hankyoreh

　President Lee Myung-bak’s address yesterday to celebrate the 65th anniversary of Korea’s independence was a disappointment. His speech did in fact present a good opportunity to reflect objectively on his term in office, now rounding its halfway point, and presented a new vision for governance. However, it ended up going no farther than self-congratulation and empty rhetoric. In particular, his words about a unification plan and inter-Korean relations could further worsen the already tense political situation on the Korean Peninsula.
　The address was broadly divided into two areas, one having to do with domestic policies and a “fair society,” and the other with inter-Korean relations and a three-stage unification process. The “fair society” aspect was a rephrasing of the so-called working class-friendly moderate pragmatism line that the Lee administration has been espousing to date. However, it merely itemized existing policies of dubious effectiveness. These included measures to cut private education expenditures and allow large corporations and small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) to prosper together, and included no shift in thinking that would allow the creation of a truly fair and just society. Nor did it make sense for him to call on the National Assembly to discuss amending the Constitution, with his talk of a “politics of life” that differs from prior policies.
　More problematic was his unification plan, presented for the first time during this address. Its sequence starts with a community of peace, followed by an economic community, and finally a national community. Stressing that “we must first create a community of peace that guarantees the security and peace of the Korean Peninsula,” he emphasized denuclearization as a precondition for this.
　For the second stage, he outlined an economic community that paves the way for economic integration of North Korea and South Korea via comprehensive interchange and cooperation efforts. It is ultimately a declaration that South Korea will not engage in interchange or cooperation before denuclearization takes place, and as such is more regressive than any unification plan that has come before it. The Korean national community unification plan promulgated in 1989 during the Roh Tae-woo administration did not separate the stages of establishing peace and increasing interchange and cooperation.
　This latest plan follows along the same lines as the “Vision 3000: Denuclearization and Openness” policy, placing the highest priority on North Korea’s denuclearization. Given how that policy has already been shown to be a failure, President Lee Myung-bak has essentially declared that he has no intention to do anything to change the condition of inter-Korean relations, currently at their lowest point.
　President Lee said, “We must go beyond managing the division situation and regard peaceful unification as our goal.”
　However, he not only failed to present any specific methodology for this, but also made no reference whatsoever to problem areas with the existing policy. Through such an approach, the new unification plan, far from becoming a blueprint for unification, will only serve to further ratchet up tensions on the Korean peninsula.
　Meanwhile, President Lee’s proposal of a unification tax was ill-timed and smacks strongly a political attempt to obscure other pressing issues. If unification really appears likely to happen in the immediate future, then the need to discuss a unification tax may be necessary to secure finances to cover its costs. However, to bring this issue up now, when inter-Korean relations are in such a bad state, could easily give the impression that the administration is waiting for the North Korean regime’s collapse or a unification-by-absorption scenario.
　Moreover, in the interests of fiscal soundness, it would be better to halt the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project construction first before bringing up any unification tax. This is not the time to speak of such a tax. The recovery of basic trust between North Korea and South Korea and the normalization of their relations are more urgent issues.
　Throughout his term in office, President Lee has seemed to respond off the cuff to every crisis. However, the difficulties faced by citizens will not suddenly improve just because he repeats his talk about working class-friendly moderate pragmatism, nor will inter-Korean relations change just from talk about peaceful unification. We hope he will bear in mind that only deep reflection and a thorough change in policy can bring about fundamental improvements in the present situation.
Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]