President Roh Moo Hyun devoted much of New Year's address talking about socioeconomic polarization. The disparity has permeated all areas of our society and is becoming the epicenter of cynicism and conflict. The Participatory Government should have set that kind of clear direction when it assumed office. A lot of time has been wasted.
He presented various general policy goals for resolving the problem. He talked about creating jobs, the issue of irregular workers, the problem of private tutoring expenses and the cost of real estate, creating "social jobs," and the state's role in protecting those the underprivileged. He called on conglomerate unions to make concessions and for conglomerates to change how they view labor. Though nothing new, each and every one is an important and difficult concern.
The question is whether our society can share an understanding of the issues at hand and move forward together to resolve them. Those who think the liberal market is everything say that the only way to resolve the economic disparity is to grow the economy and have that create jobs. Getting the economy going is of course important but an active economy does not come easily and it does not guarantee and less economic disparity. It is unfortunate that the discussion is not making progress, thanks to an ideological confrontation between the left and the right over growth versus distribution, even though the country needs to grow the economy on the one hand and take multifaceted approaches to policy on fixing what the market cannot.
There needs to be work in all areas of society to achieve a social agreement. Whether people like the president or not is irrelevant. Roh called on the country to "create a culture of co-prosperity through dialogue and compromise." If he wants to make that suggestion mean something he first needs to create the kind of atmosphere where that is possible by listening to the country. Achieving a lot in the second half of one's term is difficult, but one hopes Roh will be able to set the foundations for society to arrive at a mutual understanding and set the country on the right course about resolving socioeconomic polarization. People most especially need to guard against having the debate become a dispute among the politicians.
The Hankyoreh, 19 January 2006.
[Translations by Seoul Selection]
[Editorial] Let's Conclude Growth vs. Wealth Distribution Debate |
