It is predicted that the recent Sewol ferry disaster will result in economic losses of over 1.5 trillion won (US$1.46 billion) with domestic consumer sentiment dampened to the point of cutting this year’s national economic growth rate by 0.1 percentage points. The direct costs associated with the ca
The Sewol passenger ferry disaster is a tragic combination of incompetent politicians, corrupt bureaucrats and one immoral businessman. The political community has been blinded by power and negligent about the safety of their people. The bureaucracy has settled for their vested interests. The owner
Another storm is coming to the business community, this time in the form of a weekly working hour reduction from 68 to 52. Along with the ordinary wage issue that heated up throughout last year, the matter is signaling a tectonic shift in the way of doing business down the road.According to the curr
Each weekend in the plaza in front of the Seoul City Hall a rally is staged by left-wingers who demand the resignation of President Park Geun-hye and National Intelligence Service Chief Nam Jae-joon, along with the release of Unified Progressive Party lawmaker Lee Seok-ki under suspicion of rebellio
The Park Geun-hye government has recently announced a new three-year plan for economic reform in a movement towards deregulation and public sector renovation.The problem is that past administrations have pursued the same goal with similar initiatives, only to result in an increasing number of regula
Korea needs to look into the German style welfare-to-work program as a solution for the current economic state where growth and employment are stagnant, while the welfare burden is getting hefty.The Korea Economic Research Institute published a report on March 26 titled “Traits and Implications of G
The previous industrial era was led by the three-headed system of “bureaucracy, politics, and chaebol.”Those in the era pursued a high-speed compressed growth strategy, and made it. However, the system that led the planned economy collapsed when the Korean economy opened up overall. Existing bureauc
Korea was recently named the worst place for worker productivity in the OECD, which was featured in a recent article by this magazine. This news is not surprising for any professional previously or currently working in Korea, as the notorious overtime hours coupled with years of low growth have been
The way that convenience retailers operate in Asia, using customer insight to shape their offer to a level unprecedented in the Western markets, is starting to make businesses in the latter economies really sit up and take notice. Asian retailers’ assortment and adjacencies are all driven by the lif
Foreign news outlets have poured out reports about Korea as an IT powerhouse for years. CNN reported last year that Korea ranked first both in Internet penetration rate (82.7%) and smart phone penetration rate (78.5%), adding that the figure astonishingly amounts to 97.7% in the age group of 18 to 2
The Washington Post reported that the heroes of the Miracle of the Han River are living in poverty, as younger Koreans are spending more and more on private education and luxury products. It added that the country’s old-age poverty rate is the highest among the group of developed economies. The prob
The Supreme Court finally delivered its ruling that regular and fixed bonuses are to be included in the scope of ordinary wages, even when the cycle of payment is over one month. The scope of ordinary wages had been the key issue surrounding many con- flicts between management and labor, because it
An official at the US Department of Defense recently said that the US government welcomes Japan’s efforts to normalize its role in the international community to contribute to peace and regional security in Northeast Asia.This announcement is regarded as an expression of its official support for Jap
With Washington officially backing up Japan’s pursuit of a collective self-defense, a significant change is expected to be come up in the security environment of Northeast Asia. The joint announcement that was made at the Security Consultative Committee in Tokyo on September 3 is predicted to shake
China and North Korea are claiming that the six-party talks be resumed with no strings attached whereas South Korea and the United States are against it calling for Pyongyang’s denuclearization.On September 18, Kim Kye-gwan, First Vice Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of North Korea, part
With corporate workouts and court receivership in progress in subsidiaries of the Tong Yang Group, and the exacerbating situation surrounding the fraudulent issuing of corporate bills, many people are criticizing investors for their moral hazards. The people remember experiencing the resale of the c
It was the depths of the Cold War. Thirty years ago this month, 269 people aboard Korean Airlines Flight 007 died in the sub-zero skies over North Asia. On 1 September 1983 a Soviet fighter shot the airliner down after it entered Soviet airspace over Sakhalin Island.The world reacted with outrage. N
The two Koreas are moving fast to improve bilateral relations. The reunion of separated families is planned to be resumed for the first time in three years. Both Koreas had a meeting on August 23 at Panmunjom to discuss the reunion and agreed with each other to hold the event at Mt. Kumgang during t
Elvin Toffler wrote in his book Third Wave that the information revolution defies any prediction about the future, yet the pressure for the change is on the rise. As a result of the development of information and communication technology, information is now handled and processed by a greater number
The QE tapering has been a buzzword for markets around the world since late May.As debates heat up, the Korean stock market pulled back below the 1,800 level last month. But stocks are now extending a sustained rebound as related fears recede.Was the Fed QE tapering something that markets have not e