Kim Dae Jung better off abroad than at home

By Edward Neilan
Special to World Tribune.com

SEOUL--South Korean President Kim Dae Jung finds his international fortunes flourishing while his domestic image is showing signs of wilting in the summer sun.

Kim's chances for achieving his penultimate quest, the Nobel Peace Prize-- the final goal is actual peace and stability on the Korean peninsula--were improved with his recent visit to the U.S. and receiving the Philadelphia Liberty Medal on July the Fourth. A subsequent visit to Canada won more international points.

Never mind that Kim threw President Bill Clinton a diplomatic curve ball in their talks last Friday by calling for Seoul development of an expanded-range missile. Now there is one more issue for discussion between Seoul and Washington.

Seeming to fly in the face of of Kim's "sunshine policy" toward North Korea which the U.S. has endorsed, the move was seen by some analysts here as a necessary pacifier to the hawks who regard Kim as too soft on North Korea. In other words, the Kim missile message had as much to do with domestic politics as with international cooperation with the U.S.

Washington must realize that the days are gone when it could call all the shots conclusively in the Korea arena.

Kim's response to these charges as well as efforts to forge more of a national political consensus has included his backing of a "President Park Chung Hee Memorial" tribute to the immensely popular general of the 1960s who once called on the Korean Central Intelligence Agency to assassinate Kim. He was also under threat of death from the regime of Chun Doo Whan until the United States intervened.

Kim could be called the darling of the Harvard-Georgetown "human rights" cabal, the unofficial group backed Kim since he was a dissident and keeps his name in the forefront of various peace prize forums.

The South Korean President's desire to be all things to all people has backfired at home. While he still draws accolades from foreign admirers such as those at Philadelphia, he seems increasingly perplexed about domestic politics, where his base is at best fragmented.

His economic reforms, cheered by Clinton, have drawn some resistance from South Korean bureaucrats, for example, who complain that the stress on opening the country to more foreign investment now would be disruptive.

Kim recently promised to double the salaries of civil servants whose morale is said to be at an all-time low because of sweeping administrative overhaul and severe allowance cuts. This and an olive branch to labor unions amounts to a flip-flop in the earlier stance stressing an enlarged market economy and more national competitiveness through reforms in all fields, which have cut deeply into the stability of the middle class.

Even Kim's earlier relentless drive to "break up the chaebols," or conglomerates, as part of restructuring has been seen to be wavering in the face of pressures.

For all of these reasons, Kim seems to be tempted to return to the populist approach as spelled out in his "people-participating-economic-theory" published by Harvard University Press in 1995, instead of following the principles of his latest neoliberal "DJnomics."

These twists are noted just as the South Korean economy shows signs of resurgence after the crippling Asian financial crisis.

An American businessman, over breakfast at the Seoul Hilton said "I've seen this before. I just hope that they don't try to do things too fast this time."

Edward Neilan (eneilan@crisscross.com) is a veteran journalist, based in Tokyo, who covers East Asia and writes weekly for World Tribune.com.