The intrusions by Chinese and Russian warplanes into South Korea’s air defense zone this week seemed designed to test the robustness of security ties between Seoul, Washington and Tokyo.On Tuesday, two Russian bombers and two Chinese bombers trespassed Korea Air Defense Identification Zone without prior notice. Afterward, a Russian surveillance aircraft committed what the South Korean Air Force described as an “unprecedented violation of the country’s airspace” over the D

The government has issued a public notice on a legislation bill regarding conflicts of interest involving public officials. There are solid reasons the National Assembly should enact the bill without a hitch. The bill, written by the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission and made public last week, will be sent to the National Assembly after a 40-day public review. If enacted, it would close a major loophole that has been left out despite the numerous legislative and administrative initiati

The country’s economic growth rate for the second quarter of the year, which will be unveiled by the Bank of Korea on Thursday, is estimated to be around 1 percent, according to analysts here.Earlier, the central bank had forecast that Asia’s fourth-largest economy would expand 1.2 percent on-quarter during the April-June period. But a deepening slump in exports and investments has continued to weigh on the economy.South Korea’s exports are expected to decline for the eighth co

Tensions are escalating between South Korea and Japan over historical issues that have led to an unprecedented trade row. Judging from the latest developments, if left uncontrolled, the feud could cause irrecoverable damage to bilateral relations between the two countries. The most urgent thing is that Japan -- which unilaterally imposed export curbs on some high-tech materials used by Korean tech firms -- should refrain from taking the additional retaliatory measures it had threatened. Also imp

The escalating row over Japan’s export curbs on South Korea should be prevented from spilling over into the realm of security cooperation.It would not serve the interests of both countries if the unraveling of their security ties, encouraged by the US, results in undermining international efforts toward denuclearizing North Korea.In this regard, the US needs to assume a more active mediating role to help resolve the spat between its two key Asian allies over the issue of compensating Korea

Sejong City Council in South Chungcheong Province announced its unanimous official position that the government should postpone its decision on dismantling the Sejong Weir on the Geum River.　“More than 200 billion won ($169 million) of taxpayers’ money was used to build the weir,” Sejong City Council Chairman Seo Geum-taek said Monday. “The government must think carefully whether it is desirable to spend more to dismantle it.”The council effectively opposed the dism

Japan is taking steps to remove South Korea from a list of countries being provided preferential export treatment for Japanese-made strategic goods. Tokyo may well stop the move because it lacks legitimacy and would only further worsen the situation. If the Japanese government pushes ahead with the plan, the removal of South Korea from the 27-country whitelist would take effect in mid-August. There is no doubt that the new export control, following curbs already imposed on three key materials fo