The government appears to be promoting a merger between Woori Finance Holdings Co. and KDB Financial Group to create a “mega bank” with assets exceeding 500 trillion won ($458 billion), roughly half of the nation’s gross domestic product. The Public Fund Oversight Committee, which is tasked with recouping taxpayers’ money used to bail out distressed companies, will convene on May 17 to restart t...

Korea Railroad Corp. has finally addressed growing public concern about the safety of its accident-prone KTX bullet trains. KORAIL said Thursday it would reduce operations of its high-speed trains for a comprehensive safety check. A day earlier, it ordered Hyundai Rotem to recall all of the 19 KTX-Sancheon trains in operation for thorough inspection. The recall order came after inspectors found ...

The Monetary Policy Committee is holding its monthly meeting Friday to determine whether or not to keep the central bank’s benchmark rate intact. Among the things that must be taken into consideration is the real interest rate, which has remained below zero for the past five months. A key real rate, the nominal yield on three-year government bonds less the consumer price index, was minus 0.5 per...

Rival factions in the ruling Grand National Party have papered over their disagreements on who should represent the party now ― the floor leader or the chairman of the emergency committee on reform. But a similar conflict may surface anytime, as the power struggle, triggered by the party’s defeat in the April 27 parliamentary by-elections, is most likely to intensify in the months ahead. In the ...

Incheon Transit Corporation has invested 85.3 billion won to build a monorail system linking the major sightseeing spots in Incheon. The project, touted as the nation’s first urban sightseeing light rail, was completed last year but is still not open for public use. The main reason is that serious safety problems were found during trial operations. The system is now under scrutiny by an independe...

The divisive debate on tax cuts has resurfaced in the ruling Grand National Party following the election on Friday of Rep. Hwang Woo-yea, a neutral four-term lawmaker, as the party’s new floor leader. Hwang pledged to scrap the planned tax cuts for the companies and individuals in the highest corporate and personal income tax brackets, saying he would use the money for low-income people who suff...

The nation’s political parties are in a state of flux. Party leaderships are in serious disarray and analysts see the possibility of a major regrouping when parliamentary and presidential votes draw near. Popularity ratings fluctuate wildly while President Lee Myung-bak’s approval rate keeps sliding. The ruling Grand National Party’s by-election loss last month in Bundang, long considered a cons...

While there is a near zero possibility that Kim Jong-il will accept President Lee’s offer of inviting the North Korean leader to the Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul next March, which carries heavy preconditions, the gesture shows the government’s sincerity to bring the rogue regime to the international arena. President Lee also reminded Pyongyang of what it can expect from the international soci...

President Lee Myung-bak began his European tour meeting with German leaders Monday. With few pressing issues on hand, other than how to increase economic cooperation using the just-ratified Korea-European Union Free Trade Agreement, Lee’s week-long trip through Germany, Denmark and France will be a respite from the headaches at home complicated by a by-election defeat, falling approval ratings an...

Koreans love kimchi so much that they want global citizens to enjoy the unique side dish, which they do not hesitate to identify with the Korean culture itself. The people who make the world’s biggest ships, best color TV sets and cell phones, and increasingly reliable automobiles have wondered why Korean food had to be rated below Thai and Vietnamese, let alone Chinese or Japanese. So, they are...

Lawmakers of the ruling Grand National Party are taking another crack at curbing the time-old practice of public officials landing high-paying jobs at private companies immediately after retirement. The latest attempt comes in the midst of public anger over officials of the Financial Supervisory Service who have all but monopolized the auditor posts at financial companies after retirement. To a...

Rep. Hwang Woo-yea, an independent-minded four-term lawmaker, was elected new floor leader of the ruling Grand National Party on Friday, signaling a power shift in the party and the collapse of its mainstream faction loyal to President Lee Myung-bak. Hwang beat Reps. An Kyung-ryul and Lee Byung-suk, both from the pro-Lee camp. In the first round of voting, Hwang won 64 votes out of 159, while An...

It is a matter of course that prevention is better than cure. But an Asian financial safety net, designed to fight off future financial crises, cannot be relied to prevent them. Instead, it may be used to take action only when a financial crisis is confirmed to have dealt a blow to a country. This weakness in the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization (CMIM) program, a $120 billion pool of fu...

The prosecution’s conclusion on Tuesday that North Korea was to blame for the paralysis of the computer network of the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation is a chilling reminder of the pariah regime’s determination and capability to launch cyber attacks against the South. The prosecutors defined the North’s hacking into the NACF’s computer system as a new form of cyber terrorism. Befor...

Last Saturday, we called for drastic reform of the Financial Supervisory Services as the powerful regulatory agency exuded the stench of corruption. We were not alone in smelling the odor. President Lee Myung-bak did as well. On Wednesday, Lee made a surprise visit to the FSS to express his fury and disappointment over the regulator’s failure to prevent irregularities at financial companies and ...