중앙데일리

Turn Off Your Engines

Chongak street was severely crowded on Saturday afternoon during last Saturday's Labor rally. The traffic jams forced some drivers to use the sideways for roads. Even more deplorable than the traffic was the fact that many cars waited for hours with their engines running. How much fuel did the cars use? How much pollution was created from this single event? At Kimpo Airport, this situation occurs on a daily basis. Taxis, waiting for their cu…

May 02,2000
To Be an Ajoshi...

There is a popular joke in Korea that pokes fun at older Korean women. Q: World famous sprinters, Carl Lewis and Ben Johnson, are riding the subway in Seoul and there is only one empty seat. Who gets there first? A: The ajumma (an older, married woman) standing next to them. 'Ajummas' in this country have long been the butt of many jokes and have had a reputation for being stubborn and self-centered. Well, move over ajummas, b…

May 01,2000
High-Priced Private Tuition Should Be Regulated

Minister of Education Moon Yong-lin held exhaustive talks following the government's announcement that it would legalize private tutoring in this country. Minister Moon also met with nine high school principals from Seoul, to dicuss ways of regulating private lessons and the formation of an oversight committee. A similar committee was formed in 1998, with the former Minister of Education Lee Hae-chan appointing Minister Moon, then Seoul Natio…

Apr 30,2000
Is TongYang Securities Responsible for the Fall of Hyundai Group's Stock Price?

The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) is going after TongYang Securities accusing the company of creating false rumors about Hyundai Group's funding problems, but this only appears like the FSC is trying to find a scapegoat to cover up the truth. On April 25, FSC chairman Lee Yong-keun said that the government would give public funds to Korea Investment Company and Daehan Investment Company, but Hyundai Investment Trust Company would ha…

Apr 28,2000
Changes in Postal Codes Only for Administrative Convenience

On April 27, the Ministry of Information and Communication suddenly announced the new postal code system to be effective as of May 1. The current postal code system consists of 8700 codes while the new system would consist of 24000 codes, almost three times more than the current system. A source from the Ministry of Information and Communication explained that, "It is a complementary measure to effectively utilize the automated sorting system…

Apr 27,2000
'Grass-roots' Politicians Entering National Assembly

A new and interesting trend was noticed in the outcome of the April 13 General Election. A noticeable number of politicians from local assemblies and government won in the election and have entered the National Assembly. The election winners from local assemblies and government amounted to 24, or 8.8 percent of 273 total election winners. It is a significant increase equal to four times the 6 members in the 15th National Assembly. It is i…

Apr 26,2000
Science Day with the Citizens

At 5:00pm on April 21, the Science Day, some citizens came together at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). It was for the meeting of citizens of Taejon and scientists in the Taedock Science Town located in Taejon. At first, there was an awkward silence due to the unfamiliarity between the citizens and the scientists. Mr. Chung, a 44-year-old pharmacist, whose idea it was to hold the meeting, proposed a toast, sa…

Apr 25,2000
FTC's role in SK Telecom's Takeover of Shinsegi Telecom

"How can we win the battle? It looks like the battle between David and Goliath." "In order to start restructuring the mobile phone service industry and raise national competitiveness, the takeover is inevitable." These are the voices of PCS phone service companies and SK Telecom concerning the takeover of Shinsegi Telecom by SK Telecom, and it looks bad that the Fair Trade Commission(FTC) is trying to work things out. That is why t…

Apr 24,2000
Public Left Out at Information Technology Awards Ceremony

On April 22, there was controversy at a ceremony commemorating IT Day, where 30 out of 55 awardees were public servants. Of the high-level awards, 7 out of 11 were government employees, giving the impression that balloting was fixed. Information technologies had a large part in the $14 billion trade surplus in Korea in 1999. Some felt that the awards did not represent the industry's importance, while the government pointed out its major role …

Apr 23,2000
Time for University Reform

A controversy is brewing between the government and universities over the status of the Korean Scholastic Aptitude Test. The Ministry of Education recently announced a new KSAT system, where instead of reporting the raw scores of all subjects of the examination and ranking students from best to worst, the government will simply rank students into one of nine categories based on their overall performance in the exam. The categories will simp…

Apr 21,2000

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