[Editorial] Electoral reform

Political parties in South Korea are set to discuss electoral reform measures next week in a bid to fix the problems with the current mixed-member proportional representation system. But the outlook for a breakthrough is far from positive, given that major parties and their lawmakers seem unlikely to give up their vested interests. All lawmakers from the ruling People Power Party, the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea and the minor opposition Justice Party are scheduled to attend a parli

March 21, 2023

[Editorial] A new beginning

President Yoon Suk Yeol returned home Friday night from his two-day visit to Japan. Through his meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, he kick-started summit diplomacy with Japan after a 12-year hiatus. The summit is a turning point in bilateral relations and a new starting point for mutual visits by the leaders of both countries. Yoon made a difficult first move to normalize South Korea’s relations with Japan. The summit owes much to his bold decision. The Yoon administration

March 20, 2023

[Editorial] Allay bank fears

Since Silicon Valley Bank, the 16th-largest bank in the US, went bust on March 10, a series of unnerving developments have hit the global market, touching off concerns that banking woes could spread to the broader economy and other sectors. The sudden demise of SVB, whose main clients are technology and life-science startups, triggered volatility in stocks, bonds and other assets across the globe. The shock did not die down even though regulators quickly stepped in to allay fears and keep the tu

March 17, 2023

[Editorial] Brace for contingency

North Korea recently carried out a series of missile provocations in an apparent protest against a resumed South Korea-US combined military exercise. It fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea off its east coast Tuesday. The launch came two days after it test-fired what it claimed to be two “strategic cruise missiles” from a submarine. It is the first time that it launched cruise missiles from a sub. Five days earlier, on March 9, it had fired six short-range missiles t

March 16, 2023

[Editorial] Kakao’s takeover of SM

South Korean tech behemoth Kakao is now set to take over major K-pop agency SM Entertainment after striking a deal with Hybe, the fast-growing competitor agency that is home to BTS and NewJeans, to end their competition and cooperate with each other. The conclusion of the monthlong feud for SM came as welcome news to their respective investors and those who want K-pop to expand further with greater platform power and a deep talent pool. At some point, Hybe was close to winning the competition, b

March 15, 2023

[Editorial] More red signs for economy

A host of new red signs are popping up for the South Korean economy, which is bad news for policymakers already struggling to tame high inflation and tackle the economic slowdown. There are three worrisome developments. First, the country posted a record current account deficit in January. Second, the Korean currency is losing its value against the US dollar at a rapid clip. Third, investors are worried about the ripple impact from the collapse of the San Francisco-based Silicon Valley Bank, hit

March 13, 2023

[Editorial] Upgrading US alliance

Seoul and Washington said President Yoon Suk Yeol will pay a state visit to the US on April 26. Yoon will have his third meeting with US President Joe Biden. Biden visited Seoul in May 2022, 11 days after President Yoon was inaugurated. They met again on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in November. The last time a South Korean president paid a state visit to the US was 12 years ago. Yoon is the second leader invited by Biden for a state visit after French President E

March 10, 2023

[Editorial] Reform of the 52-hour workweek

The Yoon Suk Yeol administration has put out a long-awaited reform plan to reconfigure the controversial 52-hour workweek regulation in South Korean workplaces. The reform measure came in response to the growing complaints from companies which claim the 52-hour workweek system hinders their efforts to run work hours in a timely and flexible fashion to stay competitive on the global market. The Yoon administration on Monday announced a plan to introduce a new workweek rule that would allow for up

March 9, 2023

[Editorial] Turn to the future

The government announced a plan to resolve the issue of compensating Koreans who were mobilized by Japan for forced labor. Korea was under Japanese colonial rule from 1910 to 1945. Japan mobilized Koreans for forced labor during World War II (1939-1945). Under the plan, compensation will be paid by the Foundation for Victims of Forced Mobilization by Imperial Japan, which was created in 2014 and is currently affiliated with the Interior Ministry. The foundation plans to collect "voluntary&q

March 8, 2023

[Editorial] Not-so-free market

Governments in advanced countries tend to avoid directly intervening in the private sector for fear of distorting market mechanisms. In this regard, the government’s industrial policy, such as a state-initiated guide on prices for products and services, is supposed to be used only when it is necessary. Unfortunately, the Yoon Suk Yeol administration and some of the ruling party members do not follow such basic rules. It is ironic that Yoon often preaches the virtue of the free market, but

