[Editorial] The President and an 'Advanced Korea'

At a speech to before the National Assembly, President Roh Moo Hyun presented the country with his vision and strategy for pursuing "advanced nation" status for Korea during his remaining three years in office. He spoke of what has to be done in various areas in order to accomplish that. He emphasized the need for government, as well as the various groups who are active on society in the area of politics, the economy, the media, and civil society, to engage in self-reform and share responsibility in preparing for an "advanced Korea." It was notable that he called for community participation that effort.

It was fortunate that he said he accepted the criticism of the difficulties of his first two years in office, and gave a feeling of stability in showing he was ready for a different kind of dialogue and compromise compared to the past. The mood at the National Assembly was more harmonious and joyful than ever before, an encouraging sign for the politics of co-existence, along with the recent agreement by the ruling and main opposition parties on the new "administrative city" legislation. As he did in his New Year's address in January, he let it be known he would working hard on solving economic issues, and that gives reason for increased expectations about a soft-landing for the economic recovery.

Roh showed that he thinks economic recovery to be the most urgent issue at this time. "Irregular employment is on the rise, business is bad, and the disparity in income continues to widen," he said, later adding that the "extreme disparity between conglomerates and middle sized companies, high-tech industries and traditional ones, exports and domestic consumption, and the competitiveness of large-scale discount stores and traditional markets need to be resolved," and he is to be complimented for seen the essence of the situation for what it really is. Indeed, if only those problems are dealt with, our economy will not have much to worry about.

The solutions he suggested, however, do not look like they will have what it takes. He says he will make the country a good place to do business in, foster the growth of middle-sized companies, create jobs, and expand the social security net, but you do not see any concrete and substantial policy tools that are worthy of note. The result is that the "advanced economy" he mentioned several times does not strike you as a realistic goal. It is good that policy will be made to work to provide better financial and legal services for businesses, and increase the competitiveness of educational and medical services, but that will clearly not be enough.

Furthermore, there has not been any real progress in reforming the economic system. As seen in the relaxing of the securities class action lawsuit regime and the limit on conglomerate cross-investment, jaebeol reform has slowed down, and the re-establishment of relations between labor and business is in a similar state. Measures for achieving a breakthrough in the increasing disparity between rich and poor are insufficient. Arriving at an "advanced economy" is will not be easy in such a situation. That is why it urgently has to be made substantial through economic reform. More than anything, his statement that "an 'advanced Korea' true to name is a society where all live in harmony" needs to be remembered at this time.

Roh said that to arrive at an "advanced economy" the country needs to first become an "advanced society," which he defined as a "transparent and just society." Korean society has made a lot of progress in democratization, but it has yet to overcome corruption and extremes of antagonism. It is good that he emphasized dialogue and compromise as solutions to issues at hand, setting clear direction.

But for all that to happen the most important thing will be for the government to assume a truthful and responsible attitude, as Roh said himself. The government will only win the people's confidence when it is consistent with its words and actions and aligns itself with justice. It should look back on how it caused a lot of confusion for being confused itself. It will also have to increase government competitiveness, which only ranks in the thirties globally, and does not even compare to what companies are supposed to be.

His proposal about lessening the regionally-based composition even if it takes increasing the number of members of the National Assembly is also worthy of attention. Regionalism is a legacy of dictatorship, back when you did not recognize your partner, and it hinders the healthy political development that comes through confrontation based in policy. There exists a need to overcome the regional composition of the Korean political landscape even if it requires changing the current election system, in which the number of votes in a district is not reflected as it should be.

Roh said that in the North Korean nuclear issue and relations with the United States he would be flexible but maintain principle. Alleviating the concerns of the people and of foreign investors with consistent principles will also be important. It is dissatisfying, however, that he did not go further and discuss a more active solution or role in the nuclear issue. He should also correct the inconsistency of the decision to send troops to Iraq, as it goes against the principles of peace and humanitarianism.

The Hankyoreh, 26 February 2005.

[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]