The government’s drive to raise tax revenue by shining a light on the underground economy is expected to get a boost from a group of citizens committed to bringing tax evaders to justice.Today people from some 150 civic organizations, including consumer groups and associations of self-employed businesspeople, are to launch a watchdog group to combat the shadow economy. Promoters of the grassroots movement say tip-offs on tax evasion have been pouring in from whistle-blowers since they announced

Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se must have been disappointed with Japan’s blindness to its wartime atrocities disrupting his first outing abroad since taking office, which he might have hoped would kick off his initiative to consolidate partnerships with South Korea’s two key neighbors in resolving nuclear threats from North Korea.In protest of recent visits by three Japanese Cabinet ministers to a controversial war shrine, the minister Monday canceled his planned trip to Tokyo this week. Yun was s

Is it a good ― or sensible ― idea to ban smoking at all places, including bars and restaurants of all sizes, in a district frequented by foreign tourists? A debate has been heating up over the question since a member of the Seoul Metropolitan Council recently proposed a bill to prohibit smoking in the five areas designated as special tourism zones in the city.If the council approves the draft revision to an ordinance on preventing damage from indirect smoking, people would be fined up to 100,000

In a capitalist economy, the stock market is expected to play a central role in financing corporate investment and monitoring companies’ performance. But in Korea, this has not been the case. Here, the bourse has ceased to be a source of capital and has instead become a playground for stock speculators and manipulators.The Korea Exchange has recently released data showing how serious the problem is. According to the bourse operator, the number of stocks that were improperly traded last year amou

Hyundai Motor Group set a good example for others to follow when it decided last week to reduce inter-subsidiary logistics and advertising deals worth 600 billion won a year in order to offer new business opportunities to outside firms, especially small and medium enterprises. The auto giant’s move is welcome, but it needs to go further by doing the same in other business fields.The plan will reduce the revenue of Hyundai Glovis, a company that ships Hyundai and Kia cars around the world, by 480

Beginning next year, the nation is most likely to have a substitute holiday when a national holiday falls on a Sunday. The Committee on Security and Public Administration of the National Assembly, whose subcommittee approved the underlying bill Friday, is scheduled to make a final decision in a plenary session Tuesday.Barring the unexpected, committee members say, the committee will pass the bill, overriding opposition from the cost-conscious business community. With substitute holidays set to b

It has been three weeks since North Korea closed its border to commuters and vehicles carrying textiles and other materials to South Korean factories operating in the Gaeseong industrial complex. It does not even permit the shipment of foodstuffs to South Korean staff manning the factories, whose number is now cut to 190, one-third of the usual level.The 123 South Korean companies, mostly garment manufacturers, whose employees are waiting for entry permits, are fretting over snowballing losses.

Only three seats of the 300-member National Assembly will be up for grabs when the parliamentary by-elections are held on Wednesday. Still, they are drawing much more public attention than they deserve.There are two reasons. One is that the elections are the first to be held since Park Geun-hye was elected president in December. The other is that Ahn Cheol-soo, an independent, who was once Park’s formidable adversary in the presidential race, is now running in one of the electoral districts.Barr

President Park Geun-hye completed her Cabinet lineup on her 52nd day in office when she presented letters of appointment to the maritime and science ministers, along with the communications commission chairman and the prosecutor-general, on Wednesday. But the problem was that Chae Dong-wook, prosecutor-general, was the only one among the four that had won approval from the National Assembly.The most controversial among the appointments was that of Yoon Jin-sook as minister of oceans and fisherie

The government has submitted its proposal for a supplementary budget to the National Assembly, hoping for an early passage so that it can inject fresh vigor into the economy. Given the sorry state of the economy, a supplementary budget should have been created much earlier. But the new administration had been held back by a long standoff between rival parties over government reorganization.Now, lawmakers need to rush to handle the bill to give the economy a much-needed boost without further dela

The concept of economic democratization remains as elusive as ever. The vagueness of the concept lies at the center of the ongoing controversy over the proposals under discussion at the National Assembly to promote economic democracy.Some of the proposals have triggered a strong backlash from big business groups as they call for penalizing related-party transactions, a practice prevalent among chaebol groups.For instance, one idea proposes to hold a chaebol chairman accountable, even if there is

During her summit with U.S. President Barack Obama in early May, President Park Geun-hye is expected to try to ensure Seoul and Washington will keep taking joint steps in countering threats from Pyongyang and moving toward a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula. Beyond the two leaders’ first talks, it will be a crucial task for Park and her aides to brace for the possibility that the U.S. and China will look for a formula between themselves for defusing the crisis on the peninsula and Washington may se

The presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae has distanced itself from a brewing debate on revising the Constitution, which was last amended in 1987 to end military-backed authoritarian rule. Presidential aides have refrained from commenting on the agreement made by leaders of the ruling and main opposition parties last week to form a bipartisan body to discuss rewriting the basic law.On the surface, they make the point that it is inappropriate for the presidential office to get involved in the high

The Korean economy is like a frog in a pot of slowly boiling water. It is in grave danger but the Korean people do not perceive it.So warn the analysts of McKinsey & Company who have recently written a report on Korea. Titled “Beyond Korean Style: Shaping a New Growth Formula,” the report urges Korea to retool the economy before it is too late.Fifteen years ago, the global management consulting firm issued its first report on Korea. At the time, it focused on the excessive debt of large corporat

The government is reportedly planning to allow each member of provincial and metropolitan councils to employ an aide paid for by local residents. Minister of Security and Public Administration Yoo Jeong-bok said the government would push to revise the law on local autonomy to implement the plan within this year.Yoo justified the move by saying that “local councilors deserve better working conditions as they deal with budgets amounting to trillions of won and carry out numerous tasks directly rel