Opinion - The Korea Times

ED Respect for bereaved families

Jan 31, 2024

ED Ensuring workplace safety

Following a two-year grace period, the Serious Accidents Punishment Act (SAPA) came into effect on Saturday for smaller businesses. This regulation applies to companies with fewer than 50 employees, encompassing 837,000 firms and impacting approximately 8 million employees nationwide.

Jan 30, 2024

ED Food security on alert

The World Food Summit in 1996 first defined food security as basic access to an adequate amount of food needed for an active and healthy life. Concern Worldwide U.S., a global charity advocacy NGO, describes on its website: “Food security is a basic human right. However, for hundreds of millions of people, this right is not being met.”

Jan 29, 2024

ED Horrific attacks on politicians

Rep. Bae Hyun-jin of the ruling People Power Party (PPP) was discharged from the hospital on Saturday after she was attacked in the head by a teenager on Thursday. It is fortunate that the damage was not life-threatening and she remained conscious before being taken to Soonchunhyang University Seoul Hospital nearby.

Jan 28, 2024

ED Yoon-Han discord unresolved

President Yoon Suk Yeol and Han Dong-hoon, the interim leader of the ruling People Power Party (PPP), share a short-term goal: winning the April 10 general elections. If people share a goal, they have less reason to fight. But some do, particularly when their ideas on how to achieve it are poles apart and both are so hardheaded that neither side is ready to make concessions. When their ideas have little in common, it’s tough to narrow their differences.

Jan 25, 2024

ED Dire warnings

Nothing would be more likely to grab the attention of the Korea-watcher community than a forecast by two of the most respected American experts on North Korea — and relatively dovish ones to boot — that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has made the “strategic decision to go to war” by attacking South Korea.

Jan 24, 2024

ED Caregiving crisis

Sadly, there are instances that reveal an overwhelming sense of despair, often manifested in what can only be described as "caregiver murder." These distressing incidents consistently evoke a collective feeling of helplessness and defeat. Just this month in Daegu, a man in his 50s was found dead outside an apartment after killing his father. He left behind a note pleading for others to search for the body of his father, who suffered from dementia, inside their apartment unit. The prolonged burden of caring for his ailing father drove him to make the extreme choice. Similarly, last October, a father in his 60s took the life of his 30-something son, who had been grappling with a brain injury for most of his life, and attempted unsuccessfully to end his own life.

Jan 23, 2024

ED Putin's visit to N. Korea imminent

Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his willingness to visit Pyongyang soon, North Korea’s state media reported Sunday. The North’s official Korean Central News Agency said Putin accepted an invitation from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during a meeting with visiting North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui on Jan. 16.

Jan 22, 2024

ED Risky transfer of spy probe jurisdiction

The understaffed police force and their seemingly limited experience in counterespionage investigations are becoming potential issues, as the police have assumed investigative authority for potential violations of the National Security Law from the National Intelligence Service (NIS). The transfer of jurisdiction took effect on Jan. 1, prompting concerns about whether the police are adequately prepared to effectively trace and apprehend espionage suspects, particularly in addressing security threats leading up to the April 10 elections.

Jan 21, 2024

[ED] Risky transfer of spy probe jurisdiction

ED Hostile rhetoric crosses line

In a strongly-worded statement, North Korea is heightening tensions on the Korean Peninsula by issuing threats to occupy South Korea in the event of a war. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has directed the removal of expressions such as "peaceful unification and grand national integration" from the Constitution. Instead, he emphasized the necessity of officially designating the South as the "primary foe." Kim was quoted on Tuesday by the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), stating, "The republic will firmly retaliate against our enemies by mobilizing all available military forces, including nuclear weapons."

Jan 18, 2024

Editorial