Most Popular
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Korea enters full election mode
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Seoul bus drivers go on general strike, cause morning rush hour delays
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Immigrant woman stabbed to death by Korean husband
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Lee Jong-sup resigns as envoy to Australia
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Yellow dust engulfs S. Korea, advisory alert issued
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Official campaigning kicks off for April 10 elections
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S. Korea to boost support for single-parent families
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Court upholds jail term for man who attempted to murder ex-girlfriend
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Kia EV9 wins world car of year
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Korea misses out on global bond index boost
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[Editorial] New Year’s press conference
President Yoon Suk-yeol may not hold his first New Year’s press conference as the presidential office is said to be skipping the crucial and customary event. However, Yoon is encouraged to go for the press conference, not only for clarifying his stance on various national issues, but also for making good on his pledge to better communicate with the public through the media. According to media reports, the presidential office decided to skip the presidential conference next year for mainly
Dec. 23, 2022
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[Editorial] Opaque accounting
Budget execution by two labor groups -- the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and the Federation of Korean Trade Unions -- and government subsidies to the two groups are on the chopping block as the government began to take issue with opaque accounting practices of labor unions. The Office for Government Policy Coordination, under the Prime Minister's Secretariat, is said to have instructed the Ministry of Employment and Labor and other related ministries on Monday to grasp the scale o
Dec. 22, 2022
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[Editorial] Economic headwinds ahead
South Korea is expected to confront tough economic conditions in 2023, as weakening exports, coupled with global recession woes, could undercut the country’s growth momentum, even as prices are forecast to increase at a slower pace. Major economic agencies at home and abroad predicted the country’s economic growth rate will be limited to the 1 percent range next year, raising concerns about an economic slowdown. The underlying reasons for a gloomy outlook involve stubbornly high infl
Dec. 21, 2022
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[Editorial] No shaking basis of policy
The Board of Audit and Inspection is speeding up its audit of allegations that important national statistics were distorted under the Moon Jae-in administration. The audit of the national statistics system started in September. The board called in Statistics Korea officials for investigation, followed by its two ex-commissioners under Moon -- Hwang Soo-kyung and her successor Kang Shin-wook. The audit seems to be near its end. Hong Jang-pyo, Moon's former senior secretary on economic affa
Dec. 20, 2022
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[Editorial] Japan's rearmament
As expected, Japan finalized the revisions to its three key security documents Friday, adopting a new security strategy that includes the possession of “counterstrike capability.” It will double its defense spending to about 2 percent of gross domestic product. It may be too early to say that Japan’s adoption of a new security change will be limited to purely defend itself against possible attacks from China, North Korea and Russia. What’s certain, though, is that given J
Dec. 19, 2022
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[Editorial] A new leap forward
A ceremony to mark the completion of the first unit of the Shin Hanul nuclear power plant in Uljin, North Gyeongsang Province, on Wednesday has more meaning than merely adding a nuclear reactor to the country. It is the nation's 27th nuclear reactor and the first completed under the pro-nuclear administration of President Yoon Suk-yeol. Its reactor "APR1400" is the first domestically designed model to adopt two fully localized core parts -- a human-machine interface system and r
Dec. 16, 2022
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[Editorial] Labor market flexibility
President Yoon Suk-yeol said Tuesday the government will finalize its position on labor reform recommendations and push ahead with measures to protect the vulnerable in the labor market. Yoon referred to recommendations that the Future Labor Research Council, a state-led expert group, presented Monday -- a set of reform proposals aimed at overhauling a South Korean labor market saddled with rigid practices that has long undermined productivity growth. At the heart of the reform proposals are sub
Dec. 15, 2022
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[Editorial] Impromptu voting
An absurd thing happened in the National Assembly. Ruling and opposition parties passed a bill in standing and legislation committees then voted it down in the plenary session of the National Assembly. Then, a day after it was thrown out, they agreed to process it again. The bill in question is an amendment to the Korea Electric Power Corp. (Kepco) Act that will increase the issue limit of its debentures. Kepco has suffered a severe shortage of funds due to the previous administration's p
Dec. 14, 2022
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[Editorial] Wrangling at National Assembly
South Korea’s political landscape has long been mired in wasteful wrangling at the National Assembly, where ruling and opposition party members clash with each other for partisan purposes while ignoring pressing issues for the country. The familiar pattern of partisan fighting is playing out again, threatening to derail and freeze the parliamentary process to handle key legislative tasks, including the budget for next year, as the opposition-controlled National Assembly passed a motion Sun
Dec. 13, 2022
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[Editorial] Adhere to principle
