Friday’s strike by non-regular workers at school cafeterias was disturbing, as it was an attempt to hold children hostage to get job security and better working conditions.Due to the strike, more than 900 of the 9,647 public elementary, middle, and high schools in Seoul, Incheon, Daejeon, Gwangju, Daegu and Gyeonggi Province could not provide meals to students.Most schools did not experience too much inconvenience as they prepared for the preannounced strike. They told students to bring their ow

With the Communist Party of China now in the process of selecting its new leaders at its 18th National Congress, the world is scratching its head wondering where the second-most powerful state in the world is headed. Will it continue its policy of pursuing a “peaceful rise” and maintain good neighborly relations, or assert itself as a hegemon and become a threat to the United States, Japan and surrounding countries?The party, which opened its National Congress for a weeklong session on Thursday,

The independent counsel investigating the purchase of land by President Lee Myung-bak for his retirement home suspects that officials of the Presidential Security Service falsified and destroyed evidence and attempted to cover up their lawbreaking. If true, their action would constitute a serious criminal offense and have grave political consequences.On Friday, the independent counsel’s investigators questioned three officials from the security service, whom they had summoned as criminal suspect

Re-elected U.S. President Barack Obama faces a long list of challenges that have deep implications not just for his country but for the entire world. To tackle these tasks, Obama will need courage, insight, and above all things, the cooperation of the Republicans. The biggest challenge confronting Obama is putting the U.S. economy back on track. The world’s largest national economy is currently reeling under colossal government debt. The debt mountain has topped $16 trillion and keeps growing du

Despite the sluggish economy, the job market has remained surprisingly buoyant this year. According to the Bank of Korea, the economy is expected to add 430,000 jobs this year, an impressive performance that Minister of Strategy and Finance Bahk Jae-wan described as a “job bonanza.”Yet the outsized employment gains are likely to come to a halt soon. As the economic slowdown takes hold, the job market is contracting rapidly. Research institutions paint a gloomy employment picture for next year, w

Giving a speech in Seoul last month, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asked Korea to “act as a catalyst” in pushing for the global body’s three major goals of sustainable development, the prevention and management of conflicts and the establishment of human rights and democracy across the world. The former Korean foreign minister lauded the country as the “unprecedented model in the world for achieving the three tasks.”His request added to mounting calls for Korea to contribute more to the int

Samsung Group chairman Lee Kun-hee brought a group of executives to Los Angeles and Tokyo in 1993 to show them how their products were treated in electronics stores in the cities. They felt embarrassed when they saw a few home appliances manufactured by Samsung put in an out-of-the-way corner of the shops they visited.In the two decades since then, Samsung Electronics Co. has grown into the world’s top maker of smartphones, computer memory chips and flat-panel TVs. The company announced this wee

The use of unapproved parts in nuclear power plants for the past 10 years is yet another indication of their operator’s insensitivity to nuclear disaster risk. Moreover, it was not its own safety check but an outside tip-off that brought the case to light.Since 2003, eight suppliers have faked warranties for 234 types of parts and provided Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co., the operator of 23 nuclear reactors in the nation, with 7,682 unapproved items. More than 5,200 have been put to use, 99 perc

Not many election issues are more crucial than whether to rewrite the Constitution. Yet it is Moon Jae-in of the main opposition Democratic United Party alone that has committed himself to pursuing Constitutional revision as a presidential candidate.True, Park Geun-hye of the ruling Saenuri Party says she will consider a constitutional revision if she is elected president. But she refuses to commit herself to it, saying that it is not desirable to approach the issue for electioneering purposes o

Is Park Geun-hye a presidential candidate who represents the Korean women? To leaders of the ruling Saenuri Party, the answer is a resounding yes. They say that if Park is elected as the nation’s first woman president, it would be a significant milestone in Korea’s arduous march toward political reform.Yet many in the opposition camp do not agree. For instance, Rep. Jung Sung-ho, a spokesman of the main opposition Democratic United Party, asserted that the unmarried Saenuri candidate “is a woman

Controversy is raging over a regulation promulgated by the Ministry of Health and Welfare last week to allow foreign medical institutions in the nation’s six free economic zones. On the one hand, the regulation is welcomed by those who are keen to unleash the huge growth potential of the domestic health care industry. They see it as a step toward making Korea a health care powerhouse and a regional health care hub.Yet critics denounce the government for paving the way for the emergence of for-pr

Ruling and opposition party lawmakers on the parliamentary defense committee have shown opposing views over whether to extend the deployment of a Korean military unit in the United Arab Emirates by another year to the end of 2013.The Akh unit comprising about 130 special warfare troops has been stationed in the UAE since January 2011 to help train soldiers of the Persian Gulf state. The Defense Ministry recently submitted a bill asking for the parliamentary approval of the extension of the unit’

With the prolonged life expectancy of Koreans comes a gloomy reality ― an increasing number of dementia patients and tragic stories involving their families.The heavy physical, psychological and financial burden on family members with patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease was epitomized by a recent incident in which a 78-year-old man killed his 74-year-old wife after taking care of her for two years. The case should serve to shed light on the seriousness of the problem and lead to greater

The main opposition Democratic United Party’s presidential hopeful Moon Jae-in and independent candidate Ahn Cheol-soo have agreed in principle to merge their candidacies. If they have made up their minds to field a unified candidate, they need to enter into negotiations immediately and reach an agreement as early as possible. The two agree that the unified candidate should be chosen by Nov. 24 as candidates are required to register with the National Election Commission on Nov. 25-26. Yet the tw

Kim Seok-dong, chairman of the Financial Services Commission, has again ruled out the need for the government to take emergency steps or special measures now to deal with the household debt problem. But he might be mistaken.Kim reassuringly said at a recent seminar on household debt that there was no need for the government to intervene to help the so-called “house poor” because their indebtedness did not pose serious risks to the financial system.The top financial regulator’s optimistic view wa