Building new leadership for a new era

Cho Yoon-je
The author is a professor emeritus at Sogang University and a member of the Monetary Policy Board of the Bank of Korea.

The South Korean economy has grown this far as it aptly coped with the challenges and tasks along the way. It again stands before a multitude of challenges. Today’s tests differ greatly from the past. While the past mission centered on mustering the potentials of the people to raise the national standards and income levels, Korea now must buttress social and individual potentials as well as its basic capabilities to safely land on the advanced ranks.

To achieve the goal in the past, the country pulled in capitals from home and abroad to build infrastructure and factories with the technology and designs it imported from overseas to bolster investment, hiring and output. Today’s task demands the enhancement of reasonability and efficiency across the society, educational standards, technology and intelligence levels while improving fair competition and order, social trust and working methods. In short, while the past work was on establishing the hardware, the current one is on upgrading the software.

According to the OECD’s recent data, although Koreans still work much longer than other OECD members, their labor productivity per capita falls far below the average of the Group of 7 economies and OECD members. Korea’s labor productivity is just one third of the highest country, Ireland. With population thinning, work hours shortening and investment rate slowing, Korea’s growth will stagnate and lose national rank if the economy does not sharply raise productivity and efficiency.

However, domestic conditions are too hostile to solve these challenges. Political and social conditions leave much to be desired. Let’s compare the circumstances of the early 1960s and today. Korea’s traditional social stratum crumbled after the fall of the Joseon Dynasty and the following Japanese colonial period. The sweeping land reform after Liberation entirely disbanded the feudal land tenure system. The 1950-53 Korean War wiped out what was left in individual wealth and assets. While promoting new industries, businesses, and exports-oriented policies across the 1960s and 70s, Korea did not face much resistance from the establishments as in Latin America, India, and the Philippines.

Unlike such countries, Korea could implement a broad system restructuring and policy reform to promote exports and industrialization to drive fast growth. The charismatic leadership of President Park Chung Hee also backed the push towards progress. Half a century after the economic leap, the society bred strong mainstream groups like chaebol conglomerates, labor unions, and civic groups.

To counter today’s headwinds, Korea must establish at least two new grounds. First, it must restructure the national governance structure. Over the last 30 years, the mainstream and the private sector have strengthened, but the nation’s power structure and administrative ability have weakened. The single five-year presidency has also shortened the time span in state affairs. To tackle the challenges, we must change the national governance structure by amending our Constitution.

Second, we need a new leadership accurately assessing the problems within society and executing broad changes based on strong vision and determination. The leadership group or political party must have the capability to read the fast changes in international affairs, including the digital revolution, and persuade the public with farsightedness.

To change a society, reforms must be pursued persistently and consistently for up to a generation. We need political parties that can transcend today’s retrogressive political landscape overwhelmed by fierce battles to gain power through wasteful wrangling, regionalism, and fandom and present future visions with a logical analysis on the present. Existing parties could be reinvented, or new parties can appear. Whichever way, the younger generation must lead the way to pursue the vision in a consistent and far-sighted manner.

Translation by the Korea JoongAng Daily staff.