[Editorial] Pardons for power

Liberation Day on South Korea’s political calendar has often doubled as a day for presidential pardons. The tradition is defended as a gesture toward national unity. This year, President Lee Jae Myung’s first list of pardons since taking office was notable less for its length than for its politically insensitive timing and implications. The list of beneficiaries announced Monday includes former Justice Minister Cho Kuk, convicted of academic fraud and abuse of power; his wife Chung Kyung-shim; a

Aug. 13, 2025

[Editorial] Avoid overoptimism

North Korea on Saturday began dismantling some of its loudspeakers installed along the border for noise campaigns against South Korea, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The move is encouraging in that the North seemingly took a corresponding measure after the South finished removing its anti-Pyongyang loudspeakers. But it is premature to conclude based on this response alone that inter-Korean tensions have begun to thaw. The South Korean military suspended the propaganda broadcasts it had

Aug. 12, 2025

[Editorial] Shifting trade rules

A quiet yet drastic shift is underway: After three decades of World Trade Organization-led multilateralism, the United States has openly declared the system unsustainable. Writing in the New York Times on Thursday, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer portrayed the WTO as a faltering institution that compromised American industry while enabling China’s state-driven economic model to thrive. This is why the world is now witnessing the so-called “Trump Round,” a new global trade order built not

Aug. 11, 2025

[Editorial] Rules for some

Rep. Lee Choon-suak, a four-term lawmaker from South Korea’s ruling Democratic Party of Korea, faces public fury and political fallout following allegations that he engaged in stock trading under a borrowed name — potentially implicating him in insider trading and false asset reporting. The scandal erupted after local media photographed Lee operating a mobile trading app during a parliamentary session on Monday. The account was registered under his aide’s name. Lee was seen transacting shares in

Aug. 8, 2025

[Editorial] Legislation at will

The ruling Democratic Party of Korea processed the Broadcasting Act amendment unilaterally in the National Assembly plenary session Tuesday. It is the party's first bill to pass the Assembly under its newly elected chair, Rep. Jung Chung-rae. According to the bill, the number of directors of several broadcasting networks will increase from 11 to 15, and the Assembly will recommend 40 percent of them. The rest will be recommended by employee representatives, audience committees, academia and grou

Aug. 7, 2025

[Editorial] Tax reform misstep

The Lee Jae Myung administration’s first major tax reform was intended to tackle rising fiscal pressures and address long-standing structural imbalances in South Korea’s tax regime. Instead, it has rattled markets, drawn criticism from global financial institutions and exposed fractures within the ruling party. On Friday, just a day after the blueprint’s release, the benchmark Kospi and tech-heavy Kosdaq indices each fell by around 4 percent, a sharp reversal for markets that had only recently b

Aug. 6, 2025

[Editorial] Look to the people

Rep. Jung Chung-rae, a lawmaker well known for his hard-line stance and rough way with words, was elected chair of the ruling Democratic Party in its national convention last Saturday. He said in his acceptance speech that the insurrection was not over yet and that the party must root out "insurrectionist" forces. He defined the main opposition People Power Party as "a force which tried to destroy the Constitution" and his party as "a force trying to defend it." He also said if the People Power

Aug. 5, 2025

[Editorial] Resetting the alliance

President Lee Jae Myung’s summit with US President Donald Trump this month is expected to mark a turning point in the Korea-US alliance. It will be their first in-person meeting since Trump returned to the White House in January, and it follows Seoul’s hard-won tariff deal that secured trade terms on par with those for Japan. But economic parity is only part of the story. As security threats multiply and US foreign policy grows increasingly transactional, the summit presents an opportunity for S

Aug. 4, 2025

[Editorial] Take down hurdles

The global success of “KPop Demon Hunters,” an animated film released on Netflix in June, has provided an unexpected boost to Korea’s soft power. The film, in which a fictional K-pop girl group battles demons with music-infused powers, has topped streaming charts in over 30 countries and propelled its soundtrack to second place on the Billboard 200. But perhaps more telling than the film’s entertainment value is what it revealed about Korea’s export potential and its limitations. While fans from

Aug. 1, 2025

[Editorial] Corporate anxiety

Two bills certain to dampen Korean companies’ activity are set to become law. The more concerning of the two is the so-called "Yellow Envelope Bill," which would revise Articles 2 and 3 of the Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act. Industrial and business circles have expressed concerns about the bill numerous times, but the government and the ruling Democratic Party of Korea have pressed ahead with the legislation. The majority party on Monday passed the bill and a Commercial Law revis

July 31, 2025

[Editorial] Banking beyond margins

South Korea’s four largest financial groups — KB, Shinhan, Hana and Woori — posted a combined net profit of 10.33 trillion won ($7.42 billion) in the first half of 2025, setting a new record. What makes this figure striking is not only its magnitude but the underlying composition of these earnings. Despite four benchmark rate cuts by the Bank of Korea since late 2024, commercial banks promptly lowered deposit rates but were reluctant to reduce lending rates. As a result, the net interest margin

July 30, 2025

[Editorial] Improper meeting

It was recently revealed that National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik visited the incarcerated former leader of the minor Rebuilding Korea Party earlier this month. Woo met Cho Kuk in the Seoul Southern Correctional Institution on July 9, according to Yonhap News Agency on Saturday. It was a special visit, known as a "visit with change of location" in Korean. Unlike regular inmate visits, which are limited to 30 minutes, there is no time limit. Special visits also take place in a more private set

July 29, 2025

[Editorial] Beef and barriers

As the Aug. 1 deadline for US reciprocal tariffs approaches, South Korea faces intensifying pressure to make politically sensitive trade concessions. Nowhere is this tension more visible than in the dispute over American beef. On July 24, US President Donald Trump took to social media to praise Australia’s decision to open its beef market — including imports of cattle over 30 months old — and warned that countries refusing “magnificent” US beef were “on notice.” Among major US trade partners, So

July 28, 2025

[Editorial] Securing a fair deal

As Japan and the United States conclude a high-profile tariff agreement, attention has quickly turned to South Korea. Tokyo’s willingness to open its agricultural market, commit to joint energy projects and pledge a record-breaking $550 billion in US-bound investment has earned it a reduction in reciprocal tariffs from 25 percent to 15 percent — a benchmark now hardening into a minimum standard for Washington’s other major trading partners. South Korea finds itself in a more compressed timeframe

July 25, 2025

[Editorial] Justice prevails

Gender Equality and Family Minister nominee Kang Sun-woo expressed her intent to withdraw from consideration as minister Wednesday. A day earlier, President Lee Jae Myung requested the National Assembly send the confirmation hearing report on Kang Sun-woo to him by Thursday, indicating his willingness to appoint her even if the Assembly failed to adopt the report. Her volutary withdrawal from candidacy means that justice prevailed in the long run. It also lessened President Lee's political burde

July 24, 2025