Public Hope High for a
More Conservative President

Our magazine's April issue prominently covers such issues as changes being pushed by the new Lee Myung-bak government, including a shift in foreign policy, particularly with the United Sates.
Since his inauguration in February, a more conservative President Lee Myung-bak has busted his tail to imbue the Korean people with a sense of conviction by unveiling his plans and strong determination that he will lead the nation down the road to advanced nation status, in an apparent move to dispel the desperation and doubts that were prevalent under the zig-zagging, inconsistent policies of ex-president Roh Moo-hyun, a liberal.
In fact, President Lee is poised to remain stable in implementing his policies as the ruling Grand National Party garnered more than a majority of the 299-seat parliament in the recently-ended general polls.
In particular, President Lee wrapped up his first summit talks with U.S. President Bush on April 19, restoring the blood-tied relationship as traditionally close allies, as they demonstrated their comradeship at Camp David, a U.S. presidential retreat, shifting from the previous government's soured ties. They have also fine-tuned their major policies, including their joint countermeasures against North Korea's nuclear weapons program, and South Korea's peacekeeping roles in such countries as Afghanistan.
With economic difficulties in mind, the Korean people, disillusioned with ex-president Roh's focus on equalitarian policies and frequent measures that went against the forces of the market, apparently have high hopes for President Lee, who has been touting his business-friendly policies as he did during his presidential election late last year.
In this regard, public attention was paid to a comment by Rich Karlgaard, the publisher of American business magazine Forbes, calling for U.S. presidential candidates to learn a lesson from Korean President Lee's efforts to make business activities brisk and the national economy grow through tax cuts and deregulation. He made the comment in his "Digital Rules"column, a regular fixture of Forbes, touting Lee's bid to revitalize the economy through a mix of tax reductions, deregulation and privatization, saying:
"America should be so lucky. Wouldn't it be cool if America elected a president in November who said things like this: "Business is the foundation of the economy, and the economy will recover only when business activities are re-energized,"Mr. Lee said in a wide-ranging interview over the weekend. "And business here means big and small companies -- and the workers and management of the companies."Unfortunately, this guy is not available."This issue gives prominent coverage to the 41st Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Asian Development Bank, to be held from May 3-6 in Madrid, Spain. Minister of Strategy and Finance (MOSF) Kang Man-soo, the top economic policymaker and prime advocate of President Lee's business friendly policies, heads a Korean delegation to the annual meeting of the ADB, his first such meeting with governors and bankers from around the world since he took office as a member of President Lee's cabinet.
In his keynote speech to the upcoming meeting of governors, he will address such issues as the reform and deregulation of the Korean financial sector.
In an interview with NewsWorld, part of the special report on the Annual Meeting of the ADB, MOSF Minister Kang reaffirms the government's much talked-about plan for "economic prosperity through deregulation in the finance sector."One of the domestic fields which are expected to make the greatest use of the new government's deregulation and market-opening steps is the nuclear power industry, which will likely gain the momentum to expand its share of power generation due to the nation's scarcity of natural resources and the global struggle to secure a stable supply of energy resources. It is this struggle that has prompted many countries to reconsider a ban on the construction of nuclear power units in what is seen as a "Nuclear Power Renaissance."It is noteworthy that the 23rd Korea Atomic Industrial Forum/Korean Nuclear Society (KAIF/ANS) Annual Conference, held from April 16-18 in Seoul, brought together scores of international and Korean authorities who have handled pending nuclear power issues and discussed the latest technology. Globally renowned nuclear power experts'participation in this annual conference, held under this year's theme, "Global Collaboration, Nuclear Renaissance,"indicates Korea's standing as a world-class nuclear powerhouse. Korea, which is self-sufficient in nuclear power technology with its own model, the Korean Nuclear Power Standard, depends on nuclear power for more than 40 percent of the nation's total energy consumption. nw

Publisher-President
Elizabeth M. Oh