Opinion - The Korea Times

ED 'K-care' dilemma

Nation must increase doctors and improve reward systemKorea's healthcare system was exemplary until a few years ago. It was easy to access, had skilled physicians and was cheap to use.Suddenly, it seems to be a mess.Emergency patients die in ambulances, as some accident and emergency departments failed to accept them. Parents with feverish children must wait hours to see a doctor. Even the nation's largest hospital failed to save one of its own nurses who suffered a stroke, due to the lack of cerebrovascular surgeons.Doctors have for now just thwarted the attempts of nurses, who are looking to improve clarity regarding their responsibilities with a separate law, by threatening to walk out. Instead, nurses are on partial strike, refusing to play the role of assistants to physicians.Bureaucrats at the Ministry of Health and Welfare are unable or unwilling to right the wrong. The bloated ministry is not good at either health or welfare administration. It is led by a former finance ministry official parachuted in only a year ago. Politicians appear only to be concerned about the effects

Jun 4, 2023

ED North's spy satellite

Seoul residents alarmed by false alertFor half an hour early Wednesday morning, Seoulites got a sense of what life is like for their counterparts in Kyiv, Ukraine. It started with a siren at 6:32 a.m. Many residents of the capital woke up surprised and some early birds stopped on their way to work. They turned on the TV or accessed the internet. There were no emergency news broadcasts and Naver was out of service due to heavy traffic.At 6:41 a.m., nine minutes later, people received a mobile phone alert telling them to prepare to evacuate, prioritizing the elderly and children. There were no reasons given explaining the evacuation alert or instructions on where to seek refuge. Soon, broadcasters aired the news that North Korea fired what it claimed was a rocket carrying a satellite. Still, confusion continued as people did not know what to do. At 7:03 a.m., the interior ministry retracted the alert, saying the metropolitan government sent it by mistake. At 7:25 a.m., City Hall officially canceled its alert. That meant the previous alert was not a false alarm.It was a mess for 31 minu

Jun 1, 2023

ED Increasingly difficult life

Government must loosen purse strings to help the poorA double whammy of the economic slowdown and inflation is having an impact on low- and middle-income households.According to Statistics Korea's household survey, six in 10 families saw their real, or inflation-adjusted, income stagnate or set back in the first quarter. Those in the bottom 20 percent of the income bracket suffered a monthly deficit of 461,000 won ($350) on average, the largest since 2006, when the government began to compile related figures. The Economic Misery Index, (the jobless rate plus inflation) soared to 8.8, the highest since 1999 after the Asian currency crisis.All this occurred under a government whose slogan is to revive the public's livelihoods. Economic officials predict the situation will turn around in the second half of the year, but private economists say otherwise. This likely indicates that things will worsen for many months before getting any better. What went wrong?Granted, the Yoon Suk Yeol administration started amid an unfavorable economic environment of the “three highs” ― a high

May 31, 2023

ED Office of Immigration

Korea should be open, diverse and inclusive society“The long-term risk to South Korea's economic growth is intensifying demographic pressure,” Moody's Investors Service said in its sovereign credit rating report last Thursday. It then advised Seoul to let more young foreign workers immigrate to Korea to boost productivity and balance the old-age support ratio, at least temporarily.Even ordinary Koreans know this is necessary. The question is how to do it and how fast it can be done.According to the global credit rating agency, Korea's growth potential will slow to 2.0 percent after 2025. A United Nations report also said Korea's economically active population aged 15-64, which increased 11 percent from 1998 to 2017, will decrease 24 percent during 2020 to 2040. The situation is urgent.Even if Korea manages to lift the world's lowest birthrate of 0.78, it will take at least 15 years for those births to begin to expand the country's working-age population.Expanding the female workforce is one possible path. But that has limitations due to mismatches in industrial sites. Wom

May 30, 2023

ED Bid for UNSC seat

More efforts needed to win nonpermanent status South Korea has thrown its hat into the ring to become a nonpermanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). The U.N. General Assembly will hold a vote, June 6, to choose the new 2024-2025 council members. Seoul is the single candidate representing the Asia-Pacific region. It previously sat on the council in 1996-1997 and 2013-2014.Of the five new seats up for grabs, Algeria and Sierra Leone are running for Africa's two seats while Guyana is the only candidate of Latin America. Slovenia and Belarus are competing for a single seat for Eastern Europe. Since South Korea was approved as the only candidate by the U.N. Asia Pacific group last year, it appears to have secured far greater chances to win the nonpermanent status.To be selected, any nation should garner support from two thirds (more than 128 countries) of the 193 U.N. member states. Despite the prevailing view that Seoul will become a member state, there is still opposition to such a bid. The disadvantages include escalating conflicts between the United States and Ch

