Race on for Highest Office

Former Prime Minister Goh Kun calls for creative pragmatism in leaders to make Korea a powerhouse

The presidential election is still a long away off scheduled for December 19 next year. But political circles are already buzzing with activities related to the big battle and pollsters are busy polling possible candidates for the highest office in the country.
People wonder, too, who will be the next president already, although campaigning hasn't begun.
Former prime minister Goh Kun has been leading in every poll of possible presidential candidates. He leads the second place candidate Seoul Mayor Lee Myung-bak by about 2 percentage points in recent polls at around 21 percent, followed by Chairman of the opposition Grand National Party Park Keun-hae with 17 percent in third place and Chairman of the ruling Uri Party Chung Dong-young with 10 percent in fourth place, to name just top four candidates in the polls.
The possible candidates appear to be already engaged in the presidential campaigns by stepping up their activities, making tours to meet people and making speeches, although they deny that they are on a campaign trail. But signs already are there that the political campaign season is around the corner. GNP Chairman Park and Uri Party Chairman Chung and Seoul mayor Lee are the most visible ones because their official schedules move them around with media reporters everywhere they go.
The biggest focus is on Goh, however, because he is the frontrunner in the polls, especially on his moves to round up support for his probable bid for the top office in the country. People, however, wonder if Goh has enough resources to win the election and if so how he will put his political machine together and who will help run the machine because he doesn't belong to a party. Rumors said that he will create a political party, while some linked him with aligning with the Democratic Party, which had been led by former President Kim Dae-jung and is based in the Honam region, the home base of the former president. In fact, the current party chairman Han Hwa-kap often talks fondly of the former prime minister, saying that the party has maintained an amicable relationship with Goh. Han said the party is always ready to accept him as its standard bearer.
Although a political loner, however, Goh has been making rounds, too, to keep his popularity up including two recent trips to the United States.
His long public career has been a big asset for him; his extensive government career including serving as prime minister twice, the most recent stint one being under President Roh from 2003 and May, 2004. He was twice Seoul mayor, provincial governor, lawmaker and a cabinet minister. What makes his government career specially distinguished is the fact that he was acting President, taking over from President Roh the full presidential power, when the president was impeached by the parliament and the Constitutional Court was debating the constitutionality of the Congressional resolution early in 2004. The court finally ruled that the parliamentary action was unconstitutional. People know his adroit credentials, which explain why he is leading the polls.
President-Publisher of NewsWorld Elizabeth M. Oh said she is a firm supporter of
Goh from way back when he was the mayor of Seoul. She said he has the oustanding credentials to win the presidential election come December next year.
"The country will sleep better with him at the presidential office,"she said. The former prime minister is an outstanding man with a high trust from the people. He can achieve a sustainable economic development by advancing all national systems in a stable manner, she said.
He is a firm believer in the teachings of Dasan Chung Yak-yong, a well-known 19th century Joseon Dynasty scholar. The scholar who studied in China was known for the Silhak, a pragmatic study. And the collection of his work is being preserved at the Dasan Research Institute in Seoul and the former prime minister is an advisor for the institute.
Goh said one of his favorite books is one written by Dasan entitled, "Mok-Min-Sim-So,"which is about clean and untainted attitude. The book says a wise man keeps himself clean knowing that it is the best way for him. The former high-ranking government official said during all of his public career, he practiced pragmatic leadership, which he derived from Dasan's teachings. It is about an integrating leadership keyed on communication and alliances.
He said it is like the exchange and union. You have to keep open dialogue channels with citizens and create alliances with social constituents to achieve something. You have to be with the people all the time, bad and good, to be a true leader, Goh said, which is called "servant leadership."He got the idea from the "Love People"ideal written in Dasan's books.
When he was Seoul mayor, he often went to public drinking spots with clerks who work on the frontlines for the Seoul Metropolitan Administration. His intention was to learn what is going on at the frontlines directly from those people and encourage them at the same time to work harder.
