Late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, have been more esteemed outside their countries Of how often leaders, like former Soviet President Mikhail S.
The snapshot of his current doldrums is a reminder He has talked of a major reshuffling of his government,īut so far that is only talk. In some ways, that structure makes the lack of confidence in the presidentĪll the more worrisome. He is the real power, yet is not accountable to the parliament. To be fair, the country's structure makes the president a kind Korea remains under the rule of the rulers, not Kim Dae Jung believes in democracy but is not himself a democrat. Were inexperienced and tended to be dismissed-not entirely fairly-as bumpkinsīy the ruling elite, and the bureaucracy has gained the upper hand. To govern with a mix of loyal outsiders and sitting bureaucrats. President Kim's experience was jail and exile, not governance, and he tried While in Cholla the same fraction went to the president's ruling party. In elections last April, more than 90% of the vote in Pusan went to the opposition, Yet the process has deepened regional divisions. He brought his downtrodden southwestern region, Cholla, into One of his great achievements is alsoĪ vulnerability. In a curious way, exaggerated by the Nobel Prize, which underscored how much Politically, the country is deeply divided, and Kim's lame duck status was, Rights remain deeply violated in the North, and he has said little about this Won for his advocacy of human rights and his opening toward the North, but human That the two achievements that earned him the Nobel Prize are in conflict: He President Kim has notĭone well at explaining his sunshine policy, and he is vulnerable to the charge Kim Dae Jung's continued optimism stands at odds with the prevailing skepticismĪmong those who had governed the country until his election in 1997 and whoĬontinue to see themselves as its rightful governors.
ANOTHER WORD FOR LAME DUCK FULL
That will require, if not full "reciprocity," then at least real, visible Further, the challenge is to build a consensus in the South in support of the So far, the North has tried to compartmentalize the process, leaving security issues to its dealings with the United States. Visit of the North's leader, Kim Jong Il, and then whether security issues canīe integrated into the North-South process. The next test in the rapprochement with the North is the promised-but-not-scheduled May say, it will rescue Daewoo to keep such a flagship company "Korean."
Labor, for instance, believes that whatever the government The government's credibility on economic reform is low, including Tourism project in North Korea is politically sensitive but is now losing $100 Yet that lesson would be erased if the governmentĬontinued to subsidize Hyundai Engineering & Construction. Motors is allowed to fail and be sold to GM or another foreign car maker, that The bailout of the banking system has already cost $100 billion. Has turned yet another group against the process.įor all the talk of letting the market work, the government still channels Has failed to build a constituency, so the pain of each phase in the restructuring In tandem with a few large conglomerates, or chaebol. That was "a developmental dictatorship" in which the government drove the economy "Reform" is a mantra, but one that lacks meaning for a country Restructuring to let the market, not the government, allocate resources willīe a long process. Most in Asia, and its trade balance and foreign reserves are strong. South Korea's economy has lots going for it. To the North is stuck, with no sign that Kim Jong Il's visit to Seoul is imminent,Īnd the country is trapped in political gridlock. News is that the economy has recovered but has not been restructured, the opening Meeting in June with its leader, Kim Jong Il, are now old news. Even his "sunshine policy" toward North Korea and the historic summit So Kim gets little credit at home for how far the country hasĬome. In part, Kim's problem is that while history judges political leaders by theįull reel of their performance, they live and die in the snapshots of their Even his Nobel Prize was controversialīeneath the surface in South Korea, and his friends have begun to worry about Time-the next elections are not until 2002. More striking, President Kim Dae Jung is all but a lame duck well before his That of 1997-98, if consumers became convinced that one was impending. Yet the country could talk itself into a recession, though not one as deep as In one sense, if the country is in crisis, all countries should be so lucky,įor both growth and unemployment stand at 5%, enviable numbers by world standards. "Crisis" is a badly overused word, and it is getting a workout these days in South
0 kommentar(er)
