[Editorial] Bloated spending

The Ministry of Economy and Finance last week briefed President Moon Jae-in on the draft budget proposal for next year, which is set at about 600 trillion won ($511 billion). The figure represents a 7.5 percent on-year increase from this year’s record-high national budget of 558 trillion won. The increase rate is 1.8 percentage points higher than the planned 5.7 percent rise in spending next year under the midterm fiscal management blueprint for 2020-2024, which was set up last year. The

Aug. 20, 2021

[Editorial] No time for rifts

Expectations were running high for a change of power next year after the conservative main opposition People Power Party won in key mayoral by-elections in April. Its candidates defeated rival contenders from the liberal ruling Democratic Party of Korea by a wide margin to grab the mayoralty of the country’s two largest cities -- Seoul and Busan. In a survey conducted shortly after the elections, 55 percent of respondents said they wanted to see the next presidential vote slated for Marc

Aug. 18, 2021

[Editorial] COVID relief populism

Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung, a leading contender in the ruling Democratic Party of Korea’s race to select its presidential candidate, on Friday announced his decision to give COVID-19 relief money to all residents of the province. The central government will soon provide individuals in the bottom 88 percent income bracket with coronavirus relief handouts. However, with Lee’s decision, only the province will offer the same relief payments to those residents in the top 12 per

Aug. 17, 2021

[Editorial] Crumbling discipline

The apparent suicide of a noncommissioned officer in the Navy last week amid allegations that she had been sexually assaulted by a senior male colleague has deepened concerns about crumbling discipline in South Korea’s armed forces. The chief petty officer, whose identity was withheld, was found dead at a naval base in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, Thursday, days after a probe began in response to her complaint. The alleged crime took place in late May while she and the senior colleague

Aug. 16, 2021

[Editorial] Overhaul COVID measures

The number of new daily COVID-19 cases exceeded 2,000 for the first time. The ongoing fourth wave appears to be hard to curb. It keeps gaining momentum despite the toughest prevention measures. The daily count increased to 2,223 as of 12 a.m. Tuesday. It is the highest number since the country’s first COVID patient was reported on Jan. 20 last year. As the fourth surge started early last month, the government raised social distancing to the highest Level 4 for the greater Seoul area, whic

Aug. 13, 2021

[Editorial] Self-caused predicament

North Korea has slammed South Korea and the US for going ahead with their joint military exercise set to kick off next week. In her statement issued Tuesday, Kim Yo-jong, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s influential sister, described the allies’ combined drill as an act of self-destruction, for which a dear price should be paid. She appeared to threaten that the North would return to provocations. Pyongyang’s reaction may well disappoint President Moon Jae-in’s adminis

Aug. 12, 2021

[Editorial] Insufficient probe

The prosecution investigating the Optimus fund scam dismissed suspicions that the hedge fund’s advisers had lobbied politicians and officials working for finance-related authorities. It dropped charges against three former advisers: Yang Ho, a former chairman of Nara Bank; Lee Hun-jai, a former finance minister; and Kim Jin-hoon, a former chief of the Military Mutual Aid Association. It did not book another ex-adviser, former Prosecutor General Chae Dong-wook.　 Nearly 20 prosecutors inve

Aug. 11, 2021

[Editorial] Undue consideration

Seoul appears to be moving to reduce the scale and duration of the South Korea-US joint military exercise set to kick off next week. The regular summertime exercise, along with other major annual combined drills between the allies, has taken the form of computer-simulated war games since 2018, with no outdoor field training. Further scaling it down and cutting it short may well raise concerns that it is a matter of time before the allies’ joint military exercises are reduced to a skeleto

Aug. 10, 2021

[Editorial] Espionage scandal

The recent bust of a suspected spy ring based in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, raises concerns that not a few espionage agents may be lurking in South Korean society and working to benefit North Korea. The authorities on Monday detained three of four activists who had organized protests opposing the purchase of F-35A stealth fighters from the US. They were charged under the National Security Act. They allegedly took orders from Pyongyang when they staged street gatherings and a series o

Aug. 9, 2021

[Editorial] Inflationary pressure

Concerns are being raised over the recent steep rise in the country’s consumer prices, adding to the suffering of households hit by the economic fallout from the pandemic. South Korea’s consumer prices rose 2.6 percent from a year earlier in July, accelerating from a 2.4 percent on-year gain the previous month, according to data released by Statistics Korea this week. The country has seen its consumer inflation rate climb more than 2 percent for four straight months since April, wi

