[Editorial] Change needed

Swiss voters on Sunday decisively rejected a proposition that would have introduced a high inheritance and gift tax on the super-rich. The youth wing of the Social Democrats put forward the "Initiative for the Future" to impose a 50 percent inheritance and gift tax on estates valued over 50 million Swiss francs ($62.1 million). The initiative proposed using the tax revenue to fund climate-related policies and address wealth inequality. But the initiative was voted down by 78.3 percent of the ele

Dec. 4, 2025

[Editorial] Lax security

The massive data breach at Coupang, South Korea's e-commerce giant — now confirmed to have exposed personal data for about 33.7 million customer accounts — is more than just a technical glitch. It is a serious failure of corporate stewardship and a fundamental breach of consumer trust — a betrayal of numerous users who entrusted their personal information to a private company, expecting it to guard that data responsibly. That the leak went undetected for five months after unauthorized access rep

Dec. 2, 2025

[Robert J. Fouser] Korean learning boom falters

The past twenty years have seen a boom in people learning Korean. Hallyu and K-pop have put South Korean pop culture on the map, particularly in the evolving global Generation Z culture. Other factors, many of which have received little attention, have contributed to the boom. The first, and perhaps most important, is the expanding interaction with South Korea, which deepens contact with Koreans and inspires people to learn the language. Interaction with Koreans has expanded, both in South Korea

Nov. 28, 2025

[Editorial] Negotiation chaos

The Ministry of Employment and Labor on Monday disclosed an amendment to the enforcement ordinances of the "Yellow Envelope" law that refer to revised Articles 2 and 3 of the Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act. The amended ordinances will be open until Jan. 5 for public review and opinion collection. The Yellow Envelope bill stirred strong backlash from businesses, but the pro-labor ruling party pushed it through in August with its significant parliamentary majority. The law is sched

Nov. 27, 2025

[Kim Seong-kon] 'Ever Night': Standing between light and darkness

History teaches us valuable lessons. When we watch historical movies and dramas, we can look back upon the past, realize what went wrong at that time, and learn not to repeat the same mistakes our ancestors made. In that sense, history reflects the present and illuminates the right path to the future. The 2018 Chinese television series “Ever Night” enables us to perceive the nature of problems we are now facing by reference to historical events. Set in the Tang Dynasty, this award-winning drama

Nov. 26, 2025

[Mark Gongloff] Who believes in climate change?

There’s an old climate joke that goes, “You may not believe in climate change, but your insurance company does.” If you’re in the market for new environmental humor — and really, who isn’t? — you can now update this to say, “You may not believe in climate change, but the stock market does.” For much of this year, the S&P Global Clean Energy Index has outpaced the S&P 500 Index, the Nasdaq 100 Index and the MSCI World Index, Bloomberg News noted recently as part of a report about Jefferies analys

Nov. 26, 2025

[Editorial] Populist choice

The government said Friday that it plans to reopen bidding within this year for a project to build a new international airport on the Busan island of Gadeokdo. The decision to resume bidding was made after the government extended its assessed construction period from 84 months to 106 months. Bidding had failed four times before a consortium led by Hyundai E&C was selected as a preferred bidder in October last year. But in May, Hyundai E&C demanded the government increase the construction period

Nov. 25, 2025

[Yoo Choon-sik] AI talent push meets flip-flop doubt

The recently announced “AI Talent Development Plans for All" is a truly sweeping initiative, broad enough to underscore the South Korean government’s drive to strengthen artificial intelligence capabilities nationwide. It is a vision that sees AI not merely as a technology, but as a universal competency that must be nurtured from kindergarten classrooms to the highest levels of postgraduate research. The initiative exemplifies South Korea's ambition to chart a grand national course, seeking to t

Nov. 24, 2025

[Ana Palacio] Restoring Europe's social contracts

The European Parliament Committee on Constitutional Affairs recently held a high-level symposium on the “Quest for the Rule of Law.” Legal scholars, academics and practitioners gathered for an in-depth dialogue on the principle’s meaning and implementation within the European Union. But the challenge ahead is more fundamental:The rule of law is backsliding in Europe, jeopardizing democracy itself. Since World War II, liberal democracies have built and sustained their social contracts on three mu

Nov. 24, 2025

[Editorial] Signals of crisis

South Korean companies forecast that Korea could be overtaken by China across all of its top 10 export industries within the next five years, according to a survey of domestic firms conducted by the Federation of Korean Industries. Korea has already been overtaken by China in half of its top 10 export sectors — steel, general machinery, secondary batteries, displays and automobiles and auto parts — and is expected to fall behind China in semiconductors, electrical and electronics, shipbuilding,

Nov. 20, 2025