(EDITORIAL from the Korea Times on Jan. 1)

For fresh start
Let's get rid of enmity, discord in 2009

Even in hardest economic times, New Year's Day should be a cause for joy and hope
instead of fear and concern. Reasons are aplenty to be pessimistic, indeed. It is
not just the global recession hitting Korea's export-led economy harder than
others but the utter state of confusion and confrontation splitting the nation in
two that makes most Koreans gloomy and despairing.
Yeouido, often called the "Manhattan of Seoul" by representing Korea's politics,
finance and media, is now depicting the ultimate sad portrait of Korea today: The
National Assembly has long turned into a site of warfare between political
parties; financial firms are still smarting from a demolished stock market; and
broadcast workers are protesting the government's privatization plan.
Most Koreans' biggest concerns are of course about the economy in relation to
their jobs and income. A recent survey of CEOs shows the economy will remain in
the doldrums in the next three to five years, as Korea undergoes what experts say
will be an "L"-type protracted slump instead of "V"-shaped recovery.
It is not so much the business setback itself as the confusing signals from
policymakers that make people so unsure and restless about where Korea Inc. is
headed. Just two weeks after the government released a forecast ??? or a wish ???
that the economy could grow 3 percent in 2009, President Lee Myung-bak is telling
people to brace for negative growth for some time this year. On another occasion,
however, the President said Koreans would be able to see recovery if only they
endure through the year.
It's about time for President Lee, now approaching his second year in office, to
discern between mere words of encouragement as opposed to a commitment made by
the top leader. If global recession continues at least a few more years as
experts say, how can Korea alone get out of it in just a year? False hope and
makeshift comfort ??? intended or not ??? could boomerang as greater distrust in
the government, while forcing it to make waste in haste. People can put up with
another spell of economic hardship, if they have the conviction that the
government is going in the right direction with an adequate social safety net
instead of seeking an ostensible recovery that hides seeds of even greater
disaster later.
The worldwide economic turbulence seems to have taught major global powers the
virtue of humility and humanity, as shown by their administrative slogans of
"balance" (incoming U.S. administration) and "harmony" (Chinese government). It
is against this backdrop the Lee administration's slogan of "setting the nation
straight in times of crisis" appears all the more confrontational and combative.
Economic hard times are when the nation needs harmony and tolerance most. This is
no time to fall into the black-or-white dichotomy of market-or-government,
growth-or-distribution and right-or-left. President Lee should return to his
original principle of pragmatism in opening the New Year and turn the economy
around ahead of all else.
Some ominous prophets are envisioning the angry jobless and other dejected mobs
will stage Greece-style protests far more violent than last year's candlelight
vigil, if they conclude the government is both incompetent and oppressive. Lee
should pursue unity amid harmony and show it in his New Year address Friday and
scheduled cabinet reshuffle in mid-January. We hope he will be able to make
people find all these concerns groundless a year later and start a real Happy New
Year.
(END)