[Editorial] 386 Generation Influence

Statements from an interview with Chung Tae-in, former presidential secretary for economic affairs, lead one to wonder whether the presidential secretaries of the 386 Generation that aid President Roh are behind his anti-American, anti-globalization, self-righteous idealism that are behind the times.

Regarding the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Korea and the U.S., he stated, “The move is aimed to acquiesce to American capitalism, and when implemented, our economy will sink.” He also stated that after a one to two hour talk with the president, he won him over to his viewpoint. He further stated that the Korea-U.S. FTA was “a form of IMF-styled liberalism combining Deputy Prime Minister Han Duck-soo’s open regionalism and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ pro-Americanism.”

While countries worldwide are signing FTAs, we will lose out on the global market by stalling on ours. As an export-dependent country, it is vital that we form a free trade alliance with the U.S., which is the world’s largest economy and the largest import market.

In writing a biography of the deceased Park Hyun-chae, an economist, Chung said, “By purporting that I am striving to bring about people-centered economics, I have used Park’s name without practicing his philosophy,” thus showing that he was not free from “Park Hyun-chae-styled” closed economic theories. Park was the actual model of “the great warrior” in the Korean communist novel, “Taebaek Mountains,” and was the proponent of “people economics” that proposed a form of popular, people-centered economics.

In the global economic sphere in which foreign and domestic assets are indistinguishable, it is anachronistic to rail against the Korea-U.S. FTA in the viewpoint of “people economics” that emphasizes self-sufficient production mechanisms. If our economy did not achieve internationalization through an open economy but instead followed the Park Hyun-chae model, we would have ended up with an economy similar to North Korea’s.

To think that this type of person was the “economics tutor” of President Roh is to realize that the Cheong Wa Dae is rife with personnel possessing leftist economic policies that are not compatible with reality. Chung acknowledged that “the people of the 386 group have led demonstrations and have a sense of justice, but we don’t know much and we are not experts.” It is worrisome to think that the country’s future is led by idealists who are infatuated with pro-Kim Jong Il ethnic cooperation, anti-Americanism, anti-globalization, and routine equality.