March 7, 2023

[Editorial] Polarized labor market

Hyundai Motor’s recruitment ad for 400 entry-level factory workers attracted a deluge of job seekers as soon as it launched on Thursday. The carmaker’s related web page froze due to the sudden rush of applicants. On that day alone, more than 30,000 people are said to have accessed the page. It is the first time in 10 years that the company is hiring assembly line workers. Not only are new high school graduates expected to apply, but also workers looking to change their jobs are as we

March 6, 2023

[Editorial] Stop school violence

On Feb. 25, Chung Sun-sin offered to resign one day after he was appointed the head of the National Office of Investigation over controversy surrounding his son’s bullying in high school. But the public uproar shows no sign of dying down, with people calling for drastic reforms to tackle school violence. Chung’s son not only verbally abused his classmate for eight months from May 2017, he also stayed at the school for nearly one year. This left the victim in a more traumatic state, e

March 3, 2023

[Editorial] Democratic Party's way to go

The majority opposition Democratic Party of Korea is grappling with the aftermath of the National Assembly’s vote on the prosecution’s request for consent to a pretrial detention hearing on its leader Lee Jae-myung. Before the vote, the party leadership was confident of an overwhelming rejection of the request, but the result jolted them. The request was thrown out as the number of yes votes fell short of the minimum required to hold the hearing. But unexpectedly, the secret vote spl

March 2, 2023

[Editorial] Embattled chip industry

South Korean chipmakers are likely to face not only a slowdown in demand for semiconductors but also critical restrictions from the US over production in China -- collateral damage from the intensifying friction in US-China trade. The US is reportedly planning to limit the level of advanced chips that Korean chip manufacturers can produce in China in the name of blocking the transfer of its advanced semiconductor technology to adversaries. "We are now in a world where technology is the driv

March 1, 2023

[Editorial] Fostering healthy competition

The Fair Trade Commission recently ordered the Korean Bar Association and the Seoul Bar Association to lift a ban on their member lawyers’ use of LawTalk, a legal counseling platform, and fined each association 1 billion won ($760,000). It is the largest possible fine imposed by the commission on a business association. The commission judged that the prohibition of lawyers’ advertisements on the platform restricts free competition among lawyers and consumer choice of lawyers. It al

Feb. 28, 2023

[Editorial] Pattern of shameless acts

You don’t have to be a Stoic to understand what Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius said: “Be tolerant with others and strict with yourself.” Some South Korean elites, however, are doing the exact opposite to defend their wayward children. A striking example is the controversy surrounding Chung Sun-sin, 57, who was appointed Friday to head the National Office of Investigation, only to resign Saturday over his son’s bullying in high school that had reportedly caused the victim t

Feb. 27, 2023

[Editorial] Population disaster

South Korea's total fertility rate fell to 0.78 last year, down from 0.81 a year earlier, according to Statistics Korea. The total fertility rate is the average number of children a woman bears in her lifetime. Experts believe the rate should be at least 2.1 to keep South Korea's population stable. The country's rate last year is the lowest since 1970, when the statistics agency began compiling related data. In 2018, the country’s total fertility rate dropped below 1 for t

Feb. 24, 2023

[Editorial] Fighting drug crimes

South Korean prosecutors launched a special investigation unit Tuesday to fight growing drug crimes including large-scale drug trafficking and the spread of drug sales through internet channels. The Supreme Prosecutors' Office said the special unit is made up of four investigation teams at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office and district prosecutors' offices in Incheon, Busan and Gwangju, respectively. The special teams represent the country’s latest attempt to co

Feb. 23, 2023

[Editorial] Opaque accounting

The nation’s two largest labor groups, the Federation of Korean Trade Unions and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, are found to have received 152 billion won ($117 million) in subsidies over the past five years from the Ministry of Employment and Labor and 17 regional governments -- eight cities including Seoul and nine provinces. According to data disclosed by Kweon Seon-dong, a People Power Party lawmaker, the groups received 17.7 billion won in subsidies from the ministry and 13

Feb. 22, 2023

[Editorial] A tricky decision

The Bank of Korea is scheduled to announce its benchmark interest rate on Thursday, following heightened attention on the market and growing concerns over their tightening monetary policy. Last month the central bank raised its interest rate by 25 basis points to 3.5 percent, a seventh straight rate increase since April last year. It also marked the 10th rate hike, totaling a combined 3 percentage points, since August 2021, when the BOK started “normalizing” the low rate. Opinions ar

Feb. 21, 2023