The phrase from scratch owes its origins to a sports race, where the athletes were lined up to a starting line scratched on the ground. With the scratched line, the runners were guaranteed that they would all begin the race at the same start, and no one at an initial advantage. Today, the phrase is often used in situations when cooking with raw ingredients or constructing a building one brick at a time. That is, it represents the meaning of starting from the very beginning with one’s own power.

Likewise, the September issue of The Granite Tower (GT) attempts to encourage the readers to analyze the current social issues from its very beginning grounds. In particular, the Cover Story delves into the current domestic issues surrounding regular and non-regular workers. Our feature articles cover legal systems as well as the diplomatic situations South Korea is facing today. All in all, our GT reporters suggest the readers view the ongoing issues with an open yet keen eye — i.e., examining them from their fundamental grounds without any prejudice or biased opinions.

By starting from the very basics and analyzing the issue one step at a time, our GT reporters believe that we will be able to view the current issues more clearly and in-depth. We hope that the GT articles would be able to provide an insightful perspective to the readers.