[Editorial] Deterrent power

South Korea and the US seem to be striking a different tone in seeking ways to respond to North Korea’s recent moves to heighten tensions on the peninsula. Lee Do-hoon, South Korea’s top nuclear envoy, refused to answer questions from reporters on what he discussed with his US counterpart, Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun, or what they agreed to do going forward when he departed from Washington on Friday after a three-day visit. Later in the day, Biegun held phone talks wit

June 22, 2020

[Editorial] A pile of regulations

The government announced a set of real estate measures again Wednesday. The gist is strong depression of demand. The measures aim at heading off the balloon effect and quieting the so-called “gap investment” frenzy. The balloon effect refers to the way a balloon behaves -- expanding elsewhere wherever you squeeze it. Gap investment involves purchasing houses with “jeonse” tenants, who rent houses by paying only a lump-sum deposit. The money is returned when the relate

June 19, 2020

[Editorial] Firm response

North Korea demolished a liaison office shared with South Korea on Tuesday in response to President Moon Jae-in’s appeal to abide by previous agreements between the two sides and refrain from heightening tensions on the peninsula. The office, which suspended operations in January due to concerns over the novel coronavirus, was set up in September 2018 in the northern border town of Kaesong to facilitate inter-Korean exchanges amid a reconciliatory mood fostered by a string of summits betw

June 18, 2020

[Editorial] Keep the promise

The Japanese government has reportedly concealed historical facts on wartime forced labor at its newly opened information center. When 23 industrial sites of the Meiji-era (1868-1912) were registered on the UNESCO’s World Heritage list in 2015, Tokyo promised to establish an information center to honor the victims, recognizing “Koreans and others who were brought against their will to work under harsh conditions in the 1940s at some of the sites.” Among the registered sites

June 17, 2020

[Editorial] Renewed brinkmanship

All efforts made so far by President Moon Jae-in’s administration to reconcile with North Korea are now met with the recalcitrant regime’s threat to heighten tensions on the peninsula. The North has been lashing out at the South almost every day since early this month in anger over anti-Pyongyang leaflets flown by North Korean defectors here across the border into the communist state. Culminating in a series of harshly worded threats was a statement issued Saturday by Kim Yo-jong,

June 16, 2020

[Editorial] Yoke of regulations

The government is pushing a number of bills that can demotivate businesses and threaten major shareholders’ managerial control. The Ministry of Justice unveiled a commercial code revision bill which calls for the adoption of multiple derivative actions, among others. The Fair Trade Commission announced a bill that would open up its exclusive right to accuse businesses over certain anticompetitive acts to the prosecution. The Ministry of Employment and Labor disclosed a labor union bill

June 15, 2020

[Editorial] Rational deliberation

A tripartite commission kicked off deliberations Thursday to set the country’s minimum wage for next year, even as the coronavirus pandemic and other economic problems are worsening unemployment at a steep pace. The 27 members of the commission, nine each representing labor, business and the wider public, are running against time to reach a conclusion by the legal deadline of June 29. The minimum wage -- applied to all workplaces across the nation -- has risen 33 percent over the past th

June 12, 2020

[Editorial] Beside the point

President Moon Jae-in has stated his position on high-profile suspicions surrounding Yoon Mi-hyang for the first time since they were raised. But it is ambiguous and skirts around the nature of the Yoon issue. What angered people across the country for the past month were suspicions about her, not “a movement for former comfort women.” In spite of this, Moon uttered “a movement for former comfort women” over and over again. Former comfort women are Korean women who were

June 11, 2020

[Editorial] More at stake

US President Donald Trump’s reported plan to slash the number of American troops stationed in Germany has caused concerns that he may seek to take a similar step in South Korea. A further prolonged deadlock in defense cost-sharing negotiations between Seoul and Washington could prompt Trump to threaten and actually attempt to scale down the 28,500-strong US Forces Korea. The 2020 National Defense Authorization Act passed by the US Congress calls for, among other things, maintaining the n

June 10, 2020

[Editorial] History distortion penalty

The ruling Democratic Party of Korea seeks to adopt as one of the planks of its platform the enactment of a bill to strongly punish any act of spreading false information regarding the May 18, 1980 Gwangju Democratic Uprising. If it becomes part of the platform, the party will propose the bill in the names of all of its 177 lawmakers. The bill reportedly punishes dissemination of false information on the movement with a maximum prison term of seven years or a maximum fine of 70 million won ($5

