[Editorial] Strive for $500 Billion in Exports

Yesterday’s year-to-date export figure reached $300 billion. This is a great achievement which only 11 countries including Korea have realized. It has been only 42 years since we entered the exporting business with a profit of $100 million per year in 1964 exporting wigs made from the hair of mothers and daughters. Twenty-nine and 11 years have passed respectively since we reached $10 billion in 1977 and $100 billion in 1995. An annual export growth rate of 20.9 percent is an excellent figure.

Companies and workers who export “Made in Korea” products to 226 countries should be proud of themselves. Moreover, as they have achieved this during this difficult period of a strong won, high oil price, and high raw materials price, we are even more proud of them. However, we should not end here. To realize a goal of obtaining a $500 billion export number by 2011 and $1 trillion in both export and import, we have to work even harder.

Although we are considered the best globally in exporting semiconductors, cars, and ship construction, no number one is eternal in a global market. To build the Korean export tower, new global top products must be developed continuously. To enhance our export competitiveness, investment is a must. The government has to loosen the regulations that keep investments locked up so that companies can operate freely.

China, the fifth country to reach $300 billion export in 2002, invested $136 billion in R&D this year. It spent more than Japan ($130 billion), coming in second behind the U.S. This figure is four times more than the amount Korea spent – $33 billion. The rumor that Chinese products have low technical standards and added value is a thing of the past. Korean exporting companies that compete with “Made in China” in the global market must increase R&D investment. As FTA is spreading globally, an FTA with the U.S., China, Japan, and the EU has become more important.

The government and companies need to seriously consider what they will export to make money in the future. If anti-enterprise politics and policy along with a hostile labor movement that push manufacturers away do not change, there might not be any future for our economy. With the power that achieved a miraculous economic growth as a foundation, all Koreans need to run again.