Editorial

Internal unity Both government, opposition to blame for disputes over NK The latest developments indicate that the upcoming historic meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will be -- as Trump predicted -- a great success. That means South Korea, too, has to brace for a great change in the security situation in the region, for which internal unity is essential. Taking the first concrete step in following up on its denuclearization promise, the North said it

May 14, 2018

[Editorial] Build trust

US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will hold a talk in Singapore on June 12. Their agenda is clear: agreeing to dismantle the North’s nuclear programs and setting a road map to carry it out. Their meeting will be a historic watershed for the situation on the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia.　The summit will likely produce the outcomes of a big deal apparently in the making between Washington and Pyongyang. The summit results may cover not only the guarantee of the N

May 13, 2018

[Editorial] Way to revival

The government and General Motors agreed to provide $7.15 billion for GM’s struggling local unit. GM will convert $2.8 billion owed by GM Korea into shares and inject $3.6 billion into the local unit in fresh funding. The government will offer $750 million through state-run Korea Development Bank.　GM will be banned from selling any of its stake in GM Korea over the next five years and will be required to retain at least a 35-percent stake in its Korean unit for the following five years. KDB has

May 11, 2018

[Editorial] Signals for NK-US summit

Diplomatic contacts and maneuvers over the denuclearization of North Korea are taking place at a breathtaking pace. These latest developments will have effects on the upcoming NK-US summit in one way or another. 　First, US President Donald Trump’s final decision to withdraw from a nuclear deal with Iran will put further pressure on North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as the two sides prepare for a historic summit over denuclearization. 　In relation, Kim’s surprise visit to China this week for a seco

May 10, 2018

[Editorial] Moon’s first year of presidency

Thursday marks the first anniversary of President Moon Jae-in’s inauguration. His approval rating hovers around 83 percent, according to Gallup Korea. It is the highest rating of all time for the first year of a president. Even considering the poll was conducted after a historic inter-Korean summit, it is surprising that his rating is more than double the 41 percent of the vote he won in the presidential election.As the most important accomplishment in its first year, the Moon administration cit

May 9, 2018

[Editorial] No complacency

Hopes are running high for a peaceful resolution of the North Korean nuclear crisis. The recent inter-Korean summit offered the first ray of hope and the forthcoming meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is further brightening the prospects. Trump said that the date and location have been set for his historic meeting with the North Korean leader. Given that Trump had previously said that he would not meet Kim or “respectfully” leave a meeting with him if t

May 8, 2018

[Editorial] A stretch of authority

Cheong Wa Dae was belatedly found to have conveyed to the Supreme Court a petition from the people that the top court should expel Seoul High Court senior judge Cheong Hyung-sik for suspending a sentence to Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong.　Lee was freed on Feb. 5 after an appeals court presided over by Chung gave him a 2 1/2-year suspended jail sentence for corruption in connection with a scandal that toppled former President Park Geun-hye. 　Immediately after the ruling, people pe

May 7, 2018

[Editorial] Police formality

Police questioned Rep. Kim Kyoung-soo on Friday in connection with an online public opinion manipulation scandal. In many respects, the interrogation looked like a formality. Police had not conducted the level of preliminary investigation that should have preceded the interrogation of people implicated in a criminal case. They sought to search and seize the lawmaker’s telephone and bank accounts only last week. Even this belated move was blocked by the prosecution, which is also facing criticism

May 4, 2018

[Editorial] Warning is not enough

Moon Chung-in, special adviser to President Moon Jae-in on security and diplomacy, has caused controversy with his remarks to the effect that US forces may have to pull out of South Korea if a peace treaty is signed.“What will happen to US forces in South Korea if a peace treaty is signed? It will be difficult to justify their continuing presence in South Korea after its adoption,” he said in an article published in the US magazine Foreign Affairs on Monday.　With criticism of the remarks mountin

May 3, 2018

[Editoria] Don’t rush

Last week’s inter-Korean summit certainly brightened prospects for a peaceful solution to North Korea’s nuclear armament and rapprochement between the two Koreas. What’s additionally noteworthy is that both sides are taking swifter follow-up actions than in the past. The North seems to be more proactive. Its leader Kim Jong-un confirmed in the talks with President Moon Jae-in that his country would shutter its nuclear test site in Punggye-ri. Then in the Panmunjeom talks, Kim not only specified