June 9, 2020

[Editorial] Improper response

Pyongyang last week threatened to scrap inter-Korean deals unless Seoul stops North Korean defectors from sending anti-North leaflets across the border into the communist state. A statement issued by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s sister Kim Yo-jong said the South Korean authorities would be forced to “pay a dear price” if they let the situation continue. It mentioned the possibility of Pyongyang shuttering a joint industrial park in a town north of the border, closing an

June 8, 2020

[Editorial] Concerns on tyranny

The ruling Democratic Party of Korea is raising concerns that it will abuse its large majority -- having won 177 of 300 seats in the general election. It was belatedly discovered that the party had punished former lawmaker Keum Tae-sub on May 25 for not voting in favor of a bill pushed by the party.　 The bill calls for the creation of a new agency to investigate high-ranking officials, and was passed. Keum was the only lawmaker of the party who cast a blank ballot on the bill in December last

June 5, 2020

[Editorial] Key stage

President Moon Jae-in was unexpectedly quick to accept an invitation from US President Donald Trump to a Group of Seven summit slated for this fall. During their phone conversation Monday, the second in about six weeks, Moon expressed gratitude for the invitation, reaffirming Seoul’s commitment to play a global role in quarantine and economic fields. Trump earlier told reporters that he would like to invite South Korea, Australia, India and Russia to this year’s G-7 summit the US i

June 4, 2020

[Editorial] Precarious course

Creditors will lend an additional 1.2 trillion won ($1 billion) to the financially distressed Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction. The state-owned Korea Development Bank and Export-Import Bank of Korea previously pledged 2.4 trillion won in emergency loans to the company. The latest loan was extended on the condition of Doosan Heavy carrying out a self-rescue plan that was worked out with creditors and submitted to the government last month. In exchange for the loans, the firm should

June 3, 2020

[Editorial] Step forward

Though not unexpected, it is still disappointing that Japan has ignored South Korea’s latest call to lift export restrictions. On May 12, Seoul gave Tokyo until the end of the month to retract export curbs imposed in July last year on three high-tech materials. The measure was taken in an apparent reprisal against an earlier ruling by the Supreme Court here that ordered Japanese firms to compensate Koreans forced into hard labor during Japan’s 1910-45 colonization of the peninsula.

June 2, 2020

[Editorial] Uncorroborated claims

Yoon Mi-hyang, a lawmaker of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, denied any suspicions amplified after former comfort woman Lee Yong-soo’s revelation. Yoon said she had no intention to resign as a lawmaker. She headed a civic group for those women forced by Japan to serve its soldiers as their “comfort women” -- actually sex slaves -- during its colonial rule of Korea (1910-1945). They are simply called grandmas. Earlier, Grandma Lee revealed that the group under Yoon us

June 1, 2020

[Editorial] No panacea

Political parties are becoming increasingly active and positive toward the controversial issue of introducing a universal basic income system in the country. Universal basic income refers to money evenly distributed to all individuals to support their livelihoods, regardless of their wealth level or job status. The liberal ruling Democratic Party of Korea is preparing to submit a bill on the introduction of the scheme to the next National assembly that begins its four-year term Saturday. The

May 29, 2020

[Editorial] Grandma ridiculed

Lee Yong-soo, 92, who was taken as a sex slave for Imperial Japanese soldiers during World War II, held a press conference Monday. She urged the prosecution to investigate Yoon Mi-hyang, the former leader of an advocacy group for the survivors of Japanese military sexual slavery -- the former “comfort women,” known to their supporters simply as the grandmas. Lee argued that Yoon and the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan &l

May 28, 2020

[Editorial] Bloated spending

Government officials and a state-run think tank have recently raised the need to increase taxes, reflecting their concerns about the country’s mounting fiscal deficit. In a report released last week, the Korea Development Institute said now is the time to begin debates on tax hikes to increase state revenues. Vice Finance Minister Kim Yong-beom said earlier this month it is necessary to strengthen efforts toward expanding tax bases. On the heels of the remarks came a suggestion by Kim Sa

May 27, 2020

[Editorial] No window dressing

The top 20 percent of earners in South Korea made 5.41 times as much as the bottom 20 percent in the first quarter, Statistics Korea said last week. The statistical agency used a new sample and survey method for the first time to calculate the income disparity. The multiple figure for the first quarter of last year was 5.18 times when calculated by the new methodology and 5.8 times by the old one. If the old standards were applied, the figure for the first quarter of this year is reportedly

May 26, 2020