’The industrial complex South Korea built for its small and medium-sized business enterprises in North Korea in 2003 is at a crossroads between its survival as a model of inter-Korean cooperation and its demise as a victim of escalating cross-border military tension. An entry ban imposed by Pyongyang on South Korean commuters has posed one of the greatest threats to the Gaeseong complex’s survival since its construction.On Wednesday, Pyongyang started to ban the entry of South Korean commuters a

Editorial April 5, 2013

The threats from Kim Jong-un, North Korea’s young, untested leader, are extreme even by the paranoid standards of the dynastic dictatorship that has led the country since 1945.Kim’s bellicosity is likely intended to consolidate domestic political and military standing, as well as to extricate concessions from a wary, weary global community. Even so, a military miscalculation could plunge the region into war. The global community must take the threats seriously and apply maximum pressure on North

Viewpoints April 5, 2013

Government agencies are competitively pouring out measures geared toward venture companies. Economy-related ministries invariably present plans aimed at supporting venture businesses when they report their 2013 business plans to President Park Geun-hye.The policy focus on venture companies is natural as Park’s vision of building a “creative economy” cannot be attained without a prosperous venture sector. A creative economy is driven primarily by a brisk commercialization of innovative ideas, a j

Editorial April 4, 2013

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has boosted expectations here for an early revision of the nuclear accord between Seoul and Washington by saying that the thorny issue could be settled before early next month.After talks with South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se in Washington on Tuesday, Kerry said in a news conference that he was “very hopeful that this can be resolved before the visit of President Park Geun-hye.” Park is scheduled to visit Washington in early May for a summit with U.S.

Editorial April 4, 2013

The world was shocked by North Korea leader Kim Jong-un.The North’s great heir made a sudden announcement last weekend, warning of a “pre-emptive nuclear strike” on the United States. The next day, he issued a statement declaring that the North-South relations will be entering the state of war.Let’s think about it. If North Korea attacks the U.S. and causes the outbreak of the second Korean War, it will then be a Northeast Asia war. Of course, China, Russia and Japan would not just watch with fo

Viewpoints April 4, 2013

Will the new rules banning government officials from squandering public money on banquets and pretentious activities work to the satisfaction of the general public? Will they be able to shift officials’ attention to the problems that residents urgently need them to solve? The country’s new leaders undoubtedly expected that the answers would be in the affirmative when they endorsed these rules immediately after they took office. They set a good example by not sealing off the roads for their convo

Viewpoints April 4, 2013

There is a vigorous war of words going on between North Korea on one side and the United States and South Korea on the other, and it shows no signs of letting up. Anyone who likes trash talk should be amply entertained. But we shouldn’t ignore the actual risk all this entails.The North Korean government threatened to hit the U.S. with nuclear armed missiles, and the U.S. had strategic bombers fly practice runs in South Korea. Pyongyang staged a mass rally with citizens urging “Death to the U.S.

Viewpoints April 3, 2013

The most important determinant of educational quality is teacher quality. Yet, as a recent study of school principals’ permissiveness in teacher evaluations and a cheating scandal in Atlanta show, this performance is difficult to measure. The best way forward is to move the evaluation of teachers outside the schools entirely, with standardized tests administered by an independent agency. This would be supplemented by classroom assessments based on unobtrusive videotaping, also judged by outsider

Viewpoints April 3, 2013

In a rare move, the top leaders of the ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition Democratic United Party have agreed to meet regularly for cooperation in translating their common election pledges into action and addressing other pending issues. Participating in the high-profile talks will be the chairmen, floor leaders and chief policymakers of the two parties. The six top leaders are expected to hold their inaugural meeting this week.On Monday, the two parties’ chief policymakers met to set

Editorial April 2, 2013

The government’s comprehensive housing policy package announced on Monday elicited a favorable market response, raising hopes that it could inject life into the moribund real estate market. Now attention shifts to the National Assembly, as whether or not the package lifts the housing market from stagnation depends to a large degree on how lawmakers handle it. In this regard, they are advised to amend the relevant laws as early as possible for a swift implementation of the proposed measures. Time

Editorial April 2, 2013

As Haruhiko Kuroda walks into his first policy meeting as Bank of Japan governor, he must be in a Mario Draghi state of mind. Think of Kuroda’s predecessor, Masaaki Shirakawa, as Japan’s equivalent of former European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet. Shirakawa was a respected economist whose doctrinaire ways caused him to stumble when unexpected things happened, such as the financial crisis in 2008. Just as Trichet’s worldview was out of sync with the times (he actually raised interest

Viewpoints April 2, 2013