[Editorial] Uneven playing field

The acquisition of real estate by foreign nationals in South Korea has surged, fueling an already overheated property market. Some of those properties have been purchased through financial misconduct, intensifying concerns about the inflow of foreign capital. The government needs to regulate real estate acquisitions by foreign nationals.　 According to the Korea Real Estate Board, the number of transactions by foreigners in residential buildings -- apartments, detached houses, multiplex housing

April 29, 2021

[Editorial] Ballooning debt

A report released by a state-run research institute last week rings the alarm about the mounting debts of South Korea’s public corporations. Debt owed by nonfinancial public companies accounted for 23.5 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product in 2017, the highest but for Norway among the comparable 33 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, according to the paper from the Korea Development Institute. The figure far exceeds the OECD average of 12.

April 28, 2021

[Editorial] Brace for contingency

The government said Saturday that it has signed a deal with Pfizer to import additional coronavirus vaccine doses for 20 million people from the US pharmaceutical giant. With the latest deal, South Korea has secured enough Pfizer vaccine for 33 million people, including the doses it secured in December last year and February this year. The deal will also raise the total number of COVID-19 vaccine doses the country has so far secured to an amount enough to inoculate 99 million people. This is

April 27, 2021

[Editorial] On firm ground

It is uneasy to see both the judiciary and administration of South Korea as inconsistent in handling sensitive cases with Japan. A panel of judges at the Seoul Central District Court last week dismissed a suit filed by South Korean victims of wartime sexual slavery against the Japanese government. In January, another judge of the same court ordered Tokyo to make reparations of 100 million won ($89,500) to each of a separate group of victims who had brought a similar case. Foreign Minister Chun

April 26, 2021

[Editorial] Threat to freedom of speech

An amendment bill on press arbitration proposed by Choe Kang-wook and two other lawmakers of the Open Democratic Party and nine lawmakers of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea was referred to a National Assembly committee on Monday. They say it was drawn up to remedy the damage caused by fake news, but it seriously threatens freedom of speech, one of the most important roots of democracy. Its point is to change the Press Arbitration Commission into the Press Commission and place it under the

April 23, 2021

[Editorial] Job losses

The country recorded the first net increase in employment in 13 months last month, in what government officials described as the latest sign that the labor market is improving after a yearlong slump mainly caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The number of employed people reached 26.92 million in March, an increase of 314,000 from a year earlier, according to data released by Statistics Korea last week. Buoyed by the figures, Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki, who concurrently serves as deputy prime

April 22, 2021

[Editorial] Put alliance at center

The first US-Japan summit of the Joe Biden administration, as expected, dealt with the need for a united front against China as its top priority. The leaders of both countries focused on putting pressure on China in many areas, including technology. They also reaffirmed their commitment to the complete denuclearization of North Korea. The two leaders agreed on the importance of trilateral cooperation among the US, South Korea and Japan in security and prosperity. Japan got closer to the US

April 21, 2021

[Editorial] No fundamental shift

President Moon Jae-in reshuffled his Cabinet and senior secretaries at Cheong Wa Dae on Friday. Clearly, he intended to give fresh impetus to his leadership amid the fallout from his party’s crushing defeat in key mayoral by-elections early this month. With slightly more than a year to go before his five-year tenure ends, Moon’s approval rating continues to fall as many people are increasingly disappointed and disillusioned with what they see as his substandard performance. His supp

April 20, 2021

[Editorial] Democracy setbacks

The Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, a bipartisan caucus of the US House of Representatives, hosted a hearing Thursday on South Korea’s law that criminalizes the dispersal of propaganda leaflets to North Korea. 　 Witnesses raised concerns that the law may limit the freedom of speech of South Koreans and others working to promote human rights. They criticized not only the law but also human rights and democracy in South Korea.　 Gordon Chang, an expert on North Korea, said that the Sout

April 19, 2021

[Editorial] Due concerns

President Moon Jae-in came forward Wednesday to add weight to Seoul’s response to a controversial decision made by Tokyo a day earlier to discharge contaminated wastewater from a crippled nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean. While meeting with Japan’s new ambassador here, Koichi Aiboshi, to receive his credentials, Moon said there is great concern among South Koreans, as the two nations are geographically close to each other and have shared waters. He asked the envoy to conve