A vote by truckers to call off their strike and return to work can be attributed to the government's strict adherence to the law and principles in responding to their walkout. Cargo Truckers Solidarity, a division of the Korean Public Service and Transportation Workers Union affiliated with the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, withdrew its strike Friday. The withdrawal came 16 days after the strike began Nov. 24, demanding the abolition of the sunset provision of the "Freight Ra
Dec. 12, 2022
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[Editorial] Meddling in the financial market
When President Yoon Suk-yeol took office in May, he vowed to promote free market principles, unlike his predecessor. In mid-October, Yoon publicly reaffirmed his stance that he is “a believer in a free market economy that respects the freedom and creativity of businesses.” But in a country where the government’s heavy intervention in the private as well as financial sectors had long been a norm, Yoon has yet to put his money where his mouth is. The problem is that Yoon may find
Dec. 9, 2022
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[Editorial] Indoor mask mandate
A debate has been reignited over lifting indoor mask mandates as cautious attitudes toward COVID-19 infection is steadily being replaced by public complacency, but authorities and experts have offer mixed views about easing mandatory masking. The municipal government of Daejeon sent an official notification to the government’s COVID-19 response headquarters Sunday, saying it will lift the indoor mask mandates from next year through its own administrative order unless the central government
Dec. 7, 2022
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[Editorial] No sanctuary in probe
Suh Hoon, former director of the National Security Office at Cheong Wa Dae, was arrested on Saturday on suspicion of “covering up the case of a fisheries official killed by North Korean troops in September 2020.” After media broke news that Lee Dae-jun, an official of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, was killed by North Korean soldiers in the West Sea after falling overboard a fisheries guidance boat and floating into North Korean waters, Suh jumped to the conclusion that Lee wa
Dec. 6, 2022
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[Editorial] Neutrality matters
Few expect South Korean public broadcasters such as KBS, MBC and EBS to stay politically neutral, largely because their journalistic narratives have long been twisted and distorted to portray the views of the ruling party of the moment in a positive light. Some critics claim that public broadcasters are responsible themselves for making not-so-neutral TV programs and news reports, as if they exist only to serve the current administration and reflect the voices of ruling parties, while ignoring o
Dec. 5, 2022
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[Editorial] Labor rule of law
The Yoon Suk-yeol administration's back-to-work order to drivers of bulk cement trailers carries significant meaning beyond its response to their strike. The order given for the first time ever on Wednesday was inevitable. Shipment of cement is said to have shrunken to a level of about 10 percent than usual. Works on more than half of construction sites across the country hit a snag. Past governments were swayed by militant labor unions, particularly those affiliated with the Korean Confede
Dec. 2, 2022
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[Editorial] Guidelines for metaverse
The South Korean government this week unveiled a set of ethical guidelines for the fast-growing metaverse ecosystem, in a bid to deal with a growing number of problematic issues in virtual space. The Ministry of Science and ICT on Monday announced the nonbinding guidelines based on three core values -- sincere identity, safe experience and sustainable prosperity. The broad core values are designed to make sure users can develop their identity in a safe and sustainable virtual world. Under the
Dec. 1, 2022
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[Editorial] Under the cloak of journalism
A group of reporters with citizen media outlet "The Tamsa TV," a YouTube channel, flocked to the door of the apartment where Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon lives in southern Seoul on Sunday afternoon. Waiting outside the front door, they rang the doorbell, demanded an interview with Han and looked at a package sitting there. They even pressed keys on the door lock pad, apparently trying to unlock it. All the while filming this situation and then broadcasting the video live on their cha
Nov. 30, 2022
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[Editorial] Dispute over Wemix delisting
Another setback caught the South Korean digital currency market off guard last week, sending jitters through investors amid deepening worries over the reliability and security of blockchain-based cryptocurrencies. The shock wave was sparked by the country’s major crypto exchanges’ decision to delist the Wemix token issued by Wemade’s blockchain platform. On Thursday, the Digital Asset Exchange Alliance, known as DAXA, representing leading crypto exchanges here, decided to halt
Nov. 29, 2022
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[Editorial] Crooked behavior
The allegations raised by Kim Eui-kyeom, a National Assembly member of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, that President Yoon Suk-yeol drank with Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon in a bar in Cheongdam-dong, southern Seoul proved false. A female cellist said to be the source of the allegations confessed to the police on Thursday that she lied to deceive her boyfriend. Kim revealed in the National Assembly on Oct. 24 that Yoon and Han drank with about 30 lawyers of Kim & Chang in a C
Nov. 28, 2022
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[Editorial] Fixing flawed tax system
There is no doubt adjusting tax rates is a tricky task. If the rates are too high, the burden on companies and households will increase disproportionately in a way that can undermine economic activity. If the rates are too low, the government may struggle to secure enough funds for welfare and other essential state projects. As for South Korea’s tax system, taxes are too high on both companies and households. In particular, a growing number of middle-class households are hit by burdensome
Nov. 25, 2022