Opinion - The Korea Times

ED Seeking balanced diplomacy

Two news items drew diplomatic watchers’ attention over the weekend.

Sep 24, 2023

ED Medical school craze

Being a doctor is now the most desired career in the eyes of young Koreans and their parents.

Sep 21, 2023

ED Call for climate justice together

Climate change is not only about weatherBy Jang DaulOn Sept. 19, the U.N. secretary-general delivered his address to the 78th U.N. General Assembly in New York. The full speech is worth a read if you are concerned about “the most immediate threat to our future: our overheating planet” as the UNSG said.From the perspective of climate justice, I greatly sympathized with the following parts of the speech. “Thousands of people in Derna, Libya lost their lives in epic, unprecedented flooding. Even now, as we speak, bodies are washing ashore from the same Mediterranean Sea where billionaires sunbathe on their super yachts.”As the chief administrative officer of the U.N. said, climate change is not just a change in the weather. “Global boiling” literally affects every aspect of the lives of people, plants and animals on our only planet.Fortunately, you and I in South Korea have survived the hottest summer in 2018, the longest monsoon in 2020, the longest wildfire in 2022 and the devastating flood in 2023. However, unfortunately, some of our neighbors have

Sep 20, 2023

ED Huge tax hole

Populistic tax cuts destroy economy, fiscal healthOn Monday, the government admitted it could collect 59.1 trillion won ($44.5 billion) less tax than initially estimated this year. The revised revenue estimate of 341.4 trillion won falls 14.8 percent short of the original projection of 400.5 tillion won. Both the most significant estimation error and the nearly 60 trillion won revenue gap are unprecedented.Government budgeters attributed the largest-ever tax hole to a slower-than-expected economic recovery and the dormant real estate market. This is true ― but only to a certain extent. The export slump eroded corporate tax payments, and sluggish property transactions slashed capital gains tax.Yet, the weak growth and slowing housing market had been expected. What officials of the Ministry of Economy and Finance did not acknowledge were the harmful effects of tax cuts on the overall economy and fiscal health. The Yoon Suk Yeol administration's tax cuts for the top 1 percent on the income ladder will reduce revenue by 6.2 trillion won this year alone. Only a tiny share of it will be re

Sep 19, 2023

ED Appalling data manipulation

Thorough probes needed to reveal truthThe previous Moon Jae-in administration has taken flak for allegedly manipulating economic data to conceal policy failures. The Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) said Friday that key policymakers of the Moon government had engaged in distorting various statistics on home prices, income & distribution and employment.The BAI requested prosecutors to launch investigations into 22 figures, including four policy chiefs of the previous presidential office. They are Jang Ha-sung, Kim Su-hyun, Kim Sang-jo and Lee Ho-seung ― and Land Minister Kim Hyun-mi. The BAI claimed that the presidential office pressured the land ministry, Statistics Korea and the Korea Real Estate Board (REB) to manipulate relevant data in favor of the Moon administration.This was all done to make it look as if the government's policies to tame soaring apartment prices were successful. The presidential office and the ministry ordered the REB to “cook” apartment price data announced every week at least 94 times from 2017 to 2021, the BAI noted. They also exerted und

Sep 18, 2023

ED Dangerous deal

Defense and diplomacy should go hand in hand North Korean leader Kim Jong-un left Russia Sunday, heading back to Pyongyang nearly a week after he left it.The postmortem of Kim's weeklong stay in Russia focuses on what he will get in return for providing additional munitions to Moscow for its war in Ukraine. The Kremlin made two conflicting remarks in this regard.On the one hand, it emphasized that President Vladimir Putin made no agreements with his North Korean counterpart. On the other, however, it hinted that the two countries could “cooperate in sensitive areas that cannot be made public.”It was a thinly veiled threat that Russia would help North Korea militarily, especially in areas that require advanced technology. Putin also stressed Russia would not violate any agreements regarding the Korean Peninsula. However, he made it clear that Moscow could help Pyongyang's development of satellites (technology that is identical to developing ICBMs).For South Korea and the U.S., the Kim-Putin summit was a preview of how they can counter the Seoul-Washington alliance. Kim's v

