Kwak Seung-jun, chairman of the Presidential Council for Future and Vision,
speaks during an interview with The Korea Times at his office in Seoul, Monday.
/ Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-cheol
Presidential aide says Lee will focus on low-income families
An aide of President Lee Myung-bak used a mid-term analogy to refer to the four years since Lee took office in 2008 to indicate there is still time to fix social inequality.
“A final test is remaining in his last year in office….President Lee will pay more attention to lower-income families who are left behind,” Kwak Seung-jun, chairman of the Presidential Council for Future and Vision, said in an interview with The Korea Times Monday.
Kwak, who is called the insiders’ insider of the Lee government, noted that the President will use his last year in office to become a successful leader after leaving Cheong Wa Dae.
On Saturday, Lee will commemorate his fourth anniversary in the presidency. Since taking office in February 2008, the businessman-turned-President has maintained a growth-first policy approach.
Lee pushed for it with a stated belief that economic growth will have a trickle-down effect on lower-income families.
The reality, however, was not the case. Social inequality has been deepening as jobless growth has continued. A widening income gap between the haves and have-nots has become a policy headache.
A recent survey of 50 opinion leaders released Sunday by the Hankook Ilbo newspaper, a sister paper of The Korea Times, showed income inequality is one of the three areas that the President has handled poorly.
The other two areas Lee proved to be ineffective at were communicating with the public and the National Assembly, and the poor handling of inter-Korean relations
Meanwhile, the same survey found he did a good job in managing the domestic economy at a time of global economic crises, upgrading the nation’s profile by emphasizing commitments to help poor nations and bolstering the Korea-U.S. alliance.
Expectation game
Lee is facing a daunting challenge in his presidency’s last year. The demand for a social safety net from the general public is surging. But his hands are tied as fiscal austerity is necessary this year to keep the economy intact in the face of a global economic crisis. He could become the victim of the expectation game unless he balances the economy and demand for welfare adroitly.
Kwak, also a professor of economics at Korea University in Seoul, admitted social polarization is a major policy challenge facing Lee, although he managed the economy well in staying out of the global economic crises.
“We are aware of the criticism that conglomerates became more influential, whereas working-class citizens were left behind,” the economist said. “Lee will keep trying to help these people in his last year in office.”
Since assuming the job on the presidential council, Kwak has advised the President with policy recommendations on key issues.
Among other things, he has proposed ways to cut household spending on private tutoring, which he said was effective in lowering families’ spending.
Kwak, 52, mentioned the public’s shifting support trends toward political leaders, suggesting those who are slow to respond to their demand for a change are doomed to be left behind.
“We saw in the past that some of the supporters of the late former President Roh Moo-hyun backed President Lee Myung-bak. Now what we are seeing is that Lee’s supporters are turning their back against the sitting President for Ahn Cheol-soo,” he said.
A public opinion poll taken in late January by East Asia Institute based in Seoul found Lee’s job approval rating stood at 25.2 percent.
“People want change,” Kwak said. “To meet their needs, politicians need to meet their expectations with visions.”
In January, Kwak was on the same air plane as Ahn, dean of the Graduate School of Science Technology and Convergence at Seoul National University, when he left for the United States for interviews with professor candidates.
Asked if he had any conversations with Ahn, Kwak declined to comment, saying he didn’t want to elaborate on it.
The two know each other well as Ahn previously worked with the presidential council as an advisory member of the future industry division.
Battle against populism
On the domestic politics front, the unbridled Assembly is another headache facing Lee. As the April 11 general election is approaching, both ruling and opposition parties are resorting to populist campaign pledges. Politicians are vowing anything to get elected.
Populist campaign pledges pose a threat to the President in his last year in the top job.
Kwak urged politicians to refrain from politicizing welfare policy. He argued social policy should not be a political football, stressing the government will take care of working-class citizens as much as it can.
On Thursday, the Presidential Council for Future and Vision will hold a global session to address the crisis of capitalism and the direction of social policy in a Seoul hotel.
Under the Global Korea 2012 seminar, distinguished guests from Europe, North America and other continents will exchange their ideas about the global economic crisis and social policy.
Lee’s legacy
Kwak said in his last year, Lee will have to solidify his legacy.
“The government has laid the groundwork for a new engine of growth to feed the people over the next three decades,” he said. “One of the things Lee has to do during the remaining period is to finalize the contract to develop oil fields in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).”
Seoul and Abu Dhabi are expected to strike the deal in early March. If done, South Korea will be able to secure the right to retrieve an estimated 300 million barrels of oil there.
Kwak said South Korea’s winning of the deal to build four nuclear reactors in Abu Dhabi in 2009 and the oil field project will be a core part of Lee’s legacy.
“In the 1970s, the Korean government supported the steel, shipbuilding, semi-conductor, and auto industries as engines of growth. These industries have fed the nation for four decades since then. But they are not likely to play such a critical role in the forthcoming decades,” he said.
“The Lee government figured out nuclear power plants as a next engine for growth. They will feed the people in the next three decades. I think nuclear energy, along with pragmatism, is Lee’s legacy.”
Who is Kwak Seung-jun?
Kwak Seung-jun joined the Presidential Council for Future and Vision as chairman in 2009. Under this capacity, he has produced policy recommendations for President Lee Myung-bak on ways to cut household spending on private tutoring among other things.
Prior to the job, Kwak had worked for the President as a senior presidential secretary on policy planning and strategy.
He worked with the presidential transition team after Lee achieved a landslide win in the 2007 presidential election.
Kwak is also professor of economics at Korea University based in Seoul.