The former prime minister said one of the biggest problems in society is the absence of a full dialogue between the people and the government, although the country is a leader in the information technology with the most expansive Internet network in the world. The current government has been unable to communicate fully with the people, despite the superb communication hardware that is tops in the world.
The government has alienated the people. It has failed to win the support from the people. The people don't understand what the government plans to do due to the lack of information. He said you have to gain trust from the people to be able to effectively govern the country, taking advantage of the communication hardware on hand. He heard various hardships that these clerks faced in their lines of work and he tried to take care of the problems for them as much as he could as the mayor to perk up their feel for participation in taking care of their jobs.
Citing late U.S. President Roosevelt that true leadership is developed when the people are with the leader, not when the leader leads at the front of the public, he explained why he entitled his homepage with the word, "Let's Go Leadership."He said he still goes to the public bathhouse near his home intentionally and he did the same even when he was prime minister. He said he did it to listen to the people and find out for himself what their problems were.
Sometimes, the people at the bathhouse did not dare to get close to him, whispering to themselves that there is the prime minister. Some fellow bathers came to him and said he looked awfully like Prime Minister Goh on a number of occasions. But he didn't tell them that he was really prime minister, saying only, "yes" They just couldn't even imagine that a prime minister would come to a public bathhouse to mix with the general people. When he no longer was prime minister, fellow bathers approached him at the bathhouse and thanked him for what he had done while in the office.
Goh has been traveling abroad lately more often than usual. He made two trips to the United States last year alone, He made a speech at Harvard University Institute of Politics and Asia Center participating in the John F. Kennedy Forum on March 16.
On December 1, last year, he delivered a speech at Bechtel Conference Center at Stanford University on the subject of "Creative Pragmatism: Move Forward beyond Ideology."His speech at Harvard was entitled, "U.S.-ROK Alliance and the North Korean Problem."As the subjects of his speeches in the United States suggest, the trips were not entirely unrelated to his impending presidential candidacy.
His speech at Stanford was about his vision on how he will lead the country, while one at Harvard covered the most important issue in Korea's foreign policies, the ties with the United States, the key ally for Korea and inter-Korean relations, a vital issue for Korea in terms of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and reunification.
He pointed out that the essence of leadership lies in "the ability to bring together the dreams and capacities of social constituents together with a clear and open vision for the future and work together with them to accomplish what the times require."Exactly, in this regard, he thought that the political leadership in Korea is not performing its proper role. The present state of affairs in Korea makes political leadership an inevitable, urgent and crucial issue that needs to be attended too and that is what I shall attempt to do here today, he said.
The presidential hopeful said he will proceed with following steps. First, he will look at the historical circumstances facing Korea, today. Second, he would examine where the Korean political leadership stands today. Third, he will see whether or not the current leadership is meeting today's needs in Korea. Finally, he will outline what he calls, "creative pragmatism"as an alternative leadership model.
Having overcome the financial crisis that hit the country at the end of last century and encouraged by victories in the World Cup in 2002, Koreans felt united for once, and eagerly looked toward a bright, prosperous future in the new century. But despair and division, instead of hope and harmony, have permeated Korean society today, he said.
The social landscape of everyday life is rather stark in Korea, today. Ordinary people are finding it increasingly difficult to handle their daily life, and the nation's growth engines are sputtering. Income polarization is widening. Conflicts are growing between labor and management, urban and rural districts, the capital area and the provinces, and between the haves and have-nots. The political land economic contours of East Asia are also changing. The Chinese economy is growing rapidly, and Japan is reviving after a decade-long slump. In between Korea's standing room is getting smaller and smaller and North Korea still remains a closed state.
The confrontation between progressives and conservatives seem to have emerged as the basic framework governing the Korean society. It has moved beyond the level of political competition and argument to that of fundamental social division and conflict. The gaps produced by the distrust and hatred between progressives, conservatives and between ruling and opposition circles have grown too wide to close easily. Their interpretations of history have grown poles apart and even Korea's national identity has become an object of controversy.
