Recession Blues..

Time to pool wisdom to ride out hard times..

The Lunar New Year holiday is marked by the disappearance of its festive mood, particularly due to the global financila and economic crisis. South Koreans are uneasy about the nation's largest traditional holiday, during which they visit hometowns and get together with family members. Many of them have to bring bad news to their parents and relatives this time.

Holidaymakers' conversations will surely be dominated by gloomy news about the slumping economy, corporate restructuring and job losses. They have no choice but to feel left out in the cold. The gloomy atmosphere is likely to go from bad to worse due to a cold spell to hit the country during the four-day holiday ending Tuesday. The bad news is that people will have to tighten their belts, with the economy on the road to a recession.

It is certain that the economy will continue contracting until the end of June. Many economists predict that it will rebound in the second half, although it's truely difficult to tell exactly what will happen because of rapidly changing situations at home and abroad . What's for certain is that there is little sign of a solid recovery in the foreseeable future. In other words, we're just entering the dark tunnel with no end in sight. As such, people have to bite the bullet, just as they did during the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis.

It is no surprise that the country will be hit harder by worldwide turulence than any other country because its economy is higly dependent on exports, which are now plunging. All economic players have to learn how to cushion the economic shock.

But we should not give up hope for a better future. We have to remember that every cloud has a silver lining. Our turbulent history shows Koreans have turned many crises and ordeals into opportunities- from rising from the ashes of the 1950-93 Korean War to making the Miracle of the Han River and emerging as the world's 13th largest economy. Most of all, we need new leadership to achieve social integration and national harmony for the next step. Shake off al the recession blues and have a happy holiday.

Fear of Dioxin..

Take bolder action to prevent river contamination..

Residents in the southeastern city of Daegu have continually worried about tap water being polluted with toxic industrial chemicals. The latest detection of dioxin in the Nakdong River is raising the specter of an environmental disaster. There is no doubt that the contamination was caused by loose control of the toxic substance leaked by textile firms nearby.

The state and provincial authorities come under severe ciriticism for neglection their job of preventing the influx of industrial chemicals into the river, a source of drinking water for about 10 million residents in North and South Gyeongsang provinces. The river pollution not only poses a threat to human health but also wreaks havoc on the ecosystem.

It is too bad to see the dioxin row days after the Lee Myung-bak administration announced its
'Green New Deal,' aimed at promoting low-carbon green growth and creating more jobs amid the global financial and economic crisis. The government has also launched the refurbishment of the nation's four major river-Han, Nakdong, Geum and Yongsan. How can the state realize its goal of green growth without even preventing river contamination?

The figure is higher than the permissible level recommended by the World Health Organization.
The levels then went down after the upstream Andong Dam released 50 tons of water.

Authorities are now being slammed for having done little to find a fundamental solution and just attributing the dioxin detection to a decline in the river's water level due to months of drought that helped increase the density of the chemical. One official even told people just to boil tap water before drinking it so the dioxin could evaporate. Authorities had better recognize the harmful effects of dioxin, widely known as a carcinogen.

Stricter regulation on dioxin and other toxic chemicals is essential to protection river and tap water sources. However, authorities only control the release of dioxin in accordance with a voluntary agreement with factory operators.

It is imperative that authorities immediately enforce tougher, legally binding rules to avoid further river pollutions. The nation should take radical action to prevent an environmental catastrophe before it's too late.

Concerns Rise High..

Aircraft brushing past skyscraper could cause disaster..

The perennially bickering politicians made a rare bipartian chrus of protest against the government, or rather, the president on Monday.

Both governing and opposition legislators criticized in one voice the government's abrupt shift of policy toward allowing the construciton of a 555-meter-tall edifice just 5.5 kilometers away from a large military airport.

Defense Minister Lee Sang-hee said there would be no safety problems if Seoul Airport alters its runway by three degrees to the West, as there has been much improvement in the function of flight safety equipment. And the builder, the Lotte Group, would pay all required cost estimated at about 100 billion Won, he added.

The nation's fifth largest familiy-controlled conglomerate engaged in businesses ranging from confectionary to department stores may be willing to help to finance the runway reconstruction rather than finding new space to realize its 15-year-old dream..

It was only last April, however, that Minister Lee said a skyscraper could put large aircraft using the airport with foreign VIPs aboard in danger. In the course of repeatedly rejecting Lotte's applicaiton, the Ministry has even showed a simulaiton of 9/11-like incident, Has there been so drastic an innovation in safety equipment over the past nine months?

It is not even muh of a secret the policy turnaround came around September right after a government-business meeting chaired by Presidnet Lee Myung-bak to cope with deepening economic crisis.

The airport should maintain perfect operational readiness for emergency situaitons like military conflicts and extreme weahter conditions.

Why does this administraion push for everything on its own before putting it up for pubilc discussion?

From The Korean Times..