[THE INVESTOR] Government officials were quick to describe the decision by global credit appraiser Standard & Poor’s on Monday to raise Korea’s sovereign credit rating from AA- to a record high of AA as positive recognition of the way they have handled the country’s economy.In a statement issued the same day, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance said the decision was highly surprising, given the rating agency has been downgrading sovereign debt ratings of major economies lately.Ministry official

Rich people must make more donations for a cohesive societyOn an April day in 2008, a woman in her 70s visited a charity office in Seoul to convey her intent to donate all she had ― 15 million won ($14,200) in key money for her rented room ― after her death.“I have received too much during my life. I want to close my eyes after giving it back,” said Park No-ju, who had been living alone, suffering

Alarm bells are ringing loudly over the rapidly growing number of suicides among aged Koreans.Figures from Statistics Korea show the number of suicides per 100,000 people aged 65 or over increased 5.38 times from 14.3 in 1990 to 77 in 2009. In comparison, the figures for age groups of 15-34 years and 35-64 years rose by 2.49 times and 3.41 times to 23.2 and 35.9, respectively, over the same period

Calls mounting for better safety net for aged people living aloneA 65-year-old woman surnamed Park was found dead in an apartment where she had lived alone in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, on a freezing day in February. Just two hours earlier, police had discovered a 55-year-old man, who had also been living in solitude, lying dead in a neighboring apartment.Police officers, who visited their

President Lee in uphill battle to keep his ‘fair society’ campaign afloatA workplace inspector suspected of taking bribes from companies called on a police investigator and tried to bribe him with an envelope of cash only to be caught red-handed early this year.When police later raided the Seoul branch office of the Employment and Labor Ministry, where the inspector surnamed Park worked, they foun

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon has been engaged in another wrangle with the opposition-dominated council over a project to build a waterway linking downtown Seoul to the western port city of Incheon.Oh initiated what he termed the “Seohae (West Sea) Waterway Project” as part of his campaign pledges for the 2006 mayoral election, saying it would bring in a larger number of tourists from Japan and China by

Vote on school meals to be watershed for Oh’s political future, welfare competitionAgainst the backdrop of a pile of boxes containing what he had awaited for months, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon stood before a crowd of reporters at City Hall on June 16.“The upcoming referendum will be a watershed to decide whether to expand or put an end to welfare populism,” said Oh. He hoped the judgment to be made by

Rep. Park Geun-hye (right) sits with her sister Geun-ryeong (left), brother Ji-man and his wife Seo Hyang-hee during a memorial service for her late mother Yuk Young-soo at the National Cemetery in Seoul in August 2006. (Yonhap News)Current frontrunner needs to show substance as leader, overcome sibling problemsAs she was about to enter the National Assembly chamber on June 7, Rep. Park Geun-hye,

Protests over tuition cuts signal partisan race to woo voters with populist policiesOpposition leader Sohn Hak-kyu hoped that his party’s plan to cut college tuition fees would appeal to students when he attended their rally early last week.“I am not here to add fuel to your anger but to share your concerns,” Sohn told about 200 university students holding a candlelight vigil in downtown Seoul for

DP’s move to form unified party shunned by splinter groups seeking loose allianceHe looked gloomy receiving a group of top officials from the then ruling Uri Party at his office in May 2007.“I have never seen democratic reformist forces split like this,” said Kim Dae-jung, the former president, in a subdued voice. He was referring to the wrangling between the Uri Party and other liberal groups, wh

Experts say diverse lifestyles reflect changes in socio-economic environmentLee, a 65-year-old woman who lives in an apartment near the Han River in Seoul, has recently been troubled with the small dog her daughter leaves with her on weekdays.Her married daughter, 33, began keeping the dog a few months ago and felt sorry leaving it at home alone while she and her husband were at work. So she asked

Grand National Party leadership race heats up as July convention approachesIn November 1969, Kim Young-sam, then an opposition lawmaker, announced his intention to run in his party’s presidential nomination race, using the slogan “40-something standard bearer.”The announcement by the then 43-year-old Kim took aback the New Democratic Party’s aged leadership, which had posed no serious challenge to

Experts predict grave consequences unless proper measures takenTwo years ago, he applied for an early retirement when his company, an electronic appliances manufacturer, announced layoff plans.At the time, the man surnamed Sohn believed he would soon find another job to utilize his experience as a personnel manager. But Sohn, now 53, still remains unemployed with his hope of getting a job ― even o

Opposition leader’s rise alarming ruling party’s front runnerIn the early morning of April 28, a throng of lawmakers were gathering at the entrance of the National Cemetery in Seoul, waiting for their party leader to arrive.When Sohn Hak-kyu, chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party, showed up around 8:30 a.m., they extended their hands for him to shake and followed him to the tomb of late

New light shed on legacies of Park Chung-hee’s 18-year ruleA half-century ago this month, a group of military officers led by Army Maj. Gen. Park Chung-hee kicked out a fledgling democratic government which had been grappling with a host of popular demands with little success.In a six-point “revolutionary pledge,” they tasked themselves with rooting out corruption, pulling the people out of povert

South Korea and the U.S. have agreed to carry out a joint study on safe ways to store spent nuclear fuel, including exploring the feasibility of pyroprocessing technology, the government said Sunday.The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said the two sides agreed to conduct two years of preliminary storage-related research up till 2012 that is technologically and economically viable, an

JEJU (Yonhap News) ― It is “premature” for the two Koreas to hold governmental talks for a joint survey of a North Korean mountain to assess the risk of its potential volcanic eruption, a high-level Seoul official said Sunday.The remark came days after the two Koreas agreed to conduct a joint on-site survey of Mount Baekdu during a rare civilian-led meeting that experts say may help open the way f

The government resorted to expedience and bypassed set inspection rules to extend the operational life of South Korea’s oldest nuclear reactor, an opposition lawmaker claimed Saturday.Rep. Kim Young-hwan of the main opposition Democratic Party said when engineers tested the pressure vessel of the Gori-1 reactor in 2005, the critical system did not meet minimum safety requirements.He also argued th

(LEE-CLINTON TALKS — President Lee Myung-bak shakes hands with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton before their talks at Cheong Wa Dae on Sunday. Yonhap News)President Lee Myung-bak and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton agreed Sunday to make best efforts to have a free trade pact between the two allies ratified at an early date and to work closely together in dealing with North Korea, th

President Lee Myung-bak is expected to carry out a minor Cabinet reshuffle early next month that could affect at least four ministers, which likely includes the agriculture minister, who was in charge of handling the recent foot-and-mouth disease crisis, an official said Thursday.The reorganization is expected to take place about one to two weeks after the April 27 by-elections, the official said.