-
Let whales live safely
Seoul should retract whaling plan immediately Korea’s proposal to resume hunting whales for scientific research has provoked strong protests both at home and abroad. After most countries reacted angrily to the plan unveiled last week at the annual conference of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in Panama, the government stepped…
Read More » -
Senior citizens’ poverty woes
Senior citizens, who spearheaded the country’s economic miracle from the ashes of the 1950-53 Korean War, are now struggling with financial hardships in their later years. With the approaching retirement en masse of the country’s baby boomers ― those born between 1955 and 1963, the poverty problem of the elderly…
Read More » -
Building Blogs of ASEAN Social Bonding
Abroad, my sentimental friend Abdul Razak, a fair-skinned Indonesian, liked to quip that he is an Asean Man. He says: “When I am in Singapore I passed for a Chinese; in Vietnam as a Vietnamese, in Philippines as a Filipino, in Laos as a Laotian; in Thailand as a Thai…
Read More » -
Korea-India business ties get strengthen
Few countries can match the Republic of Korea’s grit when it comes to the show of the will to win over what it would normally appear to be insurmountable odds. If the history of the country’s successive war defeats against neighbours in the last century, the split of the nation…
Read More » -
Column
Seoul-Tokyo chicken game
Seoul-Tokyo relations are at a historic low. Both governments have become hostages to the past. Things might even become worse before getting better unless they take remedial steps. The latest episode is a condensation of the deep-rooted simmering blind nationalism engulfing the two countries. South Korea cancelled its signing of…
Read More » -
Free childcare system
Confusion mirrors policy disunity, poor preparation Despite attacks from deficit hawks and welfare minimalists, the ruling Saenuri Party has decided to push ahead with a free daycare system for all toddlers. And to help ease funding crises at local administrations, it will likely draw about 620 billion won from the…
Read More » -
Shatter glass ceiling
Firms need to sharply increase female executives Women have come a long way to almost equal men in schools and entry- level job markets in male-dominated Korea. But female executives are still a novelty in corporate boardrooms here, meaning they have even a longer way to go to make the…
Read More » -
Column
Did foreign minister know it?
On the front page of our Tuesday edition, we ran a story about a mix-up inside the government over its handling of a military information-sharing pact with Japan. The headline ― Rebellion against lame duck ― concisely summarized the situation, one that couldn’t even be imagined, say, six months ago.…
Read More » -
Talks with NK won’t come until after U.S. presidential election
Perhaps the biggest news out of Pyongyang in the last month or two is actually about a non-event. In early June, a North Korean spokesperson said that North Korea has no intention of staging a nuclear test in the near future. And indeed, a nuclear test was almost universally expected…
Read More » -
Capitalism or feudalism?
Time to ponder how to rectify chaebol system The Fair Trade Commission released a chart Monday, which illustrates the shareholding structure of 63 family-controlled conglomerates and their subsidiaries. The diagram, which appears even more complicated than the Seoul subway map, drew attention to two things: how these families dominate huge…
Read More »