(EDITORIAL from the Korea Herald on Dec. 17)

Lee's New Deal

President Lee Myung-bak is a man of extraordinary perseverance. A successful CEO
of a top construction firm before his political career, he is obsessed with
rebuilding this country into a huge industrial park, and the blueprints in his
brain have been drawn up along the four major rivers of the country.

The Grand
Canal project linking these rivers to form cross-country waterways for
transportation, irrigation and tourism was a major item in his campaign manifesto
but it had to be shelved after the election due to strong public opposition.
Now in the midst of immense financial and economic challenges, Lee has found an
opportunity to launch his dream project. After quick studies by a presidential
committee, the government Monday announced an extensive project to develop the
four rivers as part of a five-year, 100 trillion won program to revitalize the
economy.
Aware of the significant opposition to the Grand Canal, the cost for the rivers
project has been reduced to 14 trillion won from the original 20 trillion won.
The most notable difference is the absence of the fantastic tunnels and
floodgates to connect the upper streams of the Han and Nakdong Rivers across a
mountain range. The new project is to improve the economic value of the two
longest rivers and the southwestern Geum and Yeongsan Rivers through dredging and
construction of embankments, dams and water treatment plants.
The project is aimed at creating jobs and speeding up the balanced development of
the country. Other parts of the local revival program seek to spur provincial
economies and improve health care and education in all parts of the country. The
refurbishing of the rivers is projected to create 190,000 jobs, induce production
worth 23 trillion won and save some 7 trillion won that is spent each year to
combat flooding.
There are good reasons to assess Lee's "New Deal" positively at this time, when
everyone is gripped with fears of an extended recession, as long as it doesn't
invoke the specter of the Grand Canal. It will be "sweet rain" for the
construction industry suffering from a bleak housing market. Reactions from
environmentalists will be considerably subdued in view of the current economic
situation.
The Ministry of Homeland and Maritime Affairs once again emphasized that the
four-river project was not a revival of the Grand Canal. Lee, for his part, is
urging an early beginning to the river work, with the participation of provincial
contractors. Opponents of the canal project need not be too suspicious of any
hidden plot. They must trust the administration, which is toiling to achieve an
economic revival with investment of all resources under its control.
What is important is that careful feasibility studies are made for every segment
of the project and that government funding is distributed reasonably. Attention
should be given to the principle that the river work is part of a comprehensive
plan to promote balanced development of the provinces alongside the central
Seoul-Gyeonggi zone.
The existing decentralization plan to push the relocation of government offices
and major state-run corporations as well as large enterprises to provincial
cities, launched by the previous administration, should not be neglected while
the new regional development program is implemented. As it works on the river
development and other projects, we will see how effectively the Lee
administration carries out existing development programs in harmony with new
ones. We note that the whole program is spread out over five years, allowing the
next administration to finish it.
(END)