Sep 17, 2023

ED Excessive concessions

Gov't should continue to raise issue of past with Japan “The Japanese government has formally apologized to 'comfort women' and 'forced labor' victims and acknowledged the facts of wrongdoing.”That is part of the controversial opinion paper submitted to the ongoing 54th United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR) conference in Geneva, Switzerland. Its author is not the Japanese but the Korean government. The paper also said the Korean government has resolved or is resolving most past issues. But that raises some serious questions. Will former sex slaves mobilized by the Japanese Imperial Army and forced laborers agree? Why must the Korean government take the place of its Japanese counterpart to resolve historical issues? Should the former victims of colonization settle the past instead of the colonialists?It was only natural that Korean NGOs stepped up to disclose and refute Seoul's opinion paper. “Not only has the Japanese government not offered a formal apology to the victims, but it denies committing crimes against humanity while not recognizing the victims' rig

Sep 14, 2023

ED Secretive Kim-Putin summit

Talks have significant implications for South, North KoreaBy Troy StangaroneRussian leader Vladimir Putin held a summit with his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong-un Wednesday at Vostochny Cosmodrome, Russia's Far East space launch facility. The two leaders discussed an agreement that could significantly alter the relationship between North Korea and Russia, but that will also have substantial implications for South Korea.After more than a year and a half of war, Russia is going through artillery at an unsustainable rate. Estimates suggest that Russia has fired more than 10 million artillery shells in the last year alone. Despite investing in new production, Russia lacks the ability to sustain this pace without outside support. Estimates suggest Russia is currently unable to produce even 2 million artillery shells a year―well short of its current firing rate.To maintain its fight in Ukraine, Russia needs to find outside sources to replenish its stocks. To do this, Moscow has largely turned to countries already under sanctions while other potential suppliers, such as China, have been

Sep 13, 2023

ED Protect households in crisis

Steps urgent to plug welfare loopholes for underprivilegedThe other day, a woman, 41, was found dead at a tenement in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province. An autopsy revealed that the cause of death was arteriosclerosis. Her child, lying unconscious next to the decomposed body, had not eaten for days. The toddler reportedly woke up in the hospital crying and asking for her mother. Police believe that the family had been suffering financially for a long time. The woman had no steady job and was in arrears on electricity, gas and rent, as shown by heaps of bills amid her garbage. The discovery would have been delayed had it not been for her landlord's report of no contact with the tenant. The boy's fate could also have been different.Thus, this society has lost another “crisis household.”The term was coined in 2014 when a woman and her two adult daughters took their own lives in Seoul, leaving a note saying they were sorry and paying some overdue bills. Two more similar tragedies occurred last year.Even more regretful in the latest case was the mother and child were already regi

Sep 12, 2023

ED Soaring oil prices

Concerns grow over resurgence of inflationary pressureOil prices are picking up steam, stoking fears of plunging global economies into a whirlpool again. The recent spike in crude prices has mainly been initiated by Saudi Arabia and Russia, the second and third largest oil producers, respectively. They have decided to prolong their previous plans to curtail oil production until the end of this year. Alarmed by the unexpected announcement, international oil prices, including Brent crude oil, broke $90 a barrel, Friday. Some experts forecast global oil prices will reach $100 by the year-end should the current trend continue.The two nations have sought to extend the output cut as part of efforts to stave off a possible price decline amid prospects of sluggish oil consumption exacerbated by a protracted economic slowdown in China. Russia is now eager to secure enough money to finance its war against Ukraine, desperate to prevent crude prices from dropping. Saudi Arabia has been reluctant to increase oil output despite being touted by the United States, with whom it is at odds.Oil prices

Sep 11, 2023

Editorial