Lee vows stronger law enforcement to revive economy

By Yoo Cheong-mo
SEOUL, Sept. 25 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Myung-bak said Thursday that his
government is firmly determined to strengthen law enforcement efforts to help
pave the ground for long-term foreign investments in South Korea.
"Foreign investments in Korea are now centered on stocks, bonds and other
short-term commodities, rather than on sustainable business projects. We have to
create a social and legal atmosphere where foreign enterprises actively execute
investments in long-term projects," Lee said while presiding over a meeting of
the presidential commission on state competitiveness.
"Strict law enforcement and (reliable) social and public order are among the
decisive factors to promote fixed-term investments from foreign companies. In
this sense, such law enforcement efforts are also closely linked to the
(government) effort to revive the economy and lift the economic growth rate,"
said Lee.
Following the meeting with the president, the competitiveness commission issued a
press release declaring that the Lee government is determined to reinforce law
enforcement efforts by cracking down on corruption by civil servants, illegal
street rallies, politically motivated labor strikes, illegally hired foreign
workers and cyberspace slandering.
Notably, the presidential panel pledged to reduce the number of illegal foreign
manual laborers here to 200,000 by the end of this year from the current
estimated 230,000.
"The government intends to lower the portion of illegally hired foreign manual
workers in the nation's entire expatriate community from the current 19.3 percent
to less than 10 percent in five years," said the press statement.
The statement also expressed deep concern about illegal street rallies and
demonstrations, saying Korea experiences an extraordinarily large number of
outdoor rallies compared with other advanced countries. As of 2007, Seoul
registered 736 outdoor rallies per 1 million people, compared with 207 in
Washington, 186 in Paris and 59 in Tokyo, it noted.
Lee said the increasing number of illegal foreign residents without professional
skills will pose a serious social problem.
"There are about 230,00 illegally hired foreign manual workers in Korea. But our
small and medium-sized enterprises are still suffering from labor shortage. We
need to have a more efficient and systemic approach to the issue," said Lee.