hankyoreh

from left

By Im In-tack　

Three actors stood on the stage, with no political distinctions of “left” or “right.” The performance took place from 7 to 9 p.m. on Aug. 12 at the Seongsan Art Hall in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province.

Yoon Yeo-joon: “Korean society likes to apply labels. I have hardly heard the term ‘Red’ thanks to my ancestral background, but democracy only deepens when you first move from political democracy to socioeconomic democracy. That is Article 119, Item 2 in the Constitution [on economic democratization]. If we did a good job of upholding that, there would not be the inequity and polarization we see in Korean society today.”

Ahn Cheol-soo: (on critics who called him a “leftist” after he compared Samsung to a “zoo”) “Why are you a ‘Red’ for talking about something that is in the Constitution?”

Park Kyung-chul: “When people call those who urge observance of the Constitution ‘leftist’ or ‘Red’ rather than encouraging us to uphold the Constitution, aren’t those people the ones with intentions of overturning the state system?”

Yoon: “I do not know if they necessarily intend to overturn the system, but they certainly are repudiating the Republic of Korea’s Constitutional values.”

The audience packing the roughly 1,600 seats and the “actors” erupted in laughter. Joining them in laughter was South Gyeongsang Province Governor Kim Doo-kwan, who was seated in the audience. The setting was the 15th “Hope and Sympathy Youth Concert,” an event that sees Ahn and Park conversing with an invited celebrity. The concert began a nationwide tour in late June, lining up anywhere one to two thousand young people for every performance. In that time, politicians have seated Ahn, 49, dean of Seoul National University’s Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology, and Park, 47, director of the Shinsegye Union Hospital, at the heart of politics with mention of them as recruits for the general election.

The star Friday was Yoon, a 72-year-old former Minister of Environment and conservative strategist who twice served as director of the Yeouido Institute, the Grand National Party’s think tank. Yoon was also mentioned as a possible head for the party’s Emergency Countermeasures Committee after its loss in the Apr 27 by-elections. The topic was a “fair society.” Conservatives and reformists, newcomers and veterans alike were unanimously in denouncing the actions of large corporations.

Ahn said that large companies like Samsung were “like newborn babies that want everything when the urge strikes.”

Ahn commented, “In the U.S., when chairmen gather together, the news comes out the next day that they are forming a research organization to lower expensive healthcare costs, while when we gather together, we demand tax cuts.”

Yoon explained that the reason large South Korean companies engage in a “plundering” management style is because they are at an early stage of capitalism.

Regarding a 300 billion won ($279.6 million) presidential election campaign fund for former President Kim Young-sam, Yoon commented, “It was given by companies, but where the companies earn that money? The people of South Korea know that [the country] grew over the course of that kind of [government-business collusion], so they were not getting good treatment.”

The audience applauded and cheered when Ahn explained that the ravages of “excessive protection of vested interests” are passed on to young people, but the cheering seemed another expression of anger.

Ahn said, “Positions at large corporations and as government employees amount to at most 200,000 per year. The rest of the total positions are at small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and startups. The structure is one where large corporations snatch profits from SMEs through monopolistic privileges and stamp out the emergence of startups, leaving two million people forced to accumulate ‘specs’ on their resume to break through ten-to-one competitive odds.” Yoon responded, “Those who have come up solely as top managers seeking personal gains should not become national leaders.”

Yoon was also scathing in his criticism of the Lee Myung-bak administration, saying, “Members of the administration are incompetent when they aren’t busy forging address changes and speculating on real estate. And the president never brings in these incompetent ones.”

Yoon added, “It is wrong for the Lee administration to talk about ‘shared growth’ but to propose sharing growth based solely on performance without talking about areas where management is not fair. Perhaps Prosecutor General Han Sang-dae’s parents should take the moral responsibility for their son’s willingness to say he would punish other people for forging address changes while denying his own.”

Ahn made reference to the ills of political divisiveness, asking, “If you are conservative on family and North Korea issues and progressive on education, are you progressive or conservative?” Ahn added, “The best distinction would be between ‘common sense’ and ‘non-common sense,’ and if you ask me if I am left-wing or right-wing, I would say I am in the ‘common sense wing.’”

Regarding Ahn, who speaks the Busan dialect, the GNP is divided on whether to recruit him, as Supreme Council member Won Hee-ryong has suggested, or to give more consideration to whether he is the right choice, as Human Resources Scouting Committee head Joo Ho-young has advised.

The conversation also naturally gravitated toward next year’s general and presidential elections. Yoon told Ahn how surprised he was at the outstanding public dedication Ahn had shown on issues such as free vaccinations at a small venture company in a situation where few people in politics and public positions have a sense of public dedication.

Yoon also said that the people of South Korea need to “become citizens.” He called on the audience to demand that politicians and parties come up with candidates who show capability and morality, noting that politicians will not be able to ignore the demands if voters pass judgment during elections. Around the same time, a woman who appeared to be in her early 40s was standing impatiently outside the venue telling one of the ushers, “I am late because of the traffic. Can’t I just stand and watch?”

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]