Aug. 6, 2021

[Editorial] Choking the press

The Culture, Sports and Tourism Ministry and the National Assembly Research Service expressed concerns over a media arbitration bill pushed by the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, according to related parliamentary stenographic records disclosed belatedly by an opposition party lawmaker.　 In a related closed-door subcommittee meeting on July 27, First Vice Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Oh Yeong-woo said that there are no precedents for a clause of the bill that awards punitive compen

Aug. 5, 2021

[Editorial] Soaring exports

South Korea’s exports increased 29.6 percent on-year in July to $55.4 billion, the highest monthly figure since the country began compiling related data in 1956, according to data released Sunday by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. In the first seven months of this year, outbound shipments from Asia’s fourth-largest economy reached $358.7 billion, also a record high for the January-July period. The steep increase in exports is partly attributable to the low base effect f

Aug. 4, 2021

[Editorial] Security on backburner

The government is said to have slashed 562.9 billion won ($488 million) from the defense budget to secure the money for this year’s second supplementary budget.　 It cut funds for 42 projects within the main budget in order to expand COVID-19 relief to 88 percent of the population in the second extra budget, among which 22 projects belonged to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration.　 The 22 curtailed projects included costs for the introduction of F-35A stealth fighter jets and th

Aug. 3, 2021

[Editorial] Hasty moves

Seoul’s Unification Ministry has resumed approving requests from civilian organizations to allow them to ship materials to North Korea by endorsing two such applications Friday. The shipment of materials by civilian groups to the communist state was banned in September following the North’s killing of a South Korean fisheries official near the inter-Korean maritime border in the West Sea. The measure to lift the ban came just three days after cross-border communication lines were re

Aug. 2, 2021

[Editorial] Review view of market

The statement to the nation announced by Deputy Prime Minster for Economic Affairs Hong Nam-ki Wednesday had no new measures to speak of to curb soaring housing prices. To sum up, housing supply is sufficient but popular expectation for housing prices to keep soaring, speculative demand and illegal transactions have instigated price hikes. So the government is going to keep suppressing those market-disrupting factors. Hong said that not only the government but also all of the people should ma

July 30, 2021

[Editorial] Momentum restored

The sudden restoration of inter-Korean communication lines raises hopes for an improvement in strained ties between the two Koreas and the resumption of nuclear talks between the US and North Korea. South and North Korea reopened direct communication channels Tuesday, 13 months after the North unilaterally severed them and demolished an inter-Korean liaison office in its border town of Kaesong in anger over the sending of anti-Pyongyang leaflets into the communist state from the South. Announc

July 29, 2021

[Editorial] Inscrutable criteria

Under the 34.9 trillion won ($30.3 billion) extra budget bill passed last week to prop up the pandemic-battered economy, 88 percent of people will receive relief money while 12 percent won’t. But there is no clear and convincing explanation on the grounds for the cutoff point of 88 percent. At first, the government took a position that COVID relief cash should be offered to those in the bottom 70 percent income group. The ruling Democratic Party of Korea, which believes that a governme

July 28, 2021

[Editorial] Worrying figures

A string of data released last week showed structural deterioration in South Korea’s unemployment problem, heightening the need for a shift in the government’s policy efforts toward job creation. The number of discouraged workers in the country stood at 583,000 in June, up 46,000 from a year earlier, according to figures from Statistics Korea. It was the highest tally for the month since the state statistics office began compiling related data in 2014. Discouraged workers refer to

July 27, 2021

[Editorial] Absurd eulogy

Members of the Cheonghae naval unit recalled their nightmarish lives aboard the Munmu the Great, a destroyer where a COVID-19 outbreak started July 2, in an anonymous interview with the Ministry of National Defense’s joint press corps Friday. The number of confirmed cases increased by scores daily in the cramped space of the vessel, where social distancing was practically impossible and quarantine was meaningless. Those complaining of COVID-19 symptoms are said to have taken turns using

July 26, 2021

[Editorial] Awkward silence

President Moon Jae-in and his aides have kept mum about Wednesday’s decision by the Supreme Court to uphold the conviction of South Gyeongsang Province Gov. Kim Kyoung-soo for his involvement in an online opinion-rigging scheme ahead of the 2017 presidential election. Their silence appears to reflect their perplexity about the top court’s ruling that could cast doubts on the legitimacy of Moon’s victory in the election. Kim played a key role in Moon’s campaign team. Kim

July 23, 2021