Most Popular
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Hybe-Ador feud should have limited effect on Hybe's overall performance: analysts
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Second Gimpo civil servant found dead, after apologizing for not finishing work
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First-ever meeting of president, opposition chief set to finally happen
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Blinken calls on China to press N. Korea to end its 'dangerous' behavior
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NewJeans' singles, Japanese debut to proceed as planned, despite Hybe-Ador feud
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Experts raise concerns about Japan putting pressure on Naver over Line
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Samsung mobile chief, Google device head meet in Seoul
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More med professors to take day off each week while govt. urges them to stay
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South Korea to launch space security center under spy agency
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Hybe refutes Ador CEO Min's denial of breach of trust
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[Kim Seong-kon] House of straws, sticks, or bricks
Children in many countries grow up reading and listening to the famous fairytale “Three Little Pigs.” In the story, three little pigs decide to build houses of their own. The first pig builds himself a house of straw, the second little pig a house of sticks, and the third little pig a house of bricks. As we know, when the big bad wolf comes and tries to blow their houses down, both the straw house and the stick house fall down. Only the brick house endures the strong huffing and puff
ViewpointsOct. 4, 2023
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[Editorial] Time for self-restraint
The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea is escalating its offense against the Yoon Suk Yeol administration after the court rejected an arrest warrant request for its leader, Lee Jae-myung. The party demanded an apology from Yoon and the dismissal of Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon. Boosted by the denial of his arrest warrant, Lee proposed out of the blue that Yoon hold one-on-one talks with him to discuss the livelihoods of the public. Lee likely knew well that the president would almost ce
EditorialOct. 4, 2023
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[John M. Crisp] Capital punishment: 2 choices for America
You wouldn’t think that it would be that hard to kill someone. History indicates that we’ve always been good at it. It took only one generation before Cain killed Abel in a fit of jealousy over divine approbation. Murder had been invented and we’ve never looked back. In fact, we’ve only gotten better at killing. Cain must have used a club or rock on Abel, but in modern times our killing capacity has gone ballistic -- literally. We’ve invented powerful and efficient
ViewpointsSept. 28, 2023
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[Lee Kyong-hee] Kishida’s summit overture to Pyongyang
Addressing the UN General Assembly, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pressed rewind and expressed his desire for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The overture last week was the same as last year. In between, Kishida has suggested high-level talks to set up a summit and North Korea has responded promptly and positively. But it also attached a caveat. “There is no reason for the DPRK and Japan not to meet, if Tokyo is not being shackled by the past,” said the North&r
ViewpointsSept. 28, 2023
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[Editorial] Right choice eventually prevails
The Constitutional Court ruled a ban on sending propaganda leaflets to North Korea is unconstitutional. It comes as another belated -- but correct -- decision after the Supreme Court ruled in April that anti-North Korea leaflets played a positive role in providing information to North Koreans about their reality. At the time the ban was introduced, the Moon Jae-in administration and the ruling Democratic Party of Korea faced severe criticism for legislating the ban as North Korea demanded, but t
EditorialSept. 28, 2023
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[Kim Seong-kon] “The Big Country” and “A City upon a Hill”
When I first watched William Wyler’s 1958 movie, “The Big Country” as a little boy, I was mesmerized by the charming personality of the protagonist James McKay, played by major star Gregory Peck. McKay is a man from the American East who has just arrived in the West to marry his fiancee, Patricia Terrill, a daughter of Henry Terrill, a man who owns the biggest ranch in the region. In the eyes of tough Westerners, McKay is nothing but a weak Easterner who does not fit in with t
ViewpointsSept. 27, 2023
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[Mariana Mazzucato, Damon Silvers] Auto workers and climate change
The United Auto Workers’ first-ever strike against the so-called “Big Three” (General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler-owner Stellantis) underscores the need to bring climate action, economic growth, and workers’ rights into alignment. Public policies aimed at increasing the production and sales of electric vehicles have the power to catalyze innovation and private-sector investment in ways that benefit workers. But realizing that potential requires a new understanding of the r
ViewpointsSept. 27, 2023
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[Editorial] Slow growth trap
South Korea’s growth rate is feared to dip below the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development average for the third consecutive year this year, unless sagging exports rebound at a brisk pace. The OECD maintained Korea’s 2023 growth outlook and inflation forecast at 1.5 percent and 3.4 percent, respectively, in its interim report titled, “Confronting Inflation and Low Growth.” The interim outlook suggests there has been no meaningful change in the country&rsqu
EditorialSept. 27, 2023
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[Editorial] Right to live in quiet
The court last week allowed the Korean Metal Workers' Union, a member of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, to hold an overnight rally on the street in front of the National Assembly. It was the first time the court had allowed an overnight open-air demonstration. The court accepted the application by the metal workers' union to invalidate a police ban on its overnight outdoor protest. The union had reported to the police that it would hold a rally from 9 a.m. on Sept. 20 to noo
