North Korea has officially kicked off the era of Kim Jong-un by reaffirming his unchallenged one-man rule at a rare congress of its ruling Workers’ Party.　The party congress is being held for the first time in 36 years. The young leader’s father, Kim Jong-il, had never convened it during his reign for 17 years because his father, Kim Il-sung, the founder of the communist country, told him not to hold a congress until “everyone lived in tile-roofed houses with a hot bowl of rice and beef soup eve

Editorial May 8, 2016

Voters in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, did not coordinate in the liberal parties’ sweep of the Seoul metropolitan area during the April 13 general election. The two constituencies -- Danwon-A and Danwon-B -- are residential districts of bereaved families of the Sewol ferry disaster.　It had been widely expected that angry sentiment toward the incumbent administration would lead to a landslide victory for opposition parties in the two constituencies. But the ruling Saenuri Party candidates were elect

Editorial April 15, 2016

The recent general election witnessed an extraordinary event, very much like rare cases at soccer matches. 　As a recent example, the Netherlands has failed to advance to the Euro2016 tournament, slated for this summer, as it ranked below the Czech Republic, Iceland and Turkey in a regional qualifying round.　Considering that the number of advancing teams has increased from 16 to 24, starting from this event in Paris, the dropping out of the Netherlands -- which was runner-up in 2010 and third in

Editorial April 15, 2016

Korea is undergoing rapid demographic changes such as the fast aging of the population and an increase in the number of multicultural families, but it would not be wrong to say that both the government and society are not yet coping with the changes properly. 　Of all, the most serious problem is aging. It is normal for a society like Korea to get increasingly older in accordance with its economic advancement. Nevertheless, the pace of aging is too fast.  　Government statistics show that the prop

Editorial April 3, 2016

Korea is a democracy, and any one eligible has the constitutional right to seek elected office. But what we hear about some of the candidates running for the April 13 general election provides cause for concern. 　Most worrisome is that some of the candidates are former members of a radical leftist party banned by the Constitutional Court for its pro-North Korea, socialist platform and activities that the court said were acts of rebellion. 　News reports said that about 40 of the 60 candidates run

Editorial April 3, 2016

When candidates for the April 13 general election started to register with the National Election Commission on Thursday, many thought that the internecine feud in the ruling Saenuri Party over candidate nomination was over. They were wrong.　The unsavory drama reached its climax that day, as the party’s chairman, Rep. Kim Moo-sung, dropped a bombshell. He announced that he would not put his seal on the nomination papers of five candidates who he said were selected based on seriously biased criter

Editorial March 27, 2016

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering has admitted that it manipulated its financial statements for 2013 and 2014.　The ailing shipbuilder reported operating profits of 424 billion won in 2013 and 454 billion won in 2014. But the company announced Friday that it actually suffered operating losses of 776 billion won in 2013 and 743 billion won in 2014.　It also corrected its 2015 operating loss, which was overblown as a result of the window dressing in the preceding two years. Earlier this year,

Editorial March 27, 2016

Like in other parts of the world, work culture in Korea has evolved with the passage of time. But in general, it is still based on the tradition of Confucianism and has yet to remove remaining vestiges of authoritarianism that prevailed during the military dictatorship until the late 1980s. 　It could be noted that some traditional work culture -- like loyalty to organizations and superiors, readiness to take and execute orders without questioning and sacrificing private life -- were part of the

Editorial March 20, 2016

As political parties are gearing up for the April 13 general election, all the negative aspects of Korean politics are being laid bare. Most salient among them are intraparty power struggle, promotion of populist promises and switching party affiliations. 　This time, internal power struggle is more fiercer in the ruling Saenuri Party than in other parties as the confrontation between the faction loyal to President Park Geun-hye and its rival faction has exploded during the candidate nomination p

Editorial March 20, 2016

Lee Se-dol, one of Korea’s top professional Go players, is due to play a five-game match against a computer program developed by a Google affiliate starting March 9. 　The match has drawn keen attention from Go players and technology experts around the world because Go has thus far been viewed as an unsolved “grand challenge” for artificial intelligence. 　Go, which originated in China more than 2,500 years ago, is much more complicated than chess. The classic game is played on a board with a 19x1

Editorial March 6, 2016

Doosan Group, the oldest family-controlled chaebol in Korea with 120 years of history, is set to become the first Korean corporate dynasty led by a fourth-generation heir.Last week, Doosan chairman Park Yong maan announced he would hand over his job to Park Jeong-won, one of his nephews who is currently chairman of Doosan Corp., the holding company of Korea’s 17th largest business group.　The new Doosan chairman is the eldest great-grandson of Park Seung-jik, who opened a fabric store in 1896, la

Editorial March 6, 2016

North Korea’s firing of short-range missiles into the East Sea on Thursday clearly showed that the adoption of the U.N. Security Council resolution on the country’s nuclear and missile provocations means the start of a long, arduous task by the international community. 　The firing of six missiles with a range of 100-150 kilometers, which came hours after the Security Council adopted the Resolution 2270, was an apparent show of force aimed at expressing the Pyongyang government’s defiance over th

Editorial March 4, 2016

It is an all too familiar tactic that opposition parties join forces for major elections, whether in the form of a merger or weaker arrangements, such as unifying candidacies. Yet, the latest talk of an opposition tie-up for the upcoming general election bewilders many and causes skepticism. 　Kim Jong-in, the stopgap leader of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea, has lit the fire on the talk of an opposition alliance. He said that opposition groups should unite to win the April 13 election

Editorial March 4, 2016

The wide wage gap between small and medium-sized enterprises and large corporations continues to expand, making SME jobs increasingly unattractive to college graduates. 　Last year, workers at SMEs only earned 62 percent of the wages of their peers at big companies, the widest gap since the Employment Ministry and Statistics Korea began to compile the data in 2008.　Large companies — defined as those with 300 or more workers on the payroll — paid their workers 5.01 million won ($4,110) a month on

Editorial March 3, 2016

The bill on redrawing electoral district boundaries finally passed the National Assembly on Wednesday, with just 42 days left to the coming April 13 general election.　The parliament has also enacted the controversial antiterrorism bill and a long-stalled bill on improving North Korean human rights.　The Assembly could act on the three key bills and a host of others as The Minjoo Party of Korea ended its filibuster Wednesday, after a total of 38 lawmakers had obstructed the passage of the antiterr

Editorial March 3, 2016