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CEO & Publisher: Oh Young-jinDigital News Email: webmaster@koreatimes.co.krTel: 02-724-2114Online newspaper registration No: 서울,아52844Date of registration: 2020.02.05Masthead: The Korea TimesCopyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.

ED Taxi fare hike

Time to be more proactive toward innovation, new industries The Seoul Metropolitan Government has announced plans to raise taxi fares to help alleviate the chronic taxi shortage at night. The basic taxi fare is expected to rise from the current 3,800 won ($2.80) for the first 2 kilometers to 4,800 won for 1.6 kilometers. The taxi meter will also rise faster, with the fare increasing by 100 won for either 131 meters or 30 seconds, compared with the current 100 won per 132 meters or 31 seconds.The late-night premium rate is likely to change, too. Currently, taxis in Seoul charge 20 percent more for rides between midnight and 4 a.m. The new measures, however, will enable cabs to charge 20 percent to 40 percent more for late-night rides, with the premium-rate time bracket set to start two hours earlier. Taken together, Seoul's taxi fares are expected to soar by about 30 percent.However, skeptics claim that the fare hike alone will do little to ease the taxi shortage and only result in a greater financial burden on the part of passengers. It's no secret that the government's policy failur

Sep 5, 2022

ED Comply with summons

DPK leader should tell truth about alleged liesRep. Lee Jae-myung, new leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), should comply with a summons issued by the prosecution as part of efforts to shed light on allegations that he lied during the presidential campaign. He has no reason to refuse to cooperate in confirming whether the allegations are true or not. If he snubs the summons without sufficient reason, he may face a public backlash for his attempt to disregard the country's criminal justice system.On Thursday, the prosecution requested that Lee, who was newly elected chairman of the liberal opposition party on Aug. 28, appear for questioning Tuesday. Immediately he and his party strongly protested the summons, denouncing the investigation as “political retaliation” and “oppression against the opposition party.” It could be understandable that Lee and the DPK have shown angry reactions to the summons because the probe is targeting the former presidential candidate. Yet it is absurd to claim that the investigation is politically charged.F

Sep 4, 2022

ED Vicious online sex crimes

Police must speed up arrests to prevent further damageThe police have launched an investigation into an online sexual crime in which the perpetrators produced and distributed materials sexually exploiting minors on messenger app Telegram. Besides the prime suspect, identified as “L,” at least eight individuals joined the crime as accomplices, and more than 350 sexual exploitation videos and photos have been confirmed. Barely three years after the notorious “Nth Room” incident caused uproar in Korean society and left numerous victims, a similar crime has been uncovered.“L” and the other suspects used even more secretive and nefarious tricks than in the Nth Room crimes. Unlike Nth Room, which was operated cliquishly as a fixed chatroom, the perpetrators in this case avoided surveillance by changing accounts and moving rooms frequently. The perpetrators even impersonated the trackers of online sex abusers when approaching minors. The police have activated a task force to investigate but are getting nowhere. The officers cannot identify the distributor

Sep 4, 2022

ED BTS military duty in dispute

Defense Ministry slammed for lack of responsibility The Ministry of National Defense has taken flaks for having rekindled a dispute over the possible military service exemption for K-pop superstar group BTS. On Wednesday, Minister Lee Jong-sup told lawmakers he has ordered officials to carry out a public survey to help determine whether to apply such special treatment to the boy band. In the face of growing backlash, however, Lee attempted to downplay his earlier statement by saying, Thursday, “We only planned to gauge the views of the people and do not plan to implement (such an exemption) according to the survey results.” His comments came in response to queries from lawmakers during the ongoing National Assembly session. It is disappointing for the defense ministry to attempt to determine the hot-button issue based on the public survey without acting more responsibly. It is equivalent to passing the buck to the people. The ministry should respect the rules and principles for implementing military manpower policies rather than trying to read the minds of the public. Mil

Sep 2, 2022

ED Soaring trade deficit

Time to map out new strategy for sustainable growthSouth Korea has posted a snowballing trade deficit, dealing a severe blow to the export-oriented economy. The shortfall reached $9.47 billion last month, the largest amount since the country began compiling trade data in 1956, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on Thursday.No less problematic is that the trade imbalance has lasted for five consecutive months, a setback not seen since 2008 during the global financial crisis. The downward march is expected to continue for the time being as the global trade environment has become worse due to mounting downside risks such as soaring energy prices, higher interest rates and the weakening Korean won against the U.S. dollar.The widening trade imbalance was the result of surging imports which eclipsed export growth. In August, Korea's exports increased 6.6 percent year-on-year to $56.67 billion. However, its imports surged 28.2 percent to $66.15 billion. The gap stemmed mainly from the high prices of oil and gas amid the prolonged Russian war in Ukraine. Energy imports s