April 16, 2021

[Editorial] Embrace Oh policies

The principal concern about the municipal administration under Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon of the main opposition party is the clash between his policies and those of the central government. Particularly striking are real estate issues, which were the biggest point of contention in the April 7 Seoul and Busan mayoral by-elections. Regarding housing supply plans, the two sides take different approaches. The government focuses on public rental housing, while Oh seeks to activate private redevelopmen

April 15, 2021

[Editorial] No more ambiguity

South Korean officials have repeatedly said Seoul has not been officially invited by Washington to join the US-led Quad group also involving Australia, India and Japan. The line was repeated once again Sunday when the presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae denied a report by a Japanese daily newspaper that US national security adviser Jake Sullivan had strongly requested Seoul join the quadrilateral framework during a meeting with his South Korean counterpart Suh Hoon early this month. Speaking

April 14, 2021

[Editorial] Go all out for vaccines　

The use of AstraZeneca’s vaccine against COVID-19 resumed for the under-60s Monday, except for those aged 30 and below. South Korea suspended providing the AstraZeneca shot to people under 60 on Wednesday as Europe reviewed cases of blood clotting. It is an inevitable decision for the authorities to resume the rollout of administering AstraZeneca vaccines, considering South Korea’s shortage of vaccine supply in the first half of this year. The nation faces an emergency situation.

April 13, 2021

[Editorial] Self-inflicted disgrace

A bipartisan caucus of the US House of Representatives is to hold a hearing this week on South Korea’s controversial legislation to ban the sending of anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the inter-Korean border into the North. Five witnesses, including Suzanne Scholte, a US activist devoted to shedding light on the dire human rights situation in North Korea, will testify at the hearing scheduled for Thursday. The caucus, known as the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, said concerns had been e

April 12, 2021

[Editorial] Stern judgment

The April 7 by-elections, regarded as a barometer for the presidential election about a year later, ended with a landslide win by an opposition party. Candidates of the conservative People Power Party won the posts of Seoul and Busan mayors at the same time. Choices facing voters focused on the judgment of the current regime, and they gave the ruling party a crushing defeat. The by-elections were similar to the April 15 general elections a year ago in view of issues and political situations. L

April 9, 2021

[Editorial] Momentum sapped

The Moon administration must have been deeply frustrated, though not dismayed, at North Korea’s decision not to participate in the upcoming Tokyo Summer Olympics. The North announced Tuesday that its Olympics Committee held a general meeting March 25 and decided not to join the Tokyo Olympic Games, scheduled to start in July, to protect its athletes from the coronavirus pandemic. The global sports event was considered probably the last remaining chance to engage with the North before Pre

April 8, 2021

[Editorial] Principled diplomacy needed

National security advisers from the US, South Korea and Japan had a three-way meeting in Annapolis, Maryland, Friday. Hours later, the foreign ministers of South Korea and China held talks in a southern Chinese city close to Taiwan. The meeting of national security advisers was convened to secure cooperation from South Korea and Japan in the US plan to counter China, and to cement the solidarity of the three countries in the mission of denuclearizing North Korea. The meeting of the South Kore

April 7, 2021

[Editorial] Unsubstantiated optimism

South Korea’s economy is showing some signs of recovery mainly on the back of solid exports, according to data released last week. The country’s exports increased 16.6 percent from a year earlier to $53.8 billion in March, extending the streak of growth to five consecutive months, showed figures from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The growth was largely led by a rise in shipments of chips, cars and bio-health products. In particular, chips accounted for nearly 20 percen

April 6, 2021

[Editorial] Clarify the position

A presidential commission decided in an emergency meeting Friday to reject a petition to reinvestigate the case of the Cheonan, a South Korean naval warship that was sunk by North Korea in 2010. In doing so, it overturned its earlier decision. On Dec. 14 the Presidential Truth Commission on Deaths in the Military decided to revisit the case as petitioned by Shin Sang-cheol, who was on the Cheonan sinking investigation team. The commission judged that Shin met the eligibility requirements to fi

April 5, 2021

[Editorial] Restraint on increase

Tensions are brewing between the labor and management factions over what the country’s minimum wage should be next year, when President Moon Jae-in’s five-year tenure comes to an end. Employment and Labor Minister Lee Jae-kap asked the Minimum Wage Commission on Wednesday to undertake the process of deliberations to set the wage floor for 2022. The commission will soon convene the first meeting of its 27 members, with nine members each representing labor, business and the wider publ

April 2, 2021