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New policies needed to ride out economic crisis South Korea suffered its worst economic performance in 11 years, battered by the coronavirus pandemic. More seriously, the worst is yet to come. The country is expected to feel a more severe economic impact in the coming months, so it is urgent to take bolder action to avoid a worst-case scenario. The economy contracted 1.4 perce..

A North Korean defector elected as a lawmaker in South Korea claimed Friday that he is “99 percent” sure North Korean leader Kim Jong-un died last weekend after surgery. Unconfirmed reports of Kim's ill health have mounted since he has not appeared in public for nearly three weeks. News reports described Kim as being in “grave danger” after surgery or hiding out at a c..

Unusual things happening in North cannot be taken lightly Rumors are rampant about North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's health after CNN first reported, Tuesday, that the U.S. was looking into intelligence that he is “gravely ill” after surgery. Government officials in China, South Korea as well as the United States have cast doubt on the credibility of the reports, but it is..

Korea bears brunt of global economic tsunami The coronavirus pandemic has begun to take its toll on South Korea as its exports plunged this month. According to the Korea Customs Service, the country's overseas shipments nosedived 26.9 percent to $21.7 billion in the first 20 days of April from a year ago. This figure appears to be a prelude to a further setback to export-orien..

Take bolder measures to stave off crisis The economic shock of the coronavirus pandemic has brought about South Korea's first net job loss in a decade. According to Statistics Korea, the country lost 195,000 jobs last month from a year before. This marked the first year-on-year monthly decline since January 2010 and the steepest fall since May 2009 when the country was undergo..

It is still necessary to practice social distancing The country's daily new cases of COVID-19 fell to a single digit Sunday for the first time in about two months, raising hope for the people getting back to normal life. But it is still too early to lower our guard against the coronavirus pandemic. That is why Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun has decided to maintain the ongoing s..

Political neutrality should be kept in education field The Constitutional Court ruled last Thursday that banning elementary and secondary schoolteachers from creating or joining political organizations is unconstitutional. In a 6-3 vote, the court made unconstitutional Article 65-1 of the State Public Officials Act, which stipulates that “no public official may participate i..

Economic rescue should be top post-election goal One of the biggest topics in the past general election was how well the Moon Jae-in administration had responded to the COVID-19 outbreak. But the election is now over, and this is an old story. It is time to patch things up and unite together to ride out this unprecedented crisis. Huge challenges lie ahead for South Korea even ..

Clarify truth and punish those responsible before it's too late The nation marked the sixth anniversary of the tragic sinking of the ferry Sewol, Thursday. Koreans still vividly remember how powerless they felt watching 304 precious lives perish under the cold sea as if the incident happened a few days ago; but six years have passed since then. Most of the victims were young s..

Busan major resigns in disgrace over sexual harassment Busan Mayor Oh Keo-don, a political bigwig known for his dogged perseverance, abruptly resigned Thursday. Even more astonishing than his unexpected resignation was the reason ― sexual harassment. Oh was a veteran administrator, who had held all the key posts in the nation's second-largest city, and had even served as the..