Smaller Cheong Wa Dae President-elect Park Geun-hyes vision for her new presidential office structure, unveiled Monday, can be summed up as slimmed down and simplified. This direction is reflected well in the fact that the title of the bureaucratic unit at Cheong Wa D..
Oppressors of labor For most employers, labor unions are troublesome. For some, they are even far worse than a mere annoyance and become an archenemy. One employer with this experience is the retail giant Shinsegae Group.
A bargain is a bargain ``Election promises are empty promises. Such is the widely accepted view among Koreans, politicians and even voters alike. But how long should this would-be advanced country share this self-deprecating joke?
Kickbacks for doctors The government is stepping up its crackdown on the long-standing practice of offering and receiving kickbacks in the medical community. Yet it remains to be seen whether the illegal practice will be uprooted this time, given that it is endemic and ..
Currency war The Bank of Japan will open a two-day Policy Board meeting Monday to finalize measures for further credit easing and raise its inflation target to 2 percent.
Dying alone Last week, the skeleton of a man was found in the southeastern port city of Busan about six years after he apparently committed suicide. The man, identified only as Kim, was 49 when he hung himself at a rented house in 2006. Kim, an unmarried manua..
Shoddy in every way President Lee Myung-baks signature project of remaking the nations four largest rivers has proved to be a near total failure. Whats shocking is not the diagnosis itself but the fact that it was made by the top state auditor, not an environment..
Belittling nuclear safety Since the 2011 Fukushima disaster, many governments have moved toward enhancing the safety regulations of nuclear power plants. Building a safer nation is also one of two major goals following the governmental shakeup initiated by Park Geun-hyes ..
Envoys to China President?elect Park Geun-hyes plan to send a delegation of special envoys, led by Kim Moo-sung, to China next week is creating subtle ripples in diplomatic circles. The mission, the first group of envoys to be sent by Park since her election vic..
Oil spill compensation Moon Seung-il earned his living by running fishing boats for weekend anglers in Taean County along the west coast. On Dec. 7, 2007, a Samsung Heavy Industries barge struck a crude oil tanker passing there, causing the countrys worst oil spill and..
Retooling government What matters are not organizations but their operationsRestructuring the government has become one of the traditional tasks of newly-elected leaders in Korea. Park Geun-hye is no exception. There may be little wrong with the organizationa..
What matters are not organizations but their operations
Restructuring the government has become one of the traditional tasks of newly-elected leaders in Korea. Park Geun-hye is no exception. There may be little wrong with the organizationa..
Glass ceiling In the aftermath of Park Geun-hyes election as the next president, there are mounting calls for more women to enter the workforce.
Pledges and reality Do campaign pledges have to be kept 100 percent? Once it was commonly said here that it is better for successful candidates to forget their election promises as soon as possible.
Choi Dae-seok's case Its quite rare for a member of the presidential transition team to quit after serving fewer than 10 days in their appointed role. Rarer still is that no one, except for a select few, seems to know why, causing all kinds of rumors and speculation ..
Transition in trouble About 50 days of presidential transition team operations may not determine the next five years of the incoming administration. But it foretells how the new leader and his or her government will make important decisions and implement them during the..
Recurring accidents Barely three months ago, the nation boiled with public anger over a total failure in connection with a toxic chemical leak from a plant in Gumi, 250 kilometers southeast of Seoul, which killed five workers and injured 18 others.
Stability of NE Asia No three neighboring countries in the world might have greater potential for economic prosperity than Korea, China and Japan. Together, they account for nearly one fifth of global GDP and trade, closely following North America and the EU. That was ..