May 2, 2018

[Editorial] Beware of China

China has escalated its violations of South Korea’s air defense identification zone.A Chinese military plane believed to be a reconnaissance aircraft entered the zone without notice Saturday. It came into the zone from northwest of Ieodo, a submerged rock south of Jeju Island, changed direction toward the eastern island of Ulleungdo before turning back south and exiting the zone on its entry route. It stayed in the zone for about four hours.　An air defense identification zone is airspace in whic

May 1, 2018

[Editorial] Real face

Last week’s historic inter-Korean summit put President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in the spotlight, with the talks and events held at the truce village of Panmunjeom becoming a sort of coming-out party for the leader of one of the most isolated countries in the world. Indeed, what the 34-year-old Kim said and did during his one-day get-together with Moon in the southern part of the demarcation line surprised many who had been accustomed to North Korean practices for engaging

April 30, 2018

[Editorial] Cautions for peace

The leaders of South and North Korea have agreed to actively pursue talks within this year to declare an official end to the Korean War and negotiate a peace treaty to replace a truce.　If realized, the agreement will establish peace regime on the Korean Peninsula, 65 years after hostilities ceased.　All inter-Korean issues stem from military confrontation. Unless this is resolved, peace regime are impossible.But the peace treaty, which North Korea has demanded in return for dismantling its nuclea

April 29, 2018

[Editorial] Promising start

The leaders of South and North Korea reaffirmed their commitment to the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula on Friday.Denuclearization is the key agenda item of the first-ever US-North Korea summit expected in late May or early June. First of all, the stipulation of the denuclearization commitment in the joint declaration issued after the inter-Korean summit can be viewed as a positive start to the establishment of peace on the peninsula. Considering the inter-Korean summit serves

April 27, 2018

[Editorial] Only the beginning

South and North Korea held a historic summit in the truce village of Panmunjeom on Friday, taking the first step toward denuclearization and rapprochement.The summit began after South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un met for the first time at the military demarcation line in the Demilitarized Zone and vowed sincere efforts to make progress.It has more significance than the past two summits in 2000 and 2007 in that it is expected to bring about a big change in conj

April 27, 2018

[Editorial] Denuclearization first

President Moon Jae-in will hold summit talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at the truce village of Panmunjeom on Friday. The latest developments point to a high likelihood of success in which much is at stake. The Moon-Kim summit is the third of its kind between the leaders of the two Koreas, but it bears additional historic significance in that it is the first time that an inter-Korean summit will be held south of the border. South Korean leaders Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun visited Pyo

April 26, 2018

[Editorial] Bumpy road

Financially distressed GM Korea has avoided bankruptcy after a tentative agreement with its labor union but it faces a long and bumpy road to normalization. 　Under the deal, the South Korean unit of General Motors scrapped a plan to lay off the 680 remaining workers at its factory in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province, which is scheduled to be closed in May. It will implement a voluntary redundancy program and transfers to other plants. The union accepted the company’s request to freeze base wages an

April 25, 2018

[Editorial] Blame game

It is not rare for Korean politicians to break their promises, be they those they made to their fellow politicians or voters. One good example is the promise to amend the Constitution by June this year. The proposal, once upheld by all major parties and senior politicians, has effectively fallen apart as the National Assembly failed to revise the Referendum Act by Monday. A referendum is necessary for approving a constitutional revision bill, and President Moon Jae-in and his ruling Democratic P

April 24, 2018

[Editorial] Mountain of allegations

There are enough reasons a special counsel should be appointed to get to the bottom of the online opinion-rigging scandal involving one of President Moon Jae-in’s closest associates. Most of all, the police, who have been investigating the case for months, and Rep. Kim Kyoung-soo, a key figure in the scandal, have been found to have lied about what happened between the lawmaker and main suspect, known by the internet alias “Druking.”Ordinarily, suspects implicated in a crime are supposed to atte

April 23, 2018

[Editorial] Genuine shift?

On the surface, North Korea’s announcement on Saturday of the suspension of nuclear and long-range missile tests provides a positive boost to the summit talks its leader Kim Jong-un will have with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and US President Donald Trump. But the announcement, which included the voluntary shutdown of a nuclear test site, did not touch on existing nuclear bombs and intercontinental ballistic missiles, predicting tough talks ahead on complete denuclearization. The announcem

April 22, 2018