May 29, 2023

ED Escalating chip war

Seoul needs confident approach and elaborate strategyThe Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) trade ministers' meeting in Detroit, Mich., last week was quite noteworthy. Drawing our attention was the Korea-China talk held on its sidelines. Afterward, the Chinese side issued a press release that focused on an agreement to “strengthen dialogue and cooperation in the semiconductor industry and supply networks.” Korea's news release was a little different. It said Seoul asked for Beijing's attention and support to the stable supply of critical raw materials and parts for smooth bilateral trade. Korea also emphasized the need for “mutual respect” and a “predictable business environment.” These were indirect expressions of discontent with China's use of trade as a retaliatory tool. China's somewhat hasty and unilateral press release reflected its anxiety about being alienated from the new, U.S.-led chip supply chain. Korea and the U.S. also discussed the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework. The two-day meeting signaled what will come in the next few yea

May 28, 2023

ED FKI's comeback

Stop being a conduit for collusion between politicians and businessesIt is hard to find a similar example around the world of a business association like the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI).The association was established in the 1960s to protect family-controlled conglomerates, or chaebol in Korean, from military dictators. Korea is now a democratic country, but chaebol have never been entirely free from political influence. The FKI has also served as a link for collusion between politicians and tycoons.The FKI has laid low in the past seven years since its involvement in the corruption scandal of impeached former President Park Geun-hye. Now, it is trying to come back under another business-friendly president.At the center of such efforts is its acting chairman, Kim Byong-joon. Last week, Kim unveiled a set of measures for reforming the FKI. Conscious of criticism about the chaebol lobby, he vowed to set up an ethics committee to avoid external interference. Kim also said he would rebrand it as a research-oriented organization, an economic think tank.The announcement was the r

May 25, 2023

ED Japan's resurgence

Tokyo must remember Asians' sufferings during WWIIKorea-Japan relations have never been as good as now in the last quarter of a century.Last Sunday, President Yoon Suk Yeol and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida paid tribute to Korean atomic bomb victims in Hiroshima for the first time.It was a brief ceremony that ended with a wreath and 10 seconds of silence. Seoul and Tokyo issued no official statements. However, the joint visit must have touched the hearts of Korean victims of the 1945 nuclear attack and consoled their souls. Japan had neglected the monument for Korean victims. Initially, Tokyo refused to allow it to enter the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. It was not until 1999 that the cenotaph was moved inside. Former Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, famous for his joint declaration with Kim Dae-jung, was the only Japanese leader to pay tribute to the memorial the same year. Korea hadn't done much better, as Yoon was the first president to visit there. The event was significant enough. However, the government cheapened its meaning with an overstretched comment, describing it as the &ldq

May 24, 2023

ED A diplomatic president

Time to think about balanced, practical approachesYoon Suk Yeol deserves to be called a “diplomatic president.”President Yoon held three summits with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in less than two months. Yoon met with U.S. President Joe Biden three times, including at two trilateral summits with Kishida, over the past half year. That is if their “two-minute” talks in Hiroshima on Sunday could be called a meeting. On the sidelines of the G7 summit in Japan during the “super week,” the Korean president held summits with 11 foreign counterparts, including the EU's leadership. Yoon's approval rating has rebounded to nearly 40 percent. Diplomacy is the principal reason for liking and disliking him.Numbers don't tell the whole story, of course. At the summit of Western leaders aimed at keeping China and Russia in check, Yoon was one of eight guests and was among the most active. He opposed China's attempts to change the status quo by force, criticized Russia's infringement on Ukraine's freedom and prosperity and rebuked North Korea's human right

May 23, 2023

ED Stern warning for Korea Inc.

Appalling future scenario due to rapid demographic decline Three major global credit ratings agencies have all come to the same appallingly dismal conclusion regarding the future of Korea Inc. They forecast that Korea will face its worst economic situation by 2050, as a result of its rapid demographic aging. They said that the looming crisis will result due to potentially weakened economic growth, paired with snowballing state debts, which are a consequence of a fast rise in fiscal spending on pensions and medical insurance coverage. They cautioned that the nation will be downgraded to junk status should it fail to press for reforms concerning aging-related policies as soon as possible.The ratings agencies have thus far regarded “aging” as a mid-to-long-term factor, not an immediate one. Yet aging has emerged as a key factor in determining the state's credit in light of the growing impact it has on state debt amid the continued hikes of interest rates. The agencies picked Korea as one of the most vulnerable countries among 81 major economies in the world, citing its unprecedented spe

May 22, 2023By Shim Jae-yun

Editorial