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Korea should set out on new journey in commemoration of nation’s independence

Korea should set out on new journey in commemoration of nation’s independence

Posted August. 15, 2015 07:11,   

한국어

Today marks the 70th anniversary of Korea’s independence. It is such a long time when those who were born in 1945 turn the age of 70. Once a country with abject poverty, Korea has now grown to a nation standing as 13th largest economy in the world with 28,000 U.S. dollars per capita income. The joy of independence which “made us touch the soil again and sea water dancing” and the accomplishment that Koreans have made despite immense hardship always make us feel deeply moved. This joyful morning, however, gives us not just great sense of pride but also grave concern for nation’s future.

The 70th year of nation’s independence means the 70-long year of nation’s division. After all those years equivalent to twice the time of Japan’s 35-year colonization, we have failed to break the deadlock of national separation. Korean economy which used to be praised as “the miracle of the Han river” has entered the phase of low growth. Things have turned urgent in the East Asia region as if it were 100 years ago when our national territory was taken by Japan. We cannot help but have a sense of crisis that the nation is riddled with considerable hardship.

Economic gridlock of a nation means the absence of much-needed leadership. Two and a half years in office, the Park Geun-hye administration has failed to produce any visible accomplishment among national tasks. Korea is still living in “the lost years” under the incumbent administration as it did under the Roh Moo-hyun administration who wasted national power with poor management of national affairs and under the Lee Myung-bak administration who underwent repeated struggles along with a bitter controversy caused by the import of American beef.

In retrospect, South Korea started off from the bleakest situation immediately after it took back nation’s sovereignty. The nation has been in the face of repeated invasion of North Korea since the Korean War. Although the first President Rhee Syngman is left with dishonor of long-term seizure of presidential power and rigged election, he had much contributed to tightening up the national security by protecting free democracy in the crisis of the Korean War which could have communized the nation and by forging the national alliance with the U.S. Under the criticism that called his leadership as dictatorship, President Park Chung-hee set up economic power base by leading the nation to come out of abject poverty and to reach the economic growth that we enjoy now. He is the president with the highest recognition for his contribution to national wealth and security. The April Revolution and pro-democratic forces that waged democratic movement in 1987 are credited for recovering damaged democracy and human rights under the authoritarian power.

With all those remarkable accomplishment of national founding, industrialization and democratization, Korea today looks shabby. Social disruption has come to the point where we, faced with national crisis, point a finger at each other rather than joining hands together. Those politicians seem powerless to weather through mountainous wave that is sweeping over the country.

With the 70th anniversary of nation’s independence, Korea is faced with not a few daunting tasks home and abroad. For starter, the North, having established a three-generation power succession, greeted the 70th year of national division with nuclear missiles for its ambition of unification under communism. The new order of the day is to make Pyongyang give up its confrontation strategy. It is urgent for Seoul to stay out of a state of inertia.

Sandwiched between outpacing advanced countries and rapidly chasing China, the prospect seems far off for Korea to break the undesirable status quo unless there is a major turning point. Rather than sticking to such a vague rhetoric as “creative economy”, Korea is advised to seek for more concrete and novel course of action in high-value added service industries in order to build brighter future. The daunting task of labor reform can no longer be put on the back burner so as to ease the already-high unemployment rate of the youth.

The integration of society would be possible when large sized companies that have played important roles in the nation’s fast economic growth live up to expected morality and responsibilities. Historical perspective that sees the past 70 years with fair and objective eyes is required for social integration as well. The 15th of August is the day when Korea recovered its freedom from Japan and founded Republic of Korea. The founding principle of free democracy and the market economy was the stepping stone for what Korea has achieved up to date. The important meaning of today when we took back the sovereignty of the nation from Japan’s colonialism should never be neglected.

No mountain is too high when we put together national capabilities as we desperately did 70 years ago. Today should be the day that Korea embarks on a new journey for achieving national unification and joining the ranks of advanced economy.