▲The government's first round of "high fuel price damage subsidy" payments began Thursday, but few gas stations are able to accept them. Gas stations with annual revenue exceeding 3 billion won have been excluded from the list of eligible merchants. Of roughly 10,000 gas stations nationwide, only an estimated 36 percent have annual revenue of 3 billion won or less. The share is expected to be far smaller in major metropolitan areas. Gas station operators, hit hard by the oil price ceiling and supply cuts, are voicing strong complaints. Given that actual profits are far smaller than revenue, the government's decision to cap eligibility by gas stations' sales appears to lack practicality.
▲President Lee Jae-myung said Thursday, marking the eighth anniversary of the Panmunjom Declaration, that "if we build up efforts toward peaceful coexistence and common growth with the mindset of jeoktoseongsan (piling up soil to make a mountain), spring will return to the Korean Peninsula." Amid North Korea's lack of response to a series of conciliatory measures since the current administration took office, he reiterated his strong will to seek a breakthrough in inter-Korean relations. With North Korea engaging in frenzied provocations, including seven ballistic missile launches already this year, we hope a herald of spring arrives before it is too late.
