U.S. President Barak Obama has nominated Jim Yong Kim, a Korean-American who leads Dartmouth College, to become president of the World Bank. Kim, if confirmed by the bank, will become the first Asian-American to head the institution in its 68-year history. The bank has usually been headed by an American, while its sister organization, the International Monetary Fund, has always been led by a European. Kim’s nomination is seen as a move aimed at fending off challenges from developing nations, whi

Tension is building as Pyongyang escalates its threats of attack against South Korea. The latest among them is a warning that North Korea would regard it as a “declaration of war” if the forthcoming Seoul nuclear security summit adopts a statement condemning its nuclear program.Those remarks were contained in a statement carried by the North’s state-run news agency on Wednesday. It added: “If there is any provocative act such as the issuance of a so-called statement concerning ‘the North’s nucle

The government estimates the national pension fund will be depleted by 2060 if no action is taken. But a university professor of statistics, who claims the government is mistaken in its estimation, says the year of depletion will be 2049.The dispute over the year of depletion is no small matter, given that the trust of subscribers to the national pension program is at stake. The pension program will be put in jeopardy if it is shunned by suspecting young people.In a paper submitted to a forum on

Cheong Wa Dae is under snowballing pressure to come clean on its role in the alleged attempt to cover up the illegal surveillance of a civilian by officials of the Prime Minister’s Office in 2008. Opposition parties are zeroing in on President Lee Myung-bak. Defining the case as a Korean version of the Watergate scandal that ousted U.S. President Richard Nixon, they urged Lee to clear up the suspicions that some of his former top aides had been involved in a systematic cover-up. The suspicions s

The Nuclear Safety and Security Commission has concluded that the power outage at the Gori-1 reactor on Feb. 9 had been caused by a combination of a worker’s mistake, a defect in the emergency diesel power generator and a weak safety culture.According to the commission, external power supply to the Gori-1 reactor was suspended while a worker tested the protection system for the back-up diesel power generator. He was found to have not followed the instructions of his supervisor.The emergency powe

All taxable incomes must be taxed. But there have been unwarranted exceptions ― those accrued to Protestant priests, Buddhist monks and other clergy members. Permitting such an exception goes against the Constitution, which reads in part: “All citizens have the duty to pay taxes under the conditions as prescribed by law.”Now the government belatedly says it will seriously consider taxing all people holding religious office. Finance Minister Bark Jae-wan says he finds it difficult to continue to

Nominees running in the parliamentary elections start their formal campaigns when they register as candidates on Thursday or Friday. Their competition is set to heat up, with all pre-registration campaign restrictions lifted.Surrounded by their campaign workers, candidates will crisscross districts, seeking to win voter support at subway stations, markets and other crowded places. Their campaign vehicles will roam the streets, with loudspeakers mounted on them blaring slogans and jingles.But the

“If a crow-tit walks like a stork, he only breaks his legs.” This old saying is often quoted in debates these days on the role and mission of the Republic of Korea Navy. At present, the proverb that warns against over-ambitiousness in setting a vision for the future is used by those who are opposing the construction of a naval base on the southern coast of Jeju Island and the Navy’s vision of its ocean-going operations.“Ocean-going navy” has been an on-and-off catchphrase of the ROK Navy over th

Even after announcing their plan to launch a “satellite” into space on the back of a rocket, which the international community determined as the test-firing of a missile, North Korean leaders seem to be still hoping that they will receive food aid from the United States under an agreement last February. North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Li Yong-ho said in Beijing that the plan to launch “Bright Star-3” between April 12 and 16 is a “separate issue” from the U.S.-North agreement on the suspension

The KBS Symphony Orchestra, the older of Korea’s two leading orchestras, is embroiled in a crisis, the worst since its founding 56 years ago. The problems facing the orchestra, currently under the management of the state-run Korea Broadcasting System, are deep and complex and in a sense epitomize maladies that strike many social institutions of present Korea and the cultural community in particular.The cancellation of the 666th regular monthly concert, which was scheduled for March 8-9 at the Se

As the new City Hall building is nearing completion in May, the 10 million residents of the capital city are watching the peculiarly-shaped glass and steel structure, wondering how their lives will be affected by a liberal mayor who is applying his political ideology to administrative measures one after the other. For the past five months since his election last October, Mayor Park Won-soon was more proactive in halting the projects pushed by his predecessor Oh Se-hoon than introducing his own.

The main opposition Democratic United Party drew ardent support from young voters several months ago when it made an election promise to cut university tuition fees by half. Now it has taken one step further by promising to pay 12 million won in subsidy to students fresh out of high school if they forfeit the tuition benefit by not being admitted to university. The 12 million won subsidy is just one of a wide array of generous welfare projects to which the opposition party commits itself ahead o

When a satellite is sent into space on the back of a long-range missile, is it a satellite launch or a missile launch? This question is being raised at a time when North Korea is preparing “to launch a working satellite, Kwangmyongsong-3, manufactured by itself with indigenous technology to mark the 100th birth anniversary of President Kim Il-sung,” as it announced on Friday. But it is not an either/or question. It is a missile launch and a satellite launch put together. Nonetheless, North Korea

Prosecutors and police are at each other’s throats again, this time over the investigation of a prosecutor who was accused of verbal assault and abuse of power by a police officer.The case involves a police officer in Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province, who filed a complaint in January against a prosecutor in Changwon, the seat of the provincial government, for insulting him and abusing his power in directing and supervising the investigation of a private waste treatment company.The police offic

Rep. Kim Moo-sung of the ruling Saenuri Party and Rep. Park Sun-sook of the main opposition Democratic United Party are a rare species in Korean politics. They recently set shining examples of self-sacrifice in the ongoing election candidate nomination process, attracting praise from the media as well as fellow politicians.Rep. Kim is a political heavyweight who has been elected four times from a district in Busan, a traditional stronghold of the ruling party. The party’s candidate recommendatio