[Editorial] Defying medical gravity

South Korean policy debates often collapse into arithmetic. Figures are announced, disputed and weaponized, as if precision alone could substitute for trust. This week’s move on medical school admissions follows that familiar script on the surface. Yet the more consequential question is not how many seats were added but whether the government has learned how fragile reform becomes when numbers race ahead of institutions. On Tuesday, the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced a plan to expand m

Feb. 13, 2026

[Editorial] Privacy under siege

The ruling Democratic Party of Korea on Tuesday proposed a bill to establish a state regulator tasked with supervising the property market. Placed under the Prime Minister’s Office, the watchdog would be granted broad powers to plan, oversee, and coordinate the probing, investigative, and sanctioning functions of eight related ministries and agencies. Its staff would have special judicial police status and be fully in charge of examining suspicious real estate transactions. They would also be em

Feb. 12, 2026

[Editorial] Japan’s decisive turn

Japan’s voters have done something they rarely do. They have handed near-unchecked power to a single leader, not out of nostalgia for stability but from impatience with drift. The result is a Japan that looks more decisive and predictable, yet also more diplomatically challenging for its neighbors, including South Korea. On Sunday, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi led the Liberal Democratic Party to a decisive victory of 316 seats in the 465-member House of Representatives. No party in postwar Japa

Feb. 11, 2026

[Editorial] 'Ghost coins'

An unprecedented financial mishap unfolded at Bithumb, South Korea’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange, where bitcoins valued at around 60 trillion won ($40.98 billion) were mistakenly distributed. It is alarming that a digital currency exchange was able to electronically manufacture and circulate bitcoins far in excess of the assets it actually held. On Friday, a clerical error at Bithumb turned a modest promotional payout into a staggering mistake. An employee entered the wrong payment un

Feb. 10, 2026

[Editorial] Uneven competition

South Korea’s debate over retail regulation has finally caught up with reality. After more than a decade of treating large discount stores as a threat to be contained rather than a sector to be governed, the ruling Democratic Party of Korea and the government are considering relaxing overnight delivery restrictions on big-box retailers. The shift is overdue. It exposes how rules designed to protect small merchants reshaped the distribution market in ways lawmakers never intended. Under the Distr

Feb. 9, 2026

[Editorial] Euphoria on borrowed time

A stock market milestone is meant to reassure. When South Korea’s Kospi index pushed past 5,000 and total market capitalization exceeded 5,000 trillion won ($3.42 trillion), the figures seemed to confirm the arrival of technological relevance, global capital and a place in the AI century. Yet milestones can mislead. Within days, celebration gave way to whiplash. On Monday, the Kospi fell 5.26 percent in a single session, triggering a brief halt in trading and breaking below the 5,000 line. A day

Feb. 6, 2026

[Editorial] Beyond political rhetoric

When markets falter, governments often reach first for language. South Korea’s housing market is now being steered largely by words rather than instruments. Over one weekend, President Lee Jae Myung transformed social media into a policy arena, warning that real estate speculation was driving the country toward “national ruin.” The housing market was cast not as a system to be managed, but as a foe to be confronted. The display was forceful; it was also fraught. The administration’s chosen deadl

Feb. 4, 2026

[Editorial] Keep classrooms neutral

The Ministry of Education on Friday unveiled its “2026 Democratic Citizenship Education Promotion Plan,” aimed at significantly expanding voter education for elementary, middle and high school students. The ministry, in cooperation with the National Election Commission, will provide voter education to about 400,000 12th grade students voting for the first time in the June local elections. The program will begin with the new school term in March and cover election procedures and how to counter fa

Feb. 3, 2026

[Editorial] Korea’s silicon trap

South Korea closed 2025 with numbers that appeared to cancel each other out. Exports surpassed $700 billion for the first time, and shipments in January 2026 set another record. Yet industrial production grew by just 0.5 percent last year, the weakest pace in five years. The economy looked triumphant from a distance and strangely inert up close. This statistical dissonance is not a quirk of timing but the signature of a deeper imbalance. The source of the illusion is semiconductors. The AI-drive

Feb. 2, 2026

[Editorial] Administrative bloat

In an economy being reshaped by algorithms and automation, the most expensive wager a government can make is on permanence. Yet that is precisely what South Korea is doing in 2026. As generative AI accelerates downsizing and flattens hierarchies in the private sector, the Lee Jae Myung administration is charting a contrary course, expanding public payrolls to a six-year high. At a time when technology is teaching organizations how to do more with fewer people, the Korean government is choosing t

Jan. 30, 2026

[Editorial] Seoul blindsided

In a sudden move, US President Donald Trump targeted South Korea, declaring that tariffs on Korean goods would be reverted to pre-trade deal levels. Earlier Tuesday, Trump said he was raising tariffs on South Korean exports to 25 percent from the current 15 percent, citing a delay in the country’s parliament approving the Seoul-Washington trade deal agreed upon last year. Although Trump did not name a specific bill, he appeared to be referring to the Special Act on Managing Korea-US Strategic In

Jan. 29, 2026

[Editorial] The end of patronage

For decades, the Korean Peninsula was treated in Washington less as a strategic problem than as a settled inheritance. The alliance ran on habit, memory and a quiet assumption that the US would always be there. The 2026 National Defense Strategy suggests that assumption is no longer valid. Released Friday, the document is not merely an update in language or force posture. It is a formal admission of American strategic fatigue. By elevating the Western Hemisphere to a near sacred defense priority

Jan. 28, 2026

[Editorial] Another vetting failure

What was wrong could not endure. President Lee Jae Myung on Sunday withdrew the nomination of Lee Hye-hoon as minister for planning and budget. Hong Ihk-pyo, senior presidential secretary for political affairs, said in a press briefing that Lee had “carefully reviewed the confirmation hearing and the public evaluation that followed.” Hong said Lee Hye-hoon, despite her career as a three-term lawmaker in the conservative camp, “did not meet the standard the public expects” of a minister for plann

Jan. 27, 2026

[Editorial] The Atlas impasse

Machines rarely announce themselves as labor disputes. Atlas did. Hyundai Motor unveiled its humanoid robot at CES 2026 in Las Vegas on Jan. 6, a Boston Dynamics-built humanoid positioned as the company’s flagship entry into “physical AI.” Investors saw a breakthrough, but the rank and file saw a threat. By Jan. 22, the automaker’s Korean union had issued a blunt ultimatum: No robot enters the production line without a labor-management agreement. The declaration was blunt, preemptive and reveali

Jan. 26, 2026

[Editorial] Reform or retreat

Recent wars have elevated the smallest machines into strategic actors. In Ukraine and the Middle East, inexpensive drones now stalk armor, spot artillery and decide battles before generals react. Speed, not scale, has become decisive. Against that backdrop, South Korea is considering a counterintuitive move: dismantling its Drone Operations Command scarcely two years after creating it. The proposal comes from the Special Advisory Committee on Future Strategy, convened after former President Yoon

Jan. 23, 2026