[Editorial] Back to the 1970s?

The Fair Trade Commission has launched an investigation to see whether domestic oil refiners are engaged in price-fixing or other unfair trade practices. The commission’s move follows President Lee Myung-bak’s instruction on Thursday to check whether domestic gasoline prices are reasonable.Lee made the instruction during a briefing on anti-inflation measures by a pan-government task force. He was

Jan. 16, 2011

[Editorial] Immigration

Korea was designated an “aging society” in 2000, the year in which those aged 65 or older accounted for more than 7 percent of its total population for the first time. The demographic group, which grew to 10.7 percent in 2009, is projected to break though the 14 percent mark in 2018, pushing Korea into an “aged society.”The transition from an aging society to an aged society, which is accelerating

Jan. 14, 2011

[Editorial] Rate raise

Nothing is more appropriate than the “better late than never” idiom in evaluating the central bank’s latest rate increase.As the global financial crisis was setting in three years ago, the Bank of Korea slashed its benchmark rate on several occasions ― from 5.25 percent in August in 2008 to a historic low of 2 percent in February 2009. But it took post-crisis action at a snail’s pace, despite warn

Jan. 14, 2011

[Editorial] Distorted energy prices

The unusually long and severe cold spell is driving up electricity consumption. According to the government, a surge in power demand for heating boosted peak power consumption to 71.84 million kilowatts at noon Tuesday, sending power reserves falling to a dangerously low level of 4.07 million kilowatts, or 5.7 percent of the nation’s maximum power generation capacity of 75.91 million kilowatts. It

Jan. 13, 2011

[Editorial] Health care reform

Encouraged by the electoral success of its free school meal program last year, the main opposition Democratic Party has recently unveiled a plan to offer free medical services for the entire population. The scheme, together with the party’s proposals for free child care and halved college tuition fees, is fueling a growing debate on welfare.The DP’s health care plan calls for raising the coverage

Jan. 13, 2011

[Editorial] Lame duck

Undoubtedly, one of the last things an incumbent president would like to hear of is his lapse, be it ongoing or imminent, into lame-duck status. Who would? Actually, President Lee Myung-bak was previously quoted as saying there would be no such thing until his last day in office.But it is a matter of time before a rapid decline in the presidential power manifests itself in various forms. It usuall

Jan. 12, 2011

[Editorial] Rental crisis

The cost of renting a home is going through the roof. But top economic policymakers do not appear to be much concerned about the rise in rent. They are either ignoring what has developed into a crisis or are ill-informed about it.According to a survey of housing-price trends by Kookmin Bank, rents rose an average 0.2 percent throughout the nation during the week ending on Jan. 3. The bank said the

Jan. 12, 2011

[Editorial] Police humiliated

Kang Hee-rak was the chief of the National Police until half a year ago. He is known for strong emphasis on clean service of the entire 150,000 members of the force. Kang now faces arrest in connection with a lobbying scandal in which a catering service businessman bribed a large number of police officers, administration officials and politicians.Yu Sang-bong, 65, who was indicted under arrest lat

Jan. 11, 2011

[Editorial] To be chief auditor

The current controversy over the nomination of Chung Dong-kee as the next head of the Board of Audit and Inspection raised two serious questions. One concerns the still prevalent practice of senior judges and prosecutors joining law firms upon retirement and getting huge rewards. The other is about the appropriateness of appointing a former presidential secretary to the job of top government watch

Jan. 10, 2011

[Editorial] Don’t bend principle

North Korea is desperate in its call for dialogue with South Korea. But Seoul is hesitant on deciding what to do about Pyongyang’s sudden peace offensive that comes after one of the worst years of military provocations since the Korean War.Pyongyang has heated up its language in the overtures since the three major official newspapers first proposed inter-Korean dialogue in their New Year joint edi

Jan. 10, 2011

[Editorial] Growing debt

The nation is set to make a change in its accounting method from cash to accrual this year. One of its consequences is a rise in the measurement of national debt.The government has yet to announce by what margin the new accounting method would readjust upward the debt, which was posted at 359.6 trillion won at the end of last year. But the opposition Democratic Party has already come up with a new

Jan. 9, 2011

[Editorial] Economy for security

Last week, a South Korean government agency provided statistical data regarding North Korea, some of which have great security implications. Among them were figures indicating North Korea’s rapidly expanding reliance on China for its external trade.According to a report from Statistics Korea, North Korea’s volume of external trade was at a miniscule $5,093 million in 2009. It was nowhere near that

Jan. 9, 2011

[Editorial] Cleaning up mess

Kim Seok-dong, the newly appointed chairman of the Financial Services Commission, has established a reputation as a troubleshooter. Since the mid-1990s, he has led many task forces formed to resolve crises in the financial and real estate markets. Kim’s appointment comes at the right time, since the domestic financial sector faces a host of problems. In the first place, Kim needs to address the dr

Jan. 7, 2011

[Editorial] War against inflation

Prices of daily necessities are going through the roof. According to the Korea Consumer Agency, during the last week of 2010, the prices of some 90 everyday goods rose sharply from a week ago. They included sugar (38.7 percent), dishwashing rubber gloves (33.1 percent), washing powder (31.9 percent), ketchup (17.8 percent), flour (13.5 percent), tissue paper (12 percent), mayonnaise (9.8 percent),

Jan. 7, 2011

[Editorial] Still premature

Military cooperation in such rudimentary areas as sharing of information and mutual logistics supporting in emergencies may sound harmless with any friendly countries, but we have reasons to be cautious if it concerns Japan. Two things have to be considered: Are we ready to forget about all the legacies of the past, and are we prepared to antagonize China as Japan emerges as our military ally? Bel

Jan. 6, 2011

[Editorial] Clumsy peace offensive

North Korea again said many words in the latest verbal peace offensive, launched from the beginning of the year. This time, a joint statement by the government, political parties and civic groups called for an immediate and unconditional opening of “dialogues, negotiations and contacts” with South Korea “to discuss and resolve all problems related to the important matters of the (Korean) nation in

Jan. 6, 2011

[Editorial] KCC’s flawed decision

The Korea Communications Commission has recently selected a consortium formed by Yonhap News Agency as the sole successful applicant for a news-only cable TV channel license. The panel announced on Dec. 31 that among the five bidders, Yonhap News TV alone earned more than the cut-off score of 800 points. But serious questions are being raised about the fairness of the screening process.First of al

Jan. 5, 2011

[Editorial] Six-party talks again

Few by now remember what the Sept. 19, 2005 and Feb. 13, 2007 agreements were in the six-party talks, while there are signs that the multilateral process will be resumed more than two years after it went into recess. To help readers’ memories, North Korea agreed, in the earlier accord, to abandon all nuclear weapons and nuclear programs and return to the NPT, while other parties vowed to provide e

Jan. 4, 2011

[Editorial] Corruption virus

Kim Young-ran, chairwoman of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, cautioned everyone of the nation to guard against “the virus of corruption.” Upon her inauguration this week, the former Supreme Court justice observed that corruption was still a chronic malady in our society, although it seems fairly weakened.The new head of the corruption watchdog will now see for herself how the viru

Jan. 4, 2011

[Editorial] Dragon wars

About 10 presidential hopefuls made their entries in the opinion polls conducted by major dailies and broadcasters at the beginning of the year. Park Geun-hye of the governing Grand National Party commanded supporting rates ranging from a high of 42.3 percent (MBC) to a low of 29.8 percent (Seoul Shinmun) with Ryu Shi-min of the People’s Participation Party and Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon trailing neck

Jan. 3, 2011