Korea is probably the first country in the world to develop an index to measure how large corporations treat their small subcontractors. On Wednesday, the Commission on Shared Growth for Large and Small Companies disclosed a draft plan to introduce the so-called “win-win index.”If enforced as planned, the index is expected to provide a turning point in transforming trade practices in the domestic

After a seven-month hunt for its new leader, the Federation of Korean Industries has finally installed Huh Chang-soo, GS Group chairman, as its chairman. The new chief of the nation’s most powerful business lobby will certainly have his hands full as he tries to reset its relations with the government.The FKI has been denounced for pursuing the interests of big businesses and nothing else. But the

Incumbent lawmakers tend to put their reelection before anything else. Nothing is wrong with their single-mined pursuit of reelection unless they engage in an act that can be morally or legally sanctioned.Still, they may cause problems for their party if their actions, though taken legitimately for the sake of their reelection, conflict with their party’s policies. It may also create a problem for

Korea’s inflation woes are deepening as the worsening turmoil in Libya has sent oil prices on an upward spiral. The price of Dubai crude oil, South Korea’s benchmark, stayed above the $100 mark for the three consecutive days on Thursday. If the Dubai oil price remains above $100 for two more days, the government has to upgrade its energy alert level from the current “blue” to “yellow.”The surge in

Press reports say several hundred residents in Sinuiju, a North Korean city on the border with China, clashed with security forces on Feb. 18 over the death of a merchant during a police crackdown on a market. On Feb. 14, small protests reportedly broke out in three northeastern cities of the impoverished country over fuel and food shortages.Are these signs that the “Jasmine Revolution” that start

According to a recent newspaper opinion poll, 44.7 percent of the respondents approved of President Lee Myung-bak’s performance in the past three years of his presidency. On the other hand, the rate of disapproval stood at 51.4 percent.Responses to another poll, this one commissioned by a business daily, were far less favorable. More than 54 percent of the respondents said they were worse off now

Fear of a bank run is subsiding after the five savings banks whose capital adequacy ratios are lower than the 5 percent mark, and three other insolvent ones, were forced to suspend operations during the past two months. But the financial regulators still have much work to do before they declare the crisis over.The latest case involved a Chuncheon-based savings bank, which the Financial Services Co

A 50-strong Indonesian government and business delegation visited Seoul for three days last week to promote trade and cooperation in defense industry projects. The group, which included defense, industry, trade, economic planning and investment ministers, came here under an agreement between President Lee Myung-bak and Susilo Yudhoyono in Bali last December.They made a courtesy call on the Blue Ho

Moammar Gadhafi of Libya looked firmly in control when popular protests brought down the autocratic ruler in Tunisia to the west and toppled another long-running regime in Egypt to the east weeks ago. Even when angry residents of some Libyan cities stormed into the construction sites of Korean firms, injuring workers and destroying furniture, it was seen as a simple outburst of discontent at the g

While the six-party denuclearization talks have been in recess for two years now with no sign that North Korea will return to the negotiating table anytime soon, calls for South Korea to set up its own nuclear armament are rising, mostly from conservatives. The proponents, including politicians and media commentators, argue that the South’s nuclear development will be the best means of pressure no

After the ouster of autocratic leaders in Tunisia and Egypt, pro-democracy uprisings are rapidly spreading in North Africa and the Middle East, with bloodshed reported in Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, Algeria and Djibouti. The world community is now directing attention to countries in other continents under dictatorships, with many hoping to see similar popular protests will bring changes to the fates of

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon has been fighting an uphill battle against the city council’s decision in favor of free lunches for all schoolchildren. The mayor, affiliated with the ruling Grand National Party, believes that it is a populist policy to provide lunch free of charge at primary schools regardless of the parents’ income levels. He demands free lunch be limited to those whose parents cannot aff

On Thursday, the European Parliament approved a free trade agreement with Korea. Now the Korean legislature is urged to speed up the process of ratifying the deal, which EU Ambassador to Korea Tomasz Kozlowski says will “more than double EU-Korea trade in the next 20 years as compared with a scenario without the FTA.”The FTA is a win-win deal to both sides, not a zero-sum game. As such, there is n

When the Ministry of Strategy and Finance submitted a bill on Islamic bonds to the National Assembly in September 2009, its main motivation was to secure new sources of foreign capital that Korea could tap into when liquidity dries up due to turmoil in the global financial system ― such as the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008. But the bill gained added importance following a Korean consortium’s

The government has come up with a set of measures aimed at making Korea a fairer and more transparent society. The action plans followed up on President Lee Myung-bak’s vision of a fair society unveiled in his Liberation Day speech on Aug. 15 last year. On Thursday, officials from related ministries briefed Lee on their plans to implement the package. At the meeting, Lee demonstrated his commitmen