Country Profile: Korean president is committed to promoting ties with ASEAN

Country Profile: Korean president is committed to promoting ties with ASEAN

Kornelius Purba, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The ASEAN summit in Bali will be the first opportunity for South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun -- who was inaugurated as the country's president on Feb. 25 this year -- to exchange views and brief each of the heads of government of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) about the latest developments on the Korean Peninsula and in the Southeast Asian region. The summit also will provide the opportunity to enhance economic and business cooperation between South Korea and ASEAN as a group or as individual members.

ASEAN members have repeatedly reconfirmed their consistent support for South Korea's policy of reconciliation and cooperation toward North Korea.

Korea maintains diplomatic relations with all of the 10 ASEAN member countries and all of these countries have set up missions in Seoul. South Korea has been invited to attend the summit since 1997, along with China and Japan (ASEAN+ 3).

For ASEAN, it is natural that the leaders want to get first-hand information about President Roh's progress in achieving a peaceful solution to the North Korean nuclear issue.

Apart from his encounter with the ASEAN leaders, the Korean president also will hold a separate summit with Chinese Prime Minister and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

The Korean president has set up the principles that he plans to adhere to in pushing his "Policy for Peace and Prosperity" on the Korean Peninsula. In his inaugural speech, President Roh said the suspicion that North Korea was developing nuclear weapons posed a grave threat not only to peace on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia, but in the entire world.

The president's "Policy for Peace and Prosperity" is a continuation of his predecessor president Kim Dae-jung's rapprochement toward North Korea, despite a standoff with the country's ally -- described by President Roh as a "cherished" alliance -- the United States. The policy aims at a balance between security and the economy, or between peace and security.

The reduction of tension and the creation of a peaceful coexistence on the Korean Peninsula is the top priority of the government. The government is seeking a peaceful solution through close cooperation with the U.S. and Japan, and through cooperation and partnership with China and Russia. It also seeks the cooperation of the European Union and ASEAN.

"North Korea's nuclear development can never be condoned. Pyongyang must abandon nuclear development. If it renounces its nuclear development program, the international community will offer many things that it wants. It is up to Pyongyang whether they will go ahead and obtain nuclear weapons or get guarantees for the security of its regime and international support," President Roh said of North Korea.

In building a strong structure of peace on the Korean Peninsula, the government is determined to institutionalize the peace process by improving inter-Korean relations, to create an international atmosphere conducive to peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Apart from this, the government also is firm in establishing a firm national defense posture to guarantee peace. Therefore, economic prosperity on the Korean Peninsula will add greatly to economic cooperation and development in Northeast Asia as a whole. Korea's geopolitical location, coupled with its well- developed and efficient infrastructure, will contribute to economic development in Northeast Asia.

President Roh calls his government a "participatory government" and, among other things, he has made the science and technology sector one of his 12 top policy initiatives. The government's ambition is to lift Korea to among the top eight nations in terms of science and technology power by 2007.

The government has selected 50 promising technologies to develop further. These include 19 promising technologies, 19 next-generation ultramodern technologies and 12 future strategic technologies that stem from 18 next-generation scientific and technological fields.

The promising technologies include semiconductors, displays, digital electric appliances, computers, mobile communications, energy and the environment. The next-generation ultra-modern technologies include software, smart services, elements, intelligence precision machines, robots and medicine. Now Korea is the world's most competitive in semiconductors, mobile phones and shipbuilding. But the country has to look for alternative technologies that will prevent Korea from losing its leading role in technology innovation in Asia.

President Roh believes the "Age of Northeast Asia" is fast approaching. The region, which used to be on the periphery of the modern world, is now emerging as a new source of energy in the global economy. Business transactions in the region already represent one-fifth of global volume and the combined population of Korea, Japan and China is four times larger than that of the Europe Union.

"For a long time I had a dream of seeing a regional community of peace and prosperity in Northeast Asia, like the Europe Union. The age of Northeast Asia will then finally come to full fruition. I pledge to devote my whole heart and efforts to bringing about that day as early possible," President Roh said in his inaugural speech.

The president believes that the Age of Northeast Asia is fast approaching, where the nations of the region will form a "community of prosperity", and through it contribute to the prosperity of all humanity. And for South Korea, ASEAN is a key partner.

For the poor

Roh was born on Aug. 6, 1946, in a small farming village in Gimhae, Gyeongsangnamdo province, on he southeast coast. His father, Roh Pan-suk, and mother, Lee Soon-rae, were poor farmers.

"When I was struggling against hardships and difficulties in the past, I repeatedly vowed to myself that I would always stand with the poor and the underprivileged ... I'll never forget this pledge," the president said.

After graduating from Jinyeong Middle School, Roh was accepted to Busan Commercial High School. Roh could not afford a college education and studied at night to pass the difficult bar exam in 1975 after choosing law as a path out of poverty. Roh had dreamed of studying for the national bar examination since he was a child.

After completing his military duty, he continued to study and passed the national bar examination in 1975. In 1978 he opened his own law office. He married his village sweetheart, Kwon Yang- sook, in 1973. The couple have a grown-up daughter and son.

Roh seemed confident in his choice of career until an unforgettable event more than 20 years ago changed his life, and moved him to begin a new career as an advocate of democracy and human rights. In 1981 he stumbled onto a case of human rights abuse, which became famous here as the "Boolim Incident", where two dozen dissident students were arrested and tortured for almost two months for possessing banned literature.

He witnessed the effects of the torture and met mothers whose sons had disappeared. He quickly became a human rights lawyer defending prodemocracy and labor rights activists throughout the period of the infamous 5th Republic, 1980 to 1988.

"When I saw their horrified eyes and their missing toenails, my comfortable life as a successful lawyer came to an end," Roh said, recalling his meeting with the tortured students.

In 1988 he was elected to the 135h National Assembly, where he played an active role as a member of the Labor Committee.

During the special parliamentary hearing on corruption charges against top government officials of the 5th Republic, as a novice lawmaker, Roh's name suddenly skyrocketed and he became a national hero. During the hearing, he grilled prominent figures such as Chung Ju-yung, the founder of the Hyundai conglomerate, and Chang Se-dong, the intelligence chief under former president Chun Doo-hwan. Until now he is still remembered by many Koreans as the "star lawmaker" from this period.

Roh held several political positions until August 2000, when he was appointed minister of maritime affairs and fisheries in president Kim Dae-jung's administration. Amid a series of corruption scandals involving president Kim Dae-jung's sons, relatives and appointed officials, the Millenium Democratic Party nominated Roh as its presidential candidate last year. His campaign put more emphasis on reducing gaps in income distribution and a pledge to prevent Korea's family controlled conglomerates, known as chaebols, from returning to their past habit of unsustainable expansion and to encourage the business groups to reform themselves and adopt market-friendly manner.

In a hard-fought battle culminating in the presidential election on Dec. 19, 2002, Roh won a narrow but convincing victory. For the first time, Korea had elected a president who conducted a campaign without money politics in the cleanest election the country had ever seen.