Grand bargain needed on thorny issue

Late last month, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe claimed that “invasion” had no definition that was firmly established, either internationally or academically. He said it differed, depending on from whose perspective it was seen. He made the remarks in reply to a question regarding Japan’s past apology for invading Korea, China and other Asian countries for colonial occupation.It would not be too farfetched to perceive, as Korea did, that Japan under Abe was attempting to deny its brutal use

When the Bank of Korea kept its benchmark rate unchanged a month ago, Governor Kim Choong-soo said a rate cut was not needed because the Korean economy was showing signs of recovery. He was holding out under mounting pressure for a rate cut from the administration.On Thursday, however, the central bank slashed 25 basis points off the seven-day repurchase rate, from 2.75 percent to 2.5 percent ― the first rate cut in seven months. The rate cut came as a surprise, given that Kim sent out a signal

There is a growing sign of intergenerational conflict over jobs. To the embarrassment of lawmakers, a set of bills recently passed to enhance employment have added fuel to the dispute between different age groups. This situation should call our attention to the need to be more careful and considerate in addressing job-related measures and dealing with their consequences.Since a law was revised last month to extend the retirement age to 60, social networking services have been flooded with postin

President Park Geun-hye’s U.S. visit culminated in her address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, in which she tried to win American hearts and put forward a vision for upgrading the alliance between Seoul and Washington that marks its 60th anniversary this year. She emphatically used such words as peace, future, trust, alliance and freedom in the speech delivered in English, drawing numerous rounds of applause from the audience.Park’s congressional address followed her first summit wi

A bill proposing to give the same investigative power as judicial police officers to public officials in charge of early childhood education and care has been shelved due to pressure from operators of pre-kindergarten institutions.According to news reports, one of the 13 lawmakers who signed up to the bill has withdrawn his name just because owners of pre-school facilities in his district threatened to campaign against him in the next election.Under the law on the operation of the National Assem

An audio file uploaded to YouTube last weekend has clearly shown where the government should direct its economic democratization campaign.The short clip, lasting less than three minutes, recorded a phone conversation from three years ago between a young sales manager of Namyang Dairy Products, the largest company in the domestic dairy market, and an older local distributor of its products.The conversation was about the company’s attempt to unload onto the distributor a larger amount of products

Finance Ministry officials are said to be considering a measure to link cigarette price hikes to inflation rates. This consideration appears to have come from the need to compromise different views over whether and how much to increase tobacco prices. In our view, it is simply a bad idea that would be of no help in protecting public health.The envisioned scheme, under which cigarette prices are supposed to rise by a smaller amount ― say, tens of won (cents) ― on more frequent occasions, would do

It was a mean act for some local Internet users to make attacks against a 7-year-old boy who gained fame for his appearance in Psy’s “Gangnam Style” music video. Hwang Min-woo, dubbed “Little Psy,” is said to have remained increasingly withdrawn since he became subjected to the vicious online comments taking issue with his multicultural background in March.Encouragement should be given to the boy, whose mother is a Vietnamese woman, so that he can overcome racial prejudice mixed with jealousy an

A group of unethical college prep schools in southern Seoul has brought shame on the nation by allegedly helping students who were preparing to get into U.S. universities cheat on the Scholastic Aptitude Test.They are suspected of having provided students with SAT questions, which they have obtained through illegal means. This has led the U.S. College Board, a nonprofit organization that administers the exam, to cancel the May test in Korea, which was slated for last Saturday.Korea has fallen in

The main opposition Democratic Party, which was called the Democratic United Party until last week, has elected Rep. Kim Han-gil as its new leader. By picking a non-mainstreamer as its new chairman, the party held the fractious mainstream faction accountable for the successive election defeats it has suffered since last April.The Saturday leadership election was a two-way race between Kim, a seasoned politician in his fourth term as lawmaker, and Rep. Lee Yong-sup, the unified candidate of the m

The Special Committee on Budget and Accounts has resumed deliberations on a supplementary budget, aiming at passing it by Tuesday ― the final day of the National Assembly’s current extraordinary session. With the main opposition Democratic United Party having retreated from its earlier demand for an increase in tax revenues, the budget bill is most likely to pass before the current session is closed.The opposition party boycotted deliberations Wednesday, demanding an increase in tax revenues for

The withdrawal from the industrial complex in North Korea’s border town of Gaeseong has been completed, with the seven remaining South Koreans having returned home and $13 million in back pay and severance pay having been delivered to the North on Friday. Now there is no predicting what will become of the industrial complex, where small South Korean manufacturers have operated for the past decade.The complex’s shutdown, triggered by escalating tensions over North Korea’s third nuclear test in Fe

The National Election Commission has come up with a set of proposals to change the nation’s election culture, which it described as overly restrictive. The election watchdog says its proposals are geared toward enhancing the freedom of candidates and voters to express their political views. True, the nation’s election regulations are too rigid. They specify the official campaign period and ban most campaign activities before it. These restrictions, however, are intended to ensure a level playing

President Park Geun-hye reminded many of her father when she presided over a meeting on trade and investment at Cheong Wa Dae on Wednesday. Attended by corporate CEOs as well as ministers, the high-profile session was designed to resolve problems that hamper exports and investment.The troubleshooting meeting was modeled after the monthly export promotion meetings that former President Park Chung-hee had held from 1965 to 1979. Through these meetings, the late president sought to remove the obsta