Opinion - The Korea Times

Challenging the chaebol

By John BurtonOne of the main themes in postwar Korea has been the debate over the chaebol as a source of both economic progress and social inequality because of their business dominance. They have also become the cause of national embarrassment because of financial scandals that often led to top executives or members of the family owners being convicted of crimes or sent to jail.The current scandal at Lotte, which has mushroomed from a dynastic struggle for succession and control of Korea’s fifth-largest chaebolinto an investigation about alleged bribery and embezzlement, has highlighted that little has changed despite President Park Geun-hye’s election campaign promise to pursue “economic democratization,” which meant curbing the power of the chaebol to benefit the small business sector.Lotte is a particularly interesting case study of chaebol behavior. On the one hand, it never seemed to harbor the sprawling ambitions of the other chaebol. It focused on several related business sectors, including confectionery, food products, retail, hotels and leisure

Sep 7, 2016By John Burton

John Burton

Keep calm and carry on

By John BurtonWill Korea be the next Asian country after Japan to embark on an unconventional monetary policy to boost the economy? Some are predicting that the Bank of Korea could cut its base rate from the current 1.25% to 0.75% by the first quarter of next year.Although that falls short of the extreme monetary measures pursued by Japan and the European Central Bank among others as they pump money into the financial system to encourage lending and revitalize growth, slashing interest rates by the BOK could continue if the economy does not recover, some analysts predict.But others disagree about that gloomy assessment. S&P, the credit rating agency, recently raised its credit rating for Korea. “Although Korea’s GDP growth in the next three to five years will be slower than its growth before the 2008 global financial crisis, we believe its prospects are superior to those of most developed economies,” it said.A cut in interest rates instead should be seen as a short-term fix to support increased government spending, while weakening the won to promote exports agai

Aug 24, 2016By John Burton

John Burton

Lessons of Euromissile crisis

By John BurtonIn the early 1980s, Western Europe was engulfed in a political crisis over the U.S. deployment of Pershing II and cruise missiles to counter a move by the Soviet Union to base SS-20 theater ballistic missiles in Eastern Europe.I’m reminded of the lessons that event, known as the Euromissile crisis, holds as South Korea confronts China’s opposition over the planned deployment of the THAAD anti-missile system to counter North Korea’s nuclear program.U.S. President Jimmy Carter initially proposed in 1979 to deploy the U.S. missiles in West Germany and several other NATO allied countries if the Russians refused to negotiate the withdrawal of their SS-20s, which could reach their targets within minutes. He had the backing of the West German socialist chancellor Helmut Schmidt despite Bonn’s policy of seeking better ties with Moscow. But there was mounting public opposition to the plan, particularly after Ronald Reagan succeeded Carter as president in 1981. Soviet propagandists played on fears in Western Europe that the U.S. was embarking on

Aug 10, 2016By John Burton

John Burton

Trump bump

By John BurtonNorth Korea is often described as being unpredictable, but much the same can be said about Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump when he is talking about North Korea.Earlier this year Trump suggested that perhaps a mob-style hit could be arranged to take out Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader. But months later he was suggesting that he would be willing to meet Kim over hamburgers in Washington to find a solution to dealing with Pyongyang’s nuclear threat.Neither an ordered assassination nor a hamburger summit is likely to happen. But some of Trump’s other ideas regarding the Korean peninsula could see the light of day if he is elected president.Trump made headlines earlier this year in interviews suggesting that he would pull U.S. troops out of South Korea and Japan if these countries were unwilling to pay their “full” share of costs for enjoying American military protection. He added that South Korea and Japan could strengthen their own defense by acquiring nuclear weapons in the absence of a U.S. military presence.Such musings w

Jul 27, 2016By John Burton

John Burton

Oops...I did it again

By John Burton The sudden announcement that Korea has a new national slogan ― Creative Korea ― shows once again the pitfalls of leaving international branding decisions to a bunch of insular bureaucrats. For a country that now proclaims it is “creative,” the process reinforces the perception that Korea lacks creativity when it comes to branding itself. We have been down this road many times before with embarrassing results. “I.Seoul.U,” anyone?The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism claimed it received nearly 1.3 million submissions from the public when it asked them for keywords that summed up “Koreanness.” The main responses were “creativity, passion and harmony.”But asking Koreans to describe themselves and their country is not the best way to create a brand whose primary aim is to appeal to foreigners, whether they are tourists, businessmen or investors. Where was the foreign input in this process? Apparently there wasn’t much.The branding process appeared largely to be shrouded in secrecy, more so than the last brand

