow for more diverse forms of families. The ministry recently decided to withdraw its support for revising the Framework Act on Healthy Families aimed at expanding the legal definition of the family to include cohabiting couples, Rep. Chung Kyung-hee from the ruling People Power Party said Friday. It is regrettable that the min

Sept. 28, 2022

[Editorial] Populism again

The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea is pushing a bill to return half of bus and subway fares that the people will pay for five months from Aug. 1 to Dec. 31 this year. In a bid to ease the economic burden on the working class, the government and ruling People Power Party are considering increasing income tax deductions for public transportation expenses. Then the Democratic Party upped the ante by coming up with the cash handout bill Proposed by Kim Sung-whan, chief policymaker of the

Sept. 27, 2022

[Editorial] Foul language

President Yoon Suk-yeol returned home Saturday, wrapping up his three-nation trip that covered two important events. One was the state funeral of the Queen Elizabeth II in London, and the second was holding summits with US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Both events turned out to be less than desirable. And something unexpected also took place, taking Seoul's political scene by storm. In a bad start to his trip, Yoon failed to visit the queen while she was lyi

Sept. 26, 2022

[Editorial] Green nuclear energy

The government has worked to officially classify nuclear power generation as an environment-friendly economic activity. The Ministry of Environment on Tuesday disclosed a draft revision to the national green taxonomy, called K-taxonomy, that includes atomic power generation on the list of environmentally sustainable economic activities. It is a reasonable decision. Carbon dioxide emissions from using atomic energy to generate 1 kilowatt hour of power amounts to 12 grams, the same amount of emiss

Sept. 23, 2022

[Editorial] Chronic problems

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on Monday pointed out a set of key issues confronting South Korea at large in its latest report, offering suggestions that deserve full attention from policymakers of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration. In the 2022 OECD Economic Survey of Korea, the organization laid out its predictions about the country’s economic conditions going forward. It forecast Korea’s gross domestic product growth would stay in the low 2 percent range n

Sept. 22, 2022

[Editorial] Wasteful investigations

All activities of the Special Investigation Commission on Social Disasters ended on Sept. 10 with no outcomes to speak of. The commission was launched in the days of President Moon Jae-in’s administration to find the truth about deaths apparently caused by humidifier disinfectants in 2014 and the Sewol ferry sinking on April 16, 2016. The causes of the incidents were found a long time ago. It only wasted taxpayers' money trying to find new causes to no avail. Ku Ja-keun, a National As

Sept. 21, 2022

[Editorial] Flawed business practice

The South Korean government on Wednesday slapped a combined fine of 100 billion won ($72 million) on Alphabet’s Google and Meta Platforms for privacy violations, touching off a dispute about their business practices. The Personal Information Protection Commission fined Google 69.2 billion won and Meta 30.8 billion won for failing to clearly inform users and get their consent before collecting behavioral data that they used to generate customized ads. The privacy panel said Google has not c

Sept. 20, 2022

[Editorial] Legislation tyranny

The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea on Wednesday proposed a bill that requires the Board of Audit and Inspection to receive approval from the National Assembly before launching inspections on particular issues. It is unprecedented and inappropriate for a majority party to seek to control the government watchdog agency. The bill requires the board to submit inspection plans to related standing committees of the National Assembly for approval and later report inspection results to the As

Sept. 19, 2022

[Editorial] ‘Deplorable’ power project

President Yoon Suk-yeol’s choice of adjective to describe his feeling about the news that a power project of the previous Moon Jae-in administration resulted in wasting a huge amount of taxpayers’ money was “deplorable.” “It's deplorable that taxpayers' money, which should be spent on supporting the welfare of struggling citizens, was used for corrupt acts by cartels with vested interests," Yoon told reporters on his way to work on Thursday. He said t

Sept. 16, 2022

[Editorial] Beef up economic diplomacy

US President Joe Biden on Monday signed an executive order to launch the National Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Initiative. It lays out a strategy to reduce reliance on China in the biomedical field while bolstering the US biomanufacturing industry. It is likely the executive order will weaken the competitiveness of Korean biomedical companies that are strong in contract production. They are feared to suffer damage as in the case of the Inflation Reduction Act. The act calls for suspension

Sept. 15, 2022

[Editorial] Privacy of phone calls

A number of South Koreans opt for smartphones made by Samsung Electronics, rather than those by its US rival Apple for mainly two killer apps. One is Samsung Pay, a mobile payment service, and the other is a built-in call recorder. Both functionalities are not available on iPhones. That may change as local media have reported that Apple is reportedly preparing to launch its own mobile pay service here in partnership with a local credit card firm, effectively removing one reason to buy Samsung ph

Sept. 14, 2022

[Editorial] Suspicions circling Lee

Lee Hwa-young, the former vice governor of Gyeonggi Province who is said to be close to Lee Jae-myung, the new leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, is under the prosecution's investigation for allegedly taking a bribe from Ssang Bang Wool, a clothing company. Currently, he is chief executive of the Korea International Exhibition Center, which is affiliated with the provincial government. He resigned as an outside director of Ssang Bang Wool in June 2018 when Lee Jae-myun

Sept. 13, 2022

[Editorial] Be agile

The United States is moving fast to ward off China’s challenge for high-technology supremacy. US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo announced Tuesday that the Biden administration was preparing to divvy up $50 billion in federal assistance to the chip industry as part of a new law known as the US Chips and Science Act. She said that with the funding, the US will make sure it is never again in a position where its national security interests are compromised. US tech companies that receive f

Sept. 9, 2022

[Editorial] Demographic crisis

It is widely known that South Korea confronts a toxic mix of a record-low fertility rate and a rapidly aging population. Even Tesla CEO and billionaire Elon Musk has his own view about these Korean issues. “South Korea is currently tracking to lose about half its population roughly every generation. Long lifespan hides the dire nature of the problem,” the world’s richest person said on Twitter. Musk’s tweet was in response to a question from a Twitter user citing an artic

Sept. 8, 2022

[Editorial] Rectify education

The Ministry of Education unveiled draft guidelines on the writing of Korean history textbooks for middle and high schools and social studies textbooks for elementary schools on Aug. 31. Middle and high school textbooks and elementary school textbooks, for which draft guidelines were disclosed this time, will be used at schools from 2025 and 2026, respectively. Korean history is not a standalone subject at elementary schools. Elementary school students learn it as part of social studies. Under

Sept. 7, 2022

[Editorial] Taxi fare dispute

The city of Seoul’s plan to raise taxi fares from next year is sparking disputes over whether it could be a viable solution to the deepening shortage of nighttime taxis. The Seoul Metropolitan Government recently filed a plan for the taxi fare hike to the Seoul Metropolitan Council, as a growing number of people find it extremely difficult to hail a taxi at night in crowded places like the Gangnam Station area in southern Seoul. Under the plan, the basic fare would jump to 4,800 won ($3.50

Sept. 6, 2022