EditorialSept. 26, 2023
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[Howard Davies] Bank supervision: Quality matters
Bank capital is back in the financial headlines. In late July, US banking regulators, led by the Federal Reserve, announced plans to finalize the so-called Basel 3 reforms (which banks like to call Basel 4, owing to their significant impact). The aim, according to a joint agency proposal, is “to improve the strength and resilience of the banking system” by modifying large capital requirements to better reflect underlying risks, and by applying more transparent and consistent requirem
ViewpointsSept. 25, 2023
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[Editorial] Roadblocks ahead
The South Korean economy is set to grapple with three volatile conditions -- the so-called “three highs” -- in the coming months: higher interest rates, high energy prices and the higher value of the US dollar against the Korean currency. First and foremost, the US interest rate change is drawing keen attention from Korean policymakers and investors as its impact is potentially critical. The US Federal Reserve on Wednesday left interest rates unchanged, but signaled it may opt for on
EditorialSept. 25, 2023
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[Charles J. Murray] What we need to hear about transition to EVs
With the coming of the annual National Electric Drive Week, we are again likely to hear politicians and proponents sing the praises of electric vehicles. EVs, we will be told, are going to change life because they are cleaner, easier to maintain and fun to drive. But here’s what we should also be discussing, although we probably won’t: There’s a giant transition on the horizon. Sixty countries, including the entire European Union, are calling for a complete ban on combustion
ViewpointsSept. 25, 2023
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[Jean Guerrero] What first-generation students need
First-generation college students are less alone than they were a decade ago. Today, more than half of America's undergraduate students have parents who never got bachelor's degrees. Many campuses have programs to empower them, such as by connecting them with mentors, academic support and financial aid. But there's a lot more that can be done. Now that the Supreme Court has struck down race-conscious college admissions, first-generation students are a logical group for universitie
ViewpointsSept. 22, 2023
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[Editorial] Kepco’s woes
President Yoon Suk Yeol signed off on the appointments of Kim Dong-cheol as the new CEO of Korea Electric Power Corp., also known as Kepco, and Bang Moon-kyu as trade minister this week, the very two figures in charge of the highly explosive issue of electricity rate hikes. The idea of raising electricity rates is a sensitive topic for the government as many households find the sharp increase in August's electricity bills hard to swallow. This year’s lengthy heat waves forced many hou
EditorialSept. 22, 2023
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[Wang Son-taek] New Cold War is not coming
There are more discussions that a so-called new Cold War is on the way. Similar to the Soviet-led communist bloc during the Cold War era, which confronted the US-led capitalist bloc, North Korea, China and Russia could form an international bloc against the US-led one. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's recent visit to Russia drew attention because it was an opportunity to promote discussions of the new Cold War further. North Korea and Russia have mocked the UN Security Council's res
ViewpointsSept. 21, 2023
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[Mihir Sharma] India needs to stop the bleeding from Canada killing
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s dramatic statement in parliament that there were “credible allegations” Indian intelligence was behind the murder of a radical Sikh activist in British Columbia came as a shock to many in India for a couple of reasons. For one thing, most of us still believe that we’re the good guys and our government doesn’t do this kind of thing. More importantly, if India actually did conduct an assassination on Western soil -- which its
ViewpointsSept. 21, 2023
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[Editorial] Lee's arrest warrant
The National Assembly is set to vote on a government request for opposition leader Lee Jae-myung to attend a pretrial detention hearing. He has promised many times to give up his privilege as a lawmaker of being able to avoid detention depending on the result of a National Assembly vote and voluntarily attend a detention hearing like ordinary people do if the prosecution sought an arrest warrant for him, but his promises were just empty words. An incumbent National Assembly member can stand tria
EditorialSept. 21, 2023
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[Kim Seong-kon] Leaving LA, center of Korean diaspora community
Since 1965, when a large number of Koreans began immigrating to the US, Los Angeles has been the undisputed center for the Korean diaspora community in America. Los Angeles means “city of angels” in Spanish and Korean immigrants have often looked to the city as a place of settling down in America. Koreans who went there overcame hardships and ordeals on foreign soil to pursue their dreams, just like pioneers in the Wild West. Given their motivation and drive, it is small wonder that
ViewpointsSept. 20, 2023
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[Ana Palacio] Rule-making in a divided world
If anyone had lingering doubts about the fractured state of global rule-making, they should now be dispelled. The just-concluded G-20 summit in New Delhi attracted as much attention for who was not there -- Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping -- as for the discussions among those who showed up. But the real takeaway from the summit, as well as the gathering of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) that preceded it, is that global rule-making is
ViewpointsSept. 20, 2023
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[Editorial] A worrisome gap
South Korea’s tax revenue shortfall for 2023 is now estimated to stand at 59.1 trillion won ($44.6 billion), according to newly revised government data, the biggest in years. The Ministry of Finance and Economy announced Monday it has revised down its annual tax revenue projection to 341.4 trillion won, citing sluggish corporate earnings and a protracted slump in the property market. The ministry’s earlier tax revenue outlook for this year was 400.5 trillion won. The new revision ref
EditorialSept. 20, 2023