중앙데일리

[VIEWPOINT]Textbook Offends Morally － and Legally

There are increasing concerns that relations between Korea and Japan, which looked finally to be warming after decades of distrust, will be scuttled due to the Japanese government's approval of a history textbook that glosses over or contests some of the events of the nations' troubled shared past. How sovereignty chooses to educate its people is an internal matter and should not concern other nations. However, there are a …

May 27,2001
[FOUNTAIN]Till Death, or Whim, Do Us Part

There is a saying, "Open both eyes before marriage but close one eye after marriage." Getting married is something to take care about, but after marriage the partners should overlook flaws or mistakes and cover for each other as much as possible. They vowed, after all, to stay together "until their hair become white and weak like roots of green onion." But is it as easy as people say? Even those who kept their eyes closed before marriage …

May 27,2001
[EDITORIALS]'Reform Harvest,' 'Reform Fatigue'

There has been a lot of noise in the government and the Millennium Democratic Party centered on reform. There has been self-criticism about what has been accomplished on reform, but there has also been much harsh criticism toward those who chose to be self-critical. Recently, the party's Supreme Council proposed a "reform harvest," suggesting that the administration wrap up its program. Immediate-ly, the Office of the President objected th…

May 25,2001
[EDITORIALS]Rising Voices in the Ruling Party

Calls for change, like a fresh cool breeze after a long-spell of humidity, are being heard within the ruling Millennium Democratic Party. The party's reformist-leaning freshman and second-term legislators have called on those responsible to be held accountable for the ill-fated appointment of the 43-hour man, Justice Minister Ahn Dong-su, and demanded that the government revamp the personnel management system. Their calls are ultimately targeted…

May 25,2001
[EDITORIALS]Complete Land Reclamation Project

The debate on the Saemangeum land reclamation project has been concluded with a compromise for gradual development. Accordingly, construction will resume after a two-year hiatus. Tension over the project, however, is expected for some time because of fierce opposition from civic groups and other organizations. One cannot help but deplore the fact that such a large-scale government project was undertaken before thorough review and that it has beco…

May 25,2001
[INSIGHT]How Things Should Be; How They Are

We are all too much men of principles. We habitually emphasize rules. Unfortunately there are matters that cannot be solved that way. That is why we have to hammer out social consensus from time to time. The capacity of a democratic society can be measured by how much efficient it is in building social consensus on such matters. We have a few issues of great importance to be decided by national consensus. They are the proposal of a bioethics b…

May 25,2001
[OUTLOOK]Technology Is Not a Faucet You Turn On

Gunpowder, paper, the compass and the printing press － some of the most important inventions in history － all came from China. Until the Middle Ages, the civilizations of northern European countries such as Germany and Britain were practically barbarian in comparison to China and the Islamic countries. Their revolutionary technologies, however, were largely based on trial and error. Entering the Modern Age, Europe suddenly took the techno…

May 25,2001
[VIEWPOINT]Cheju Not Ready for English Plan

I was in Cheju island a few years ago and was shocked to hear the depth of hostility among the local populace toward people from the mainland. "There was an accident a few days ago, but luckily only people from the mainland got killed," was what one said. To hear such animosity from people whose main means of living is tourism － mostly visiting mainlanders － made me wonder if the Cheju uprising and the government's bloody crackdown still rank…

May 25,2001
[EDITORIALS]A Railway to Nowhere

It is deeply disappointing that North Korea has not even started working on the restoration of the Kyongui railway that President Kim Dae-jung has said would become "the silk road of the new millenium," and which had inflated people's expectation. Only a few months ago, the government had expected the restoration to be completed by September or at the latest by the end of the year. However, the Ministry of Construction and Transportation is now…

May 24,2001
[EDITORIALS]Ridiculing the Prime Minister's Office

Sharp comments that a prime minister is actually no more than a figurehead or a master of ceremonies has become a hot topic. The harsh remark is from a book entitled, "The Best Prime Minister and the Worst Prime Minister," written by Chung Doo-un, vice spokesman of the opposition Grand National Party, who worked in the office of the prime minister 15 years. In the book, he wrote about 18 successive prime ministers with whom he had been acquaint…

May 24,2001

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