[ed] Time to accept talks The Unification Ministry proposed working-level inter-Korean talks Tuesday to discuss recovering finished products and raw materials from the suspended Gaeseong Industrial Complex, at the instruction of President Park Geun-hye.
[ed] Gaffe or conviction? Politicians in Japan make gaffes so frequently that its Asian neighbors no longer feel it necessary to respond to them one by one. Yet the latest remark on wartime sex slavery made by the leader of Japans third largest political group apparently ..
[ed] N. Korea's military shakeup North Korea has replaced its hard-line armed forces minister with a relatively young and little-known field commander in what appears to be a move by leader Kim Jong-un to tighten his grip on the powerful military.
[ed] No more apologies President Park Geun-hye apologized Monday over an allegation of sexual harassment made against her spokesman during a visit to the United States last week. She was right to offer an apology because of the shock that the female student and her paren..
[ed] Corporate killing law A fire at a cold storage unit on the outskirts of Seoul killed 40 construction workers in January 2008: the only punishment given to the owner was a 20 million won ($18,000) fine. Likewise, distribution giant E-mart got off with a meager 1 million ..
[ed] Fair solution on wages How to define regular wages has emerged as a hot potato of the Korean economy in the wake of President Park Geun-hye's promise to address the issue during a meeting with American business leaders in Washington last week. At the time, she said the K..
[ed] Official's misconduct Who is telling a lie? Couldn't it possibly be the result of a cultural gap?
[ed] Spineless central bank When evaluating decisions made by public officials, there are times when the process followed, or style presented, is more important than the final outcome or substance. A case in point was the Bank of Koreas cut in the benchmark interest rate Th..
[ed] Illegal aliens' children Mahia, 8, a Bangladeshi girl, left for her country Wednesday. Actually, she is not a Bangladeshi, at least not yet, and may not become one for quite some time. Nor is she a Korean, although she was born, grew up and attended school here.
[ed] Building trust in N-E Asia President Park Geun-hye proposed an initiative for peace and cooperation in Northeast Asia during her speech to a joint session of the U.S. Congress Wednesday. Noting that Asia suffers from "Asia's paradox," she said the region can't afford to put ..
[ed] Different ex-imperialists Japan's failure to properly apologize or compensate for its imperial past often leads to comparisons of Tokyo to former Western colonial powers. What has happened in Britain over the past few months has added one more such example.
[ed] A half success, at best The first summit between Presidents Park Geun-hye and Barack Obama on Tuesday drew particular attention not least because of its timing: South Korea and the United States celebrate the 60th anniversary of their alliance this year.
[ed] Misguided labor union Hyundai Motor is having trouble with its car production because of internal conflict within its labor union. In late April, the nations largest automaker and the union agreed to restart weekend shifts from May after 14 rounds of negotiations, but..
[ed] Crisis of free childcare Free childcare for under-fives is a key welfare policy of the Park Geun-hye administration. The new program, which directly subsidizes daycare tuition or home care allowances for parents with children aged up to 5, is in danger of stopping in its f..
[ed] Unequal society An audio file said to be of an abusive dialogue between a sales manager working for Namyang Dairy Products Co. and the owner of a sales agency posted on YouTube last week is creating a big stir.
[ed] New start for Democrats After losing two crucial elections last year, the opposition Democratic Party is struggling to transform into a completely different political group.
[ed] A ray of hope The Ministry of Unification said Monday that South Korea has been keeping its power supply to the Gaeseong Industrial Complex at a ``minimum level after North Korea pulled its workers out of the jointly-run zone on April 9. The ministry also in..