Sep 1, 2022

ED Pitiable investment loss

NPS should revamp operating personnel, strategyThe National Pension Service said it posted an 8 percent investment loss for the first half of this year. The six-month loss totaled 76.7 trillion won ($57 billion), a sum sufficient to give pensions to all recipients for about two and a half years. The state pension fund attributed its poor investment returns to plunging stock markets at home and abroad due to global monetary tightening and Russia's war in Ukraine.Citing how some foreign pension funds' investments lost more than 10 percent in the same period, NPS officials said that their own performance was not particularly bad. However, chances are slim that the state pension fund's operating returns will improve, considering the grim outlook for global and local capital markets amid the continuous interest rate hikes in the U.S. and concerns about a business slump in major economies.Actually, a bigger problem lies within the NPS, as the pension service is rocking on its foundations, which include personnel management and investment strategy. Now is the time for the government to disc

Sep 1, 2022

ED Verdict on Lone Star case

Government seeks to appeal compensation orderAn international tribune has ordered South Korea to pay $216.5 million to the Texas-based private equity firm Lone Star Funds, virtually putting an end to the decade-long legal battle. The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) announced its decision in an investment-state dispute, according to the justice ministry on Tuesday. However, the ministry expressed regret, saying it is considering appealing the decision. The compensation accounts for 4.6 percent of the $4.68 billion the equity fund demanded from the Korean government. Due to the relatively small portion of compensation, it may be safe to say the Korean government has coped well with the legal case. Yet, the ICSID instructed South Korea to pay aggregated interests of about $74.1 million under the one-month U.S. Treasury rate calculated from Dec. 3, 2011, to the date of payment.This means the country needs to pay a total of around $290 million to the equity firm. The firm has claimed that the bid to sell its controlling stake in the now-dissolved Korea E

Aug 31, 2022

ED Belated but welcome ruling

Top court accepts state's compensation liability to 1970s activists The Supreme Court acknowledged the state's liability to compensate victims of an autocratic presidential decree enforced in the 1970s in its ruling Tuesday. The top court made the ruling in a lawsuit filed against the state by 71 people who served prison terms for violating Presidential Emergency Decree No. 9 during the regime of Park Chung-hee, and their bereaved families.“State liability for compensation can be recognized for damages suffered by individuals who underwent coercive investigations or served prison sentences after being convicted under the emergency decree,” the Supreme Court said, noting that the decree, which was enforced in May 1975 to prohibit all politically motivated activities and gatherings, violated people's basic rights and can be seen as an illegal act under civil law.Tuesday's ruling is a reversal of the top court's previous verdict reached seven years ago on the state's liability to the victims of the same decree. In 2015, the Supreme Court didn't recognize the state's compensa

Aug 31, 2022

ED Focus on fiscal health

2023 budget plan calls for belt-tighteningThe Yoon Suk-yeol administration's 2023 budget plan marks a shift to fiscal austerity from the previous government's fiscal expansion. The shift is a step in the right direction as the country has shifted to a belt-tightening mode to cope with runaway inflation, the weakening local currency against the U.S. dollar, and higher interest rates.On Tuesday, the Yoon government approved a 639 trillion won ($473.5 billion) budget for next year. The proposed amount is up 5.2 percent from this year's budget of 607.7 trillion won, the lowest growth rate since the annual outlays rose by 3.7 percent in 2017. However, the sum represents a 6 percent fall from this year's total expenditures of 679.5 trillion won that included two rounds of extra budgets.It is the first time since 2010 that the government has decided to cut down on the total expenditures. Under the new budget bill, the Yoon administration plans to cut non-core expenditures by a record 24 trillion won in 2023. This reduction is aimed at regaining fiscal soundness. The government is seeking to

Aug 30, 2022

ED Birthrate continues to fall

Bolder steps must be taken urgently to avoid demographic crisisKorea's total fertility rate fell to a record low last year, Statistics Korea reported last week. The average number of children a Korean woman bears in her lifetime stood at a mere 0.81, further down from 0.84 the previous year. The number of newborns also remained at 260,600, less than half of 560,000 two decades ago. Korea is the only nation with a birthrate below 1.0 among the 38 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, with its fertility rate barely more than half of the OECD's average of 1.59.It's a small surprise that Korea is receiving numerous warnings about its population from experts abroad. The country even reported the first fall in its population in 2020, eight years earlier than predicted. Moreover, Korea is experiencing the side effects a falling birthrate, such as a steep decline in the working-age population who are major economic players and taxpayers, an early depletion of national pension funds due to rapid population aging, a dwindling workforce, and rises in various cost

Aug 30, 2022
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