The inter-Korean nuclear talks held in Indonesia on Friday were the first step toward the resumption of full-fledged, six-way talks on Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program. It had previously been agreed that Pyongyang would talk first with Seoul and later with Washington before the six-way talks, stalled since December 2008, would resume.Given the affirmative assessment of the Friday talks by the S

Few would dispute that high school education is enough for the lowest two administrative positions on the one-to-nine scale. Nor would anyone deny that it does not take much formal education to sweep streets. But this common sense does not prevail in Korea, as shown by examples below.Last year, the Seoul metropolitan government selected 415 recruits to fill the vacant positions of grades eight and

Remedying discrimination against nonregular workers has emerged as a burning issue as political parties are competing to win their hearts and minds to ensure victory in next year’s parliamentary and presidential elections. Irregular workers are a political force to be reckoned with. As of March, they accounted for 5.77 million or 33.8 percent of the nation’s 17.06 million paid workers. When daily

The Youido Institute, the think tank of the ruling Grand National Party, has released a report to outline a new vision for the party. The document, unveiled Wednesday, signals the beginning of a major debate within the ruling party over the revision of its platform in preparation for the general and presidential elections slated for next year. Thus far, the GNP’s vision has been “the advancement o

It was assumed that the ratification of the free trade agreement with the United States would be the focal point of contention when the National Assembly opens its August extraordinary session. The ruling Grand National Party had selected the motion for ratification as one of the main bills to act on in the face of fierce resistance from the opposition Democratic Party.The ruling party had apparen

Shortly after he was inaugurated in February 2008, President Lee Myung-bak selected 52 daily necessities and put their prices under tight control. Still, items whose prices gained continued to outnumber those whose prices fell.Since inflationary pressure started to build appreciatively during the second half of last year, the Lee administration has been monitoring changes in their prices around th

It’s really past time for Korea Railroad Corp. to stop the operations of its problem-ridden bullet trains and make a comprehensive safety check. This year alone, KTX high-speed trains have stopped 36 times for various reasons, including derailment and equipment malfunctions. This is an unmistakable sign that something is seriously wrong with Korail’s high-speed trains. In a latest incident that to

On Aug. 15 last year, President Lee Myung-bak proposed the introduction of a unification tax to secure the funds that would be needed to finance reunification with North Korea. Given that the North is, for all intents and purposes, an economic basket case, it is impossible to dispute the need for the South to prepare for reunification. But this does not necessarily mean that the public would welco

It may be pleasing for our manufacturing giants to hear a major Japanese business newspaper admit Korea’s overtaking or close chase of Japanese rivals in the global market with such top-line products as cars, ships and appliances. But what is important is paying attention to how they assess the factors of success and failure in the intense rivalry between the two neighbors.In an article titled “So

“Are you in favor of providing free school lunch ― by stages until 2014 ― for students from families in the lower 50 percent income level?”“Are you in favor of providing free school lunch for all students regardless of their families’ income level ― from this year at elementary schools and from next year at middle schools?”The above are the two questions that will be asked to Seoul citizens when a

Samsung Group’s virtual absence of working trade union gives the 200,000 employees at its 78 subsidiaries both pride and embarrassment. As the nation’s labor movement entered a new phase with the legalizing of multiple unions at a single workplace, some change may be expected at Samsung. But what has so far happened at Korea’s number one conglomerate disappoints many unionists.A labor union at Sam

The world has had other affairs since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in northeast Japan. Media outlets are devoting less and less space and time to the aftermath of the disaster. But employees of the Fukushima No. 1 Power Plant, government officials, the residents of Fukushima prefecture and volunteers are still struggling at the limits of human perseverance to contain the nuclear damage that

Japan’s Foreign Ministry has perplexed us by ordering its officials not to use Korean Air for a month starting today. The reason for this ban was a demonstration flight the private airliner recently conducted with its newly introduced Airbus A380 over Dokdo, Korea’s easternmost islets.One may wonder why the Japanese ministry instructed a boycott of the Korean carrier for test flying its newest pas

South Korea and China have agreed to restore bilateral military relations, which have remained sour following North Korea’s torpedoing of the South’s warship Cheonan in March last year and subsequent shelling of Yeonpyeong Island in October. The agreement was reached between Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin and his Chinese counterpart Liang Guanglie during their talks in Beijing on Friday.According t

Korea’s economy is led by a handful of large business groups, most of them being family-controlled chaebol. Their influence is growing, as evidenced by an increase in their contribution to the nation’s gross domestic product. The 10 largest business groups, on an asset basis, accounted for 75.6 percent of GDP last year, up 20.6 percentage points from 2008.Another measure of their dominance in the