A seat to do what should be done

Chung Un-chan
The author, a former prime minister and former president of Seoul National University, is the chairman of the Korea Institute for Shared Growth.

Good news just came from the Czech Republic amid the torrential downpours and sizzling heat last week. Korea was chosen as the preferred negotiating partner to build two nuclear power plants, worth 24 trillion won ($17.3 billion), in the country. With the remarkable feat — the first of its kind since Korea won the bid for the construction of the Barakah nuclear plant in the United Arab Emirates in 2009 — the country secured a foothold for K-reactors in Europe. Exporting nuclear reactors has emerged as a new growth engine for the Korean economy.

But Korea’s political front is being inundated with frustrating news about the governing People Power Party (PPP), the opposition Democratic Party (DP), the presidential office and the National Assembly. The news media continues churning out bad news over controversial issues — such as the resubmission of a motion to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the tragic death of a Marine on a rescue mission, the DP’s push for the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol, the first lady’s acceptance of a luxury handbag from a suspicious pastor and the president’s repeated vetoes. Worse, the PPP’s national convention to elect its new leader turned into an unprecedented mud fight among four candidates. I wondered what really happened to the governing party which pledged to colossally innovate itself shortly after its crushing defeat in the April 10 parliamentary elections. I was deeply embarrassed to see the revival of physical violence which stole the show in the national convention.

Such abnormalities are not just confined to the governing front. The majority Democratic Party (DP) is being criticized by not only lawmakers close to its leader Lee Jae-myung but also traditional supporters for its unilateral operation of the 300-member legislature. You can hardly deny that the DP revised its convention rules to help Lee extend his chairmanship for another term so that he can nominate candidates for the 2026 local elections and the 2027 presidential election. Fortunately, another contestant joined the race to elect the new leadership of the DP. Otherwise, the party can’t avoid the criticism that it only wants to serve Lee.

What about the presidential office? I fully support President Yoon’s patriotism, as evidenced by his self-positioning as a salesperson for the export of the nuclear plants to the Czech Republic. His face-to-face meeting earlier this month with Czech President Petr Pavel on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Washington certainly helped Korea win the bid for the nuclear plant construction. But I still wonder why the president cannot communicate with politicians from both the PPP and the DP even though he can get along well with foreign leaders. Indonesian President Joko Widodo reportedly spends time with opposition lawmakers and other opponents after work, which implies his deep respects for others and efforts to communicate with them.

President Yoon’s approval ratings approached 29 percent last week after staying in the low- and mid-20 percent range over the past three months. Among those who were negative about his performance, 15 percent attributed it to tough livelihoods and high prices, while 8 percent blamed his lack of communication skills and 6 percent his unilateral way of running the government. The president is known for his strength in sociability. If so, he must restore communication channels with the PPP first.

I urge President Yoon to invite both the winners and losers in the race for the new leadership of the PPP to the presidential office as soon as possible. Once effective communication channels are opened, the president must meet not only the new leader of the opposition party but also other leaders of our society. The seat of the president is not a place to do what he or she wants to, but a place to do what they must do for the sake of the country. Through such meetings, the president can find answers to what to do first and how. I also hope he talks less when he meets people. I hope the president becomes more frank and unpretentious than before and incessantly remind himself of the axiom “The devil is in the details.”

Chang Ki-pyo — the legendary pro-democracy activist and the unyielding voice of conscience who passed away last week at age 78 — had persistently championed the elimination of all the glitzy privileges of our lawmakers. He acutely warned about the “tougher livelihood of the people in the future” on top of the excessive polarization of wealth, an alarming level of disharmony and defeatism, too steep inflation, over-the-top debts in the public and private sectors and victims of all types of accidents across the country. Many people want Yoon to uproot such concerns before it’s too late. The president has yet to pass the halfway mark in his five-year term. It will be even better if he keeps in mind Ralph Waldo Emerson’s inspiring poem.

What is success

To laugh often and much;

To win the respect of intelligent people and

the affection of children;

To earn the approbation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;

To appreciate beauty;

To find the best in others;

To give of one’s self;

To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition;

To have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation;

To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived;

This is to have succeeded.

Translation by the Korea JoongAng Daily staff.