[Editorial] Beyond the first meeting

Expectations are mounting for the first-ever official face-to-face meeting between President Yoon Suk Yeol and the Democratic Party of Korea's leader Lee Jae-myung, which could take place as early as this week. The meeting would be a crucial political event that could shed light on how the country’s key agenda items will be prioritized after the April 10 general election. On Friday, Yoon proposed the meeting in a call to Lee. Since then, the two sides have been coordinating the detail

April 23, 2024

[Editorial] Be a doctor, or not

The government said Friday it will let universities decide on the number of medical school freshmen they want to admit next year within a certain range, in an apparent compromise in its standoff with doctors. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said that universities will be allowed to increase the places between 50 percent and 100 percent of the previously allocated increment. For instance, Gyeongsang National University’s medical college, which was set to admit a total of 200 freshmen next year

April 22, 2024

[Editorial] Korean won worries

The South Korean currency’s sharp drop Tuesday triggered a flurry of warnings and statements from financial authorities, which helped stabilized the won to some extent in the following two sessions. But vigilant monitoring is in order as volatility may not fade out soon. It was a resounding red flag that the Korean won weakened to hit the psychologically important 1,400 won per dollar during an intraday trading Tuesday, affected by the sales of more assets by foreign investors here, the es

April 19, 2024

[Editorial] Act like a union

The trainee doctors who walked off the job two months ago in protest of the government’s plan to increase medical school enrollment are now demanding shorter mandatory military service among other things. Ryu Ok Hada, a resident who tendered his resignation on Feb. 16, said Tuesday he interviewed 150 interns and residents, and they said they would return to work if they are guaranteed the right to organize unions and to strike. “It appears that about half of the trainee doctors are w

April 18, 2024

[Editorial] No more one-way street

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday said he would work to improve his communication with the people and try to accept the public sentiment, making his first public comments after the crushing defeat of his conservative ruling party in the April 10 elections. “All of us have to accept the public sentiment revealed in the general elections in a humble manner,” Yoon said in a televised speech during a Cabinet meeting. “I will communicate more in a humbler and more flexible attitude

April 17, 2024

[Editorial] Flashpoint in Middle East

Iran launched a massive missile and drone strike against Israel early Sunday in retaliation against Israeli airstrikes on an Iranian consular building in Damascus, Syria, early this month that killed two Iranian generals. It was Iran’s first direct attack on Israeli territory after decades of a shadow war. Israel said its defense systems had successfully intercepted the attacks, resulting in minimal damage within its borders. The US and other members of the UN Security Council urged restra

April 16, 2024

[Editorial] Post-election challenges

The April 10 general elections delivered a crushing defeat to the ruling People Power Party, which took home just 108 seats in the 300-member National Assembly in South Korea. The result signals that President Yoon Suk Yeol will be under strong pressure to seek cooperation with the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea to push ahead with his key policy initiatives and grapple with the growing uncertainties on the economic front. Unfortunately, Yoon is unlikely to ditch his notoriously unilat

April 15, 2024

[Editorial] Time for cooperation

The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea will be controlling a majority of the legislature for another four years, as it won 175 seats including proportional representation seats of its satellite party in the 300-member National Assembly. Former Justice Minister Cho Kuk‘s Rebuilding Korea Party, the Democratic Party’s closest friend, won 12 seats, raising the number of the two friendly forces to 187. The ruling People Power Party and its satellite party managed to secure just ov

April 12, 2024

[Editorial] Chip policy beyond elections

Unlike in previous elections, a single industrial sector has drawn keen attention among major parties and voters in the run-up to the April 10 general election. The sector in question is none other than the country’s crucial semiconductors industry, which accounts for about 20 percent of the country's exports. What’s more, the chips industry is expected to take center stage among policymakers regarding legislative efforts and policy support, even after the general election has c

April 11, 2024

[Editorial] No more demagoguery

For many years, political news in South Korea has been awash with unpleasant or horrible things politicians said or did, either recently or years ago. Especially ahead of elections, parties with political interests go all out to dig dirt on their opponents in an apparent bid to take them down. The past two weeks were no exception, and sadly, it seems to get worse each year. It is a wonder how some people with such lack of conscience or decency could win major political parties’ nomination

