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Tue, October 17, 2017 | 20:36

Opinion > Editorial >

Light and shade of debt

Whenever President Moon Jae-in unveils a major welfare program, political opponents accuse him of being anxious to drain state coffers. Attending the National Assembly’s Special Committee on Budget and Accounts Tuesday, Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon attempted to assure these fiscal hawks. “Don’t worry,” Kim said. “The government debt will not exceed 700 trillion won ($620 billion) at the end of this year.”

Editorial | 2017-08-25 16:09

Spread of chemophobia

The public uproar over Lilian sanitary pads is creating a fear of chemicals among Korean consumers. Major retailers, convenience stores and drugstores have stopped selling the disputed pads after thousands of consumers raised health issues after using them, complaining of severe cramps, reduced menstrual bleeding, changes in their cycles and vaginal diseases. Kleannara, a local manufacturer of the allegedly hazardous pads, will provide a refund starting Aug. 28, but many are still enraged with the pads that were found to contain toxic chemicals.

Editorial | 2017-08-25 16:07

There was some more depressing news about Korea’s plunging birthrate this week. The latest Statistics Korea report showed that the number of newborns fell below 200,000 in the first half of the year. There were only 188,500 babies born between January and June, down 12.3 percent from the same period last year. The outlook for the second half is also bleak as the number of newborns tends to be lower in November and December. Officials expected that the figure for the entire year could be lower than 400,000 for the first time ever. The downward trend in the birthrate is likely to persist as mo...

Editorial | 2017-08-24 16:49

Negotiate or terminate

As expected, the first meeting between Korean and U.S. negotiators to revisit their bilateral trade deal ended up as a staring contest Tuesday. The two sides reaffirmed they had different views on the impact of the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement (KORUS FTA) and could not agree even on a date for their second meeting.

Editorial | 2017-08-24 16:48

Only 1 Korean general

Five U.S. generals staged a rare show of force to demonstrate no tolerance for North Korea’s missile provocations such as its two recent test launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) at Osan Air Base, Tuesday. The five were U.S. Pacific Command Commander Adm. Harry Harris; Gen. John Hyden, commander of the U.S. Strategic Command; Gen. Vincent Brooks, commander of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK); Lt. Gen. Samuel Greaves, director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency; and Brig. Gen. Sean Gainey, commander of the U.S. 94th Army Air and Missile Command.

Editorial | 2017-08-23 16:40

Concerns over chief justice nominee

President Moon Jae-in made clear his resolve to bring a strong liberal tendency to the judicial branch by making the “surprise” nomination of a 57-year-old liberal judge as the chief justice of the Supreme Court. Nominee Kim Meong-su, head of the Chuncheon District Court in Gangwon Province, doesn’t even have a stint as a top court justice, illustrating Moon’s strong will to restructure the judiciary. Judicial reform has become zeitgeist as the people are unhappy about the “privileges” granted to judges-turned-attorneys, making justice a rare commodity.

Editorial | 2017-08-23 16:39

Widening egg phobia

President Moon Jae-in apologized for pesticide-contaminated eggs during a Cabinet meeting Monday, more than 10 days after a widening public scare over one of the most go-to ingredients in Koreans’ diet. “This case has affected consumers and also farmers, restaurant owners and the food manufacturing industry,” Moon said. “I apologize for causing concern and anxiety.” He admitted that there was a lack of coordination among different ministries in handling the scare, which has aggravated “egg phobia” among the public. The belated apology, however, did little to convince the people of his admini...

Editorial | 2017-08-22 16:42

'Political' tax audits

In Korea where corporate ethics remain weak, with businesses bent mostly on maximizing profits, the National Tax Service (NTS) should look long and hard at companies’ tax returns. Nevertheless, the public watch not only corporations but also the NTS’s corporate audits with suspicion. That’s because tax audits here are often more political than economic events.

Editorial | 2017-08-22 15:44

President Moon Jae-in put television to its best use when he reported about the results of his first 100 days in office Sunday night. After his unscripted news conference a few days earlier, Moon bore the semblance of being an efficient communicator, a key character point for any successful leader. Now he has to match his words with action. The one-hour program broadcast live on all three networks started with a bang - rock group Daybreak belting out its hit song, perhaps fittingly, “I only will have you walk on a flowery path.” An announcer, a deputy Cheong Wa Dae spokeswoman, introduced th...

Editorial | 2017-08-21 16:10

Worrisome 'lonely deaths'

"Lonely deaths" have made headlines one after another of late, emerging as a new social problem our aging society has to tackle before it is too late. Lonely death usually refers to a phenomenon of people, mostly aged over 60, dying alone and remaining undiscovered for a long period of time. As is well known, South Korea is a rapidly aging country with 6.5 million elderly citizens over 65, accounting for 13.2 percent of the population as of the end of 2015.

Editorial | 2017-08-21 16:05

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Lunch with Navy sailors