[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

[Vitit Muntarbhorn] Business' role in child protection

A key element of child protection is to amplify the participation of the business sector as a partner in the process. This is particularly challenging regarding the expanding mass of child sexual exploitation and abuse materials in a world of digitalization, algorithms and Artificial Intelligence. A recent report backed by the UN concerning the impact of AI on child sexual exploitation notes that Cyber Tipline reports on CSAM received some 36 million reports of suspected child sexual exploitatio

Nov. 27, 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

[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

[Editorial] Crisis in care

The image is grim but familiar: an ambulance idling outside a Busan hospital, its siren silent, its crew on the phone. Inside lies a teenager in seizures, a patient the system classifies as pediatric and refuses to treat. What happened on Oct. 20 was not an aberration. It was the predictable outcome of a structure long signaling distress. Though the doctors’ strike has ended and trainees have returned, the "emergency room loop" in which crews call up hospital after hospital seeking an open door

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

[Lee Jae-min] US tariff end risks package deals

The United States Supreme Court seems to be on a fast track for its review and deliberation of the fentanyl and "reciprocal" tariff measures of the Donald Trump administration. During oral arguments on Nov. 5, some of the justices raised critical questions expressing skepticism about the legality of the tariffs. The core question is whether the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 gives the president the authority to impose such sweeping tariffs. Of course, there is no telling wha

Nov. 25, 2025

[Lim Woong] Finding light in unkind digital world

It is not difficult to see that online platforms have become the primary spaces where our youth gather, talk, argue, chase trends and figure out how to live with others. For students, social media functions almost like a parallel reality they cannot ignore. We often say that libraries shape their habits of mind, yet it is social media where their sense of right and wrong is tested, where they learn, sometimes painfully, to read situations, protect themselves and form a sense of community and bel

Nov. 25, 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] Dangerous drift

The most striking image of Northeast Asia’s current instability is not a fleet of warships, but a single remark in a Japanese parliamentary chamber. On Nov. 7, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi warned that a Chinese move against Taiwan could create a situation that “threatened the survival” of Japan. Her phrasing, drawn from Japan’s 2015 security legislation, immediately escalated the political temperature. Beijing responded swiftly. Chinese officials demanded a full retraction and issued statements

Nov. 24, 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

[Editorial] Korea’s dollar drain

The Korean won’s persistent decline against the US dollar has moved beyond ordinary volatility and now signals a deeper imbalance that Seoul’s policymakers can no longer overlook. With the won trading persistently near the 1,470 won mark, markets now openly discuss 1,500 as plausible. What is striking is that this does not reflect a shortage of dollars from trade. It reflects a structural reshaping of the foreign exchange equilibrium that threatens to erode hard-won stability, trigger cost-push

Nov. 21, 2025

[Lee Byung-jong] Korea’s unfit ambassadors

For South Korea’s newly elected presidents, ambassadorship has long been an ideal gift to bestow on friends and loyalists. Unlike other top government posts, ambassadorial positions do not require tough parliamentary confirmation hearings or extensive public scrutiny. This made them convenient rewards in the past, when military dictators handed out ambassadorships to fellow generals who supported their coups or autocracies. In more recent years, presidents have given these posts to politicians a

Nov. 21, 2025

[Wang Son-taek] Common sense between 55 and 101

The controversy over urban development near Jongmyo Shrine has become one of the most troubling cultural debates in Korea today. The damage is affecting Korea’s international reputation at a moment when the world is paying close attention to our cultural heritage. After the successful APEC Summit in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, where Korea presented itself as a nation that cherishes traditional culture, such a sudden regression in Seoul’s approach to heritage conservation is both bafflin

Nov. 20, 2025

[Arthur Herman] America’s coming boom

Where is America going? It depends on who you listen to. Some pundits see its economic outlook as gloomy, if not disastrous. They point out that the affordability issue, i.e. that Americans sense they are paying more for less, isn’t going away; the election of a socialist as mayor of New York City who campaigned precisely on that issue, indicates the opposite. And although the recent government shutdown has ended, President Trump’s economics chief Kevin Hassett predicts it will mean it cuts four

Nov. 20, 2025