April 10, 2024

[Editorial] ‘Blind period’ in elections

With a single day left to go to the general election, a record turnout in early voting is being interpreted in various ways by political parties as well as media outlets. Although the high participation rate of voters in elections is generally a positive development, there is an issue linked to early voting that policymakers and election authorities have to address for future elections: the lack of real-time information about voter trends. There was no restriction in publicizing data about the t

April 9, 2024

[Editorial] Bigger role in world

To tackle potential security threats amid deepening defense cooperation among North Korea, China and Russia, the US and its allies committed to maintaining a rules-based international order face a growing need to band together. Hence, there have been repeated calls from Washington that the Group of Seven should be expanded to include Australia and South Korea. The Center for Strategic and International Studies proposed in its recent report that the US and Japan should consider G7 expansion to in

April 8, 2024

[Editorial] Worrisome inflation data

South Korea’s consumer prices, a key gauge of inflation, rose 3.1 percent on-year for the second-straight month in March, driven by skyrocketing prices of fruits and strong oil prices, Statistic Korea data showed. More important than the headline figures is that a growing number of consumers are feeling a far stronger pinch in their pockets, especially when they browse the lofty price tags of grocery store items. It may not be such a shocking development that consumer prices stayed above 3

April 5, 2024

[Editorial] Trainee doctors

President Yoon Suk Yeol wishes to meet with trainee doctors to hear them out, Yoon’s office said Tuesday, but the Korea Intern Resident Association has not officially responded. The presidential office made the statement hours after Cho Yoon-jeong, public relations committee chief of the Medical Professors Association of Korea, implored KIRA leader Park Dan to meet with Yoon “without any conditions” if the president extended the invitation. Yoon said Monday the medical communit

April 4, 2024

[Editorial] Protect voting stations

It is not only shocking but also deeply unsettling that police detained a YouTuber last week on suspicion of installing spy cameras in two cities, just ahead of the April 10 parliamentary elections. On Sunday, an Incheon court issued a warrant to arrest the YouTuber in his 40s for allegedly placing spy cameras at around 40 polling stations in several regions including Seoul, Busan and Daegu. On Monday, police sought arrest warrants for two suspected accomplices who helped the YouTuber install th

April 3, 2024

[Editorial] Yoon's speech

President Yoon Suk Yeol said on Monday the medical community should present a unified plan based on scientific grounds if it wants the government to revise its policy for medical reform. In a televised speech that lasted for 50 minutes, Yoon reiterated the need for increasing medical school enrollment by 2,000 starting next year, and said that the government’s policy can always change for the better if better ideas based on reasonable grounds are presented. "The number 2,000 is the mi

April 2, 2024

[Editorial] Minimum wage for 2025

As Minister of Employment and Labor Lee Jung-sik on Friday officially requested the Minimum Wage Commission review the wage for 2025, heated debate is expected to play out over the next three months -- the timeline set by law to finalize the country’s minimum wage. In previous years, the focus had largely been placed on whether the tripartite Minimum Wage Commission, which is composed of nine members each from the labor, business and public sectors, would reach the threshold of 10,000 won

April 1, 2024

[Editorial] Lee's 'simple' views

Lee Jae-myung has said and done many shocking things, so nothing is surprising anymore. But the fact that the leader of the main opposition party cares so little about what is happening around the world perturbed many South Koreans this week. During a stump speech in Dangjin, South Chungcheong Province, on March 22, Lee said the Chinese aren’t buying South Korean products because they don’t like Korea. “Why does (the Yoon Suk Yeol administration) harass China? Just say ‘x

March 29, 2024

[Editorial] A warning behind rumors

Rumors about “a crisis in April” recently swirled around in the financial and construction sectors last week, floating a possibility that debt problems stemming from project financing could spin out of control and touch off a chain reaction of insolvencies and a credit crunch among home builders and financial firms. The gist of the rumor is that the government would start restructuring the PF-related sector saddled with troubled building projects and the shortage of funds once the Ap

March 28, 2024

[Editorial] Populist pledges

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, proposed offering 250,000 won to every South Korean 17 days ahead of the April 10 general election. Blaming the Yoon Suk Yeol administration for an “economic crisis” and high prices, Lee said Sunday the people’s livelihood needed “CPR,” and suggested offering an average of 1 million won per household in cash vouchers that can be used at local businesses, “like the disaster relief during CO

March 27, 2024