Jul 13, 2016By John Burton

John Burton

Korea in an uncertain world

By John Burton“Stop the World ― I Want to Get Off” was the name of a 1960s Broadway musical. It also sums my feelings in this year of Trump and Brexit.What the world ― at least the developed part of it ― is witnessing is a populist backlash against three global trends that have accelerated since the early 1980s.The first is globalization. The introduction of economic reforms in China in 1979 followed by the downfall of the Soviet empire a decade later created favorable conditions for the growth of free trade agreements and increased manufacturing offshoring to developing countries, particularly in Asia. Jobs disappeared in the industrial centers of the northern Midwest states of the U.S. and the engineering belts of the English Midlands. Factory workers there were left scrambling for low-paid service jobs.The second is the growth of automation, with the rise of the digital economy in the 1980s. Many tasks are now being increasinglyperformed by computers or factory robots. Displaced factory workers will soon find that even getting a low-paid service job at a fast food

Jun 29, 2016By John Burton

John Burton

Clinton and North Korea

By John BurtonKorea watchers in Washington DC are debating what policy Hillary Clinton will adopt toward North Korea if she is elected the next president of the United States as I found out during a recent visit to the nation’s capital.Her stance is being closely watched since North Korea is likely to receive a higher priority in her administration than it did under President Barack Obama, who pursued what has been called a position of “strategic patience” by largely ignoring the North Korean issue for eight years as he focused on dealing with the growing power and possible nuclear breakout of Iran in the Middle East.“The US government can’t handle more than three or four major issues at the same time and North Korea didn’t make it into that top list as the Obama was preoccupied with other issues,” such as reviving the US economy and responding to growing instability in the Middle East, according to Marcus Noland, executive vice-president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, who has written extensively on North Korea.In

Jun 15, 2016By John Burton

John Burton

Minder gap

By John BurtonTo paraphrase Captain Renault in the movie Casablanca: I was shocked, shocked to learn that the foreign media scrum that recently descended on Pyongyang to cover the Korean Worker’s Party was subject to tight control by their minders.This at least appeared to be news to the 130 foreign journalists who were invited to North Korea, judging by the kvetching they expressed on social media and which rapidly become a dominant theme in their coverage.Really, how could they be surprised? It almost suggests a touching sense of naivety to assume otherwise. Moreover, many of those on the media trip are well-seasoned Korea hands, having already traipsed to North Korea several times before and having been subject to the standard tour of Pyongyang, including factories, museums, theJuche Tower and showcase department stores.Perhaps they thought this time would be different, taking the official government invitation as an indication that they would be allowed into the Party Congress to witness the ceremonial crowning of Kim Jong-un. Instead, they were carted off to an electric ca

May 18, 2016By John Burton

John Burton

Korea's economic frog

By John BurtonI spoke recently with a former presidential economic advisor who compared the economic situation in 1997 with the current one. While the corporate debt crisis in 1997 led to a sudden economic implosion, he predicted a gradual deterioration in economic conditions this time. “It’s like the famous story of the frog being slowly boiled alive in a pot of water. He only realizes too late what is happening.”If that is the case, then we should recognize that the heat of the water has just gone up a few degrees. The crisis facing the shipping and shipbuilding industries is a clear warning that Korea is beginning to be boiled alive as the global economy slows down. That, of course, is not the only economic challenge facing the country. There is climbing youth unemployment, eye-watering household debt, unaffordable housing and a growing number of the elderly who appear to be heading for poverty because they lack adequate pensions or savings.In dealing with these issues, the political class appears to be largely clueless. The candidates and parties in the rec

May 4, 2016By John Burton

John Burton

Social democratic moment?

By John BurtonHas the progressive wave that swept the left-wing Syriza party into power in Greece, elected Jeremy Corbyn as the leader of the British Labor Party, and supported the insurgency of Bernie Sanders as the U.S.  Democratic Party presidential candidate reached Korea? That would appear to be the case based on the surprise victory of the opposition in the April 13 parliamentary elections.For the first time in 16 years, the center-left has captured parliamentary control, possibly ushering in a new era of social democratic policy. Korea has only had one previous period of such rule during  the presidencies of Kim Dae-Jung and Roh Moo-hyun between 1999 and 2009.What delivered parliament to the Minjoo and People’s parties was a groundswell of support among those between their 20s and 40s who are angry about growing income inequality and youth unemployment. These are the same factors behind the rise of Syriza, Corbyn and Sanders.Despite the strong role of the state in postwar Korea that began with the dictatorship of Park Chung-hee, the government has done rel

Apr 20, 2016By John Burton

John Burton

Read more

Challenging the chaebol

Keep calm and carry on

Lessons of Euromissile crisis

Trump bump

Oops...I did it again

Korea in an uncertain world

Clinton and North Korea

Minder gap

Korea's economic frog

Social democratic moment?

Top 5 stories