중앙데일리

Tasks for the New Minister

Under the new government organization law, President Kim Dae-jung has appointed Han Wan-sang, president of Sangji University, as deputy prime minister and simultaneously minis of education and human resources. As the head of one of the four administrative teams, the deputy prime minister for education will super the Human Resource Development Council must elaborate key agenda items under his jurisdiction before cabinet meetings. The new council w…

Jan 29,2001
Advice for a Deputy Prime Minister

With the new government organization law taking effect from today, the finance and economy minister will be promoted to the position of deputy prime minister in charge of economic affairs, coordinating the Ministry of Finance and Economy, the Financial Supervisory Commission, the Ministry of Planning and Budget and the Blue House economic affairs team. The finance minister will become chairman of the economic policy coordination committee, which …

Jan 29,2001
Follow the Right Plan

The Ministry of National Defense has begun an extensive project to restructure the armed forces with a view to cutting its payroll by 10 percent within the next five years. The money thus saved will be invested primarily in modernizing military equipment and weaponry. Defense Minister Cho Seong-tae recently directed the army, navy and air force to prepare proposals, and their plans giving the specifics of the reduction are supposed to be finalize…

Jan 27,2001
Follow the Right Plan

The Ministry of National Defense has begun an extensive project to restructure the armed forces with a view to cutting its payroll by 10 percent within the next five years. The money thus saved will be invested primarily in modernizing military equipment and weaponry. Defense Minister Cho Seong-tae recently directed the army, navy and air force to prepare proposals, and their plans giving the specifics of the reduction are supposed to be finalize…

Jan 26,2001
Press More for Public Sector Reform

It has come to light that five representative Korean public corporations, including Korea Telecom and Korea Electric Power Co., extended unfair assistance to their affiliates totaling 1 trillion won ($781 million) and were slapped with 40 billion won in penalties. After the Fair Trade Commission probe into unfair internal transactions last year, the four largest Korean conglomerates, whose ultimate goal is maximizing profits, were slapped 44 bill…

Jan 25,2001
Course Adjustments Needed

Now that it has become certain that North Korea intends to reform to some degree and open its doors further to the outside world, President Kim Daejung has emphasized that we need to push forward on all fronts to advance our relations with Pyongyang, saying: “Up till now, we’ve been operating like a small retail store. We have to start thinking in wholesale terms.” It is not clear whether this is merely a call for the expansion of our exchanges w…

Jan 25,2001
An Unsatisfactory Ending

The controversial investigation into the illegal diversion of the National Security Planning Agency’s budget has been practically wrapped up. On Monday, as the Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office indicted Kim Ki-sup, former senior official of the spy agency, who is in custody, it also arraigned Rep. Kang Sam-jae without detention on the allegation of violating the Law on Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes (loss of national treasury). In addi…

Jan 23,2001
Hearings Spoiled by Partisanship

The disgraceful behavior of both the ruling and the opposition camps in the National Assembly hearings on public funds is maddening. Yesterday for the fourth day running, the hearings continued to get nowhere as the two sides faced off on methods of examining witnesses. There is one more day scheduled, but for all practical purposes the hearings might as well be over, and they have accomplished nothing. Of course, more hearings can be held after …

Jan 20,2001
Quotas No Substitute for Reform

Prime Minister Lee Han-dong announced a “ceiling for important posts by region and school” as one of 20 major governmental tasks this year. This ceiling calls for a30-40 percent limit on high-level officials above grade three from the same region or school in each ministry. We believe this is a desperate measure to resolve the controversy over favored appointments from a certain region, but this complacent and mechanical idea comes as a surprise …

Jan 20,2001
Next Steps for North Korea Policy

As expected, it appears that United States policy toward North Korea will change considerably under the Bush administration. In his confirmation hearing, Secretary of State-designate Colin Powell expressed concern about North Korea’s possession of large numbers of conventional weapons and its development of missiles and said that the new administration would thoroughly review U.S. policies toward Pyongyang. He pledged to continue to follow the fr…

Jan 19,2001

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