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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 26 Oct. - 1 Nov. 2000 Issue No. 505 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 26 Oct. - 1 Nov. 2000 Issue No. 505
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Palestine International Economy Opinion Culture Focus Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters The sun also rises
By Gamal Nkrumah
It is yet another climacteric week in a momentous year for Korea. The third Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM 3) was inaugurated last Thursday in the South Korean capital Seoul amid much pomp and ceremony. The country was in a euphoric mood after Korean President Kim Dae-jung was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2000. Lauded for upholding democracy and championing human rights, economic recovery and improving ties with North Korea, South Korean President Kim Dae-jung proudly officiated over the ASEM 3 proceedings.
The South Korean president, a devout Roman Catholic in a predominantly Buddhist country, is still basking in the international acclaim and publicity afforded him after winning the Nobel Prize last week. Kim Dae-jung told assembled ASEM 3 delegates that states must serve their peoples. If they fail to do so and permit serious human rights abuses, they open themselves to justified intervention by the international community, he said. Today, Asia stands at a crossroads. Many Asian countries are realising the advantages of promoting democracy and respecting human rights. Not only does democracy improve transparency and accountability at home, and international goodwill and acclaim abroad, but it also attracts foreign investment.
Kim Dae-jung was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for easing tensions with North Korea and initiating the North-South summit, which took place in the North Korean capital Pyongyang in June. Even so, many South Koreans were incensed when rumours spread that North Korean President Kim Jong Il was to share the Nobel Peace Prize with Kim Dae-jung. But that was not to be. Nor was Kim Jong Il invited to ASEM 3 as the Europeans insisted on talking only with the new breed of Asian democrats -- China excepted, of course, because of its enormous economic potential and political standing.
Asia-Europe 2000 is by any measure a great turning point in history. The EU, soon to be one economic and financial bloc with a single currency, is one of the world's largest markets with a quarter of the global gross domestic product (GDP) and one fifth of world trade. The Koreans are especially grateful for the European countries' stance during the Asian financial crisis. Germany, itself once a divided nation like Korea, was singled out for standing by Korea during the crisis. "Not a single German company withdrew operations from Korea during the crisis, explained Han Duck Soo, Korea's minister for trade affairs. Asia, lagging behind in terms of economic and monetary union, looks to Europe for trade and investment opportunities. And it appears that for the time being, Asia is prepared to tolerate Europe's meddling in the domestic political affairs of Asian countries.
European Union leaders and the heads of state and government from 10 Asian nations took part in the two-day biennial inter-continental summit. Among the Asian leaders present were Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and leaders of seven of the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Representatives of the military junta in Myanmar obligingly stayed away, as EU leaders categorically refused to meet with them. The Europeans are especially galled at human rights abuses in Burma and in particular the heavy-handed manner in which Myanmar's military authorities clamp down on democracy activists, including the popular opposition figure Ang San Suu Kyi.
The summit comes at a time when the United States is trying to forge a rapprochement with North Korea. As a rule, top American officials are not in the habit of dropping in on the leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). Yet in an unprecedented development, Pyongyang hosted US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright this week. Albright says that her visit will pave the way for a possible visit to Pyngyang by US President Bill Clinton before his term in office expires. Asia truly is fast changing.
The New Asia is shaped more by international real politik than by outdated ideological enmities. Men like Kim Dae-jung personify the New Asia. He led a lifetime of activism in support of human rights and is now crowned with the Nobel Prize. There was a time, before the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s, when South Korea was upheld as a shining example of an impoverished Third World and war-torn country that emerged from the doldrums. The honour now heaped on Kim Dae-jung begs comparisons with the man credited with creating the so-called "Korean miracle," the late South Korean President Park Chung Hee in the 1960s and 1970s. Assassinated in 1979, he ruled the country with an iron fist and institutionalised the chaebol (business conglomerates) system. He is often remembered as the former lieutenant in the pre-war imperial Japanese air force, who was so besotted with Japanese ways that he adopted a Japanese name "Okamoto Minoru". He reluctantly discarded his Japanese name after the defeat of Japan in 1945.
It was Park Chung Hee's agents who beat, tortured, imprisoned and exiled Kim Dae-jung. The US then backed and buttressed the repressive and authoritarian Park Chung Hee regime. Unscrupulous Washington had no qualms about backing such a dictator because it pretended that it was all for the cause of fighting Communism. Indeed, Park Chung Hee dispatched 300,000 South Korean troops to fight alongside the Americans in Vietnam.
At home, Park Chung Hee had another agenda, of which Washington warmly approved. He was a general whose military coup brought to an abrupt end a brief history of democracy in South Korea. He immediately nationalised the country's banks, clamped down on the slightest sign of disquiet, declared martial law in 1972 and targeted trade unions. The military takeover was a typical developing country scenario. And not unlike other Third World military rulers of the 1960s and 1970s, he promptly arrested key businessmen. However, Park Chung Hee started talking about "compulsory investment" in the economy by the country's bourgeoisie and soon after, offered them parole and released them on condition that they invest all their wealth in the new industries he started. Those businessmen who cooperated with him did abundantly well, and it is their chaebols that today dominate the Korean economy. The top four Korean chaebols today have total sales accounting for 45 per cent of South Korea's GNP. They were all nurtured during the presidency of Park Chung Hee: Chung Ju Yung's Hyundai, Lee Byung Chul's Samsung, The Daewoo Group, founded by Kim Woo Chong, who incidentally vows that he will not be succeeded by a close relative, and Lucky Goldstar Electronics.
What remains to be seen is if Kim Dae-jung's success in the political field will loosen the stranglehold of the chaebols on the Korean economy. Crushing the chaebols is not an end in itself. Kim Dae-jung was chained up throughout the Park Chung Hee years, while the chaebols flourished. If Communism in North Korea has turned into a dog that does not bark, then the chaebols of South Korea must also turn into dogs that do not bite.
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