The country witnessed various "Seongsu Bridge disasters" over the past year. We do not mean that the bridges that symbolize the "Miracle on the Han" collapsed one right after another. But in the sense that the whole country was left with the feeling it had been hit over the head with a blunt object, the past year did feel like it felt when Seongsu Bridge collapsed in October 1994.
The biggest shock was the heartbreaking collapse of the legend of Hwang Woo Suk, who had been considered Korea's greatest scientist and a national hero. He forged data that went into one of his papers, something a scholar and a scientist should never do, making a mockery of the Korean people and of the world. Everyone, whether someone who continued to believe Hwang despite the allegations or someone who demanded thorough verification of the research, felt a sense of helplessness and shame. It hurts to think of the elementary students who participated in the candlelight protest calling for an end to the "wrongful" attempt to "do Hwang in," students who had built their dreams while reading one of Hwang's many biographies.
It was not just the scholarly and scientific communities that crumbled. As portions of what is recorded on the illegal audio surveillance tapes known as the "X File" were leaked to the public, the country learned how, despite the supposedly being a nation that has achieved both democratization and economic development, our society remains full of hypocrisy and corruption. The country learned that an organ of the state entrusted with the duty of protecting democracy and the constitution was, for a long period of time, illegally eavesdropping on the people it is supposed to protect. The tape recordings also showed how nasty a jaebeol and major newspaper can get when it comes to exerting wrongful influence over an election, that important component of the democratic process. The prosecution, which has always bragged about being the nation's top investigative agency, turned out to have been the target of a jaebeol's bribery campaign.
Unfortunately the dirty collusion between the politicians, the jaebeol, and the media was not adequately looked into. Still, one should not fall into despair or cynicism, because there signs of hope. What is most encouraging is that we saw we have the ability to expose corruption that most of the country would have never known about or barely noticed. We should take pride in that and rebuild a society of confidence based on that, brick by brick.
2005 marked 10 years since Korea joined that club of developed nations, the Organisation for Economic and Co-operation and Development (OECD). That sounds right if you look at the scale of our economy or trade volume, but in terms of the quality of life, transparency, concern for the alienated in society, conflict-resolving ability, and contributions to international society, it would be an embarrassment to call Korea a developed nation. We need cold reflection and observation as to the reasons why we have been unable to move to the next level.
For decades scurried around busily working to dismantle authoritarianism and achieve economic development, but now we need very detailed plans for moving to a more socially mature phase. It is very fortunate that we finally have a growing consensus against making and implementing plans using rough hand calculations. It is worth noting that progressives are reflecting on their inaction and laziness and working to come up with realistic proposals, and it is a welcome development to have conservatives realizing they cannot achieve social unity with the outdated arguments of the old establishment, and are searching for diverse approaches.
Those trends are reason for new hope given that there will be regional elections this year and a presidential election in 2007. One of our society's chronic diseases has been that the automatic divisiveness and factionalism regarding sociopolitical issues becomes even more serious as election season comes around. If each side takes on the other with rational proposals and engages in a refined level of debate, the result will be that we can dream of policy that is more effective and gives back to society.
Building a society where there is trust is not something accomplished nothing more than the work of group of experts with on-site experience. Conditions need to be in place that make it possible for all members of society to participate extensively in building a new framework. That, in turn, will require the efficient distribution and formal restructuring of social resources to resolve the disparity and various forms of discrimination that are preventing social unity. Let us move forward vigorously as we take on the new year.
The Hankyoreh, 1 January 2006.
[Translations by Seoul Selection]
[Editorial] New Year's Editorial from The Hankyoreh |
