Opinion - The Korea Times

ED Korea Inc. at crossroads

It's time to discuss stable and sustainable growthThe Korean economy is a total mess.Economic policymakers will deny it. However, most Koreans, especially working-class people, think so.The growth rate remains below the average of the OECD, a club of mostly wealthy nations, while exports fall, consumer prices rise, debts swell, the property bubble remains, real wages stay the same, and the income gap widens.At an emergency meeting on July 4, the government presented three goals ― reinvigorate economic vitality, improve the economic structure, and stabilize public livelihood ― for the second half of this year. From an abstract standpoint, these pledges, although repetitive, may be OK. But they are unlikely to become a reality.President Yoon Suk Yeol's economic policies go in opposite ways. Yoon sticks to fiscal austerity and tax cuts for big businesses and wealthy individuals, while merely stressing the importance of supporting the public's livelihood. His officials lowered the growth target for 2023, but offered no stimulus measures. Their economic policies lack three things ― vision

Jul 16, 2023

ED Inter-Korean relations at precipice

Koreas must stop escalating tensions, resume dialogueNorth Korea is behaving erratically ― yet again.On Thursday, Pyongyang officially confirmed that it has fired a Hwasung-18 intercontinental ballistic missile as Kim Jong-un looked on. After the launch, Kim threatened to “continue military offensive until the U.S. abandons its hostile policy,” according to the Korean Central News Agency. But missile brinkmanship only increases hostility. It does not reduce it.The missile flew for 74 minutes at an altitude of over 6,000 km, meaning it can hit the continental U.S. if fired normally. Some say the North has tested its road-mobile ICBM, a type of solid-fuel weapon. If so, it is harder to detect and intercept than liquid-fuel ICBMs.Aside from the marginal advancement from Hwasung-17 launched three months ago, the latest provocation was noteworthy for two reasons. First, it came after Kim Yo-jong, sister and spokeswoman for the North Korean leader, threatened to shoot down U.S. spy planes flying over its exclusive economic zone. The younger Kim initially claimed the U.S. intrud

Jul 13, 2023

ED Antidote to AI hype

Transparency essential to regulate tech advancementBy Daniel ShinAI is a powerful technology that can have significant impacts on various aspects of society, such as the economy, politics, security and ethics. Therefore, it is important to have a check-and-balance system as AI expands exponentially to ensure its innovative but safe and ethical use.Some experts suggest that AI systems must be compartmentalized regarding their functions and domains, to prevent the concentration of power and influence in a few tech powerhouses. This could help balance the power dynamics of AI across different sectors and stakeholders. In order to get there, we must design AI systems with human oversight, accountability and technological transparency in mind. Technological transparency implies that AI systems must be auditable, comprehensible and easily understood by human beings at varying levels of comprehension and expertise as the European Commission rightly said. However, is it fair for those who have poured money into their AI ventures to develop state-of-the-art technologies? The government could

Jul 12, 2023

ED Nuclear power renaissance

Korea should pursue balanced energy mix with renewables The Yoon Suk Yeol government is speeding up its switch from renewables to nuclear energy for Korea's “green transition.”“Many private companies stressed the need to expand electricity supply capacity, including building new nuclear power plants,” the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said Monday.The statement came after Minister Lee Chang-yang chaired the 29th Energy Committee meeting. By introducing proposals made by private companies, the ministry effectively formalized the construction of new nuclear power plants. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) has also decided to accelerate the 11th Power Supply and Demand Plan timeline, originally due in 2025. After he took office 14 months ago, Yoon repealed his predecessor's nuclear phase-out policy. But Yoon has mainly remained content with extending the operational life of old atomic power plants and resuming the construction of suspended ones. His government is now going further by building new atomic power plants. However, it must thin

Jul 11, 2023

ED Stricter assessment needed

Efforts should continue to verify safety of treated water It's not the end at all. It's just the beginning. Controversy is expected to flare up persistently despite the recent visit here by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi. He met with lawmakers of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) Sunday to highlight the safety of the treated radioactive water Japan is eager to release into the Pacific Ocean. Yet his bid faced fierce repercussions from the DPK members and other civic activists.Grossi renewed his earlier stance that Japan's release plan is consistent with international standards. He vowed to have IAEA officials stay in Japan for the coming decades to closely watch whether the potential water discharge is made as promised. He said the IAEA has already set up a branch office in Fukushima. In reaction, DPK members criticized the IAEA for having infringed upon the sovereignty of neighboring countries by attempting to justify Japan's plan to discharge the wastewater. They described the IAEA's report as “tailored for Japan” with the goal of coming

