[Editorial] Wrong victims

The case of Mr. Pizza Group, the operator of a major Korean pizza chain, should raise social awareness about the need to rein in and punish those who abuse and mistreat the weaker and more vulnerable. The pizza franchiser is accused of multiple unfair business practices in dealing with its franchisees. Jung Woo-hyun, the founder of the pizza restaurant chain who resigned as chairman in the wake of the scandal, faces investigation by the state prosecution. The case is only the latest in an unceas

June 30, 2017

[Editorial] Fake testimony

The People’s Party is in crisis over a scandal involving fabricated testimony about suspicions regarding President Moon Jae-in’s son, Moon Joon-yong.Lee Yoo-mi, a member of the party, has been charged with spreading false information that Moon’s son was unfairly hired by the Korea Employment Information Service in 2006 when his father was a senior presidential secretary. She trumped up voice recordings and mobile messages. According to the prosecution, Lee Joon-seo received the fabricated testim

June 29, 2017

[Editorial] Go together

President Moon Jae-in’s mission in upcoming summit talks with US President Donald Trump is clear: dispel skepticism about the South Korean government’s position on relations with the US and its policy on North Korea. Such skepticism is especially rampant when a liberal president takes power in South Korea while a Republican leader occupies the White House. This is partly due to how South Korean liberals tend to lean toward North Korea and distance themselves from the US. Whether intended or not,

June 28, 2017

[Editorial] Wrong choices

Parliamentary confirmation hearings start Wednesday for three minister nominees at the center of a qualification controversy.Opposition parties have demanded they withdraw their nominations, while the ruling Democratic Party of Korea has said it is a political offensive.But suspicions about them look too serious to call the demand as political attacks. Suspicions are related to the job responsibilities they are supposed to take if appointed.Suspicions raised thus far seem enough to doubt they ar

June 27, 2017

[Editorial] Wrong way

It is not wrong to say there are problems with some of the nation’s elite high schools. It is wrong, however, to shut them down altogether in the name of equality and education reform. A big question is why students -- not only those who currently attend the schools but also those who have been preparing to enter them -- and their parents should go through such confusion due to the short-sighted, politically motivated move. Removing some elite schools from the high school system has been a pet p

June 26, 2017

[Editorial] Unhelpful disclosure

President Moon Jae-in said in an interview with Reuters on Thursday the entire process of deploying the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense anti-missile system was accelerated “for some reasons that I do not know.”In July last year, Korea and the US agreed to deploy the missile shield in Korea.He said in the interview the original agreement was to deploy one launcher by the end of this year and the remaining five launchers next year.He reportedly had not known the acceleration of the schedule un

June 25, 2017

[Editorial] War on vested interests

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions called for a general strike on June 30.Tens of thousands of its members are expected to join the strike nationwide.It says the major goals of the strike are raising the minimum wage, converting irregular workers into regular staff and securing complete freedom of union activity.KCTU President Han Sang-gyun said in a letter he wrote from prison, “Chaebol, authorities and vested interest groups have been cornered. Now it is the right time to push ahead with

June 23, 2017

[Editorial] Set him free

The opposition is demanding President Moon Jae-in sack his special security adviser Moon Chung-in, who created a stir by suggesting cutting back South Korea-US joint military exercises. The opposition has good reasons for demanding this. 　First and foremost, the adviser’s argument could have a negative impact on the alliance between the two countries and the upcoming summit talks between President Moon and US President Donald Trump. President Moon has hurriedly played down the adviser’s argument

June 22, 2017

[Editorial] Pyongyang’s brutality

Otto Warmbier, the American university student who was recently released by North Korea in a coma after more than 17 months of detention, died Monday. The international community mourned his death and condemned the North’s brutal behavior. Warmbier was a healthy 22-year-old university student before her visited the communist state. He was detained in March last year and fell in a coma suddenly.Releasing him, Pyongyang explained he became unresponsive after contracting botulism and taking a sleep

June 21, 2017

[Editorial] Tight rope

The controversy over the remarks of top presidential security aide Moon Chung-in shows how narrow the tightrope we will have to walk will be.As the aide’s indication of the possibility of scaling down the South Korea-US joint exercise made strong repercussions in both Seoul and Washington, Cheong Wa Dae rushed to play down the controversy. Senior Cheong Wa Dae officials said Monday that the presidential office delivered a “stern warning” to Moon that his comments do not help with the alliance wi