The only way to overcome the crisis of political leadership facing the Korean society is to escape from the mirage of narrow and unreflective ideology and seek a truth based on reality. Ideology is but a lens through which we view the world; it is only one tool out of many. Human civilizations blossomed in ancient Athens and the age of Annals in China, where diverse ideas were tolerated and allowed to unfold. It is time for the Korean political leadership to get away from the groundless belief that there is only one or two "true"lens through which to view the world, Goh said. The most basic task for Korean people is to create a "safe state"to protect people from the multiple risks facing Korean society today. He said their task is to create a "strong dynamic country,"which is economically prosperous, environmentally friendly, and humane at the same time. He said he would like to see a new type of leadership that determines social tasks and future visions on the basis of historical reality, not through a priori lens of ideology; he also hopes to witness a new leadership which seeks to put form to these visions from the viewpoint of the Korean people. Such a leadership is pragmatist in that it is not conventional pragmatism content with the status quo but a creative one that positively opens the way to the future with vision. Hence, creative pragmatism.
He said the creative pragmatism advances a leadership of integration that stresses community, communication, and solidarity. It also pursues performance-oriented leadership that rewards actual accomplishment. It also pursues a dynamically harmonious win-win leadership that protects the common good.
It also pursues leadership of sustainable innovation. The creative pragmatism also pursues a liberal leadership that is open to the global community. It acknowledges that Korea's security and prosperity are possible only when it is in harmony with the rest of the world.
On Korea-U.S, relations, he said, in his speech at JFK Jr. Forum, Harvard University, that in pursuing a more productive relationship, the alliance needs to embrace not only security matters, but also economic, cultural, and social dimensions. It should expand the horizon of mutual contacts from official diplomacy to people-to-people interaction. He said he believes in the concept of a "comprehensive and dynamic alliance."South Korea and the United States, as two allies, put forth this notion in May, 2003. The vision was timely and appropriate. It will make the alliance more effective.
On North Korea, he said it is a military threat to the South, but at the same time, North Koreans are our brethren. It is in this context that we want to hold dialogue, provide economic assistance and cooperation. South Korea's engagement policy is designed to reduce tensions, and seek reconciliation and cooperation with the aim of achieving reunification.
The inter-Korean economic cooperation has been rising steadily and the trend is expected to continue with the South's economic projects in the North appear to be worth undertaking.
North Korea has began to change, not in the style of the former soviet Union, but those of China and Vietnam. It is for this reason that the United States and the rest of the world need to exercise some degree of patience. Most destructive in South-North relations is Pyongyang's nuclear program.
President Bush has emphasized North Korea's nuclear problem should be resolved in a peaceful, and diplomatic manner. He said he can offer no magic solutions to the dilemma, except to quote two wise remarks from Eastern and Western wisdom. To Americans, he would like to present an Oriental saying, Yukhisaji, which means that "you need empathy to solve a dispute,"He recommends, he said, you make a commitment to North Korea's security so that Pyongyang can come to the table without fear.
For the North Korean leader, he would like to quote from famous line from renowned President, after whom this institution is named. "Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate." nw

Former Prime Minister Goh Kun

Dr.Goh explains the model of Digital Media City to a group of visitors when he was mayor of Seoul. (right photo) a beautiful new park created on Nanji Islet landfill in Seoul.

Dr. Goh Kun, right, is presented with the 2001 Global Integrity Medal from an official of Transparency International based in Malaysia on March 30, 2001 in Seoul, when he was mayor of Seoul.

Former Seoul Mayer Goh kicks a ball at a soccer event during the 2002 World Cup in Korea.

Former Prime Minister Goh is with President-Publisher of NewsWorld Elizabeth M. Oh at his office in Seoul.

The cover page of the booklet for the former prime minister when he made a speech at Harvard University.

Former Prime Minister Goh shakes hands with an official of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University before delivering a speech there March 16 2005.

Dr. Goh explains the project to build a digital media city in Seoul when he was mayor of Seoul in 2001.