In 2012, the London interbank offered rate -- Libor -- gained worldwide notoriety when it emerged that traders had conspired to manipulate this vital financial benchmark. Clearly, the system was broken and would have to be mended. Four years later, the repairs aren‘t finished.　Given the stakes, regulators are right to tread carefully. That said, they need to start making progress -- not so much toward mending Libor as toward creating an alternative.　Libor is constructed by polling banks on the i

Viewpoints Sept. 22, 2016

A council on the international finance sector development kicked off with its first meeting convened this week, including panels composed of government officials, professors and economists. It aims to increase the nation’s ability to cope with rapidly changing global indices.Its establishment is laudable amid the volatility of global indexes, a series of negative external factors and mounting uncertainties in financial markets.Local market participants are pinning hopes on the council in terms o

Editorial Sept. 21, 2016

Concerns are mounting as workers in the financial industry are poised to stage an all-out protest. Employees from some other public sectors including railways, subway lines and hospitals will follow suit in the form of a general strike against the government’s scheduled introduction of performance-based pay scheme.The Korea Financial Industry Union has already publicized its strike plan in which a dominant portion of its unionized workers will participate in the walkout this Friday.As about 100,

Editorial Sept. 21, 2016

Most people will never glimpse the vast underwater mountains and canyons off Cape Cod that President Barack Obama designated as a national monument Thursday. The same goes for the hundreds of thousands of submerged square kilometers that the UK, Ecuador, Costa Rica and other countries have just protected, and for the million square kilometers near Hawaii that Obama recently set aside.But everyone benefits when underwater tracts are put off limits to commercial fishing and mining, because doing s

Viewpoints Sept. 21, 2016

On Sept. 11, the Official Gazette of the Philippines decided to mark the 99th birth anniversary of the late dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos, by releasing a graphic. What could possibly go wrong? As it turns out: Almost everything.The graphic produced by the Gazette carried a photo, a quote, and a caption. Under sustained social media criticism, the caption went through three editions -- each one deeply problematic both because of what was included and what was left out.The first version stirred con

Viewpoints Sept. 21, 2016

With exports on a downward spiral, Korea’s economic growth is increasingly being led by the construction industry. Policymakers need to take action to correct this abnormal growth pattern.A report released by the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade showed that the construction sector accounted for 51.5 percent of the country’s economic growth in the second quarter. Of the economy’s 3.3 percent expansion in the April-June period, 1.7 percentage points came from brisk construction i

Editorial Sept. 20, 2016

The Ministry of Health and Welfare has recently finalized the third five-year National Cancer Management Plan, which is aimed at improving the quality of life of cancer patients and expanding the government’s role in fighting cancer.　The survival rate of cancer patients in Korea has dramatically improved in recent years thanks to increased efforts for early detection of cancer and advances in cancer treatment. 　The five-year survival rate for people diagnosed with cancer between 2009 and 2013 wa

Editorial Sept. 20, 2016

The heavy-handed posture of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s administration appears to have led to the rise of “anti-China” forces in Hong Kong.Continuing progress in democratization and political reforms is essential to maintaining Hong Kong’s stability and prosperity, rather than reinforcing a clampdown.In the recent elections for Hong Kong’s Legislative Council, newly emerging, anti-Beijing forces making such radical calls as “independence” from China have made headway.For the 70-member legisla

Viewpoints Sept. 20, 2016

While I was having my hair cut 20 years ago, my barber advised me to wash my hair with soap, not with shampoo. He told me, “You are losing your hair here and there. You’d better stop using shampoo because it’s full of chemicals. Try soap instead.” From that day on, I began washing my hair with a bar of soap. Strangely, however, I noticed a bunch of hair was clogging the sink every time I shampooed with soap. Recently, I switched back from soap to shampoo and I noticed I no longer lost my hair. O

Viewpoints Sept. 20, 2016

While not well known in South Korea, the Our Ocean conference was held on Thursday and Friday in Washington where representatives from almost 90 counties presented a vivid account of the current status of the global marine environment. This was the largest meeting aimed at discussing conservation of the marine environment and the depleting fish stocks. It showed why global action is needed immediately. For the past several decades, numerous suggestions have been made and projects undertaken in o

Viewpoints Sept. 20, 2016