June 20, 2017

[Editorial] Going nuclear-free

Korea’s first nuclear reactor, Kori No. 1 in Busan, was shut down permanently Sunday, 40 years after it began operations.It was the first step President Moon Jae-in took to move the country away from nuclear energy.“We will abolish our nuclear-centered energy policy and move toward a nuclear-free era. We will completely scrap construction plans for new nuclear reactors that are currently underway,” Moon said in a ceremony to mark the shutdown of the reactor on Monday.During his campaign, he pled

June 19, 2017

[Editorial] Never too early

Korean politics is being hit hard by raging disputes over several Cabinet nominees and the consequent confrontation between President Moon Jae-in and the opposition. The standoff is so severe that parliamentary business, other than the confirmation of the nominees, has been virtually paralyzed. In other words, the nomination battles are overshadowing all other political agenda. In light of the situation, it was encouraging that Moon -- despite taking heat over his nominees -- called attention la

June 18, 2017

[Editorial] Concerns and hopes

The upcoming summit talks between President Moon Jae-in and US President Donald Trump pose challenges for both leaders that are incomparable to those faced by their recent predecessors. Moon and Trump have many sensitive and complicated issues to tackle, casting uncertainty over their first meeting. Amid North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats, the two leaders first have to deal with the controversial deployment of a US anti-missile system in South Korea. More broadly, Moon and Trump need to r

June 16, 2017

[Editorial] Anti-alliance activism

Some residents near the site of a controversial US anti-missile system and militant leftists have carried their demands too far, causing a national security concern.In Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province, two launchers and a radar of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery are running on emergency generators, as the high-voltage grid necessary to operate the radar has not been installed yet.The US military tried to truck oil to the site, but couldn’t. Traffic to the site has been halted b

June 15, 2017

[Editorial] End of easing?

The Bank of Korea’s indication that monetary easing may be coming to an end should prepare all economic players for higher interest rates in the not-too-distant future. BOK Gov. Lee Ju-yeol made it clear Monday that the central bank would maintain monetary easing “for the time being,” saying the recovery was not strong enough yet and inflationary pressure on the demand side was not high.　But the message he wanted to deliver through a statement marking the central bank’s 67th anniversary was clea

June 14, 2017

[Editorial] Cooperative politics

President Moon Jae-in said Monday, “I ask the National Assembly to cooperate so that the government can be normalized as soon as possible.” This remark came at the end of his first policy speech to the National Assembly. That was all he said regarding the confirmation of his nominees during his visit to the assembly.Moon was expected to call on opposition floor leaders to cooperate with him on the confirmation of his nominees during a meeting with them at Speaker Chung Sye-kyun’s office before d

June 13, 2017

[Editorial] Wrong signals

After a month in office, President Moon Jae-in continues to bask in 80 percent-plus approval ratings. This does not mean, however, he is doing a good job in every matter. North Korea is one area of concern. One sign of disorientation in Moon’s North Korea policy came in his efforts to appease the Pyongyang government through civilian aid, which was largely suppressed during the previous nine years of two conservative governments. Determined to reverse the trend, the Moon administration has given

June 12, 2017

[Editorial] Economic democratization

President Moon Jae-in said Saturday he would establish new standards for economic democratization. His remark came at a ceremony to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the June 10 Democracy Movement, which led to constitutional revision for direct presidential election.“Severe inequality in income and wealth threatens our democracy. Job crisis is the root cause of inequality,” he said. “Let’s get rid of undemocratic elements in our society.”Economic inequality should be addressed and job creatio

June 11, 2017

[Editorial] THAAD suspension

Cheong Wa Dae effectively ordered the Ministry of National Defense on Wednesday to reassess the environmental impact of the deployment of a US anti-missile system on its site. However, it excluded from the reassessment the two launchers and radar of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense that had already been installed.The presidential office also said whether to deploy additional four launchers would be determined after the completion of the environmental impact assessment.Cheong Wa Dae doubts

June 9, 2017

[Editorial] All too familiar

Like his predecessors, President Moon Jae-in is having difficulty setting his administration into motion due to defects -- mostly ethical ones -- found in the people he has nominated to senior posts. That we face the vicious circle every time we have a new administration shows that many elite members of society neglect the law in pursuit of personal interests. It is no exaggeration to say that not a single candidate is free from ethical problems. Even Kim Dong-yeon, a former public official whos

June 8, 2017