Jul 10, 2023

ED China strikes back

Ensure economic security amid G2 tech warThe tech battle between the U.S. and China has entered the second round, with China striking back.On July 3, China said it will impose export controls next month on gallium and germanium, two metals used in high-end semiconductors. Beijing took out a sword of resource control to fight against Washington's tech control.The move came days before U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen visited Beijing to discuss economic issues. China wanted to gain the upper hand using resource exports as leverage.Both countries cite “national security” to justify their protectionist moves. However, the rest of the world knows that the G2 nations intend to pursue global economic hegemony. Countries go all out to protect their economic security and maximize national interests. In this post-globalization world split into democratic and authoritarian blocs, both sides show signs of crossing over to the other camp.A notable exception is Korea.The industry ministry said China's planned export restriction on the two metals essential for chips, solar panels an

Jul 9, 2023

ED An unscrupulous neighbor

What happened to Japan's reason and pride?Barring an 11th-hour reversal, Japan will begin the release of radioactive wastewater into the ocean as early as next month.It must not.A BBC documentary shows that the disaster at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in March 2011 was a “human disaster.” In 2008, top managers in Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO) snubbed an insider's proposal to raise a breakwater because a magnitude-9 earthquake could result in the plant being struck by a tsunami 12 to 15 meters tall. It became a reality. A power outage caused by a saturated reactor caused its meltdown then. But TEPCO managers, fearing economic losses, resisted injecting seawater to cool the reactor cores, losing an opportunity for a quick fix. In 2018, the company claimed all radionuclides other than tritium were filtered out by the Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS). However, it was revealed later that 70 percent of the contaminated water it treated contained radioactivity above the standard level. All this shows why one must consider TEPCO's credibility and

Jul 6, 2023

ED Time for 'K-diplomacy'

Significant increase in official development assistance should be first step By Kim Won-sooThese days, there is plenty of buzz around South Korea's popular culture, sometimes called “K-culture,” which comprises a wide variety of domains such as K-pop, K-movies, K-dramas, K-food, K-beauty and so on.There could be many factors at work behind the dramatic surge of K-culture. One of the most fundamental reasons could be because K-pop or K-culture more generally has found universal appeal ― with Korean characteristics ― among people around the world, especially the younger generations.We could potentially apply this idea to international politics and start thinking about “K-diplomacy.” Korea could make a meaningful contribution on the global diplomatic stage by tapping into a set of its strengths, with both universal and regional appeal.Globally, South Korea is one of the few exemplary cases to overcome both economic and political backwardness following the end of World War II. In 2021, Korea was reclassified by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Developmen

Jul 5, 2023

ED Koreas growing apart

Unification will never come suddenly Government ministries often undergo changes in their organizations and even missions when political power shifts.A case in point is the Ministry of Unification.Progressive governments beefed up their workforces to expand inter-Korean exchanges. In contrast, conservative ones trimmed it to a bare-bones level.In an extreme case, the 2008-13 Lee Myung-bak administration tried to abolish the ministry by merging it with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Faced with an intense backlash, he later settled for personnel trimming. However, even Lee did not attempt to change the ministry's mission from the ground up ― as his conservative successor is trying to do now.“So far, the unification ministry has operated as if it were a supporting agency for North Korea. That shouldn't be the case anymore,” President Yoon Suk Yeol told his staff on Sunday. “It's time for the ministry to change.” Yoon said so days after he appointed Kim Yung-ho, a far-right ideologue and former aide to Lee, as unification minister. Kim calls for reunifying this

Jul 4, 2023

ED First trade surplus in 16 months

Close monitoring of export market, global economy urgent Korea's trade balance swung to a surplus in June after being in the red for 15 straight months. According to data released by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Saturday, Korea's outbound shipments stood at $54.2 billion in June, down 6.0 percent from a year earlier. Imports decreased 11.7 percent to $53.11 billion.This development shows that, amid an extended slump in trade, the drop in imports was more drastic than that the fall in exports, resulting in a surplus. Korea had suffered a trade deficit since March of last year, which was the second-longest on record after being in the red for 29 straight months between January 1995 and May 1997. June's performance is significant because it indicates a departure from an extended deficit. However, it remains to be seen whether the current shift to a surplus will be sustained for a considerable period. It appears premature to expect a rosy outlook straight away. This is because the nation's outbound shipments have yet to fully recover. A sharp drop in global energy prices h

Jul 3, 2023

Editorial