(EDITORIAL from the Korea Times on Jan. 3)

Top policy objectives
Better leadership required for economic revival

President Lee Myung-bak's four-point policy objectives for this year are
primarily aimed at reviving the slumping economy. It is a pressing task for the
Lee administration to save Korea Inc. from the unprecedented global financial and
economic crisis. The objectives reflect the perception that South Korea cannot
move forward to become a more prosperous nation and mature democracy without
getting out of the crisis and speeding up economic recovery.
There is no issue facing the country more important than the revival of the
economy since it is a matter of survival, with the world going through a
cataclysm under the relentless attack of the credit tsunami. Economic recovery
depends on how the government, corporations and consumers cope with the worldwide
financial and economic firestorms. What's important is that all the players join
hands to smoothly tide over the difficulty.
Most of all, President Lee should exercise his political leadership to build a
national consensus on how to deal with such challenges. In fact, he has suffered
from setbacks due to a lack of leadership, having been blamed for policy blunders
regarding the nomination of unqualified ministers, the complete opening of the
local beef market to U.S. imports and a tougher stance toward North Korea. Lee
has done little to promote social integration and national harmony since taking
office last February.
Against this backdrop, the President should devote himself to restoring public
trust and confidence in his policies and leadership. He cannot make good on his
New Year commitments for economic reconstruction without the people's support and
their active participation. Voters elected the businessman-turned politician to
lead the nation in December 2007 on high expectations that he would revitalize
the moribund economy and improve Korea's quality of life.
But his bulldozer-style leadership, a double-edged sword, has caused many to turn
their back on him and his government. Announcing policy directions in a
nationally televised New Year's address Friday, Lee said he could better speed up
economic recovery as long as the National Assembly supports his policies. His
remarks were seen as calling on the Assembly to swiftly pass more than 80 bills,
especially the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and economic stimulus
packages.
Lee and his governing Grand National Party (GNP) need to make more efforts to
persuade the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) to end its violent
confrontation at the Assembly to block the passage of the bills. The government
and the GNP should try to forge cooperative ties with the DP in a bid to get
bipartisan support for the legislation process, which will boost Lee's efforts to
achieve economic recovery. It's time to revive the politics of dialog and
compromise and embrace different voices.
Lee's four-point policy objectives are to run a crisis management government for
economic rehabilitation, strengthen the social safety net, push reform to build a
first-class country, and promote eco-friendly green growth and develop new
technologies. We hope the President and his administration will waste no effort
in achieving his objectives to bring hope and a new vision to the nation.
(END)